Faith, Its True Position in the Life of Man: A Discourse, Preached November 22d, 1874, in the Chapel of Rutgers College 1875
(Originally published in 1875. This volume from the Cornel...)
Originally published in 1875. This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies. All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume.
Samuel Merrill Woodbridge was an American clergyman, theologian, author and college professor.
Background
Samuel M. Woodbridge was born on April 5, 1819, in Greenfield, Massachusetts, the third child of the Rev. Sylvester Woodbridge, Sr. and Elizabeth Gould. Samuel Woodbridge was in the eleventh generation of a family of clergymen dating back to the late 15th century. The earliest clergyman in this ancestral line, the Rev. John Woodbridge, was a follower of John Wycliffe.
Education
He graduated from the University of the City of New York in 1838 and from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary in 1841, having meanwhile joined the Dutch Reformed Church (Reformed Church in America).
Career
Licensed by the Classis of New York and ordained by the Classis of Long Island, he became pastor of the church of South Brooklyn, which he served from 1841 to 1850. Subsequently he was pastor of the Second Church of Coxsackie, New York, 1850 - 1853, and the Second Church of New Brunswick, New Jersey, from 1853 to 1857, when he was appointed by the General Synod of the Reformed Church to the professorship of ecclesiastical history and church government in the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick. In this office he remained for forty-four years, resigning in 1901; he was then made professor emeritus. For the first eight years of his professorship he taught pastoral theology in addition to church history, and also served at Rutgers College on the adjoining campus as professor of metaphysics and mental philosophy, 1857 - 1864. At times during his long service, when occasion arose, he was professor of theology pro tem. From 1883 to 1888 he was dean of the seminary, and from 1888 to 1901, president of the faculty.
He published an Analysis of Theology (1872 - 1873; 2nd ed. , 1882), a Manual of Church History (1895), and an Outline of Church Government (1896), as well as occasional sermons, articles, and addresses. Samuel M. Woodbridge died on June 23, 1905, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, at the age of eighty-six.
(Originally published in 1875. This volume from the Cornel...)
Personality
In his earlier ministry Samuel M. Woodbridge was an eloquent and powerful preacher; congregations crowded to hear him. To the last he was impressive in thought and in all public address; his venerable appearance and solemn voice made him seem in the pulpit and in the class room a very prophet of God. Though uncompromising as to principles, he was kindly and generous and not without a sense of humor.
Connections
In February 1845, Samuel M. Woodbridge married Caroline Bergen (who died in 1861), by whom he had one daughter. On December 20, 1866, he married his second wife, Anna Wittaker Dayton, with whom he had two daughters.