logical College ;" and a committee was according ly appointed to solicit subscriptions to the object, who prosecuted the work assigned them, with great diligence and zeal. The Doctor opened the subscription-list with his own name, for $500, and at the next meeting of Synod, it appeared that a sum sufficient for the purpose specified had been subscribed in the southern section of the Church. Persons were then appointed to endeavour to procure subscriptions in the Synod of Albany, for the endowment of a third professorship, and the liberality of this part of the Church proved in the end fully adequate to the object contemplated. But the Doctor himself saw only the auspicious commencement of this second enterprise in the good cause. He had seen enough, however, to convince him that the cause had triumphed,that this school of the prophets, would no longer subsist upon a scanty and precarious charity, but would be henceforth amply supported, and remain for ages to come, a fountain, whence should issue streams to make glad the city of God. His expectations, therefore were not finally disappointed, and he could now go down to the grave, assured that he had not laboured in vain.-As a courageous, persevering, skilful commander, falls upon the field of combat ; -when, after many arduous struggles—after many disheartening repulses after trying to no purpose, apparently, all plans which his ingenuity could devise for accomplishing his object;—when, hoping against hope-ready to give up all as lost, and just at the point of death, he hears at last the thrilling shout of victory, and exclaims, I can depart in peace, all is well.* * Since the death of Dr. Livingston, the literary exercises of the institution, (now called Ruiger's College, in honour of a distinguished citizen of New-York, well known for his patriotism, piety, and munificence) have been revived by the General Synod; and under the auspices of the pious and learned Dr. Milledoler, the President and Divinity-Professor, and of his two able colleagues, Drs John Dewitt, and James S.Cannon, (appointed a professor in 1826) with their associates, a professor of languages, and a professor of mathematics, both highly distinguished for their talents and competency in their respective departments, the institution is rapidly gaining a rank among the most celebrated schools in the country. It ought not to be forgotten, however, that for this revival of the College, the Church is indebted, in no small degree, to the talents and enterprise of the late Rev. Dr. Selah S. Woodhull—a man whom, in point of energy of mind, and zeal and perseverance in the prosecution of whatever he undertook, few excelled, and whose vigorous exertions in behalf of the college, during the short period he was connected with it, as well as his many able services in the church for a series of years, ought not to be left unnoticed in this Memoir. And the writer, having thus mentioned the name of one who was a bosom friend-a name he never can mention without very tender emotions-will embrace this opportunity to give a brief sketch of his short but useful life. It was said in a former chapter, that the Doctor patronised some benevolent and religious soci Dr. Woodhull was born in New-York, Aug. 4, 1786. Both his parents died when he was quite young; but, though only 12 years of age at the decease of his father, he was then a member of the Freshman class of Columbia College. Upon his father's death, he was removed to Yale College, New-Haven, and there he completed his collegiate education. Soon after he was graduated, he commenced the study of the ology under the direction of his uncle, the Rev. Dr. John Woodhull, of Freehold, N. J.-and such was the precocity of his mind, and such his proficieney in his professional studies, that he was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of New-Brunswick, when but in his nineteenth year. His first settlement as a Pastor, which took place shortly after he had received licensure, was in the Presbyterian Church at Boundbrook, N. J.;-but when he had been here about a year, he was called to succeed the Rev. J. B. Johnson, who had died a short time before, in the Reformed Dutch Church of Brooklyn, L. I. and the charge of this flock he assumed in the fall of 1806.-Having a singular capacity for business, he became in a little time a very prominent and useful member of the Judicatories of the Church in almost all the important arrangements which were made with respect to the Theological School, after its removal to New-Brunswick, he had his share of duty to perform, and he performed it in a manner that recommended him to general respect and confidence. For many years he was the able and indefatigable Secretary of the American Bible Society, for Domestic Correspondence. Upon the endowment of the third professorship, and revival of the college, he was appointed Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Church Government, and Pastoral Theology, in the Theological eties it ought to be further stated here, that about the time of his removing to New-Bruns Seminary, and of Metaphysics, and the Philosophy of the Human Mind, in the College. These appointments he accepted; and having resigned his pastoral charge, and the office he held in the Bible Society, he removed to New-Brunswick in the autumn of 1825. For the business now assigned him, in Providence, he was well qualified, and he entered upon it with an ardour and dili. gence, that excited great hopes of his future usefulness; but these hopes were soon extinguished in his sudden removal by death, on the 27th of the following February. He died of a prevailing epidemic, in the fortieth year of his age-greatly and deservedly lamented. The congregation of Brooklyn, which he had served for nineteen years, in the Gospel, evinced at his death, by a liberal gratuity to his widow, the sense they entertained of his ministerial faithfulness to them while he was their pastor, and their affectionate regard for his memory ;—and the General Synod, when convened in extra-session, in consequence of the event, passed the following resolutions :-"This Synod resolve, that while they humbly submit to the inscrutable Providence, which has so soon and so suddenly called him away from those important stations, in the prime of life, and in the midst of the fairest prospects of use fulness, they cannot but lament, and they do deeply lament, the loss which the Institution and the Church have sustained in his death. And as the piety, talents, and acquirements of one so highly valued, justly claim some public token of respect, this Synod further resolve-To have placed over the grave of Professor Woodhull, a neat, plain monument, with a suitable inscription, commemorative of his character and worth."-This latter resolve has been executed, and the inscription upon the stone reads thus :- 58 wick, he was elected a member of the Free School Society of New-York, and subsequently one of the Vice-Presidents of the United Foreign Missionary Society-of the United Domestic Missionary Society-and of the Missionary Society of the Reformed Dutch Church. Relative to the Dutch M. Society, he thus expressed his sentiments in a letter to his friend, dated To the Memory Rev. SELAH S. WOODHULL, D. D. Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Church Government, and Pastoral Theology, in the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Dutch Church; and of Metaphysics and the Philosophy of the Human Mind, in Rutgers' College. For nineteen years, he was the acceptable Pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church, in Brooklyn. November, 1825, he entered upon his Professoral Labours, and Died the following February, on the 27th day of the Month, in the Fortieth year of his age. Respected for his Learning, Piety, Industry, and Zeal, His sudden removal from these important Stations, is deeply lamented. As a tribute to his worth, This Tablet is affectionately inscribed, By an unanimous vote of the General Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church. |