But his Heavenly Father had still more important work for his young servant. In brief it may be said that both Dr. Spring and Dr. Morse were projecting plans for a school, where young men could be trained for the ministry; and each of these gentlemen, unknown to the other, fixed on the Newbury pastor as suitable for the chair of Theology. It is impossible, in a brief sketch like this, to give any account of the long and tedious delays before the final result of the two schools, with their two sets of founders, was reached. It is sufficient to say here, that at length every question was happily settled, and the new seminary, surmounting all obstacles, went into operation Sept. 28, 1808. To quote from the Columbia Centinel: "Professor Woods delivered his inaugural oration on the Glory and Excellence of the Gospel. The assembly, convened from various parts of the country on this most interesting occasion, was numerous and highly respectable. The day was delightful, and the satisfaction generally expressed gave great pleasure to the friends of the institution."

In 1810 the young Professor received the degree of Doctor of

Divinity from Dartmouth College; also, the same year, from the College of New Jersey.

Of the sentiments of affection and respect entertained for the memory of Dr. Woods by his former pupils, I have such abundant proof that I can only make a selection here and there. In a letter I have received from an able clergyman in Maine, he says: "Dr. Woods was one of the most evenly balanced men I ever knew.... His mind was equally massive and powerful. Trained to theological thought, he had traversed the whole ground of biblical teaching, and had well-considered opinions on all the subjects pertaining to the lecture-room and the pulpit. He did as much, and perhaps more, to shape the course of theological thought during the days of his prime and vigor, than any other man then living in New England.... So well had he considered all the points of the subject of which he was treating, that he had a reply to every objection, an answer to every question, a solution for every doubt, and light, if there was any, for every dark spot. Whenever , as was sometimes the case, a student with the skill of a gladiator attempted to annihilate him, or push him into a narrow place, he was always sure to floor his antagonist, and leave no opponent before him. Then the class would laughingly say afterward, 'The doctor can't be cornered.'"

"I am not given," wrote Dr. William Goodell, missionary to Constantinople, "to strong professions in the line of paying hom-

age to fellow-mortals, but I can honestly say, that I think I was never so much in danger of something approaching idolatry, in regard to the character and teachings of any man, as in regard to Dr. Woods. To call him a model and a master as a theological teacher, is but a very moderate compliment to one who, in my estimation, had no compeers, and will not soon be likely to have them."

It is with difficulty I turn from letter after letter, from among the most eminent divines of that time, expressing and re-enforcing the above sentiments.

"His written works are in five octavo volumes. His unwritten works are woven into the character and wisdom and labors and success of his many pupils, scattered all over the world. The portrait in the first volume gives you a true but faint idea of that calm, gentle, patient, and thoughtful face, into which we so often gazed. He was tall in stature, finely proportioned, with a mild, pure, blue eye. When I first knew him I was a boy, and was always delighted with the privilege of hearing his genial, enlightening, and often mirthful conversation. He seldom told a story; but when he did, it had a point and power.

"When we were 'Juniors,' we dreaded to leave the enthusiasm of Professor Stuart for the cool lecture-room of Dr. Woods. We thought his presence would make the atmosphere uncomfortable. But when we came near him and to know him, we loved him as a

teacher, and revered him almost as a father. We found him not surprising us by startling originality, or new theories, or giving new names to old things. He never cultivated prongs, but we found his thoughts clear as distilled water. There was no color in his light, but he had the power of throwing off all that was extraneous to the subject in hand, then of holding it up patiently and carefully in the light of the Bible, and, unemotionally, urging his views with logic unsurpassed. This power of discarding all that was not relevant would have given him a high position as a lawyer had he chosen that profession. Most patiently would he wait for the slowest battalion of the army; and for patience in listening to every possible objection, and then candidly meeting and answering them, I have never met his equal.

"He read human nature admirably. I recollect that when my class came to the subject of baptism, there not happening to be any Baptist brother in the class, we appointed one to present the Baptist side of the question. This he did, and so strongly that the Professor requested the class to appoint a man to reply. The class concurred, but referred the appointment back to him. He immediately appointed the same man to meet his own arguments! The recitations of the class were suspended a week to give the man time to prepare himself. The answer was deemed satisfactory to the class, and this wisdom of Dr. Woods not unlikely saved the young man from taking sides, and becoming a Baptist!

The key to the power of Dr. Woods (and his was a mighty power) was:-

"That he patiently and prayerfully adopted his belief.

"That he plainly and fully taught that belief.

"That he gave, clearly, his reasons for it; and then showed how he met, obviated, and removed objections and difficulties.

"It will readily be inferred that when every pupil had the libery to state any objection or doubt or difficulty he felt, there could be but a few theological corners that were not explored or but a few phases which were not presented. We often wrestled with him, and knew that we were wrestling against odds, but the giant would lay us on the ground so gently that there was no mortification in the fall.

"He was the profesor of theology in Andover thirty-eight years. His works show what theology was taught there during these years; and his pupils who have honored him and the seminary, as pastors, missionaries, presidents of colleges, professors in seminaries and colleges, and the like, have all, consciously or unconsciously, felt his power through all their lives. Few men ever handled so much error, and had so little of its dust cleave to them.

"The reverence that Dr. Woods paid to the Bible was deep and earnest. He ever taught that what the sun is to the earth,- light and heat, -that the Bible is to the church. I cannot too earnestly

recommend the works of Dr. Woods to all my young brethren in the ministry as a wonderful model of pure English, as a specimen of fair, manly argument, and example of logic not 'set on fire,' but pure as quicksilver, and a mine of the old Bible theology of New England. To be sure, there is no Jehu-driving; there is no effort at originality; but there is the power of conviction, of clear statement, and of Bible truth.

"Did he, in his good old age, have any forebodings of evils coming upon the church? Old men usually have such. I think he betrays a little of it in the admirable dedication of his 'Works' to his former pupils; but such clouds did not hang over him long, and he felt like Joseph: 'I die; but God will surely visit you.'

"As a controversialist, for candor, gentleness, and patience, I know not how he could be excelled. If the reader can find anything in this line superior to his 'Letters to Dr. Ware,' I know not where. They completely meet his every objection and difficulty; so completely that Dr. Ware plainly told his readers that if Dr. Woods seemed to be master of the field, they must attribute it to his skill, and not to the views he advocated! He never transfixed his opponent by hurling the spear of Ulysses through him, but bore down with logic, till his opponent was ready to cry out with the honest Quaker, 'O, argument, argument! The Lord rebuke thee!'

"These mature life-thoughts may not be in fashion to-day. We want phosphorus and the sparkling shadows of thought; but the time will come when the prophet's bones will again impart life, and the infuence of such men shall have a resurrection, - perhaps many, -and their influence come out a living power from their tombs, again and again."

One illustration of his method of dealing with men who insisted on getting from him such answers as he did not think it best to give, I have received from his successor in the chair of theology.

LECTURE-ROOM. STUDENT. "Do not your arguments for the immortality of the human soul prove the immortality of brutes?"

DR.WOODS. "The argument would still be a good one, if it did prove the immortality of brutes."

STUDENT. "But do you believe that brutes are immortal?"

DR.WOODS. "I do not say that they are immortal. I only say that my argument would be a sound one, if it proved their immortality."

STUDENT. "But is it not absurd to suppose that brutes are immortal?"

DR.WOODS. "No; it is not absurd."

STUDENT. "But do you not treat them as if you disbelieved their immortality?"

DR.WOODS. "No; I always mean to treat them in such a way

that if they should meet me in the other world, they would have no cause to reproach me."

Another time a pupil, equally persistent, asked,-

"Do you say that a free agent never does choose a smaller rather than larger good?"

DR. WOODS. "Yes; he never does."

STUDENT. "But, suppose that he should choose a good represented by one, rather than a good represented by four?"

DR.WOODS. "He would not choose it."

STUDENT. "But have I not the right to suppose that he would?"

DR. WOODS. "Oh, yes! But if he should choose as you suppose he would, then he would choose as I suppose he never would."

STUDENT. "But what would you think of a man who should choose the least of two goods?"

DR.WOODS. "Well, I should think that as far as the will was concerned, the man was decidedly spavined."

It was especially during the earlier years of his professorship in Andover that Dr. Woods was pressed into the work of publicly refuting some errors in doctrine, particularly the German theory of inspiration as unsettling to the faith of Protestant Christians. His letters, in answer to these urgent pleas that he would enter on the work of controversy, prove that he shrank from the task. It

was uncongenial. He begged to be excused, - urged that others undertake it; but the spirit manifested in his replies proved to them that he was the one. He would speak the truth fearlessly, and he would speak it in love.

His own theory was, that the Bible, and the Bible alone, was the standard of faith and practice. He believed in plenary inspiration, which was, that the Holy Spirit's superintendence of the divine record was such as to preserve the writers from all error of statement, while at the same time, not overriding their liberty of thought and expression.

The German theory, which he was combating, was the opposite extreme from verbal inspiration, and was essentially rationalistic, in that it made the individual reason the supreme judge of the contents of the Holy Scriptures.

When his conscience told him that duty demanded his voice or his pen, he stepped at once into the ranks, nor did he flinch until he had done all he could to vanquish those he considered enemies to truth. But though he used every fair argument to enforce the views he believed taught in the Word of God, toward the opponent himself he cherished none but the kindest feelings. This could scarcely be otherwise, since he never sent out a controversial letter until he had committed it to God in devout and earnest prayer.

His discussion with Dr. Ware was with regard to the true and proper deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. This doctrine he defended

strongly in New England. He held the Catholic faith on this subject of the Church of the Nicean age. His work as a pacificator of various schools of Calvinists was mainly in connection with these latter contoversies. In regard to the spirit manifested in one of these controversies, Dr. Elias Cornelius wrote; "Dr. Woods's letters to Dr. Ware rank among the best specimens of controversial writings, because baptized with the Spirit sent down in answer to the prayers of the writer."

During the height of the controversy just alluded to, Dr. Woods attended the Commencement at Cambridge, and was shown to a seat on the stage next to his opponent. A literary gentleman in the audience, greatly interested in the letters passing between these two divines, but not personally acquainted with either of them, inquired of a friend, "Who are those two sitting side by side who are so intimate?" When told that they were the public exponents of the two most prominent religious parties of the day, his surprise at their cordiality and friendliness was great.

John Pye Smith, in the London Eclectic Review, says of another controversy, at the close of a long article on the subject: "The soundness of Dr. Woods's argument is not the only merit which these letters possess. They afford an excellent example of the close and pressing pursuit of an antagonist, without, as we can perceive, the slightest improper feeling. There is no vaunting, no contempt; there are no anathemas and no imputations, but many

serious and seasonably cautious words, -the fruit of experience and sound piety."

To quote from his own words in regard to the spirit of controversies: "I have seen," he said, "that it has so often injured the beauty of men's characters and cooled the ardor of their piety, that I have earnestly endeavored to avoid the danger."