Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1851-11-19
lect the richest productions. An amanu-

, lect the richest productions. An amanu
ensls was never wanting, for it was /.
: pleasure and profit for everybody to b,
in his society. His conversations gowed
} with the intellectual splendor of the ripes
scholarship. His judgment seemed to b,
so much beyond his years, that even hi.
teachers often consulted him in reference
to the gravest matters affecting the doc
trines of the Christian church, while the
reviews and the journals of the day, were
glad to get his communications, aad the
scholars of the neighborhood Away
deemed it a privilege to be where he Was.
He Was often the guest of President Kirk
land, Of Harvard University, and of the
most intellectual and scholarly men Of that
State.
He was licensed to preach after his reg
ular course of study was finished, although
he continued his studies sometime after
ward, as though he were not in his own
judgment yet qualified for the exhausting
tolls Of body and intellect which the faith
full and energetic pastor finds he must so
increasingly encounter in the pastoral
office. Fixing an exalted standard for all
his public performances, be found he could
not, with much satisfaction to himself,
write more than one sermon week but
these discourses were lstenel TO by the
most cultivated congregations, and often
by men distinguished for scieLce and
learning, with the deepest ;.stonishmcnt,
and the greatest enthusiasm. Many an
ecdotcs are in our possession, that we have
learned from Dr. Claiming, Dr.. Griffin,
Lyman Becchcr, DR. Gallaudet of Hartford,
President Kirkland, Edward Everett,
Orville Dewey, DR.. John Mason, Elisha
Williams, John Quincy Adams, and in
fact we might enroll here 4 hundred names
Of the most intellectual and eminent men
of the past generation, whom We have
heard speak of their early friend and asso-
ciate, the Blind Preacher, with the most
unrestrained admiration.
When Mr. Woodbridge took the pulpit,
he laborod chiefly on the broad SUBMITS
Of the church. Nearly all his discourses
were preached in large cities, lie was
invited to preach, and did 50, in DR.. Chan
uig's church, and the Old South of Boston,
and in DIR. John Mason's pulpit, of Now
York, and in some others. Whenever 1t
was known he was to speak, there was
wish to hear him, and his discourseS pro-
duced almost unparalleled results. No
one who heard him ever after forgot the
discourse or the man. John Mason re-
marked that he had never known apreacher
Of his age who, in his judgment, WAS so
we'll qualified to accept and ill so response
bic position as young Woodbridge. He
was pressed to settle in one Of the large
cities; but being somewhat exhausted by
constant labor from Sabbath to Sabbath
for year or two, and being compelled to
devote the entire day until late at night to
society, he felt that it was necessary for
him to suspend for season these great
labors, and he retired to Stockbridge to
pass the summer; but his solitude Was
soon broken into by a delegation from the
church in Austcritz, small village on the
eastern border Of Columbia county, about
twelve miles from Stockbridge. He was
invited to supply that pulpit, which was
then vacant, and preached with so much
acceptance to the congregation as to re-
ceive from them a call to settle as their
pastor. He accepted. His history for
the next thirty years is volume of in
conceivable interest, and we hope that DR..
Woodbridge will favor the world with
some account of his pastorate.
The motives of his resignation of the
pastoral office are, first, the settled purpose
of his life to resign it while he was still
in the glow of health: and before any Of
his faculties had become in the least degree
impaired; having through life always
cherished so high respect for the gospel
ministry, he was thoroughly resolved that
it should never suffer in his person in any
respect. The inadequacy Of ministerial
support, in country districts, is provcrbial;
but when pastor has been long settled
over a congregation, they grow slack in
paying his salary and the church at
Spencertown. which he leaves partly on
this account, has been notorious for its
remissness in this respect. The Rev. DIR.
Porter, of Catskill, was for many years
pastor of this church, and he declared that,
in his judgment, neither the congregation
nor the church could expect to flourish so
long as they were so insensible to their
duty in supporting their clergymen. Be-
sides, Dr. Woodbridge wishes, in the step
he has taken, tofndlei for completing
several volumes of writings which will