Samuel Merrill Woodbridge

The Reverend Samuel Merrill Woodbridge, D.D., LL.D. (April 5, 1819 – June 23, 1905) was an American clergyman, theologian, author, and college professor. A graduate of New York University and the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, Woodbridge preached for sixteen years as a clergyman in the Reformed Church in America.

After settling in New Brunswick, New Jersey, he taught for 44 years as professor of ecclesiastical history and church government at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and for seven years as professor of "metaphysics and philosophy of the human mind" at Rutgers College (now Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey) in New Brunswick. Woodbridge later led the New Brunswick seminary as Dean and President of the Faculty from 1883 to 1901. He was the author of three books and several published sermons and addresses covering various aspects of Christian faith, theology, church history and government.

Biography Woodbridge served the Second Reformed Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey, for five years from 1852 to 1857. Samuel Merrill Woodbridge was born April 5, 1819, in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He was the third of six children born to the Rev. Sylvester Woodbridge, D.D. (1790–1863) and Elizabeth Gould (died in 1851). According to a genealogical chart published in Munsey's Magazine in 1907, 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 (born in 1493), was a follower of John Wycliffe. At this time, his alma mater, New York University, promoted his bachelor's degree to a Master of Arts.

In December 1857, Woodbridge was appointed to the faculty of two schools in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He would serve 44 years as a professor of ecclesiastical history and church government at New Brunswick Theological Seminary (from 1857 to 1901) and for seven years as a professor of "Metaphysics and Philosophy of the Human Mind" at Rutgers College (from 1857 to 1864). (Raven's Catalogue refers to his appointment as "Professor of Mental Philosophy." efn|Rutgers would later become a nonsectarian public university in 1945.) During his tenure at the seminary, Woodbridge also provided instruction in the areas of pastoral, didactic and polemic theology—often when there were vacancies amongst the faculty.

In 1883, the church's General Synod decided that the "oldest professor in service in the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick be styled Dean of the Seminary, and to him shall be entrusted the discipline of the Institution, according to such regulations as may be agreed upon by the Faculty." During his career, Woodbridge received honorary degrees from Union College (D.D. 1858) and from Rutgers College (A.M., 1841; D.D., 1857; LL.D. 1883).

Church historian Charles Edward Corwin recorded that Woodbridge was described as having a strong personality that "made dry subjects to glow with life," adding that he "was very firm in the faith but his loving heart made him kindly even toward those whose opinion he considered dangerous." 1883: Analysis of Systematic Theology (2nd Edition) 1895: Manual of Church History 1896: Synopsis of Church Government (Corwin's Manual gives the title Text-Book of Church Government.) 1865: "Power of the Bible", printed in The National Preacher and Village Pulpit 1867: "Address" published in Richard Holloway Steele's Historical Discourse delivered at the Celebration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Reformed Dutch Church 1869: "Address" included in Proceedings at the Centennial Anniversary of the Dedication of the North Dutch Church, May 25, 1869 1871: "Discourse on Benevolence given before the General Synod at Albany", printed in Christian Intelligence (This work is described as being printed in the June 1871 issue of The Christian Intelligencer of the Reformed Dutch Church according to an enumeration of Woodbridge's work listed in Corwin's Manual.) 1885: "Historical Theology: An Address", included in David D. Demarest's Centennial of the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in America, formerly the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, 1784–1884 1897: "Address by Professor Woodbridge", included in Fortieth Anniversary of the Inauguration of the Rev. S. M. Woodbridge, D.D., LL.D., as Professor in the Theological Seminary of the Reformed (Dutch) Church in America at New Brunswick, 1857–1897