Introduction

Biography

Woodbury was the son of Na­than­iel Weeks Fer­nald and Ol­ive Mel­cher, and hus­band of Hul­dah Ann Friend (mar­ried 1837).

He be­came a Uni­vers­al­ist min­is­ter in 1835, and be­gan his min­is­try in Na­shua, New Hamp­shire. He was or­dained the fol­low­ing year, and in 1838 moved to Ca­bot­ville (now Chi­co­pee), Mas­sa­chu­setts.

In 1840 and 1841 he was in New­bu­ry­port. He then spent three years in Stone­ham, and in 1845 moved to Bo­ston.

He lat­er joined the Swe­den­bor­gi­an Church of the New Je­ru­sa­lem in Bo­ston, and was or­dained in that de­nom­in­ation.

Works

• The Eter­ni­ty of Heav­en and Hell Con­firmed by Scrip­ture, and Ground­ed in the Re­ali­ties of the Hu­man Soul—Com­pen­di­um of the Theo­lo­gic­al and Spir­it­ual Writ­ings of Swe­den­borg, 1854
• God in His Pro­vi­dence (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Ot­is Clapp, 1859)
• Memoirs and Re­mi­nis­cenc­es of the Late Pro­fess­or Bush (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Ot­is Clapp, 1860)
• A View at the Foun­da­tions: or, First Caus­es of Char­ac­ter (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: M. V. Spen­cer, 1865)

A vol­ume of ser­mons, found marked for pub­li­ca­tion at his death, was is­sued un­der the ti­tle, The True Christ­ian Life, and How to At­tain It (1874).