was an event so gratifying to Mr. Wood's natural feelings, and so congenial with his steadiest principles, that he could not fail publicly to congratulate his hearers upon the cessation, though it might prove only temporary, of the dreadful miseries occasioned by a war so extensive and sanguinary; and to raise their ardent and grateful thanks to him who "maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; who breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder, who burneth the chariot in the fire." Ps. xlvi. 9. This beautiful and very animated discourse coming from the heart of the preacher, deeply affected the hearts of his hearers, and at their request it was given to the world. A hymn composed for the occasion is affixed to it, which shews that if Mr. Wood had cultivated his talent for poetry, he would have been a favoured votary of the sacred muse. But a better specimen perhaps is the hymn which he composed for his annual collection for the Leeds Infirmary, and which is attached to those copies of Mr. Cappe's Selection, which belong to the Congregation at Mill-Hill Chapel.

In the following year an event occurred

which enabled Mr. Wood to be of eminent service to the cause to which he was attached, and of which he was so bright an ornament. In consequence of the resignation of the late Rev. G. Walker, the office of Theological Tutor in the Academical Institution, at Manchester, became vacant, and it was debated amongst the leading Trustees, and the principal supporters of the institution, whether, considering the difficulties they had already experienced in providing tutors, and the comparatively little zeal which the Dissenters at large manifested in its success, it would not be adviseable to relinquish it altogether. This Mr. Wood, with a few others, strenuously opposed, and such was the weight of his opinion, and the authority of his counsel, that not only the proposal for discontinuing the institution was abandoned, but the most lively interest in its support was immediately and widely excited. By his advice, principally, it was removed to York, and from this period till his death he never ceased to feel the warmest concern in its welfare, nor did he spare any exertions to promote its success. And by the judicious counsel which he occa

sionally offered to the Trustees; by the im portant assistance which he frequently rendered to the writer of this memoir, who ventured upon the arduous office which he holds in this institution, chiefly in consequence of his encouragement; and by the affectionate admonitions which, in the discharge of his duty as visitor, he gave to the students, he was a principal cause of whatever credit the institution may thus far have enjoyed. The zeal which he himself felt, he communicated to the Congregation at Mill-Hill, and to some other Dissenters in Leeds; and no place in the kingdom, excepting Manchester, has contributed so constantly and so largely to the funds by which it is supported. A bequest of many valuable works in theology, which are now placed in the Library, will remain a constant memorial of his attachment to its interests.

Upon the death of Dr. Priestley, in the year 1804, Mr. Wood was lead no less by his own respect for the memory of that great and good man, than by the circumstance of his having succeeded to the same pulpit, and by the carnest request of the older members of the

society, who remembered with pleasure and with gratitude the instructions which he had so zealously and so ably dispensed to them, to pay to his eminent virtues and talents that tribute

which they so justly deserved. He was not insensible of the arduousness of the task, but he performed it with singular felicity. Fully apprized of the nature of the audience which he was about to address, aware that it would be composed not merely of those who knew and knowing revered the character of the deceased, but in part of those also who had formed their conceptions of him from the misrepresentations and calumnies which had been long, and generally and industriously diffused, who held what they knew of his doctrine in abhorrence, considered his opinions as not only false, but of a most dangerous tendency, and regarded himself as a pestilent man, and a mover of sedition," he resolved, if possible, to conciliate, and to remove these unfounded prejudices. He appeared as the apologist for both his principles and his conduct. He held up to view his large aud varied talents, he showed him to have been a strenuous defender of natural and revealed

religion, a laborious and a sincere enquirer after sacred truth, a firm believer in all the clear and undoubted doctrines of the gospel, a zealous advocate for genuine christianity, and a true lover of the British Constitution. At the same time he candidly admitted that some of his opinions were rather the speculations of an inquisitive and active mind, than the dictates of revelation; but maintained and proved, that however obnoxious they might appear to some, and be represented by others, their tendency was not unfriendly to human happiness or virtue, and that they supplied him. self with the purest principles of moral conduct, and the strongest motives to religious obedience." The concluding passage of this dis. course is peculiarly beautiful and eloquent. The wise and conciliatory method which the preacher adopted, was not ineffectual. The strong attachment which many of the audience had formed to that eminent person, whose cha racter had been so ably drawn, and so successfully vindicated, was proved to be reasonable and just, and the prejudices which others had conceived against so much real worth and excellence were either removed or lessened.