Charles Bridges (1794–1869 [1] [2]) was a preacher and theologian in the Church of England, and a leader of that denomination's Evangelical Party. [1] As a preacher he was well regarded by his contemporaries, but is remembered today for his literary contributions. [3]
Educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, [4] he was ordained in 1817 and served from 1823 to 1849 as vicar of Old Newton, Suffolk. [1] [3] Thomas Chalmers wrote,
My excellent friend, the Rev. Charles Bridges, of Old Newton, Suffolk, finds, I am sure, most ample occupation among those six hundred people whom he may be said to have domesticated into one parochial family; and, were it not for his still more important services to the Christian church at large, would show, by his incessant labours, how possible it were to make out a most beneficial expenditure of all his strength and all his time amongst them. [5]
In 1849, he became vicar of Weymouth, Dorset, later serving as vicar of Hinton Martell, Dorset (c. 1857). [2] [6] Bridges participated (with J. C. Ryle) in the Clerical Conference at Weston-super-Mare of 1858, and also participated in the consecration of the Bishop of Carlisle in York Minster in 1860. [3]
Bridges was married to Harriet Torlesse, with whom he had at least two sons, the second of whom was physician John Henry Bridges, BA BM Oxon FRCP (1832–1906). [7]
At least twenty-four editions of Bridges' Exposition of Psalm 119 (1827) were published in his lifetime. [2] C. H. Spurgeon considered the commentary to be "worth its weight in gold". [2] Spurgeon also pronounced Bridges' Exposition of Proverbs (1840) "The best work on the Proverbs". [8]