66 "to be read on wet Sundays. Though it is forty years ago, I remember perfectly his manner and appearance; the pleasant, kindly face, with the iron-grey hair and whiskers, the attractive style, the "clear voice, the loving, earnest way of applying his "subject, which was always divided and subdivided— a manner of preaching which has quite gone out of "fashion now. I distinctly recall one striking sermon, "the text of which was, 'He stood between the dead "and the living, and the plague was stayed.' In "those days there was a good deal of Ritualism in "the pulpit, though none in the chancel: the adjust 66 ing of the gown, unfolding of the pocket-handker"chief, the task of taking off and putting on black or lavender kid gloves,—from mannerisms of this “kind Mr. Bradley was quite free. The service, too, at his church was, for those days, hearty and con"gregational." I have included in this series the sermon which Mr. James F. Cobb, the writer of this letter, speaks of. We know that preaching at one time was unduly exalted in our Church, but now perhaps the reverse is the case. We have more ornate places of worship, better music, more cheerful services; let us not neglect the influence of good solid preaching. If a sermon like Charles Bradley's best were added after a hearty, warm service-devout, and with good singing, I cannot help thinking "Church order and Gospel truth,” so combined, would storm the very strongholds of unbelief. WYKEHAM HOUSE, ROMSEY, HANTS, April 1884. GEORGE J. DAVIES. |