He was a good classical scholar, and he
understood Hebrew, too, as well as few men in that day understood it.
He had a commanding figure, ruled his church like a despot; had a
crowded congregation, of which the larger portion was masculine; and
believed in predestination and the final perseverance of the saints.
He was rather unequal in his discourses, for he had a tendency to
moodiness, and, at times, even to hypochondria. When this temper was
upon him he was combative or melancholy; and sometimes, to the
disgust of many who came from all parts of London to listen to him,
he did not preach in the proper sense of the word, but read a
chapter, made a comment or two upon it, caused a hymn to be sung, and
then dismissed his congregation with the briefest of prayers.
Although he took no active part in politics, he was republican
through and through, and never hesitated for a moment in those
degenerate days to say what he thought about any scandal. In this
respect he differed from his fellow-ministers, who, under the
pretence of increasing zeal for religion, had daily fewer and fewer
points of contact with the world outside. Mr. Bradshaw had been
married when he was about thirty; but his wife died in giving birth
to a daughter, who also died,--and for twenty years he had been a
widower, with no thought of changing his condition.
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