The fervid piety of Cowper's time
and of the Evangelical revival was a thing almost of the past. The
Reverend John Broad was certainly not of the Revival type. He was a
big, gross-feeding, heavy person, with heavy ox-face and large mouth,
who might have been bad enough for anything if nature had ordained
that he should have been born in a hovel at Sheepgate or in the Black
Country. As it happened, his father was a woollen draper, and John
was brought up to the trade as a youth; got tired of it, thought he
might do something more respectable; went to a Dissenting College;
took charge of a little chapel in Buckinghamshire; married early; was
removed to Tanner's Lane, and became a preacher of the Gospel. He
was moderate in all of what he called his "views;" neither ultra-
Calvinist nor Arminian not rigid upon Baptism, and certainly much
unlike his lean and fervid predecessor, the Reverend James Harden,
M.A., who was educated at Cambridge; threw up all his chances there
when he became convinced of sin; cast in his lot with the
Independents, and wrestled even unto blood with the world, the flesh,
and the devil in Cowfold for thirty years, till he was gathered to
his rest.
Pages:
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251