Charles Bridges (1794-1869), was a preacher and theologian in the Church of England, and a leader of that denomination's Evangelical Party. As a preacher he was well regarded by his contemporaries, but is remembered today for his literary contributions. Educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, he was ordained in 1817 and served from 1823 to 1849 as vicar of Old Newton, Suffolk. 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 labors, how possible it were to make out a most beneficial expenditure of all his strength and all his time amongst them.' After Bridges wrote his "Exposition of Psalms 119" in 1827, at least twenty-four printings of the book were published during his lifetime. Charles Spurgeon considered the commentary to be 'worth its weight in gold'. Spurgeon also pronounced Bridges' Exposition of Proverbs 'The best work on the Proverbs'.