Matthew Bridges was born in England on July 14, 1800; he died in England on October 6, 1894. He was educated in the Church of England.
In 1828, he published a book against the Roman Catholic Church, entitled The Roman Empire under Constantine the Great, but later he joined it in 1848!
He published several book on politics and history. Several of his published hymns have found their way into common use. Henry Ward Beecher used some of these in his Plymouth Collection in 1855, thus bringing them to America. Bridges spent the end of his life in Quebec, Canada.
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Sources
William J. Reynolds, Companion to Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1976). page 273 & 303
The photo of Elvey can be found at: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/r/crownhim.htm
