Ordained deacon in 1864, and priest in 1865, he became curate of St Jude, Mildmay Park, under William Pennefather.
In 1865, on the recommendation of Canon A. M. W. Christopher of Oxford, he began his long service to the theological college, St John's Hall, Highbury, as tutor under Thomas Pownall Boultbee.
He became McNeile professor of biblical exegesis at St John's Hall in 1882, and principal from 1884, on Boultbee's death, until his retirement on a pension in 1898.
At Oxford he had come under the influence of John William Burgon, and through life his main interest lay in the conservative study and interpretation of the Scriptures, on which he wrote much.
James Stubbs and together they had four sons (three in holy orders) and three daughters (one a Church Mission Society missionary at Sigra, Benares).
Charles Cameron Waller (author of The Sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt And Its Relation to Secular History, The Churchman), Rev.