The chapter I found to be most encouraging was 'A Lifting up in the Case of Great Sins.' The following lines are characteristic of William Bridge’s thought, 'Let Christians carry this rule always up and down with them, namely, that a man is to be humbled for his sin, although it be never so small, but he is not to be discouraged for his sin, though it be never so great.

This is one of the more encouraging books by the Puritans, who tend to be very encouraging and practical in their writings. This book one more glorious representative of that wisdom.more

When it comes to the cure of souls, the Puritan pastors are unparalleled - scriptural, sympathetic, insightful, encouraging, comforting, and wise. The best cure for that is actually to read them. My reason for doing that is that I wanted those meditations to be encouraging, and who is more encouraging than the Puritans?Īnd this book once again puts the lie to the ludicrous notion that the Puritans were a censorious lot. I have been chipping away at this book for some time, using a page or two of it as a quarry for my weekly meditations on the Lord's Supper. When it comes to the cure of souls, the Puritan pastors are unpar A marvelous book. My reason for doing that is that I wanted those meditations to be encouraging, and who is more encouraging than the Puritans? And this book once again puts the lie to the ludicrous notion that the Puritans were a censorious lot. Downcast Christians of the twenty-first century can find help here as surely as did past generations.moreĪ marvelous book. For example in dealing with 'great sins' he says, 'If you would be truly humbled and not be discouraged not be discouraged and yet be humbled then beat and drive up all your sin to your unbelief, and lay the stress and weight of all your sorrow upon that sin.' The general causes of spiritual depression are the same in every age. He gives directions for applying the remedy. A correct diagnosis is more than half the cure but Bridge does not leave his readers there. In dealing with believers suffering from spiritual depression, Bridge manifests great insight into the causes of the saints' discouragements such as great sins, weak grace, failure in duties, want of assurance, temptation, desertion and affliction. In dealing with believers suffering from spiritual depression, Bridge manifests great insight into the causes of the saints' discouragements such as great sins, weak grace, failure in duties, want of assurance, temptation, desertion and affliction These thirteen sermons on Psalm 42:11, preached at Stepney, London, in the year 1648 are the work of a true physician of souls. His parishioners viewed him as a charitable and candid pastor whose ministry helped many people.These thirteen sermons on Psalm 42:11, preached at Stepney, London, in the year 1648 are the work of a true physician of souls. William Bridge was an excellent preacher, able scholar, and prolific writer with a well-furnished library, but he was no ivory tower theologian. He laboured there until 1662, when he was ejected by the Act of Uniformity.īridge spent his last years at Yarmouth and Clapham, Surrey, where he died in March 1670.

That same year he accepted a position as town preacher at Yarmouth, where he organized an Independent church, and formally became its pastor in autumn 1643. Returning to England in 1641, the following year he was appointed a member of the Westminster Assembly, and proved himself a noted Independent. In 1636 he was forced to flee to Rotterdam in Holland, because of Bishop Matthew Wren’s campaign against nonconformity, and co-pastored a church there with John Ward and then Jeremiah Burroughs. He was ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1627, and served in Saffron Walden and Colchester in Essex, then becoming rector of St. Born in Cambridgeshire around 1600, William Bridge entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1619, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1623 and a master’s degree in 1626, before serving as a fellow at the college.

A lifting up for the downcast