GRACE FOR GRACK OK TUK, OUERSLOWAYOR OF CENTRE THE SPIRITUAL LIFF AND IN BRING OF CHRISTYA ATT MEMOIR. MATERIALS for a lengthened Memoir of WILLIAM BRIDGE do not exist, and it is scarcely worth while for the sake of diffuseness, to enlarge upon the circumstances of the times in which he lived: although he undoubtedly occupied a prominent place in the controversies which then agitated the church and the kingdom, and by his writings on the subject of resistance to the higher powers, probably influenced considerably the minds of men at that important period. His memory is dear, not as the champion of a sentiment upon which there will always be difference of opinion, but as the able and successful preacher of the gospel of peace, as the luminous and wise unfolder of the doctrines of salvation, as the profound disputant with the enemy in the gate: here our author shone, here in his proper sphere he gained and maintained a popularity superior to most of his contemporaries, and in these discourses which he has left behind him, he still lives embalmed in the affections of the church of Christ, and still continues a profitable servant in the vineyard of his Lord. Times of difficulty and of persecution, have always been seasons in which God's ministers shine with greatest lustre. As the stars are brightest in the darkest night, so when tribulation shrouds the hemisphere in gloom, the lights in God's spiritual Israel, which in seasons of quiet or prosperity are unknown and unobserved, become visible, and men strengthened then according to the day, come forth manifesting a devotedness and an ability of which they themselves were previously unconscious; and thus, as was the case with the children of the promise in the land of Egypt, the more they are oppressed the more they grow. God's people will not for this reason make persecution the subject either of their desires or their prayers: the cross which the Lord enables his people to sustain, is the cross which he himself lays upon them: but this fact is a source of encouragement to the believer when foreboding coming calamity, and it should establish the certainty of the cheering truth, that if He who ruleth all things by the word of his power, should permit to come again into our privileged land the demon of persecution, he will raise up at the same time, such as shall be endued with the Spirit from on high, and by a larger measure of his gracious influences, animate and support the people of his love. Seldom has it been the case, that he who was great in the sunshine, continued great in the gloom. The rich and the dignified, and they of whom even the people of God hoped great things, often fall away at such a time, and walk no more with them; while most useful and much beloved, some of whom the world is not worthy, and of whom the world retains no memorial, live and walk in the light of God's manifested countenance, and feed the flock of God, at the peril of contumely, suffering and death. Amongst those thus useful, thus beloved, and thus in their personal history almost unremembered, our author must be included. We have been unable to ascertain even the town which gave him birth. That he was a native of Cambridgeshire is we believe certain, and also that he was born in the year of our Lord, 1600. He was educated at Emanuel College, Cambridge, where he entered at the age of sixteen, and became Master of Arts at the age of twenty-six. He was for many years a Fellow of this College. It has been remarked, that this College is distinguished, for having educated more who became afterwards Nonconformists, than any seven other Colleges or Halls in either University. In the year 1631, he was appointed to the lectureship of Colchester, where he continued but a short time. In the year 1633, he had a Friday lecture at St. George's, Tombland, Norwich, for which he was paid by the corporation. In the year 1636, we find that he was rector of St. Peter's, Hungate, Norwich, a living which at that time was not worth more than twentytwo pounds per annum. Here it was that he was silenced by Bishop Wren, for not being a thorough Conformist. He continued however in the city some time after his suspension, until he was excommunicated, and the writ de capiendo came forth against him. Driven thus from his native land, he took refuge in Holland, which has many times been the honoured place for sheltering the persecuted worthies of the church of Christ. He settled at Rotterdam, succeeding as pastor the celebrated Hugh Peters, and becoming thus associated with that eminent man of God, Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs. From a passage in the "Apologetical Narration," it may be inferred, that Mr. Bridge received much support from the magistrates of the city, and that many wealthy persons joined the church, some of whom had fled from the persecutions of Bishop Wren. While at Rotterdam he renounced the ordination which he had received when he entered the church of England, and was again ordained after the Independent way, by Samuel Ward, B. D.; after which he similarly ordained Mr. Ward. He returned to England in 1642, in the time of the Long Parliament, before whom he frequently preached. The thanks of both houses were constantly voted for his able discourses thus delivered, and on July 30, 1650, the sum of 100£ per annum was voted to him to be paid out of the Impropriations. It would seem from the two following letters, which have been preserved in " Peck's Desiderata Curiosa," that he was likewise consulted by the Parliament in reference to a general augmentation of ministers' salaries: we insert the letters, not as containing any intrinsic merit, but as shewing that he certainly possessed considerable influence in his day, or, to use the words of Dr. Nathaniel Johnston, in his book, entitled, "The King's Visitorial Power Asserted," and in which book there is a petition from the Fellows of Emanuel College, Cambridge, signed amongst others, by William Bridge; "He was a great preacher, and one of the demagogues of this Parliament." To Henry Scobell, Esq. Clerk of the Council of State. HONOURED SIR, I HAVE received your letters, and am glad that you are so sensible of the concernment of our Lord Christ, in the ministry of his word. The Presbyterian and Congregational Churches in Norfolk, are many; and in so short a time as one day, I am not able to inquire into their state and condition: but having lately |