The works of William Bridge, sometime fellow of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, now preacher…The vvorks of William Bridge, sometime fellow of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, now preacher…

Thirdly. If free-remission of sin, and the sense thereof, ⟨p. 32⟩be the cause of our Holiness: then Justification by faith alone must needs be a friend unto it. For these Two, Free-remission of sin, and justification by faith alone, go together, and are ordinarily taken for one. And therefore, in the 3. of the Romans, The Apostle having said, (as the 24. verse) Being justified freely by his grace; he says (at the 28. ver.) That a man is justified by faith: and saying, That a man is justified by faith, he says, That a man is justified freely by grace; these are put together. Now, Free-remission of sin, and the sense thereof, is the Cause of all our Holiness. Ye know what the Apostle says,¹ The grace of God hath appeared unto all men, teaching us to deny Ungodliness, and worldly lusts, and to live righteously, and soberly in this present world. All Holiness comes from thence, The apparition of grace, Free-remission of sin. And ye know what it is that doth hatch the Chicken: 'tis not the fire that does hatch the Chicken; nor is it the cold water that does hatch the Chicken; but laying of the eggs under the warm feathers of the living Hen. Come to a man or woman that hath many eggs that are yet not Chickens, within a month or two, these are all become living Chickens: Say you, How comes it to pass, that all these are now living Chickens? What! did you lay these eggs unto the fire? No, for then they would have been roasted. What! did you lay these eggs in the cold water? No, then they would have rotted; but I laid them under the warm wings of the living Hen, and so they are become chickens. So you come to a living soul, a living heart, and you say, Friend, how came you to be thus enlivened, and quickened? a month or two ago, I heard you complaining of your dead heart, Oh! my heart is dead: but how came you to be thus enlivened, and to be thus quickened? Did you go and lay your heart against the fire of the Law? No, that would have scorched me, and tormented me. What? did you go and lay your heart in the cold world? No? that would have rotted me: How then? Truly, after all my fears, and after all my doubtings, I went and laid my cold heart under the warm wings of Divine-love, and so it ⟨p. 33⟩came to pass that I am thus enlivened, and I am thus quickened, as you see this day, for the which I bless the Lord for ever.