A77358:146
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…
The works of William Bridge, sometime fellow of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, now preacher of the Word of God at Yarmouth. The third volume. [sic] Viz. 1. The spiritual life, and in-being of Christ in all believers. 2. The woman of Canaan.The vvorks of William Bridge, sometime fellow of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, now preacher of the Word of God at Yarmouth. The third volumn. [sic] Viz. 1. The spiritual life, and in-being of Christ in all believers. 2. The woman of Canaan.
London: printed by Peter Cole, 1649
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Object. 2 I fear that my Obedience and my Holiness is not right; because it is so little, and so scant; Free-remission the fountain of all our Holiness, that is a full Fountain: and if my Holiness were a stream from that Fountain, it would be more full and more abundant: The Jews, they knew little of this Truth, Justification by faith alone, and yet they were Holy; David holy, and Moses holy, and Josiah holy: is this the fountain of all our Grace, and of all our Holiness, Free-remission and Justification by faith alone? Then the more discovery there is of this, the more Holy we should be: but alas, I find my Holiness, and my Obedience so scant, and little, that I am afraid it can never come from so full a fountain as this is.
Answ. Beloved! There is nothing little between God and a gracious soul. There is nothing small that comes from God to you, because it comes from an infinite God: There is nothing small that goes from a gracious soul unto God again, because it comes from an infinite desire of pleasing God. It is one thing to be more in the Shell, and another thing to be more in the Kernel. Luther professes, that when he was a Monk (as it seems by his writings he was fifteen years in a Cloister.) Says he, When I was a Monk, I was a great deal more Holy then, according to the outward appearance, than I am now: then I Prayed, and then I Fasted, and then I Macerated my body, and then I went meanly; but now I Eat, and I Drink, and I Clothe my self as others do; and yet now one little Prayer, is more accepted ⟨p. 42⟩with God, than all my fifteen years Prayers before: why? because (says he) then I prayed in a way of Works, and sought Justification in a way of Works; but now I have had a taste of this Justification by faith alone, and a little from thence is more pleasing unto the Lord, then all the fifteen years before.
Answ. Beloved! There is nothing little between God and a gracious soul. There is nothing smal that comes from God to you, because it comes from an infinite God: There is nothing smal that goes from a gracious soul unto God again, because it comes from an infinite desire of pleasing God. It is one thing to be more in the Shell, and another thing to be more in the Kernel. Luther professes, that when he was a Monke (as it seems by his writings he was fifteen years in a Cloyster.) Saies he, When I was a Monke, I was a great deal more Holy then, according to the outward appearance, than I am now: then I Prayed, and then I Fasted, and then I Macerated my body, and then I went meanly; but now I Eat, and I Drink, and I Cloath my self as others do; and yet now one little Prayer, is more accepted