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. ^ Ioabs covnsell and King Davids seasonable hearing it delivered in a sermon before the honourable House of Commons at their late solomne fast, Feb.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. ^ The wovnded conscience cvred, the weak one strengthened and the doubting satisfied by way of answer to Doctor Fearne : where the maine point is rightly stated, and objections throughly answered, for the good of those who are willing not to be deceived.288, Religion, the Reformation and Social Change, p. and Pederson Randall J., Meet the Puritans (With a Guide to Modern Reprints), (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2006), p.93 ^ Hugh Trevor-Roper, Archbishop Laud (2000 edition), p.^ Ligonier Ministries |Meet The Puritans.^ Christopher Hill, Economic Problems of the Church (1968 reprint), p.^ Concise Dictionary of National Biography.The works of William Bridge & Biography from A Puritan's Mind website.and Pederson Randall J., Meet the Puritans (With a Guide to Modern Reprints), (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2006) Peter King, Bishop Wren and the Suppression of the 'Norwich Lecturers', The Historical Journal, Vol.William Bridge was published in 1845, and reprinted in 1989 in five hardback volumes by Soli Deo Gloria Publications. William Bridge (Volume 5)Ī large collected Works of the Rev. The refuge : containing the righteous man's habitation in the time of plague and pestilence : being a brief exposition of the 91st Psalm (1832).The righteous man's habitation in the time of plague and pestilence : being a brief exposition of the XCI.The truth of the times vindicated (1643).Ioabs covnsell and King Davids seasonable hearing it (1643), Fast Sermon for February 22.The Wounded Conscience Cured, the Weak One Strengthened and the Doubting Satisfied by Way of Answer to Doctor Ferne (1642).When believers are discouraged, they are to exercise their faith in Christ's blood and righteousness. His main point here is that faith is the help against all discouragements, and that Christ's blood is the object of faith, and faith brings peace. A Lifting Up for the Downcast, reprinted by the Banner of Truth Trust.He was Minister at the Old Meeting House Norwich for several years right up until his death.
In 1643, he preached in front of Charles I of England, making a direct attack on the Queen. There he was one of the Five Dissenting Brethren, the small group of leading churchmen who emerged at the head of the Independent faction, opposing the Presbyterian majority, and who composed An Apollegeticall Narration in 1643. He returned to Great Yarmouth and became a member of the Westminster Assembly. Bridge had "gone to Holland", ".rather than he will conform" replied, "Let him go: we are well rid of him."
Charles I of England upon hearing from Archbishop Laud that Rev. He went into exile in Rotterdam, taking the position left vacant by Hugh Peters. He came into conflict with Matthew Wren, bishop of Norwich, for Nonconformity. From 1637, he lived in Norwich as Rector of St Peter Hungate, Norwich and St George's Church, Tombland, Norwich. įor a short time in 1631, he was a lecturer (preacher) at Colchester, put in place by Harbottle Grimstone and Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick this was very much against the wishes of William Laud, then Bishop of London, who complained of the influence then held by Richard Sibbes and William Gouge, clerical leaders of the Feoffees for Impropriations. He studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, receiving an M.A. William Bridge was probably born in or around the year 1600.