three Opinions which almost all that write on this Subject chiefly insist upon 1. First Some ascribe the Origine of Fountains to the Transmutation of the Elements Air and Vapours say they getting into the Caverns and hollow Recesses of the Earth are by the Coldness of the Rocks and Stones condensed and turned into Waters as we see in Vaults and Cellers the Stone Walls will stand with Drops especially when the Air is thick and moist This Opinion glories in no less Author than him who was the great Secretary of Nature Aristotle This I confess may do something produce some little Rills and fainter Springs but the Objection against it seems rationally strong and unanswerable as to more noble Fountains which flow ubere venâ from the vast quantities of Waters they send forth which we cannot conceive how this means alone can possibly supply and furnish 2. Others suppose them to arise from the falling of Rain and dissolution of Snow soaking into the Bowels of the Earth and when it sinks into the hollow Caverns of it glides through them till it finds some vent and makes a Spring at its Eruption or place of breaking forth And tho there may be some colour for this in some Times and Places as near the Alps yet this is beset with greater Difficulties than the former from the exceeding depth of many subterraneous Waters and the Times and Places where the Rains and Snows are none or few and small and yet afford both plenteous and constant Fountains 3. Therefore the third and best Opinion and which is beset with easiest Objections is That Fountains arise from the Sea and from vast Stores and Treasuries of Water made by God and reserved under ground in vast capacious Cisterns and Cellars for this end and use And this Opinion fairly claims and pleads both the patronage of Scripture and the suffrage of Reason First of Scripture which often mentions the great Abyss the Deep the Depths the same with Plato's Barathron as the Womb and Mother of Springs Gen. 7.11 The Fountains of the great Deep were broken up to make the Flood And again chap. 8.2 The Fountains of the Deep were stopped And Job 38.16 they are call'd the Springs of the Sea Psal 33.7 He layeth up the Depth in Store-houses to be thus broach'd and issued forth Eccles 1.7 All the Rivers run into the Sea and yet the Sea is not full unto the place from whence the Rivers come thither they return again They come from the Sea through the Bowels of the Earth and return unto it through the Chanels in the Surface of it Fountains are the Mouths by which the Sea and great Abyss vomit and cast forth those mighty Streams the Rivers And with the Scripture-Testimony concur Plato and Seneca and other Naturalists And the Sum of this Opinion is That there are vast prodigious Quantities of Water reserved under ground in huge Caverns and hollow Receptacles and that the Sea hath also in the sides and bottom of it either loose spungy Earth which the Waters easily penetrate and soak through Or else large Ostia wide Clefts and gaping Orifices and Whirl-pits by which it empties out and disburdens it self of its superfluous Waters without which Evacuations and discharging of it self of that vast mass of Waters which flow continually into it by so many Rivers it must necessarily and unavoidably overflow the Earth which is most obviously manifest in the Caspian Sea which hath no visible Intercourse with or outlet into the main Ocean and yet the Waters which run into it from the might Volga in one Year were sufficient to drown that part of the World should it not have secret conveyances and ways of Evacuations to prevent its over-flowing Some have ingeniously compar'd this Terraqueous Globe to a great Animal the vast Abyss is as the Heart or Liver or the Blood-bowl in the rustick Phrase these Waters are the Blood the hollow Caverns under Ground and the Chanels of the Rivers in the Surface are as the Arteries and Veins by which this Blood circulates and where its Apertures and places of breaking forth are there are the Springs and Fountains which resemble the Orifices upon the pricking or opening of a Vein by Phleboromy And whereas the Sea is salt and many Fountains fresh this account is given That God at first made all the Waters sweet and fresh and those vast stores treasured up in the Bowels of the Earth retain those their primitive Qualities tho in great Wisdom he after made the Sea salt to prevent its Putrefaction by Stagnation and to make it fitter for the Nourishment of living Creatures in it and more commodious for Navigation the strength of the salt Water bearing those Vessels of Burden which were it fresh would sink to the bottom with their own weight an Egg will swim in strong Brine And for the Sea-Water which passes out as aforesaid the fixed Salt is strained off by Percollation and the volatil Salt partly by Evaporation by the subterraneous Fires and partly by mixing with the sweet Waters in the bowels of the Earth as also of those made of transmuted Air and Vapours and farther by Accession of Rain which soaks in and dissolved Snows which mingle with it it becomes lympid sweet and wholsome And by passing through different Soils or Minerals as Gold Silver Antimony Copper Lead Tin and Iron Vitriol Nitre Sulphur Allom and God only knows how many more it is impregnated by them imbibes their Properties and Vertues besides what useful Qualities God may in his kind Providence infuse into them and communicate immediately to render them useful and beneficial to Mankind of which no account can be given but the goodness of him who doth what ever he pleaseth in Heaven in Earth and all deep places and worketh all things according to his own good Pleasure But to sum up and reduce to order this more lax Discourse I will lay down these following Propositions 1. 'T is demonstrable by Scripture that God made the Fountains 2. He made them not as a necessary but a voluntary Agent they are not the product of his Nature but his Will 3. The Knowledg we have of the Origine of them as to their second and immediate causes is not certain and demonstrative but only probable and conjectural 4. 'T is probable some are made and others are encreas'd by Transmutation or change of grosser and moister Air and Vapours into Water 5. 'T is very probable that the wise Builder of Universal Nature hath so dispos'd and fashioned the whole System of this Terraqueous Globe that there are in it as it were Furnaces of subterraneous Fires and vast hollow Caves and winding Meanders not unlike to natural Stills and Alymbecks and Retorts which turn salt Waters into Vapours and then change both those Vapours and others suckt into the Chinks and Caverns of the Earth from the ambient Air and Mists into sweet and wholsome Waters 6. 'T is possible that some Springs arise
Superstructure to be next erected and built upon it when and where the Foundation of it his Fear is laid and well settled Glory is Excellency manifested And to give God Glory is to acknowledg the excellent Perfections of his Nature with Affections and Actions sutable to those acknowledged Perfections and to praise him for them Now both because this is expresly call'd the everlasting Gospel which is the glad Tidings of Salvation to lost Mankind by Jesus Christ which the Angel that is the Ministers of the Gospel was to preach and also because the Light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God shines in the Face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 that is the Gospel and is therein most clearly manifested We give Glory to God most eminently most acceptably by believing and obeying the Gospel That 's the true Tabernacle in which his Glory dwells in the World He hath made all his Glory pass before him in the Accomplishment of Mans Salvation by his Son's Mediation which he strives with us by his Spirit to perswade and draw us to accept and improve Herein he hath gloriously displayed his unsearchable Wisdom his infinite Power the inexhaustible Treasuries of his Grace and Mercy and the Immutability of his Truth and Faithfulness which cannot shrink or shake but stands faster than the ancient Hills And we then give him the Glory he expects when by obeying the Gospel we openly profess that we esteem him to be such as the Gospel hath declared him to be so wise so great so good so true as he is worthy to be acknowledged for what he hath done for us in and by the Gospel of his Son 3. The third degree or step in the injoyned Duty is And worship him which made the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the Fountains of Water In this third Branch he calls the World from their Superstitions to the Worship of the only true God of whom he gives a most August Description by his incommunicable Works and excludes and shuts out all Competitors from being worshipped who cannot shew their Title to it by such stupendous Works as these And as in the first he laid the Foundation and in the second raised the Superstructure so in this third he secures its standing Nothing so much threatning the over-throw and ruine of God's Glory as giving religious Worship to any thing that by nature is not God But our present Concern and Business permits me not to grasp at the whole of this Angelick Sermon nor allows me to enquire into the scope and give the Explication of the whole Prophetick Scene but confines me to the third Branch and even in that excludes a great part of the Periphrasis by which he who may and must be worshipped is described that is He that made the Heaven Earth and Sea which is a Character of the true God so proper so peculiar so exclusive of all Competitors so intelligible so awful and affecting that we meet with it every where most frequently in holy Writ in the Law the Prophets the Psalms and the New Testament But my own choice and design and I suppose your Expectation limits me to the last Syllable of this glorious Name The Fountains of Waters which when I have joyn'd to the preceptive Words in the beginning by an innocent omission of the intermediate comes to this Worship him that made the Fountains of Waters In which Words we have three Particulars to be observed 1. A Description of the Object of Religious Adoration which may and which must be worshipped Him that made the Fountains of Waters 2. An imply'd Reason of the requiring us to give such Worship to him Because he made the Fountains of Waters 3. An actual injoyning the Payment of this Homage to him under that Notion and upon that account Worship him who made the Fountains and do it for that reason because he made them Now for the clearer understanding and more useful improvement of these Particulars and to demonstrate the argumentative force of this Reason that he who made the Fountains must therefore be worshipped I shall reduce all I have to speak to them to this easy method I. To enquire what is the sole Object adequate Reason and right Notion of Religious Worship II. Who made and in a short Digression how he made the Fountains III. Why the Angel propounds him to be worshipp'd under this Notion Maker of the Fountains and how it may appear that this is a good and sufficient Reason to oblige us to it IV. Draw practical Inferences from the whole proper to us at this Place and Time I begin with the first Inquiry concerning the Object Reason and right Notion of Religious Worship The true God is the sole Object of Religious Worship Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve And the adequate reason of his Worship is because he is God that is a Being absolutely perfect which is the best Notion of God A Being which hath infinite Wisdom Power Goodness and full Authority and Dominion over us Alsufficient Ability and most gracious Willingness to help us And there are as many Reasons for his Worship as there are Proofs and Manifestations of these his adorable Perfections either in the Works of Creation and Providence as he is God of Nature or in the Work of Redemption by the Renovation and Salvation of Sinners as he is the God of all Grace Now tho I do not equallize these Reasons and affirm all of them to be of the same Evidence and Cogency Yet I say whatever Works of Nature or of Grace manifest these and the like adorable Perfections to be in him render him for that reason a suitable Object of Adoration and bind us to perform it to him Now the Worship we owe and must pay him is sometimes taken largely for the whole of true Religion by which we expect Salvation In colendo rectè Deo una salus est St. Augustin Our whole Salvation depends upon our right worshipping of God And again To love God with all our Heart and Soul and Strength and to commend God as much as possibly we can to the Love of our Neighbour Hic est Dei cultus haec vera Religio haec recta Pietas haec tantùm Deo debita Servitus De Civ Dei lib. 5. c. 4. This is God's Worship this is true Religion this is right Godliness this is the only Service due to God So that to worship God is to be truly godly and sincerely religious good in good earnest and to pay him all the Service our holy Religion exacts from us towards him But secondly The Notion of Worship is more confined and restrained and is either internal or external 1. Internal again is either the Act of the Mind Reason and Judgment Or of the Heart Soul Will and Affections In the first respect as it is an Act of our Reason Mind and Understanding it implies our knowing and acknowledging his Superiority and full
Dominion over us and esteeming him a Being so fully and absolutely perfect that in fruition of him we may be compleatly and absolutely happy and blessed Solus ille colendus est quo solo fruens beatus est cultor ejus quo solo non fruens omnis mens misera est qualibet re alia perfruatur Aug. lib. 20. contra Faustum Manich. cap. 5. He only is to be worshipped by injoying whom alone his Worshipper is made blessed and by the want of whom alone every Soul is miserable what ever else he doth enjoy In the second respect as it is an Act of our Will and Affections it implies our choice of him and adherence to him by loving fearing trusting and delighting in him submitting to him obeying and imitating of him as a Being which is the chiefest Good Great True Just Holy and the perfect Idea of all most amiable and desirable Excellencies Optimus cultus quem colis imitari saith Lactantius that is the most acceptable Worship to imitate and endeavour to be like him whom we worship Pietas cultus Dei est nec colitur ille nisi amando Aug. Epist 120. No Worship is accepted but what proceeds from Love 2. External Worship is that which expresses the inward Frame and Disposition of our Minds and Souls by apt and sutable signs of bodily Gestures as bowing our Knees uncovering our Heads Prostration of our Bodies confessing of him praying to him giving him Thanks with our Mouths and performing all the parts of his instituted Worship according to his Will and Word for not only the second Commandment requires this but the Light of Nature for Socrates a heathen Philosopher could say Vnumquemque Deum sic coli oportet quomodo se ipse colendum praeceperit Every God ought to be worshipp'd as he commands himself to be worshipp'd So that the Worship of God reaches to and is to be performed by the whole inward and outward Man and we must thereby glorify him in our Bodies and our Spirits which are both his 1 Cor. 6.20 first with our Spirits and Minds knowing acknowledging and esteeming him as a Being absolutely perfect and all-sufficient most able and willing to help and make us happy Secondly Loving him fearing him trusting in him as most good and great and true c. Thirdly With our Bodies by all those reverential Gestures which are proper Signs and Indications of the right Frame and Disposition of our Hearts towards him and this last seems to be implied in the very Notation of the Greek Word here used Ï€Ïοσκυνήσατε which is as some say derived from the Verb κÏω osculor to kiss because it was the Custom of the Eastern Nations to worship by kissing the Hand the Knee c. Psal 2. Kiss the Son c. Hos 13.2 Let the Men that sacrifice kiss the Calves Or else from κυὼν Canis a Dog from the humble Posture of a Spaniel lying at and licking of his Masters Feet For things in their own Nature low and mean may afford Allusions to and be Illustrations of matters of the highest and greatest moment and importance It implies a willing Acknowledgment of his Heighth and our Lowness his Dominion and our Subjection his All-sufficiency and our Indigency Thus much for the first Particular propounded the Sum of which is this That the true God must be worshipp'd with our Spirit Soul and Body and whatever proves him to be such is a good and sufficient Reason to engage us to perform such Worship to him whether it proceed from him as the God of Nature or of Grace II. The second thing propounded to be inquired into was Who made the Fountains of Waters and how he made them that we may both try and prove his Title to Religious Adoration upon that account The Solution of the first Branch of this Enquiry is easy by the Principles of Divinity but the second is more difficult by the Principles of Philosophy To the first therefore I may answer briefly The true God made them which the holy Scriptures both assert and prove 1. They assert it Prov. 8. seems both to be very express and very emphatical for there Solomon brings in Wisdom that is Christ the essential Wisdom of God asserting and proving his own eternal Being and everlasting Subsistence And he proves it by a double Medium or two Arguments first because he was before God's oldest Works Secondly because he was present at the making of them The first he does in five Verses from the 22d to 26 inclusively Vers 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his Ways before his Works of old Then he enumerates and gives Instances of those Works as the Earth Vers 23. I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the Earth was Next in the Depth and Fountains Vers 24. When there were no Depths was I brought forth when there were no Fountains abounding with Water Where the Earth the Depths and the Fountains of Waters are expresly call'd his Works yea the most ancient the earliest the first-born of his Works which he glories in being known by as the Father and Maker of them The second Argument by which he proves the Eternity of his Subsistence is That he was present with God when he prepared the Heavens stablished the Clouds above and strengthned the Fountains of the deep where the making the Fountains is as directly ascribed to him as the making of the Heavens This place is so full and clear it might suffice alone with the Text without adding more The Spirit of Christ speaking by the Mouth of Solomon gives us assurance that his Father made the Fountains And David saith no less for speaking of God he saith Psal 104.10 He sendeth forth his Springs into the Valleys which run among the Hills they are his Springs and he sends them forth Psal 107.33 35. He turneth the Rivers into a Wilderness and the Water-Springs into dry Ground Then again He turneth the Wilderness into a standing-water and dry Ground into Water-Springs Isa 35.6 7. In the Wilderness shall Waters break out and Streams in the Desert and the parched Land shall become a Pool and the thirsty Land Springs of Water And let it be suppos'd and granted that these Expressions are figurative and signify the pouring out of his Spirit in the Graces and Comforts of it upon desolate and weary Souls yet the thing must be first true in the literal and natural Sence that God can and doth perform such things in the course of Nature and Providence and can and will do what is like them in the Operations of his Grace Again Isa 41.18 I will open Rivers in high places and Fountains in the midst of the Valleys I will make the Wilderness a Pool of Water and the dry Land Springs of Water And in the Canticle Benedicite omnia opera commonly called the Song of the three Children which in our Liturgy is appointed to be said or sung after the first Lesson at
Morning Prayer Te Deum or that and is taken out of the Additions to Danâ—el Where all the Magnalia the signal Works of God are reckoned up and excited to bless the Lord which is to provoke Men to bless God for them There we find Fountains or Wells in the List or Catalogue of those famous Works of God O ye Wells bless ye the Lord praise him and magnify him for ever And I wish that in this place at least that Canticle were sometimes read as the Liturgy appoints for not only that Versicle is very proper but the whole very warming and enflaming I stay not to descant upon every Scripture I have cited nor to shew wherein their Strength lay to prove what I produc'd them for because I suppose such Evidence to accompany them that 't is needless and would be superfluous I may subjoin Arguments to prove that God made the Fountains though very transiently 1. Our Text supposes it and takes it for granted And both this Text and the 8th of Proverbs and many other Scriptures rank them in the same Order and Series with the Heaven the Earth and the Sea to signifie that God is as undoubtedly the Maker of those as of these 2. The true God made the Waters above the Heavens He is the Father of the Rain and he begets the drops of Dew Job 38.28 And by parity of Reason He makes the Waters under the Earth and the Mists the Vapors and the Springs that rise from thence 3. He makes the miraculous extraordinary Fountains and Streams that flow from them as that Exod. 17.6 Behold I will stand before thee there upon the Rock and thou shalt smite the Rock and there shall come forth Waters out of it Which the Psalmist ascribes to God Psa 78.15 He clave the Rock in the Wilderness and gave them Drink as out of the great Depths And Psal 105.41 He opened the Rock and the Waters gushed out they ran in dry places like a River And the other Fountains are the effects of the same Power and are accounted less miraculous only because they are more common 4. God is the great Artificer and Maker of Universal Nature He that made all things is God And whatever second causes he hath appointed and constituted as instrumental to produce the Fountains he is as truly the Maker of them still as he is the Maker of every one of us tho we had Fathers who begat us and Mothers in whose Wombs we were all formed Job 31.15 Did not he that made me in the Womb make him and did not one fashion us in the Womb Causa causae est causa causati He is as truly to be intitled to what he produceth mediately as to his most immediate Productions 5. Lastly The Scripture which is exceeding jealous of the Glory of God in point of Worship and can endure Competitors and Copartners less than a King in his Throne or an Husband in his Bed My Glory will I not give to another Isa 42.8 yet allows and requires the Glory of Religious Worship to be given to him that made the Fountains which is an infallible Inference that by the Scriptures Testimony he that made them is the true God This may suffice to prove that God made the Fountains But to demonstrate how he made them is more difficult 'T is a noble and delightful but withall a busy and perplexed Inquiry both amongst Divines and Philosophers concerning the Origine of Fountains their various useful Qualities and how they became inriched with them their Perennity and constant flowing for so many Ages their vast depth in the lowest Bowels of the Earth where they are often found and again their strange ascent and heighth and breaking out as they sometimes do in the highest Tops and Summities of Mountains and many more of no less difficult Solution But tho the search into these things be exceeding pleasant to inquisitive Minds and it might not be unwelcome to many of you to discuss them Yet it is not so proper for the Pulpit as the Schools and would not well become a Discourse which designs to minister to Devotion rather than to gratify your Curiosity and delight your Fancies Yet that I may not tantalize your Minds by a meer starting of Questions nor disoblige you by a vexing Disappointment I will first refer you to those Authors who by what they say themselves and by directing you to near an hundred more may if not satisfy the curious yet weary the most inquisitive and industrious and having done that tho I wade not through shall dip a little into these Questions In that Age which was Ingeniorum ferax about our Saviour's Birth when it seem'd good to God to raise up in and adorn the World with Wits of the first Magnitude to usher in and attend upon the Incarnation of his eternal Wisdom such as Virgil Tully Ovid Horace liv'd L. Annaeus Seneca that excellent and I may say Divine Moralist and learned natural Philosopher who hath fine Discourses on this Subject lib. 3. of his natural Questions And few have gone beyond him notwithstanding the advantage of coming so long in time behind him The laborious and diligent Polonian Johan Jonstonus Thaumatographia naturalis Clasis secundae Capit. 4. de origine Fontium where you may meet with the Epitome of what our own Country-man Tho. Lydiat hath written most accutely on this Subject Voetius in his select Disputations both discusses the Questions relating to this matter and gives copious References Corn. a Lapide on Ecclesiastes 1.7 is large in both disputing it himself and in referring to the Greek and Latin Fathers and Philosophers What Alstedius says is in no wise despicable Encyclop lib. 13. Physicorum part 2. cap. 8. Regula 3. and part 4. c. 2. and lib. 18. Hydrograph cap. 6. I forbear to name Aristotle and those who follow the Tract of the old Philosophy or Cartesius and his Sectators in the new because they are well known to those who can or will puruse them and are referred to the first epecially in those I have nam'd already and tho it may seem an ignorant or culpable Omission to take no notice of the ingenious Mr. Thomas Burnet's new Theory of the Earth both in Latin and English I shall have occasion to mention him hereafter But not to tire my self and you with naming more the English Reader may meet with more Satisfaction than he could expect in so few Pages from any other Pen in the acurately learned and truly great Man the Author of Origines Sacrae lib. 3. cap. 4. § 6. whose great Happiness it is to speak much in a little and be short without Obscurity at once concise and perspicuous brief and clear And having before I hope satisfyingly prov'd that God made the Fountains Let me briefly touch the Way the Manner the Art by which that great and wise Artificer perform'd this Work produc'd and made them And to dismiss and wave the rest there are
or at least may be augmented such as are vulgarly call'd Land-springs from Rains and dissolved Snows soaking into and reserved in the prepared void Places or Caverns of the Earth which fail and dry up the times of Drought 7. 'T is of all Opinions most probable that the principal Fountains have their Origen from the Sea and great Abyss or huge store and treasury of Waters made and reserved in the deep Cellars of the Earth for that very end and purpose 8. 'T is very likely that the fountain-Fountain-Waters receive their several useful Qualities from the various Soils and Minerals through which they glide and imbibe and are impregnated by their different Properties while they are percollated and strained through them and become beneficial for Bathing or Potation outward or inward Application 9. 'T is probable that besides the second Causes God makes use of at least so far as any Philosophy hitherto hath or can give a full and satisfactory account God doth impress upon them and communicate to them immediately many of those useful Qualities by which they become so beneneficial to Mankind 10. Lastly whatever second Causes they proceed from or are rendred fit to be helpful and healthful by that is no prejudice to the main Truth that God makes them nor derogates ought from the Glory that is due to him for the making of them whether we consider them as ordinary Fountains for common use or extraordinary for Health and Cure of Distempers SERMON II. REV. 14.7 Worship him that made the Fountains of Waters LED by the Authority of our Lord's Example whose Sermons mostly were occasional preach'd upon visible Texts I singled out these Words as not unsuitable to this Assembly the Centre of which are the adjoyning Wells In the handling of them I reduced all I design'd to speak unto this easy Method To inquire 1. What is the sole Object adequate Reason and right Notion of Religious Worship 2. Who made the Fountains and in a short Digression how he made them 3. Why the Angel propounds him to be worship'd under that Notion Maker of the Fountains and how it may appear that this is a good and sufficient Reason to oblige us to it 4. To draw practical Inferences from the whole proper to us at this Time and Place The two former I have finish'd and sum'd up the philosophick part of my Discourse of the Origine of Fountains in ten Propositions To which Discouse my Subject almost necessitated me For as it had been a fault to have affected it and prest and drag'd it in reluctantly so had it been blame-worthy to have refus'd the Service it so freely and so fairly offered us to assist us in our main Hypothesis 'T was an Observation worthy that great Mans Wisdom who first made it I mean the wise Lord Verulam That a smattering in Philosophy disposes to Atheism but a deeper search into it and knowledg of it makes a good Divine and a better Christian We have a common saying Vbi desinit Philosophus ibi incipit Theologus what Philosophy begins Divinity finisheth I shall therefore now proceed to entertain you as becomes a Divine and Preacher in answering the third inquiry begging only those Allowances which are but equal to be given to one the obscurity of whose Station can hardly avoid contracting an habit of flat Expression and lower Notion I haste to the third and last Enquiry Why the Angel propounds him to be worship'd under this Notion Maker of the Fountains And how it may appear that this is a good and sufficient Reason to oblige us to it We may conceive a double Reason of it 1. To obviate the Superstition and Idolatry of the World which was used to worship the Fountains themselves All parts of the Creation were abus'd to Idolatry especially what appear'd most glorious and was found most beneficial As the Heavens and their Host the Sun Moon and Stars for their Beauty and Influences under the Names of Jupiter Apollo Juno Diana c. by the Romans and of Baal and Astaroth c. by the Eastern Nations so the Earth for its Fruitfulness by the Name of Ceres and Tellus And the Waters almost as much as any part of the World The Sea for its vastness by the Name of Neptune and the Rivers and Fountains for the many benefits they yielded for the perennity and constancy of their flowing which seem'd to resemble an eternal being and for the cool and shady places in which they mostly were which struck an aw and represented some kind of Sacredness Thus they had their Aquatick Goddess and Nymphs their Naiades which they supposed to dwell in them or preside over them Now as 't was usual to obviate the worship of the Host of Heaven by directing to worship him that made the Heavens and debasing the Gods that made them not The Gods which did not make the Heavens shall be destroy'd from under the Heavens Jer. 10.11 Which Verse was written in the Chaldee Tongue that the Babylonians might understand it tho all the rest of the Book be written in the Hebrew Language So to convince them of the evil of worshipping the Fountains and divert them from it he calls them to worship him that made them And we may see the more evident need of it if we consider of how large a spread this Superstition was and how deep root it had taken for there being so many Miranda and so great Beneficia so many stupendous and unaccountable natural Wonders and so many Advantages accruing to Men from Fountains of so various kinds we need not be surprized at it that they who worshipped every thing that was either very extraordinary or very beneficial to their Life or Health should idolize them And this continued so long and the World was so pertinacious in it that the Fathers of the Primitive Church were forc'd to preach and write most instantly and severely against it To name but one St. Aug. Serm. de Temp. 241. de Auguriis Nec ad Arbores debent Christiani vota reddere nec ad Fontem orare si se volunt per gratiam Dei de aeterno supplicio liberari Christians ought neither to pay Vows to Trees nor pray at or to the Wells if by the Grace of God they would be freed from Eternal Punishment And a little after Contestor vos coram Deo Angelis ejus ac de Nuncio ut nec ad illa diabolica Convivia quae aut ad fanum ad Fontesque aut ad aliquas Arbores fiant veniatis I adjure ye before God and his Angels that ye come not to those Diabolical Feasts which are made at Fountains and certain Trees And how many Superstitions have been us'd almost if not wholly to this very day about Fountains and the supposed tutelar Guardians of them is not unknown to many as might be instanced in the imaginary St. Richard at the salt Wells in Worcester-shire and many others elsewhere Now to obviate these evil Practices saith
this preaching Angel worship not the Wells or Fountains or any supposed tutelary Deities or Daemons residing in them or presiding over them but him that made them and alone can bless them Idolize not the likeness of any thing that is in the Waters under the Earth nor the Virtues of those Waters nor the faint Resemblance there seems to be of an eternal Being in their Perennity nor any thing in them or in any other Being which is made but him that is the Maker of them and the great Creator and Preserver of all things else for nil factum adorandum God made nothing to be worshipt'd and nothing must be worship'd that is made 2. But the second and more positive Reason why he directs us to worship him that made the Fountains is because the making of them is a signal proof that he is the true God and witness those Perfections to be in him for which he is truly adorable and a meet Object capable and worthy of Religious Adoration I before suggested that whatever Work of Nature or of Grace manifests the Author of it to be indued with infinite Perfections or that he is a Being absolutely and infinitely perfect is a good and sufficient Reason for the worshipping of him Now not to enquire into all or more than the signal Trinity of Attributes infinite Power infinite Wisdom infinite Goodness if the making of the Fountains be a valid and convincing Argument that he who made them hath all these is infinitely powerful wise and good nay hath but any of them supposing that they might be parted is perfect in Power only or in Wisdom or in Goodness that alone were a good Argument both that he might and ought to be worshipped Not that the making of the Fountains proves no more for I think it is easy to evince that their Maker is an Eternal Being from Prov. 8. and Eternal is truly an incommunicable Attribute and a most adorable Perfection And more might be named but we may safely confine our selves to the three afore specified and if the making of them proves him to be all or any of these he must be worship'd that is such because he is such I will touch them in order First The making the Fountains proves him infinitely powerful which we may consider in several respects 1. 'T is a Work and a Demonstration of Almighty Power to produce out of nothing that which was not to give that a Being which had none before Now there was a time when or rather before time it self was there were no Fountains abounding with Water Prov. 8.24 And his Almighty Fiat gave them Being who spake the Word and they were made who commanded and they were brought forth By the Word of the Lord were the Waters made and all the kinds and regions of them by the breath of his Mouth and the first of Genesis makes at least as signal and more repeated mention of the Waters the Deep the Seas then of Heaven and Earth Some think that the first matter the Platonists ὕλη the Scriptures Tohu and Bohu which we call the Chaos was a watery fluid Mass Mr. Burnet's Theory of the Earth is chiefly built upon this Hypothesis And the great Abyss or Barathron was the first or oldest of God's Works of Power and the Issues and Outlets thereof are the Effects of the same Power and they are those we call the Fountains of the great Deep so that the making them evidences him to be an Almighty Creator 2. Having made and shut up those vast Stores and Treasuries of Water 't is a proof of his Power to unlock and unbar those mighty Rocks and Mountains which imprisoned and shut them in and give them vent and passage and open the very Womb of the Earth and Nature that they may issue out The Jews have a saying that God keeps three Keys in his own Hand the Key of the Womb the Key of the Grave and the Key of the Barn sinifying thereby that Fruitfulness or Barrenness Life and Death Plenty and Scarcity depend immediately on him and are great Evidences of his Power and certainly it is no less to have the Key of the great Abyss 'T is one of the most majestick Proofs of the Divine Power which God himself insists upon Job 38.8 11. To shut up the Sea with doors and to say to it Hither shalt thou go and no further and here shall thy proud Wave stop themselves And 't is no less Power which cleaves the mighty Rocks to let it out than to bridle its swelling Surges by the smallest Sand. 3. He makes new sudden extraordinary Fountains when he pleases without and beyond any natural apparent Causes strikes the flinty Rock and Waters gush forth more readily than Sparks or Fire would by strikeing it with Steel He must certainly be the Almighty Lord of Nature who can unhinge it and change its Laws when ever he pleases turning the dry Ground into Water-springs 4. As the making Heaven and Earth prove his Omnipotence for 't is upon that account we profess in our Creed to believe him Almighty I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth c. No less doth the making of the Sea and Fountains prove the same for they are rank'd in the same Series in this very Text. 5. 'T is a mighty proof of his Power to continue them to supply and feed them for so many Ages that they die not but are justly stiled living Waters Preservation is a continued Creation Secondly The making of the Fountains is a proof of his Wisdom as may appear 1. In his contriving and building the whole System of universal Nature so admirably so commodiously every piece thereof agreeing so excellently with all the others that they are mutually subservient This harmonious Fabrick this exact Composition of the whole is a Work of that deep that infinite and adorable Wisdom that it is an unanswerable Argument for an intelligent Providence And may put to shame and to silence all the Atheists and Semi-Atheists in the World And tho I confess 't is more usual to instance in the Heavens as being more visible and to argue from the Scituation Motion and Position of the Sun Moon and Stars towards the Earth to render their Influences more propitious that the whole may be fruitful and a commodious Habitation that all may in good degree injoy their Comfort and their Blessing and none be wholly depriv'd or destitute nor scorch'd or spoiled by them Yet with the like advantage might we argue from the Sea and Fountains the spreading and diffusing of which through so many hidden Veins within the Earth and dislodging themselves in so many commodious places and flowing in so many chrystal cooling healthful Streams both greatly beautifies and garnisheth the Earth and renders it fertile and delightful for benefit of Man and Beasts 2. As they are so contrived that all the Phaenomena about them are unaccountable and the wisest and most inquisitive
Indigaters are at a loss and cannot solve them and find out the Reasons of them but must cry out in admiration of their Maker his Wisdom is unsearchable and in this as much as in any Works of Nature past finding out They must confess themselves posed and say with David Such Knowledg is too wonderful for me 't is high 't is deep I cannot attain to it Psal 139.6 And with the indefatigable Alstedius not be asham'd to say the best answer to the Enquiries about them is by that word of Modesty Nescio I cannot tell and with the great Philosopher dying to Euripus Non capio te I cannot comprehend thee 3. There appeareth great Wisdom in cutting out their Chanels spreading their Veins proportioning their Depth and Breadth and Length that they be not too rapid or too slow that by a longer Tract they may be duly percolated refin'd concocted imbued and impregnated sufficiently and not excessively with the virtues of the Mineral Soils that make them useful How wise is he who proportions all these and an hundred more in Number Weight and Measure 4. In the admirable and almost infinite variety and sorts and kinds of them A Poet would call them Lusus naturae lascivientis and tell you that wanton Nature never sported it self more gaily then in the various sorts and shapes of Springs and Fountains and in their strange and stupendous Properties some ebbing and flowing as the Sea some hot to seething others as cold to freezing some both in every twenty four hours hot in the Night cold in the Day some petrifying all that 's put into them others changing white the Hairs scattered on them and of them who drink them Some diutetick some purging some molifying other consolidating some salt some sweet some acid some insipid some limpid others thick some harsh others soft smooth oily c. In a word the Sea hath not so many kinds of Fish nor the Earth so many sorts of Beasts or Fruits nor the Air such diversity of Fowls and Birds as there are variety of Springs and Fountains O Lord how manifold are these Works of thine in Wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy Goodness Thirdly This his Goodness is the last of God's adorable Perfections which bubbles up yea flows exuberantly upon us in the Fountains which he makes And if any be so senceless as to ask me how the making of the Fountains prove him to be good It might be sufficient to answer such a Question by asking of another viz. Art thou not asham'd to ask it or canst thou move it without blushing But to clear it I mean by his Goodness his Beneficence or doing Good Thou art good and dost good saith David unto God Psal 119.68 He therefore doth good because he is good But he is thereby known to be good because he doth good and every Benefit he bestows upon his Creatures witness him to be a good God Acts 14.17 how do the Wells and Fountains proclaim him to be so as David Psal 93.3 of the Floods we may say The Springs O Lord have lifted up their Voice the Springs lift up their Voice to shout forth the Goodness of their Maker yea they clap their Hands Psal 98.8 applaudingly to celebrate his Praises When grateful David had said Psal 33.5 The Earth is full of the Goodness of the Lord he proves it vers 7. because he layeth up the Depth in Store-houses thereby to feed the Fountains When Moses speaking of the promis'd Land saith to the Israelites The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good Land The Character he gives of that Goodness is that 't was a Land of Brooks of Water of Fountains and Depths that spring out of the Valleys and Hills And God is said to open his good Treasure the Treasures of his Goodness Deut. 28.12 When he gives Rain from above and so when he gives Fountains from beneath Water is a great Mercy in the common use of it the World could not continue or subsist without it and unspeakably sweet and kind is that Clemency of God that makes and gives it It is impossible to reckon up how many Benefits it yields us or to declare how great that Godness is by which we do injoy it 't is a Work fitter for our Admiration then our Reckoning for Rhetorick than Arithmetick And Spring-water is the best of Waters the Life the Spirits the Quintessence of that beneficial Element the most pure pleasant wholsome lasting and every way most excellent and valuable And because ungrateful we are more prone to make a right Judgment of the worth of our Mercies by their Wants than their Injoyments consider how deplorable and sad the want of Water is and we shall soon know how good it is to have it and thence learn to acknowledg how good he is that gives it But if common Waters be so great a Blessing then extraordinary Springs are no common Mercies And God is to be confessed very good for making such mollifying Baths God's own Bethesdahs and Siloam-pools which seem attended constantly with some good Angel and not only visited at rare and seldom Seasons Purging-Springs abstirging Wells opening Obstructions sweetning the Blood thinning tough viscous Humours preventing some and grapling with and conquering other most obstinate and chronical Distempers which were opprobria Medicorrm bafled the best experienced the eldest the first-born Sons of Apollo and Aesculapius which Leviathan-like esteem'd the choicest Recipes the keenest Shafts of Galen or Hippocrates Paracelsus or Vanhelmont but as Straw or rotten Wood. Such are these Wells God hath inrich'd this barren Country with which we come hither to make use of and to wait upon his Providence in the using of them How exuberantly doth God's Goodness flow in these O that with becoming Gratitude and Love we could with a spiritual Gust relish and taste it in every Glass we drink These are his Laboratories who stiles himself Jehova Rophi Exod. 15.26 I am the Lord that healeth thee and whom David Psal 103.3 exhorts us to bless for healing all our Diseases These are Alimbecks where Almighty Goodness draws the Tinctures and the Extracts prepares the Spirits makes the Infusion mixes the healthful Potions And how unseemly is it to open our Lips to drink them in and not to open them again to confess his Goodness and give out due Praises unto him that made them 3. His Goodness appears in discovering the Vertues of such Waters How many useful things are lost for want of being known Divine Clemency is seldom single content with one Act 't was one Mercy to make them what they are a second to let us know what he had made them and thirdly to vouchsafe us Liberty and Opportunity to use them 4. 'T is great Goodness in God to make them useful and beneficial either the common or the mineral Springs Man lives not by Bread only but by the Word which proceedeth out of God's Mouth Dead things cannot minister to our
Lives but by the blessing of the living God neither can Physick prepar'd by Nature or by Art heal or help us without the concurrent Influence of him who immediately makes one and must as immediately bless both 5. Lastly Let me add one further Manifestation of his Goodness in making the Fountains which may sensibly affect those who are concern'd how little soever it may signify to others David justly ascribes it to the Goodness of God to provide for the Poor Thou Lord hast of thy Goodness provided for the Poor How many poor Families doth God provide for by the Wells They are truly Silver Streams they feed the Hungry and cloath the Naked inrich the Country yield a plentiful Crop and large Harvest to them who neither plow nor sow O that Men would praise the Lord for this Goodness and for his wonderful Works to the Children of Men Thus have I shew'd you why we are most justly call'd upon to worship him that made the Fountains of Waters Because in his making of them there is a glorious discovery of many adorable Perfections and amongst the rest his Almighty Power his unsearchable Wisdom and his inexhaustible Goodness All which not only allow and give leave but oblige and give good reason why we should worship him with all the Zeal and Love and Fervor that we can Which Consideration leads me to the fourth and last thing propounded in the beginning of this Discourse that is To draw practical Inferences from the whole and make Improvement of it proper to us at this Place and Time If we must worship him that made the Fountains that is honour love fear serve him pray to him and give him Thanks because he made them and discovers so many adorable Perfections to be in him by his making of them Then let us briefly inquire 1. What Prohibitions 2. What positive Duties flow from hence God's Word is a two-edged Sword utrinque acutus it cuts on both sides When it injoyns a Duty it prohibits what is contrary and when it prohibits Sin it injoyns the Good which is contrary to the Evil it forbids If therefore we must worship him that made the Fountains Then 1. We must not neglect him 2. Not do any thing that is contrary to his Worship 1. Let us not neglect forget or leave out him that made them gave them their Virtues and must bless them if they do us good Let us not drink as the Beasts of the Earth which all the while they drink look only down upon the Waters they are drinking of but as the Birds of Heaven which sip and look upward When we drink we lift up our Heads 't is a necessary Posture make a vertue of this necessity and when you lift up your Heads in drinking lift up your Eyes your Hearts to God in some devout Ejaculations in some spiritual Hallelujahs Good Lord vouchsafe to bless these Waters both to me and to all that drink them O thou that madest the Fountains give me cause and give me an Heart to praise thee for the making of them O ye Wells bless ye the Lord praise him and magnify him for ever who forgiveth all thy Sins and healeth all thy Diseases Glory be to thee O God whose Power Wisdom Goodness these Wells proclaim thou gavest them their Virtues thou continuest their flowing thou hast made them helpful to me and many others O continue forth thy Loving kindness to us and grant us all thy Grace to spend the Health we wait upon thee for in the Service of the Giver 2. Secondly If we must worship him that made these Fountains then let us do nothing that 's contrary to it or misbecoming those that worship him 1. In general Provoke him not in any kind to Jealousy lest they become as the Waters of Jealousy to the the guilty Woman Numb 5.27 a Curse and cause the Belly to swell and Thigh to rot God hath us here at our Good-behaviour 'T was no small Aggravation of the Israelites Sin that they provoked God at the Sea even at the red Sea Psal 106.7 where he signaliz'd his Mercy by the Waters covering their Enemies that there was not any of them left vers 11. Your Distempers are your Enemies if you expect to have them drown'd or wash'd away provoke him not at the Wells even at Tunbridg-Wells where you expect his Help for your Cure render them not as the Waters of Meribah I am neither of so stoical a Temper morose Humour or affected Conversation as to censure other Mens Liberties or to refuse to take my part in innocent Divertisements and healthful Recreations Take your Pleasures in God's Name But love not your Pleasures more than God neither let your Pleasures be ungodly nor the pursuit of your Bodies Health run you into Souls Sickness Be merry but withal be wise Divert your selves but turn not out of God's way use your Liberties but abuse them not use them not unlawfully Provide for your Satisfaction always provided you make not Provision for the Flesh to fulfil its Lusts In a word so walk so bowl so dance so play that you stake not your Souls nor by any of these or other Pastimes rob your selves of time to pray to or to praise that God who made those Wells which are the Centre of this great Confluence or may render you asham'd afraid or otherwise unfit to bow your Knees or lift up your Faces Hands or Hearts unto his holy Habitation and that neither the Foams of impure Lusts nor the Froth of less criminal Vanities may pollute or damp the Altar nor render unsavoury the Incense of your Evening Sacrifice Tertullian hath left a brave and noble Character of the Primitive Christians worthy our Imitation yea our Ambition That they so ate so drank so traded so conversed in the day as became those who remembred that they were to pray ere they slept at Night O that I could always do so And I can wish you nothing better tho I love you as my self 2. Secondly and more particularly Look upon these Wells as consecrated and made sacred by an extraordinary Presence of the God of Nature in and with them and by the helpful Virtues and healing Qualities that he that makes the Fountains hath endu'd them with And so procul procul esto prophani After the Command which injoyns God's Worship follows that which so severely forbids the taking of his Name in vain What doth this signify less then that in vain we worship him if we cease not to take his Name in vain I beseech you therefore give me leave with that Zeal which becomes my Sacerdotal Character and yet with that Modesty which knows my own meaness in that Sacred Order to beseech you to be tender of the Honour of the Name of God I hope I understand the difference betwixt reproving and reproaching and tho we are allowed and commanded to reprove some Sinners sharply cuttingly as the Greek Word signifies yet to add reproachful Reflections
Streams and Virtues you would endow this House built to his Name so near them that the Waters of the Sanctuary may flow from hence with a constant Perennity like to the Waters of these Wells and with an Healthfulness to the Souls of those that dwell here which may equal or exceed the Usefulness of the Waters to the Bodies of us Strangers who come hither to drink them And now Oh thou most glorious Lord who hast made the Fountains of Waters and thereby manifested forth thy Almighty Power thy unsearchable Wisdom and inexhaustible Goodness which render thee a most sutable Object of all possible Adoration Love and Service Accept we beseech thee the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and Praise which we offer to thee from the Altar of an humble Heart for making of these Fountains and making known and continuing their useful Virtues and for blessing them to any of us And we further bless thy glorious Name who art the Fountain of Living Waters and in whom are all our Springs for all the Streams of Mercy that flow from thee especially for thy Son and thy Spirit thy Word and thy Sacraments and that sutable Portion of it we have now been made partakers of Beseeching thee so to write in our Hearts by the Finger of thy Spirit what we have heard with our outward Ears that it may bring forth in us the Fruit of good Living to the Glory of thy holy Name the good Example of our fellow Christians the present Comfort and the eternal Salvation of our precious Souls through Jesus Christ our dearest Lord To whom with thy Majesty and eternal Spirit be rendred as is most due all Honour Love Thanksgiving Praise and Adoration now and for evermore Amen FINIS Devout Meditations of Cardinal Bellarmine made English Of the Consideration of the Waters and chiefly of Fountains CHAP. I. THE Water holds the second place amongst the Elements of this World and if that be rightly look'd upon a step may be made of it to assist the Heart's Ascent to God And if we will premise a general Consideration of Water then draw out of the Fountains a special Ascent to God Water is moist and cold and from hence it hath these five Properties For 1. It washeth and cleanseth away Spots and Defilements 2. It quencheth Fire 3. It cools and slakes the heat of Thirst 4. It joyns into one many and different things Lastly So low as it descends so high it will ascend again All which are manifest Symbols and Foot-steps of that God who is the maker of all things 1. Water washeth off bodily Stains God washeth off those that are spiritual Thou shalt wash me saith David and I shall be whiter than Snow Psal 51.7 For altho Contrition Sacraments Priests Alms-deeds do wash away Sins which are the Stains of the Heart All these are but Instruments and Dispositions He that is the Author of this washing is God alone I even I am he that blotteth out thy Transgressions for mine own sake saith God by Isaiah Chap. 43.25 And therefore the Pharisees murmuring against Christ said Who can forgive Sins but God only Luke 7. 49. And they were not mistaken in ascribing unto God only the supream Power of forgiving Sins But in that that they believ'd not Christ to be 〈◊〉 God and so blasphem'd and spake Truth in the same breath Neither doth God only like Water wash away Spots but will also be called by the Name of Water John 7.38 He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of living Water But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified Therefore the holy Spirit which is very God is living Water And of this Water speaks Ezekiel Chap. 36.25 I will sprinkle clean Water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your Filthiness and from your Idols will I cleanse you And because this celestial and uncreated Water far excels the Virtues of this terrestrial and created Water we will take notice of three Differences betwixt the washing of created and uncreated Water First That which is created washeth the Bodies Spots but not all for many it cannot get out unless it be help'd by Soap and other Instruments but uncreated Water washeth out throughly all kind of Spots for in the fore-cited place 't is said You shall be clean from all your Filthiness Secondly Created Water rarely washeth Spots so clean away as to leave no Marks or Shadows of them But uncreated Water washeth so that what is washed with it is whiter and fairer then it was before it was defiled Thou shalt wash me saith David and I shall be whiter than Snow And the Lord himself saith by Isaiah Chap. 1.18 Tho your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow tho they be red like Crimson they shall be as Wooll Lastly Created Water washeth away natural Spots which resist not him that washeth them But uncreated Water washeth away voluntary Spots which cannot be rinsed off unless the Soul be willing and spontaneously consent to him that rinseth it But so great and admirable is the Virtue of this Water that it sweetly penetrates hearts of Stone and is resisted by no hard Heart because it makes it not to resist as St. Augustin rightly observes Lib. de Praed SS cap. 8. Who can understand O Lord with how admirable Methods thou breathest Faith into the Hearts of the Unbelievers and pourest Humility in-the Heats of the proud and instillest Love into the Hearts of thy Enemies that he who a little before breathing Threatnings and Slaughter did persecute thee in thy Disciples being suddenly chang'd did willingly bear the Threats and Violences of the Persecutors for thee and for thy Church It is too much for me to search into thy Secrets and I had rather know the efficacy of thy Grace by sweet Experience than by search and because I know this Water of thine to be a voluntary Shower design'd for thine own Heritage as thy Prophet singS therefore I most humbly and submissly beg that I may be found in thine Inheritance and it may please thy Grace to descend into the Earth of my Heart that it continue not towards thee like Earth without Water dry and barren as 't is of it self being not sufficient so much as to think the least that 's good But let 's us proceed CHAP. II. VVAter quencheth Fire and that heavenly Water viz. the Grace of the holy Spirit in an admirable way and manner quencheth the Fire of carnal Lusts 'T is true Fastings and corporal Mortifications do much avail to quench this Burning but provided they be used as Instruments of the Grace of the Holy Ghost otherwise of themselves alone they signifie but very little For Love is the principal of the Affections and Passions of the Mind that governs them all and all obey it Love will not be
forc'd and if it be stopt of one side it will find Passage in another Love fears nothing dares all things conquereth all things thinks nothing hard or impossible to it self Lastly a lesser Love will yield to none but to that Love that 's greater and more mighty so carnal Love whether it pursue the Riches or Delights of the World will only yield unto the Love of God As soon as the Water of the holy Spirit begins to drop into the Heart of any Man forthwith carnal Love begins to wax cold Blessed Augustine may be our Witness who being accustomed to indulge his Lust and held it impossible for him to live without a Female Consort yet when he began to taste the Grace of the holy Spirit cry'd out in the ninth Book of his Confessions How sweet did it presently become to me to want the Suavities of Trifles and the loss of those that were my greatest Fear now was my Joy to be rid off for thou didst cast them out who art thy self the true and highest Sweetness thou didst cast them out and didst thy self enter in their stead who art sweeter than all Pleasure but not to Flesh and Blood brighter than all Light but more inward than any Secret higher than all Honour but not to the high-minded CHAP. III. FUrther Water slakes the Thirst and nothing but this heavenly Water can put an end to the various most troublesome and almost infinite desires of the Hearts of Men. So Truth it self speaking to the Samaritan Woman hath taught us John 4.13 Whosoever drinketh of this Water shall thirst again but whosoever shall drink of the Water that I shall give him shall never thirst And the case is plainly this The Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear filled with hearing Eccles 1.8 What ever can be offered to a Man cannot satiate his desire seeing he is capable of infinite Good and all created things are finite but he that begins to drink of celestial Water in which are comprehended all things desires nothing seeks for nothing more CHAP. IV. WAter conjoyns and brings into one the things that seem impossible to be united So many Grains of Bread-Corn by mixture of Water are made one Loaf and of many Particles of Earth by adding Water to them Bricks are made but much more easily and indissolubly the Water of the holy Spirit causeth many Men to become one Heart and one Soul as is spoken in the Acts of the Apostles Chap. 4.22 of the first Christians on whom the Holy Ghost had immediately before descended And our Lord when going to his Father both commended and foretold this Unity which the Water of the holy Spirit maketh when he saith John 17.20 Neither pray I for these alone but for them also that shall believe on me through their Word that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us And a little after that they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one To which Unity also the Apostle exhorts in his Epistle to the Ephesians Chap. 4.3 Endeavouring to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace There is one Body and one Spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your Calling O happy Union which makes many Men to be one Body of Christ which is govern'd by one Head and eats of one Bread and drinks of one Cup and lives of one Spirit and cleaving to God is made one Spirit with him What can a Servant more desire than that he should not only be made partaker of all his Lord's Goods but also by the indissoluble Bond of Love be made one with him his almighty and most wise and most beautiful Lord But all this does the Grace of the holy Spirit effect as living and enlivening Water when it is devoutly received in the Heart and preserv'd with all Diligence and sollicitous Care CHAP. V. LAstly Water ascends so high as it descends from above and because the holy Spirit comes down from the highest Heaven upon Earth therefore in that Man in whose Heart he is receiv'd he becomes a Fountain of Water springing up into Eternal Life as our Lord speaks to the Woman of Samaria that is to say a Man born again of Water and the holy Spirit and hath the same Spirit dwelling in his Heart lifts up thither the Fruits of his Grace from whence that Grace descended therefore O my Soul being taught and excited by these Words of Scripture say to thy Father again and again with groanings that cannot be utter'd Give me this Water which may scour off all my Spots which may quench the heat of Concupiscence which may satisfy all Thirst and all Desires which may make thee one Spirit with thy God which may become in thee a Well of Water springing up to eternal Life that thou mayest send thy Services thither before where thou hopest thy self to abide to endless Ages Not without cause did the Son of God say You being evil know how to give good Gifts to your Children how much more shall your Father in Heaven give his good Spirit to them that ask it And he said not will give Bread or Raiment or Wisdom or Charity or the Kingdom of Heaven or eternal Life but he said will give his good Spirit because in that all things are contain'd Thou therefore cease not daily to mind the Father of his Son's Promise and to say with mighty Affection and an undoubted hope of obtaining O holy Father not in confidence of mine own Righteousness but trusting in the Promise of thine only begotten Son do I pour out my Prayers to thee 'T was he that said to us How much more shall your Father give his good Spirit to them that ask him assuredly thy Son which is Truth it self cannot deceive therefore fulfil the Promise of thy Son who glorified thee upon Earth being every where obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross give thy holy Spirit to me who ask it give me the Spirit of thy Fear and Love that thy Servant may fear nothing but to offend thee and may love nothing besides thee and his Neighbour in thee Create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Cast me not away from thy Presence and take not thy holy Spirit from me Restore unto me the Joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit Psal 51.10 11 12. CHAP. VI. I Come now to the Similitude the Fountains of Water have with God for from hence the Mind may be raised up to the Contemplation of the truly wonderful and excellent Perfections of him that made them For not without just cause is God in holy Scripture called The Fountain of Life and the Fountain of Wisdom and Fountain of living Water Psal 35. Eccles 1. Jer. 2.13 And that he is the very Fountain of being
may be gathered from the Words of God to Moses Exod. 3. I am that I am he that is hath sent me to you The Apostle seems to comprehend all these together when he saith in him we live and move and have our Being for in him we are as in the Fountain of being in him we live as in the Fountain of Life in him we move as in the Fountain of Wisdom for more moveable is Wisdom than all things moveable and by its Purity reacheth every where as is said in the Book of Wisdom Chap. 7. A Fountain of Water hath with us this proper to it self that from it the Rivers arise and if the Fountains cease to feed them they presently dry up but the Fountain depends not on the Streams for it receives not its Waters from them but hath them in it self and communicate them to them This is the true Symbol and Resemblance of the Divinity for God is the truest Fountain of being seeing he receives being from no other thing and all receive from him God receives from nothing to be because it is the Essence of God to be and Essence it self is his Existence that it can neither be nor be conceived in our Thoughts that God should not have always existed or not always to exist other things may be a while and a while after cease to be because to be does not necessarily belong to their Essence as for example it is of the Essence of a Man to be a reasonable Creature and therefore he cannot be a Man and not be a reasonable Creature and if Existence were of the Essence of a Man it were impossible he should not always exist but because it is not of his Essence to exist therefore he may be or cease to be God is therefore the Fountain of being because actual Existence is included in his very Essence and this do those words signify I am that I am that is I am Being it self and receive it not from others but have it in my self to me alone it belongs that my very Essence is to be And hence it is that Eternity and Immortality are peculiarly proper unto God as saith the Apostle To the King eternal immortal the only wise God 1 Tim. 1.17 Who only hath Immortality 1 Tim. 6.16 But all things so receive their Being from God that unless they always depend on him and be preserved by his Concourse they forthwith would cease to be Hence the same Apostle saith upholding all things by the Word of his Power because unless God should sustain the Creatures they could not subsist Therefore O my Soul adore and wonder at the infinite Goodness of thy Maker who so lovingly bears up and preserveth all things tho he need them not and do not less admire and imitate the Patience of the same thy Creator who is so kind to the unthankful and the evil that he sustains them that blaspheme him and upholds them that deserve to be reduc'd to nothing neither let it seem grievous unto thee that thou art sometime required to bear with the Infirmities of thy Brethren and to do good to them that hate thee Neither is this the only Preheminence of him that is the Fountain of Being that he receives his Being from no other Fountain and communicates to all other things their Being For with us the Waters of the Fountains and the Waters of the Rivers are of the same kind and altho the Waters of the Fountains receive not their Waters from other Fountains yet have they some other causes of their Being to wit the Vapours and they again have other causes till we arrive at the first Cause which is God But O my Soul God that is thy Creator is not of the same kind with created things but stands at an infinite distance of Dignity and Nobleness and Excellency from them and truly and properly is the Fountain of Being because he not only receiveth not his Being from any other Fountain or Being but is wholly without any cause A Fountain of created Water as it was said is not from other Water yet is derived from another cause the uncreated Fountain of Being hath nothing before him depends on nothing needeth nothing nothing can hurt him but all depend on him and he can extinguish all created things with one wink of his Eye as saith the most valiant Maccabeus Admire O my Soul this Eminence this Beginning without Beginning this Cause without a Cause this infinite illimited immense and absolutely necessary Being in comparison of whom all other Beings are meer Contingencies and it may be Truth it self spake of him when he said But one thing is necessary therefore cleave to this One and serve him only and delight thy self in the love and desire of him alone and in comparison of him despise all other things at least be little sollicitous about many things seeing but one thing is necessary and that alone may be sufficient both for thy self and all others But let this be thy only care that thou mayest never fall from his Grace and study always and every-where to please him CHAP. VII MOreover God is most rightly called the Fountain of Life because he lives and hath Life in himself yea is himself Eternal Life This is the true God and eternal Life saith St. John Epist 1. Chap. 5.20 And all things which live receive Life from this Fountain and if he cease to communicate Life to them they perish and return unto their Dust as sings the holy Prophet David It is the Property of all things which have Life to beget what is like unto themselves thus God begets his Son most like himself God God and Living Living Deus Deum vivens viventem for as the Father hath Life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have Life in himself John 5.26 Now the Father hath life in himself because he is the Fountain of Life and receives not Life from any other and hath given to the Son to have Life in himself because he hath given him the same Life which he himself hath and for this reason the Son also is a Fountain of Life but a Fountain of Life from the Fountain of Life as he is God of God and Light of Light Who can explain yea who can conceive what kind of Life the Life of God is and what kind of Fountain of Life that is from whence all things that live either in the Earth or the Heavens do draw all their drops That Life which we in this state of Exile know is nothing else but an internal Principle of Motion for those things are said by us to live which some way move themselves Hence by way of Similitude they are called Living Waters which flow in Rivers and dead which stagnate in Ponds beeause those seem to be mov'd of themselves these cannot move unless they be driven by the Winds or some other external force Thy God O my Soul most truly lives and is the Author and
to fight against him Yet O Lord so inconquerable is thy Goodness that thy Patience seconds thy Bounty in continuing to us what our ill Deserts have forfeited as thou gav'st it freely without any good Desert of ours And not only in supplying our bare Necessities but furnishing of us for Convenience for Pleasure and Delight yea for recovery of those Distempers which we possibly have brought upon our selves by the abuse of thy own Blessings for the whole World is thy well-stor'd Shop and every Element is furnish'd with Supply The Air with Fowls the Water with Fish the Earth with small and great Cattel and with a numberless variety of Plants and Minerals and the Fire is the common Servant to them all to concoct their Crudities to dress and make them fit for Use and Nourishment Neither are they less apt for Physick than for Food for Medicine than for Meat To pass the rest in a grateful tho silent Admiration The Fountains are not only thy Cellars to quench our Thirst but thy Baths and thy Alimbecks where Almighty Goodness is the Operator and the God of Nature prevents the Trouble and Charge of Art O let this thy Goodness at length conquer the Obstinacy of our Rebellions that our Ingratitude and Provocations may never overcome thy Clemency and Patience that we may be so weary and asham'd of sinning against thee that thou mayest never be weary nor repent the doing of us good Amen MEDITAT V. Upon the Water of Jealousy Numbers the 5th THere are many righteous Laws and severe Threatnings in holy Scripture of the Execution of which we meet with no recorded Instance or Example Such is that of the rebellious Son being ston'd to death upon his Parents Complaint of him and testifying against him for his Disobedience Deut. 21.18 And that of the bitter Water to be drunk by the Wife of the jealous Husband which Water was to be mixt with the Dust of the Floor of the Tabernacle probably to make the Punishment Sins Anagram and to signify it should not fail of its dire Effects on them who trampled under foot the Authority of him who dwelt in it which caused her Belly to swell and Thigh to rot who was defiled Numb 5. There is a great Affinity and Likeness between God's Books of his Word and of his Works the Laws of both have righteous Sanctions either expressed or imply'd and tho we read not Examples of the Punishments of those who brake the first nor have observed instances of their Misery who have transgrest the latter yet assuredly wilful Offenders shall not escape the smart and burden of vindictive Justice O my Soul thy Maker is thy Husband provoke him not to Jealousy let not the Impunity of others imbolden thee they may feel that those surda verbera which thou canst take no notice of or he who sees their day is coming may reserve severer Wrath against that day What ever others do do thou thy Duty Love flows in these Waters make sutable returns of Love Provoke not him whose Help thou always needest and here most signally expectest not only lest thy Hopes abuse thee with a Disappointment but the expected Blessing be turn'd into a Curse and instead of opening Obstructions and yielding Help and Health they make thy Belly swell and occasion Sorrow Pain and Death MEDITAT VI. WHen I observe the great Quantities of Water drunk every Morning at these Wells it calls to my mind that Expression of David of some who drink Iniquity like Water Lust is a very thirsty and insatiable thing it never saith it is enough 't is an hydropick Sickness of the Soul the more it drinks the more it thirsts The Fountain of Corruption cannot be stopt it is impatient of a Damm If one Outlet be shut it will find or make another But O how poisonous how deadly are those draughts it swallows down with so greedy a delight We here drink innocent Healths But such Men drink much worse than Circean Cups their own Damnation How can any Sinner hope for impunity when every Sin carries its own Hell a bottomless desire after more And O most Righteous Lord 't is just and equal that they who have forsaken Thee the satisfying Fountain of Living Waters should weary themselves in their labouring after Disappointment in hewing out such broken Cisterns as can hold no Water O Thou who hast given me a Soul capable of thy Self and incapable of rest till it rest in thy self who art the Center of its Being and Desires draw me to thy Self fit me for thy Self fill me with thy Self give me to drink of those Waters of Paradise every drop of which is bigger than the Ocean Give me to hunger and thirst after Righteousness and I have the Security of his Word who cannot lie that I shall be satisfied that having a Well of Water in my self derived from thee the living Fountain I may thirst no more with an uneasy vexing deadly Thirst MEDITAT VII Ezek. 47.9 And every thing shall live whither the River cometh THe latter part of this Prophet is so dark that all Interpreters are ready to cry out as I remember Carthusianus doth when he comes to it I now enter into the thick darkness 'T is no wonder therefore that the heads of that River which brake out in those Regions of Obscurity should be more hidden than those of Nile yet undoubtedly this is that River which David saith makes glad the City of God and which he elsewhere calls the River of his Pleasure What can this be but those Waters of the Sanctuary which flow from the Throne of God and the Lamb the Graces and Comforts of thy Spirit O let that Blessed Spirit which proceedeth from the Father and the Son and whom the Nicene Creed teacheth us to call the Lord and Giver of Life come down upon us and effect more in and for our Souls than we expect or look for to our Bodies from the Waters of these Wells that by the coming of this River to us we may live the life of Grace here and may be fitted for the Life of Everlasting Glory hereafter MEDITAT VIII Upon 2 Kings 5.12 Are not Abana and Pharphar Rivers of Damascus better than all the Waters of Israel May I not wash in them and be clean and he went away in a rage With vers 17. Thy Servant will henceforth offer neither Burnt-Offering nor Sacrifice unto other Gods but unto the LORD THere 's not a greater difference betwixt the Waters in which he wash'd and the Fire by which he offered burnt Sacrifice than between the Sentiments and Language of the Syrian Leper and the cleansed Proselyte How did the Rage of his insolent Mind flame out at his disdainful Lips But when that Jordan which wash'd his Body had baptiz'd his Soul healing both with how sedate a Calmness and humble and resolved Firmness doth he devote himself to Israel's God and to the Rights of his before despised Worship Tho right
Reason be the Handmaid of Devotion and the best Stock on which to graft Religion for nothing is more reasonable than that God should communicate his Grace in his own Methods and receive our Homage according to his own Appointments yet carnal Reason truly so call'd corrupt and blinded with the malignant Influence and selfish Interest of Flesh and Blood dares rival God's Wisdom and more than mate his Authority deride it It would perhaps sound harsh if some of us should ask Are not other Waters better than these of Tunbridg-Wells How uncomely is it then to depress the Wells of Sion below the Cisterns of Sins and Creatures yet how many Abana's and Pharphar's do most prefer before God's Jordan not only desecrating the Waters consecrated to the mystical washing away of Sin and all his other holy Institutions by disbeliving God's good Promises and neglecting to make good their own but the very Fountain from which they were derived that opened for Sin and for Uncleanness in the side of Christ Not only the stagnant Pool of our Unrighteousness and the broken Cisterns of Creature Comforts but the cleanest Streams of our best Righteousnesses are Waters of Damascus compar'd to the Blood and Spirit of Christ O my Soul take heed thou equal none of them with Him in thy Esteem and Love And O my God give me such a sense of my worthless Emptiness as may make me profoundly humble And that Humility will make me thankful and that Thankfulness will inflame my Love and that Love will constrain my Obedience to a willing observance of all thy Institutions because they bear the Image and Inscription of thy Authority of thy Wisdom and thy Goodness who art thy self the Fountain of every Stream that is desirable and good Amen MEDITAT IX Upon Psal 87.7 All my Springs are in thee GOD is often called a Rock by Moses and the Prophets but especially by David and there 's good reason for that Appellation for there 's no Creature that hath not Life that hath more and more lively Resemblances of his Nature and Properties He is a strong Refuge a firm Foundation a refreshing Shade a secure Hiding-place But most eminently all Springs of Goodness are in Him and issue from him as Waters from a Rock All our Springs are in him of Life and Being of Food and Raiment of Meat and Medicine of preservation in Health and recovery out of Sickness These nether-Springs O Lord gush out upon us by the unlocking of thy Treasuries But more especially those upper Springs of Grace and Comfort Pardon and Peace And above all the Blessing of these Blessings to us and rendring of them what we pray they may be Blessings indeed O Lord my God thy Goodness is the rich Mineral through which our Springs do glide 't is this which gives them both their Tincture and their Taste renders them wholsom makes them healthful O that this may impregnate all the Streams which flow so freely to us may rectify may sanctify may bless them to us that we may bless and glorify thy holy Name in that behalf for ever Amen MEDITAT X. Upon Rev. 22.17 The Spirit and the Bride say Come and whosoever will let him take the Waters of Life freely VVHatever is beneficial insinuates it self to prove Instructive and thereby acquires a Right to be so and by doing of us good obligeth us to be good These Waters have a Voice and joyn the Chorus which ecchoing the call of the Spirit and the Bride the Church on Earth and God from Heaven invite us to come and take of the Waters of Life freely The Perennity of their Streams the free access that from the Prince to the Peasant all have to them their equal Helpfulness to rich and poor to bad and good and many more like Properties are all instructive They heal no bodily Infirmity which hath not some Distemper of our Souls to be relieved by those living Waters They teach us Perseverance and Constancy in doing well that our Goodness be not as the Morning-Dew but like their lasting Streams to yield a free approach to those who need our Help to be ready to distribute willing to communicate to be forward to do good to all O my Soul exemplify their Virtues and improve the advantages thy Body hath obtained by their use to the like helping of the inward Man Have they wash'd out the Slime the Sand the Gravel and heal'd or eas'd thee of the Stone Let it melt thy stony Heart into an Heart of flesh and be encouraged hence to believe and sue out into Performances the Promises of the Covenant of Grace which are the Springs of Salvation from the Experience of God's fulfilling what his Providence doth tacitely promise by these natural Fountains Experience breeds Hope Have they begot an Appetite Hunger and thirst thou after Righteousness Have they sweetned the Blood thin'd it and made it circulate opened and remov'd Obstructions put thou away all Superfluity of Naughtiness all Rancor Malice and Revenge fill up the circle of universal Obedience and let nothing hinder the Grace of God from having a free course through all thy Faculties Have these cut the tough the viscous Humours let those better Waters cut the Iron Sinew till thy Neck willingly bow to the sweet to the easy Yoke of Christ Have they rendred any fruitful let the barren Soul endeavour to have Christ formed in it that it may bring forth Fruit to God Have they cooled those Heats you call Heart-burnings Apply these Waters of Life to the cauteriz'd Conscience sear'd as with an hot Iron that these may quench the Burning mollify the Tumour cicatrize the Wound till your Hearts be cured of an evil Conscience to serve the living God with Purity and Peace O my Soul hear thou these kind these gracious Invitations And O my God circumcise my Heart that I may close with them and what thou offerest so freely give effectually and help me to receive thankfully and improve savingly that they may be indeed the Waters of Life in Grace and Glory that I may thirst no more Amen The end of the Meditations Some Forms of PRAYER and THANKSGIVING to assist the Devotion of those who drink the Waters of Tunbridg-Wells or wait upon God's Providence in the use of other Mineral Fountains PRAYER I. O Almighty God and our most merciful Father in Jesus Christ who by the Mouth of him thy dearest Son hast taught us that Man lives not by Bread only but by the Word which proceedeth out of thy Mouth We know that dead things cannot give us Life without the Influence and Blessing of Thee who art the living God nor any preparations of Art or Nature heal us without thy Healing Concurrence who stilest thy Self The Lord that healeth We therefore most humbly beseech thee to accompany with thy Blessing and to crown with a desided and merciful Success the use we make of these Medicinal Waters that they may occasion neither Sin nor Sickness
Justify us freely in his Blood sanctify us throughly by his Spirit and let him be made of God to us Wisdom to preserve us from the deceitfulness of Sin Sanctification to deliver us from the filthiness of Sin Redemption to free us from the bondage and dominion of Sin and Righteousness to save us from the guilt and damnation of Sin that we may never perish but have Everlasting Life All which we beg for his sake who is thy Christ and our Jesus to whom with thy Self and thy eternal Spirit be ascribed everlasting Praise and Glory for evermore Amen The end of the Prayers Forms of Thanksgiving I. O LORD most Mighty the great Creator of all things in Heaven and Earth whose Works are the Witnesses of Thy Being and of the adorable Perfections of thy Nature We bless and magnify thy glorious Name for all thy wondrous Works for making the Heavens and their Host the Earth and its Store the Sea and all the Waters in it and that spring from it and in particular for making these Healing Fountains for making known their Virtues for giving us liberty to use them and for any Blessing formerly or at this season vouchsafed to us by the use of them And we pray Thee to crown these Mercies with one better than the rest even so thankful an Heart as may improve all to thy Glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen II. O Lord who art good and dost good We bless thy glorious Name for what thou art and what thou do'st for the Healing Fountain of thy free Grace and for the free Fountain of these Healing Waters for the Blessings of thy Throne and of thy Footstool for our Life and for our Livelihood for our Food and for our Physick for the Waters of the upper and the nether Springs for all thy Fountains and for all their Streams Good Lord create one Fountain more even a Fountain of Love and Thankfulness in all our Hearts and cause it to flow with constant streams of Obedience and Praise which may be acceptable in thy sight through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen III. O Lord who art pleased to declare That who-so offereth Thee Thanks and Praise honoureth Thee Accept our unfeigned desires to honour Thee by giving thee Thanks and Praise with our whole Hearts and our whole Souls for thy manifold and inestimable Mercies vouchsafed unto us Not unto us Lord not unto us but to thy holy Name be given Glory We are less than the least of thy Mercies We deserved none before we had them we have forfeited all since we had them yet art thou pleased of thy Astonishing Goodness to give us new Instances of Mercy every day Lord give us a renewed sense of them all and an holy Zeal with humble Hearts to honour Thee for them all through Him by whom they are conveyed to us that is thy Son our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen IV. O Almighty and infinitely gracious Lord God we desire to fear Thee to give Thee Glory and to worship Thee that madest the Heaven and the Earth and the Sea and the Fountains of Water and for making these in particular of which we drink daily with so much satisfaction and expectation of relief We beseech Thee let not our Provocations disappoint our Hopes but pardon those and nourish these and crown them with a blessed success that we may ever give Thee Thanks and live thy Praises through Christ our Lord. Amen V. What shall we render to the Lord for all his Benefits Let us take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord most high But who can shew forth all his Praises who can reckon up the Mercies of one Water-season Our safe Arrival under his Protection from our Habitations needful Conveniences in this place for Soul and for Body for daily Worship and for daily Bread O Lord we bless thee that we have so many Mercies to bless thee for that we have an House a Chappel built to bless thee in O let us not want Hearts to bless thee with for Christ his sake Amen VI. O Lord our God whose Power Wisdom and Goodness are signally manifested in making the Fountains of Waters We praise thee for these and all other Manifestations of thy Almighty Power unsearchable Wisdom and inexhaustible Goodness And we beseech thee help us to walk before thee as become those who do indeed believe Thee to be such by fearing thee for thy Power following the conduct of thy Wisdom and loving thee for thy Goodness and all the Manifestations of it both by thy Providence and Grace Grant this O most merciful Father for the sake of thy dearest Son and our dearest Lord and Saviour to whom with thy self and thy most blessed Spirit be ascribed everlasting Honour Praise and Glory Amen VII Almighty Lord God who by thy Power and Wisdom hast made the Fountains of the great Deep and out of the depth of thy Mercy that Fountain of Baptism the Waters of which thou hast consecrated to the mystical washing away of Sin We most heartily bless thee for creating us after thy Image for our being born in the bosom of thy Church of Christian Parents in whose right and by whose care we were dedicated to thee in holy Baptism and after brought up in the true Religion We beseech thee baptize us by the Holy Ghost Wash us from the guilt and filth of all our Sins Justify us freely Sanctify us throughly Create in us O Lord a clean Heart and renew in us a right Spirit In our Baptismal Waters inable us to quench all the fiery Darts of the Devil and to wash off all the Defilements of our sinful Flesh and to dissolve all the Snares of the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World all which we have solemnly renounced And let the same Waters so moisten our Hearts that they may be fruitful in Faith Repentance and new Obedience that we may walk before thee in Righteousness and true Holiness all our days To the Glory of God the Father who created us and God the Son who redeem'd us and God the Holy Ghost who we hope hath sanctified us to whose Name we were consecrated and to promote whose Glory is not less our Interest than it is our Duty to which undivided Trinity and eternal Unity be everlasting Praise and Adoration Amen Short Meditations and Ejaculations to be used whilst the Waters are drinking HOW early do we rise to drink these Waters In the Morning shall my Prayer prevent thee O thou whose Compassions are new every morning No Man can tell the Date of these Fountains nor can any Man foretell their Period Yet are they but as yesterday to Him who is yesterday to day and the same for ever Who was who is and is to come How many Glasses have been drunk from these Wells how much more Water hath run waste how many yet remain in their pregnant Womb and how many Millions of Drops would these amount to yet