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
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
then will the Fire of this Desire blaze forth above all Desires How great will then thy Happiness O my Soul be when thy Beloved and thy Lover CHRIST will shew thee all the Treasures of the Knowledg and Wisdom of God But that such hopes may not be frustrate strive to keep Christ's Precepts for he hath said If any Man loves me he will keep my Words and he that loves me not keepeth not my Words Mean while let thy Wisdom be such as holy Job describes The Fear of the Lord is Wisdom and to depart from evil is Vnderstanding And what good soever thou beholdest in the Creatures know that it flows from God the Fountain of all Goodness and so with blessed Francis learn to to taste the Goodness of the Fountain in every Creature as in Rivolets that are derived from it Devotions for Water-drinkers OR Meditations Prayers and Thanksgiving fitted to that occasion MEDITATION I. Upon the many kinds of Diseases cured by these Waters HOW great is that Evil which Fools make a Mock of The Cause may be seen in the Effects Had there been no Sin there had been no Sorrow nor Sickness no Diseases Pain or Death The great number of Distempers is no small evidence of the great Evil of Sin 'T is a prolifick Root which bears such variety such multitude of Fruit. The great Physician Fernelius cries out Totus Homo totus Morbus which we may english by the Prophet Isaiah's Words From the sole of the Foot even to the Head there is no Soundness and not only from top to bottom but from outside to within the whole Head is sick and the whole Heart is faint And the Prince of Physicians Galen sums up the Diseases to which the Eye alone is subject to amount to no less than three hundred how many then of the whole Head how many are there of the whole Body And yet the most of what we know is the least of what we know not How many hidden Distempers and which yet know no Name are we subject to And Art is posed to keep pace with Nature and fit new Names to new Diseases And almost every Year some comes upon the Stage known by no other dress call'd by no other title but the New Fever or New Disease And yet O Lord the number of our Sins which exceed the number of our Diseases is more exceeded by the multitude of thy Mercies than the Stars outshine the Gloworms or thy Throne in Heaven is higher than thy Foot-stool on Earth He 's blind which doth not see he deserves to be struck dumb who will not confess this Truth which every day which every place proclaims but few more loudly or significantly than this Place or Season How many Miracles of Mercy doth thy Power and Goodness daily work here How many Patients wait upon thee the Great Physician How many chronical and stubborn Distempers which had baffled all the Sons of Art yield to the God of Nature Should the vast number which daily drink of this Fountain of thy Pleasure strictly confer Notes their Distempers would be found as different as their Faces not two exactly alike yet all expect and most obtain Relief O Lord by the multitude of thy unknown Mercies heal all the known and unknown Diseases of our Bodies and Sins of our Souls MEDITAT II. With Allusion to John 5.3 In them lay a multitude of Impotent Folk waiting for the moving of the Water THE mighty Confluence of which these Wells are the Centre is a very humbling a very mortifying Consideration For tho the Gallantry and Rich Attire of the Company may emulate the Courts of greatest Princes and make this Desert forget its Solitude and we may in this Wilderness find such Softness and Delicacy as uses to be in King's Houses Yet in very truth this place is but a great Hospital and the splendid Buildings which rise so fast at South-borough Rust-Hall and about Mount-Ephraim are but so many Apartments in this great Infirmatory And the Guests who fill them are but so many Impotent Lazars under the Vests of Dives Every Glass we drink for cure is a tacite Confession of our hidden Infirmities and inward Distempers and that tho array'd as the Lillies of the Field as very Grass as they Gay Beggars which wait at these Wells which are the Celler of the great House-keeper for a dole of Mercy Nothing is more insufferable than an insolent Beggar Nothing more despicable than to be poor and proud to need Relief and provoke him from whom we expect it The first Prescription every wise Physician gives his Patient is that he must be regular take what he orders and as he orders Thou Lord art our Physician we are thy Patients these Wells are thy Shop their Waters are thy Medicines thy Word the Prescription how we must use them and all thy other Gifts with Prayer and Thanks-giving O that we all may humbly and sincerely do so Amen MEDITAT III. Upon an Herse passing by towards the Wells July 22. BEing return'd to my Lodgings from the Wells and sitting in the pleasant Tent of my honoured Friend I saw an Herse pass towards the Wells And tho I had not heard of the Death of any Person of Quality hereabouts yet it put me in mind of a Passage of the wise Moralist Seneca which I think for I dare not affirm it at this distance from my Books is in 101 Epist wrote on the sudden Death of Senecio Because thou knowest not when Death will expect thee do thou expect it in every time and because thou knowest not where it will meet thee do thou look for it in every place 'T is in hope of Health and Life that Men come hither yet some who come down in a Coach have changed it for an Herse to be carried up in and when they were knocking at the Doors of Health had the the Gates of the Grave unlock'd to receive them and found what was ordained for Life to be unto Death O how good how wise is it to be always prepared to die and every day to strike Tallies with Life O Lord Jesus who wilt certainly be my Judg when I die give me Wisdom give me thy Grace to take thy Counsel while I live while I am in Health to be always ready as a wise Virgin for the coming of the Bridegroom Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find watching Good Lord vouchsafe to make me of that happy number Amen MEDITAT IV. Upon the plentiful Supply with which God hath furnished the World both for Food and Physick 'T Is a great Aggravation of our Sins that we commit them all against our Benefactor and abuse all the Creatures of God to his Dishonour To take as the Prophet Hoseah speaks his Silver his Gold his Wooll and his Flax his Bread and his Flesh his Wine and his Water his Time and his Talents and to turn them against himself and as with Weapons of Unrighteousness
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
ingrateful For whether you consider the Quantity it is stupendous or the Qualities they are most beneficial or their Motion it is wonderful All which do lead us by the Hand to the Admiration and Adoration of that God who is superlatively Great and Good to whom alone be everlasting Praises A SERMON ON REV. 14.7 And worship him that made the Fountains of Waters THE Words I have read and the Place where we are have so agreeable an Aspect upon each other that it needs no farther Intimation to shew what I design or aim at in the choice of them Nor will an Apology for my fixing on them be more necessary to any who will allow and who is not asham'd to disallow it that the Wisdom and Example of our Master CHRIST who is the essential Wisdom of the only wise God is the best and most Authentick Copy for all his Servants to write after For nothing is more notorious than that most of his Sermons were occasional preach'd upon visible Texts Improvements of earthly Objects to heavenly Purposes A Method which insensibly prepares the Auditors and innocently charms them to Attention without bespeaking it Such was that in the 4th of St. John to the Woman of Samaria who came to draw Water at Jacob's Well to stir up her desire after that living Water which he gives and of which whoever drinks shall thirst no more but it becomes in him a Well of Water springing up unto Everlasting Life And such was that in the sixth of the same Evangelist of the Bread of Life the true Bread which comes down from Heaven which he exhorts them to labour for from his observing how they followed him because he had fed them with the multiply'd Loaves I shall supercede more Instances lest I seem indecently to suspect your observing that which is so obvious and remarkable that he who runs may read it But it may possibly more need excuse that I have pitch'd upon a Passage in that Book which partly by its enigmatical prophetical Stile and partly by the Misadventures of those who have adventur'd to unriddle it seems like that little Book in the Angel's Hand Chap. 5.1 2 3. of which none on Earth have been found worthy to unloose the Seals and bless the World with a clear Interpretation of it But I hope this modest short Reply may suffice to remove that Prejudice What St. Augustin observ'd of the whole Scripture is applicable to this part of it the Apocalyps Tho there be depths in which the Elephant may swim there are also Shallows in which the Lamb may wade And tho its Prophecies are so profound we want a Line to sound and fathom them and must wait till Events and Completions their best and only infallible Interpreters render them intelligible and plain and which might be written not to gratify our Curiosity with the fore-Knowledg of what is future but to confirm their Faith who shall live to see them fulfill'd that they who see them come to pass may believe as our Saviour speaks on the like account St. John 14.29 Yet are there many doctrinal Truths and moral practical Duties in this very Book most easy plain and clear and no where to be found more intelligibly exprest or more positively asserted Such as are the Divinity of Christ The truth and efficacy of his Death and Resurrection that there are Eternal Rewards and Punishments for good and bad Men That the true God is only to be worshipped that he is to be adored and celebrated for his wonderful Works and for that Wisdom Power and Goodness which shines forth in them I might give many more Instances of the like kind and say of them all as St. Augustin doth expresly of many Passages in this Book Tanta luce dicta sunt ut nulla debeamus in literis sacris quaerere vel legere manifesta si haec putaverimus obscura See De Civitate Dei lib. 20. cap. 17. They are spoken with so much Light and Clearness that nothing in sacred Writ is to be esteemed plain and easy if these Truths be reckoned obscure and unintelligible But I need no other no clearer Instance than this Verse which contains the Sum of the everlasting Gospel which the Angel whom St. John saw in the preceding Verse flying in the midst of Heaven had to preach to all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People and he executes and discharges his Trust with great Faithfulness and Boldness with a loud Voice that all might hear in Isaiah's Phrase a Voice lift up like a Trumpet The main design and scope of his preaching is to call the World from their Idolatry to the Worship and Service of the true God only and to shew that in this consists the Life the Soul the Spirit of true Religion the Sum and Substance of the Gospel to admit no Competitors with God in the matter of his Worship The whole Sermon is reduceable to two Points The Duty exhorted to and the Motive by which that Duty is prest Both which are in their kind of the highest Importance no Duty can be more necessary and indispensible no Motive can be more cogent and irresistible The hour of his Judgment is come 't is spoken of in the present Tense to shew the immutable certainty shall as surely come as if it were come already And he that considers this and is not awakened by it is not restrained from worshipping what is not God and provoked effectually to serve and worship him hath an Heart harder than an Anvil or an Adamant The Duty is one for Substance but hath three Parts or Degrees preparatory or subservient to one another 1. Fear God 2. Give him Glory 3. Worship him To which last is added a most august Periphasis to describe him viz. Who made the Heaven the Earth the Sea and the Fountains The first prepares for the other two 1. The Fear of God is the Foundation and Corner-stone of all Religion Both David and Solomon assure us that 't is the Beginning the Head the Top of Wisdom even of that by which Men become wise unto Salvation 'T is the Character of the worst of Men to have no fear of God before their Eyes An awful Dread of the Divine Majesty is the greatest and best Restraint and Barrier against all Impiety Where this is remov'd or broken down the boldest Wickedness flows in as a Flood as a Torrent and bears down all before it When carnal Security hath erased the Notions of a Divine Being there 's no Impiety so bad and boundless into which Men will not run and rush And little hope remains that instituted and revealed Religion should avail where the very Seeds and Roots of all natural Religion are choak'd and pluck'd up They will never give God Glory who do not acknowledg his Being and Providence and retain not a deep Awe and profound Veneration for him 2. The second step or degree in the injoyned Duty is Give Glory to him This is the
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
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
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
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-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
to needful Reproofs would be as if a Chirurgion should invenom the point of his Lancet or Edge of his Incision-knife and thereby add a throbbing Anguish a vexing Torment and deadly Inflammation to the unavoidable but safe and beneficial smart to which the Patient would be perswaded to submit with Willingness in hope of Cure I can sincerely say I honour your Persons and love your Souls and would not displease you lest I thereby hinder your profiting by my Intreaties or Advice I beseech you therefore yea I again and again beseech you let not the most guilty the most criminal Offender think himself reproach'd while I reprove the Sin of common Swearing the too frequent noise of which greatly abates the innocent Pleasures of this Place and Season 'T is the direct Antithesis to the Worship we are required to give Him that made the Fountains 't is a casting off his Fear 't is a trampling his Glory under foot 't is a rendring his great his holy his adorable Name vile and contemptible cheap and base a low a common thing I hope I may without Offence profess that I cannot but pitty the Errors of their Education who esteem it a piece of good Breeding to blaspheme the Name of God and account it the most ornamental and graceful Accomplishment of their Language with a graceless Fool-hardiness to dare him to his Face to damn them If you believe there is a God and who hath the Patience to be esteem'd an Atheist and that he is a God indeed a Being absolutely perfect infinitely great and good omniscient holy just and true you may take his word He will not hold him guiltless that takes his Name in vain And I assure you 't is much wiser and safer to believe in time then to find to Eternity how fearful a thing it is to fall into the Hands of the everlasting God As for my self and I am confident in this I speak the joint Sense of my Brethren in the same sacred Order I speak it freely He desecrates his Sacerdotal Character and is unworthy to be a Priest in our holy Church who is so unfaithful and unkind as not to mind them of their Failings who in this kind sin through Inadvertency and Weakness or so cowardly as through want of Zeal for God and love to his Brother dares not admonish them who thus sin in an affected Contempt of God and Religion It was the custom of the Jews to rend their Garments when they heard the Name of the holy blessed God blasphemed And for us of the Clergy we deserve no pity if it rend not our Hearts to hear the sacred Name of God so vilely rent in pieces tho our Gowns were rent from off our Backs But I hasten to the positive Inferences 1. If we must worship Him that made the Fountains Then by parity of Reason let us learn to inforce upon our selves a due an awful Sense of God from every Creature in the making of which he hath manifested forth his glorious his adorable Perfections God's Name is written on them all Praesentemque Deum quaelibet herba refert This Universe is a great Volume and every Creature is a Letter in it as in their orderly Conjunction you may spell and read his adorable Excellencies compleatly and at large so every single Letter hath its Signification and Sound But as in the Alphabet some are Vowels sound singly and give a sound to others so in the Book of Nature some of God's Works are Vowels very vocal such as the Heaven the Earth the Sea and the Fountains worship him love and admire him in the least for God is Magnus in minimis great in the least that he hath made Digitus Dei may be seen in them But 2. Worship him more signally for making the Fountains Psal 104.1 David stirs up himself Bless the Lord O my Soul and then he gives the Reasons why and a principal one is laid down Vers 10. Because he sends the Springs into the Valleys Psal 95. which the Church hath wisely chosen as a Preface to our Publick Worship every Morning Vers 1. O come let us sing unto the Lord let us heartily rejoice in the Strength of our Salvation Vers 4. Because in his Hands are the deep places of the Earth Vers 5. The Sea is his and he made it and the Fountains of it Vers 6. O come let us therefore worship and fall down before his Foot-stool 3. Then him that made the extraordinary Fountains for Medicine for Health shall so much Power Wisdom Goodness shine forth in them and we be blind and not observe them or dumb and not express a deep and grateful sense of them O that a blessed God would superadd one healing Vertue more unto them a Power to cure the Indevotion of our too little thankful Hearts Shall they be counted worthy so great Expence of Travel Time and Money and not be worthy our thankful Praises Love and Service O thou that madest these Wells and hast opened the flinty Rocks so that Streams have issued out open our stony Hearts that sweetest Streams of Love of Praise and Adoration may flow from thence and never be dried up 4. If he must be worship'd that made the Fountains in the Fields and Desarts how much more he that made those in the Garden in the Paradise of God I mean his Church We call that sacred Vessel where the Covenant of Christianity was seal'd 'twixt God and us the Font. He makes the other as the God of Nature but the Fountain of our Baptism is signally made by him as the God of Grace 'T was he that sent St. John Baptist to baptize with Water John 1.33 And his blessed Son the holy Jesus after he was risen from the Dead and entred into his state of Exaltation gave Commission and Command to his Disciples to baptize all Nations in the Name of the Father Son and Holy-Ghost Our Baptism is a most solemn Primitive Act of Worship and Primitive Acts are ingaging Acts. 'T is as the boaring of our Ear at the door-post of God's House to shew that we must serve him for ever We therein receive the mark of the Lamb of God on our Fore-heads and on our Right-hands 't is the very Badg and Cognizance of the Worshippers of the true God through Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost in all whose Names we receive it and to whose Service we are consecrated by it we thereby oblige our selves to his Worship both in the largest and strictest Notions to his entire Service in universal unreserved Obedience and all inward and external Acts of Adoration both in Soul and Body And by how much the Privileges of Baptism are more and greater and the Obligations of it stronger and more indispensable so much more zealously should we worship him that made it for us and hath admitted us unto it Few Aggravations inhance and heighten the guilt and provocation of our Sins so much as that they are the Sins