Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	fountain_n	live_v	movable_a	32	3	15.9110	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96681	Fax fonte accensa, fire out of water: or, An endeavour to kindle devotion, from the consideration of the fountains God hath made Designed for the benefit of those who use the waters of Tunbridg-Wells, the Bath, Epsom, Scarborough, Chigwell, Astrop, Northall, &c. Two sermons preached at New Chappel by Tunbridg-Wells. With devout meditations of Cardinal Bellarmin upon fountains of waters. Also some form of meditations, prayers, and thanksgivings, suited to the occasion. By Anthony Walker, D.D.	Walker, Anthony, d. 1692.; Bellarmino, Roberto Francesco Romolo, Saint, 1542-1621. Selections, English, 1684.	1685 (1685)	Wing W302A; ESTC R230546	55,606	206

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

Spring of Life for himself in holy Scripture often intimates so much I live saith the Lord and the Prophets often repeat The Lord liveth The Lord liveth and in Jeremy God complains of his People saying They have forsaken me the Fountain of Living Water and yet he is mov'd neither of himself nor of any other I the Lord change not Mal. 3. and elsewhere God is not a Man that he should lie nor the Son of Man that he should repent or be changed And there is a Hymn sung daily in the Latin Church to this effect God who strongly all maintainest In thy self unmov'd remainest Bounding the times of each days light With the succession of the Night And altho God begets his Son he begets him without change altho he sees hears speaks loves pities judges he does all without Mutation altho he creates and preserves things or on the contrary destroys and scatters them and again renews and changeth them yet he works resting and changeth other things without being mov'd how therefore does he live if he move not himself And how lives he not if he be the Fountain and Author of Life This knot is easily untied this is absolutely sufficient to Life if the thing that lives act of it self and be not moved by another But Life for the most part in created things is a Principle of inward Motion because created things are imperfect and want many things to perform the Functions of Life but God is infinite Perfection and needs nothing out of himself wherefore he indeeds acts of himself and not moved by another but has no need of Motion or Change needs not Motion or Mutation Created things need Change that they may generate and be generated because they beget out of themselves and the thing that is begotten must be chang'd from not being into being but God begets his Son within himself and within himself proceeds his holy Spirit and neither the Son or Holy Ghost ought to be chang'd from not being unto being because they receive that Being that always was and that they receive not in time but in Eternity Created things want motion of Encrease because they were born imperfect but God the Son is born most perfect and God the Holy Ghost is breath'd forth also and produc'd most perfect Created things need the motion of Alteration that they may obtain the various Qualities they want but God wants nothing seeing his Essence is of infinite Perfection Created things want local motion because they are not every-where but God is every-where wholly Further Created things that they may see that they may hear that they may speak that they may work want many things because tho indeed they have Life yet it is imperfect and very poor but God wants nothing out of himself that he may see all things hear all speak to all and work all in all because he not only hath Life but the Life he hath is most opulent and happy and he himself is Life and the Fountain of Life And that we may give an Example in the act of seeing a Man that he may see must have a visive Power which is distinct from the Soul which properly lives he must have an Object some colour'd Body plac'd without himself he must have the Light of the Sun or some other luminous Body he must have a Medium some diaphanous Body he must have a sensible Species which may be carried from the Object to the Eye he must have a corporal Organ that is an Eye sitly made of various Humours and fleshy Tunicles he must have sensitive Spirits and optick Nerves through which those Spirits may pass he must have a duly proportion'd distance and after all must apply his Power to the act of Seeing Behold how many helps both Men and other Creatures want that they may perform one vital Action but God who truly hath Life wholly in himself wants nothing at all His infinite Essence is to him Power Object Species Light and all things else of himself and by himself and in himself God sees and clearly discovers all things which are which have been which shall be and which can be and before the World was made God saw all things neither did any thing new accrue unto his Sight or Knowledg by the Creation of all things What therefore shalt thou be O my Soul when thou shalt be partaker of his Life what great matter does God command thee when he requires thee to lay down this corporal this animal Life which is so imperfect and full of wants for thy Brethren and for God himself that thou mayest be made partaker of Eternal Life which is most rich and blessed And if it be a small matter he requires when he requires thee to despise Life how very light and little should it seem when he bids thee to distribute thy dead Riches liberally to the Poor to abstain from carnal Lusts truly to renounce the Devil and his Pomps and with thy whole Heart to breath after that Life which alone is Life indeed and Truth CHAP. VIII BUT now 't is time that as well as we can we ascend unto the Fountain of Wisdom The Fountain of Wisdom is the Word of God in the highest saith Ecclesiasticus and well he said in the Highest because the Fountain of Wisdom abundantly and copiously flows forth upon the holy Angels and the Souls of the Blessed whose Habitations are the highest Heavens To us who are conversant in this Pilgrimage and Desart not so much Wisdom it self as a slight scent and shadow of it is attainable Wherefore O my Soul affect not things too much above thee search not the Majesty lest thou be oppressed of the Glory Admire his Wisdom of whom the Apostle speaks To God only wise Rom. 16. and gratulate those blessed Souls that drink out of the Fountain of Wisdom and tho they cannot comprehend God which is proper to the Fountain of Wisdom it self yet they see the Face of God that is of the first cause without any interposed Vail and being irradiated by the Beams of his Brightness can judg rightly of all things and in that noon-day Light of Wisdom fear neither the Darkness of Errors nor Obscurity of Ignorance nor the Dimness of Opinions Aspire O my Soul unto that Happiness And that thou mayest safely attain it love with all thy Heart the Lord Jesus Christ in whom are hidden all the Treasures of the Knowledg and Wisdom of God Col. 2.3 for he hath said in his Gospel He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him John 14.21 And what else doth this signifie I will manifest my self to him but I will manifest all the Treasures of the Knowledg and Wisdom of God which lie hid in me Assuredly every Man naturally desires to know and tho carnal Lusts do in many lull these desires asleep yet when we have put off this Body that corrupts and presses down our Soul

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

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

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

nor any Inconvenience to us but prove useful and beneficial to us for the continuance restauration and confirmation of Health to our frail Bodies And as we beg thy leave to use thy Grace to use aright and thy Blessing upon the use of these Waters of the nether Springs So with humble earnestness we beg that the Waters of the Sanctuary which flow from the Throne of the Lamb of God the promised Floods of thy holy Spirit may be plentifully poured forth upon us to refresh to satisfie to cleanse to heal our parched weary and polluted Souls that so both with our Bodies and our Spirits which thou hast made by thy Power and bought with the price of thy Son's Blood we may glorify Thee our great Creator and gracious Redeemer for ever Amen II. O most holy Lord God who tho Thou art most merciful in providing relieving Remedies for thy Creatures yet art most jealous of thy Glory and expectest to be owned and acknowledged in all the Works of thy Power and Goodness to the Sons of Men. We pray thee raise up our Hearts by these Waters and beyond the Virtues of them to thy Self whose Providence hath made them what they are And as we abhor that gross Idolatry of worshipping the likeness of any thing that is in the Waters under the Earth So we pray thee preserve us from a more refined but not less criminal Idolatry of placing our Confidence in their Qualities and Virtues and forgetting Thee the Maker of them lest we provoke Thee to withdraw the Blessing we expect and inflict the Curse we have cause to fear and to make them the Instruments of thy Vengeance because we made them the Objects of our Trust and Occasions of thy Jealousie Grant this O Lord for Christ his sake Amen III. O most gracious God who delightest in Mercy and pardonest Iniquity Transgression and Sin We thy poor sinful Creatures humbly cast down our selves before thee begging the Forgiveness of our Offences which may justly cause thee to with-hold good things from us yea to turn our Blessings into Curses that what is made for the good of others might become to us a Snare and occasion of falling But we beseech thee deal not with us according to our deserts but bless to us the use of these Waters that we may receive those Benefits by them for which we may have great cause to honour love and serve thee for ever And we pray thee give us good Hearts to do accordingly for thy Mercy sake Amen IV. O Lord who art the Fountain of living Waters we confess with shame we have forsaken Thee and have hewen out to our selves empty and broken Cisterns which can hold no Water for which it might be just with thee to forsake and cast us off for ever But good Lord convince us of this Folly pardon and turn us from it Do us good by these Wells we daily see and taste of and open our Eyes as thou didst the Eyes of Hagar to see those Wells of Salvation which are hid from all but those to whom thou art pleased to shew them and help us with joy to draw from thence what may so suffice and satisfie us that we may thirst no more Amen V. Almighty God the Fountain of all Goodness we reade that thy Manna relisht agreeably and pleased the various Palats of all that ate it O that these Waters may profit every person that drinks of them how different so ever the Distempers are for which they drink them That thy Wisdom and Power may more signally appear by thy producing such various Effects from one and the same single Cause And help us all who drink of one Well to be knit together in the Bond of true Christian Charity and to praise thee for the Mercies thou bestowest on our selves and for the Mercies thou vouchsafest unto others as heartily as for our own for Christ his sake who is our common Head Amen VI. O most blessed Lord God who givest thy Blessings and alone canst bless thy Gifts We beseech thee remove thy Curse which our Sins have deserved from us from all our Injoyments and particularly from these Waters we are gathered hither to make use of and let thy Blessing so accompany and follow our drinking of them that we may be both obliged and inabled to praise thy Name through Christ our Lord. Amen VII O most gracious God who hast made a gracious Promise that all things shall work for the good of them that love thee ingraft in our Hearts such love to thy Name as may intitle us to this good Promise And altho we have forfeited our present Comforts and future Expectations of Good yet take not the Forfeitures we have made but crown with continual Patience thy former Bounty and add new Favours and suffer none of us where and while we seek for help and Ease and Health and Life to meet with Pain or Sorrow Sickness Death and Judgment But by by these Waters heal our Diseases and by a better Fountain purge away and pardon all our Sins through Jesus Christ our Lord and only Mediator Amen VIII O Lord our God who art the inexhaustible Fountain of all both spiritual and temporal good things for our Souls and for our Bodies we lift up our Hearts and Hands to Thee in Heaven for a merciful Supply of all our inward and outward Wants and that Thou wouldst sanctify and bless to us all those Supplies thy Goodness doth vouchsafe us both for our Souls and Bodies whether for Meat or Medicine and particularly these Waters that they may do us much good and no hurt and for all the benefits we receive from Thee we pray thee inable us to render to Thee such returns of Service Love and Thankfulness as Thou mayest expect and wilt accept through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen IX O most mighty God who makest the Fountains of Waters those in the Fields and Deserts as Thou art the God of Nature and that in thy Church the Fountain of our Baptism as Thou art the God of Grace We most humbly beseech Thee baptize us with the Holy Ghost and let it be the constant study of our lives to keep the Covenant we made with Thee in our Baptism and to exemplify it by such a Conversation as becomes the Gospel receiving by Faith the good Promises thou hast made to us and making good with faithfulness the Promises we then made to Thee to thy Glory the good example of all our fellow-Christians and the Comfort and Salvation of our Souls by Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen X. O most merciful Lord God who hast opened a Fountain for Sin and for Uncleanness in the Side in the Heart of thy own dear Son whom Thou sentest into this World to save his People from their Sins from all their Sins and all that is in Sin O let nothing be in vain to our Souls of all that he hath done or suffered instituted or ordained for his Peoples good

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