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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

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Lives but by the blessing of the living God neither can Physick prepar'd by Nature or by Art heal or help us without the concurrent Influence of him who immediately makes one and must as immediately bless both 5. Lastly Let me add one further Manifestation of his Goodness in making the Fountains which may sensibly affect those who are concern'd how little soever it may signify to others David justly ascribes it to the Goodness of God to provide for the Poor Thou Lord hast of thy Goodness provided for the Poor How many poor Families doth God provide for by the Wells They are truly Silver Streams they feed the Hungry and cloath the Naked inrich the Country yield a plentiful Crop and large Harvest to them who neither plow nor sow O that Men would praise the Lord for this Goodness and for his wonderful Works to the Children of Men Thus have I shew'd you why we are most justly call'd upon to worship him that made the Fountains of Waters Because in his making of them there is a glorious discovery of many adorable Perfections and amongst the rest his Almighty Power his unsearchable Wisdom and his inexhaustible Goodness All which not only allow and give leave but oblige and give good reason why we should worship him with all the Zeal and Love and Fervor that we can Which Consideration leads me to the fourth and last thing propounded in the beginning of this Discourse that is To draw practical Inferences from the whole and make Improvement of it proper to us at this Place and Time If we must worship him that made the Fountains that is honour love fear serve him pray to him and give him Thanks because he made them and discovers so many adorable Perfections to be in him by his making of them Then let us briefly inquire 1. What Prohibitions 2. What positive Duties flow from hence God's Word is a two-edged Sword utrinque acutus it cuts on both sides When it injoyns a Duty it prohibits what is contrary and when it prohibits Sin it injoyns the Good which is contrary to the Evil it forbids If therefore we must worship him that made the Fountains Then 1. We must not neglect him 2. Not do any thing that is contrary to his Worship 1. Let us not neglect forget or leave out him that made them gave them their Virtues and must bless them if they do us good Let us not drink as the Beasts of the Earth which all the while they drink look only down upon the Waters they are drinking of but as the Birds of Heaven which sip and look upward When we drink we lift up our Heads 't is a necessary Posture make a vertue of this necessity and when you lift up your Heads in drinking lift up your Eyes your Hearts to God in some devout Ejaculations in some spiritual Hallelujahs Good Lord vouchsafe to bless these Waters both to me and to all that drink them O thou that madest the Fountains give me cause and give me an Heart to praise thee for the making of them O ye Wells bless ye the Lord praise him and magnify him for ever who forgiveth all thy Sins and healeth all thy Diseases Glory be to thee O God whose Power Wisdom Goodness these Wells proclaim thou gavest them their Virtues thou continuest their flowing thou hast made them helpful to me and many others O continue forth thy Loving kindness to us and grant us all thy Grace to spend the Health we wait upon thee for in the Service of the Giver 2. Secondly If we must worship him that made these Fountains then let us do nothing that 's contrary to it or misbecoming those that worship him 1. In general Provoke him not in any kind to Jealousy lest they become as the Waters of Jealousy to the the guilty Woman Numb 5.27 a Curse and cause the Belly to swell and Thigh to rot God hath us here at our Good-behaviour 'T was no small Aggravation of the Israelites Sin that they provoked God at the Sea even at the red Sea Psal 106.7 where he signaliz'd his Mercy by the Waters covering their Enemies that there was not any of them left vers 11. Your Distempers are your Enemies if you expect to have them drown'd or wash'd away provoke him not at the Wells even at Tunbridg-Wells where you expect his Help for your Cure render them not as the Waters of Meribah I am neither of so stoical a Temper morose Humour or affected Conversation as to censure other Mens Liberties or to refuse to take my part in innocent Divertisements and healthful Recreations Take your Pleasures in God's Name But love not your Pleasures more than God neither let your Pleasures be ungodly nor the pursuit of your Bodies Health run you into Souls Sickness Be merry but withal be wise Divert your selves but turn not out of God's way use your Liberties but abuse them not use them not unlawfully Provide for your Satisfaction always provided you make not Provision for the Flesh to fulfil its Lusts In a word so walk so bowl so dance so play that you stake not your Souls nor by any of these or other Pastimes rob your selves of time to pray to or to praise that God who made those Wells which are the Centre of this great Confluence or may render you asham'd afraid or otherwise unfit to bow your Knees or lift up your Faces Hands or Hearts unto his holy Habitation and that neither the Foams of impure Lusts nor the Froth of less criminal Vanities may pollute or damp the Altar nor render unsavoury the Incense of your Evening Sacrifice Tertullian hath left a brave and noble Character of the Primitive Christians worthy our Imitation yea our Ambition That they so ate so drank so traded so conversed in the day as became those who remembred that they were to pray ere they slept at Night O that I could always do so And I can wish you nothing better tho I love you as my self 2. Secondly and more particularly Look upon these Wells as consecrated and made sacred by an extraordinary Presence of the God of Nature in and with them and by the helpful Virtues and healing Qualities that he that makes the Fountains hath endu'd them with And so procul procul esto prophani After the Command which injoyns God's Worship follows that which so severely forbids the taking of his Name in vain What doth this signify less then that in vain we worship him if we cease not to take his Name in vain I beseech you therefore give me leave with that Zeal which becomes my Sacerdotal Character and yet with that Modesty which knows my own meaness in that Sacred Order to beseech you to be tender of the Honour of the Name of God I hope I understand the difference betwixt reproving and reproaching and tho we are allowed and commanded to reprove some Sinners sharply cuttingly as the Greek Word signifies yet to add reproachful Reflections
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
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
of baptized ones this dyes them of a deeper Purple than those of Tyre and Sidon Sodom and Gomorrah These mineral Waters may by many things put to them lose both their Taste and Virtue in the Chymist Phrase be precipitated that tho they are drunk they neither heal nor help Every deliberate and wilful Sin desecrates the Waters which were consecrated to the mystical washing away of Sin Precipitates baptismal Waters that their Virtue subsides and sinks to the bottom of the Font that tho they still may wet they will not wash though they may be sprinkled they will not cleanse How unpardonable an Affront would it be to this honourable Company if any should be so impudently rude or wicked as to pollute or poison these Wells we come to drink of What is it then to abuse that Blood of sprinkling by which we were sanctified and to do despite to that Spirit of Grace which over-shadows these sacred Waters An involuntary innocent staining of the Font hath branded an imperial Name in all succeeding Ages Leo Coproninus The casting of a dead Dog into a Well which was the only supply for the Garrison which kept it lost one of the strongest and most impregnable Forts Stetguard Our voluntary sinning after and against our Baptism poisons the very Font casts a dead Dog into the Well of Grace nay is an actual surrender into his Hands whom we have renounced and should stand in defiance of for ever I beseech you I adjure you therefore worship that God which made the Font of your Baptism by a sound believing of the good Promises he made to you and making good the Promises you there made to him for as there is no greater cause of the decay of Christian Piety than the not understanding or forgetting our Baptismal Covenant and the indispensable Obligation it brings us under to Faith Repentance and unreserved new Obedience so there is no Remedy more likely to retrieve its Honour and to restore the power of it in the World than a daily serious remembring of it and hearty desire and study to live up to it 5. If we must worship him love serve adore him that made the Fountains and made the Font how much more him that made the Source and Spring of that very Fountain that Fountain opened for Sin and for Vncleanness Zech. 13.1 the Blood the Spirit of Christ When Longinus as Tradition names him with that accursed Spear pierced the Side and Heart of our most blessed Lord yet hanging on that more accursed Tree forthwith there came out Blood and Water John 19.34 The Church hath always reckon'd these the vital Springs of the Health-giving Sacraments Christ calls himself the living Water John 4. and he calls the Spirit by the same Name John 7.38 39. He that believes in me out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of living Water this spake he of the Spirit And 't is agreeable to his Father's Language Psal 44.3 I will pour Water upon him that is thirsty and Floods upon the dry Ground I will pour my Spirit upon thy Seed Isa 44.3 If the love of God in giving his Son be set forth so emphatically with an ἑςτως God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son so freely so fully so inconceivably as no Tongue can express as no Heart can conceive with what Fervours of Love and Thankfulness should we receive it and return it 6. Worship him that is not only the Maker of the Fountains but the very Fountain of all things ὁ ῶν the Fountain of living Waters Jer. 2.13 The Fountain of our Being in whom we live and move and have our Being and for whom as well as by whom we were all made God made us all to worship himself for he made the World to manifest his Glory that he might be known to be and to be such as indeed he is and have the Glory of being such and to give him that Glory which is peculiar to intelligent Natures is properly to worship him And the Fountain of all our Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Mercies present future all we have and all we hope for Nay the Fountain of the very Deity as the Schools call God the Father Fontem Dietatis who communicates the Divine Nature to the Son and Holy Ghost as Light and Heat flow from the Body of the Sun tho they abide in it and be one with it Lastly If all must worship him that made the Fountains Then they especially who have built him an House for his Worship at these famous Fountains And it will be little better then a mocking of him to erect him an House for his Worship and to neglect that Worship for which it was erected And tho I am very far from imposing Laws or prescribing Rules to this Honourable Assembly yet give me leave with that modest freedom which becomes my Office to remind you of somewhat at least very unseemly and which I charitably hope proceeds solely or chiefly from want of Consideration You exactly understand all the Punctilio's of Honour all the Measures of what is Decent Just and Fit Let me therefore appeal to you what Respect what Deference is due to God who is and calls himself a Great King How comely it would be or rather how uncomely 't is to do the contrary not to continue your Gaming upon the very spot in time of Publick Prayer I beseech you if you will not joyn with us in our solemn Worship yet modestly forbear to affront it and Him to whom we pay it Give me leave to conclude with one more humble Motion 'T is an express Branch of Divine Worship to build God an House 't will be no less to indow it now 't is built An easy Liberality from New comers who find a Chappel ready prepar'd by our Charge and Care not excluding the pious Charity of those who have already given to its building may settle a decent Maintenance for an Able Minister constantly to offioiate in it and preach to the Neighbouring Inhabitants all the Year 'T is a certainly desolate place in the depth of Winter still notwithstanding the many fair Houses which are lately built And the badness of the Ways and distance of the Churches I fear occasions in many too great a neglect of God's Worship and their own Souls Had they an Able Minister to reside constantly among them the Wo of dwelling in this Mesech would be much abated and these Deserts would become a Mount Sion and these Tents of Kedar like the Curtains of Solomon an Emblem of Jerusalem We of the Clergy who come hither for preservation or recovery of Health give you our Labors freely tho we have no cause to be asham'd of what we gave to the Erection of the Place we labour in And you may the better bear with us while in the behalf of them that serve us here we plead with you to leave a Blessing behind you That as God hath endow'd these Wells with lasting