purified and exalted by frequent Inhumations and Dippings in the water without perceptible heat which in the birth of Water cannot but be offensive For thô the Chymists calcine or burn their things with Fire yet the Wisemen ever did burn or calcine with Water and they cry tere tere imbibe imbibe But when this outward Principle the World shall be totally deliver'd from the Bondage and Curse of its Corruption the density compactness and hardness of its Body into the glorious liberty of God's Children a thin transparent Body and so shall pass from this kind of Being to a new one then it shall again go thrô the fierceness of the Fire then the Elements shall melt with fervent heat saith Peter 2.3 10. and the Earth shall be burnt up and shall be with the waters reduced again into a glorious Quintessence on which the ransomed of the Lord shall stand with songs and with joy upon their heads Rev. 15.2 Isa 35.10 Matth. 5.5 As there are three distinct kinds of Lives as I have said already in the Twelfth Page all created things live of and are as by so many Classes distinguished by and comprehended under as so many Species under their Genus or Kind so there be three several Principles according to some which give all created things their specisick Form of Life and determinate all those which are within their Classis after their own Property And they may well be called Principles so long as all things have their Life in and from them and so long as these three Lives are the Original Being or State things fell in or betook themselves unto from their first Original The first is the Fire Life or the Principle of Fire common to all living things for asmuch as they all take from them the Original and the first Rise of their Life but proper to the Devils and the damned Souls only The second is the Divine Life or Principle of the Light wherein the Angels and Men were perfected and made good Gen. 1.31 but from which both of them fell Jud. ver 6. and is proper only to the confirmed Angels and the Souls of the Faithful The third is this outward Life or the Principle of this World where all things live in the Air of the Spirit which comes down from the Heavens into it and is proper to the Beasts and to the present Body of Man and to all those things which live in it and from it but became accidental to Man by reason that he fell into it as was said And the first is ascribed to God the Father of Life as being but a burning sharp fierce and obscure Fire without the Light of the Son The second to God the Son as being the Light of Life that sweetneth and perfects it and the third and last of them to God the Holy Spirit as being the Conveyer and the Refresher of Life that brings Life and preserves it and that proceeds like the Air from the Fire and the Light of the Father and the Son. For to enlarge upon this when God created the world or to make the word Create somewhat more intelligible did make himself manifest he manifested himself such as he is in himself that is by a Trinity in Unity Fire Light and Spirit in one Being Therefore he make three Spring Heads or Prineiples of all Things three Throne-Angels with their Worlds Michael the mighty strong Prince after the fierce Nature and Property of Fire Lucifer the lovely the bright and most glorious Prince after the pleasant nature and property of the Light and Vriel the Well-doer or the Introducer and Conveyer of the Light or of all the pleasantness and good that comes from the Light after the beneficent Nature of the Holy Ghost each one a distinct Principle and all the three together making up one Unity or total Being like God to wit the invisible and intelligible World and comprehending in them the whole Creation of God and each of them consisting of Fire Light and Spirit For as the end of Nature alias of the Nasciture Manifestation of God was to communicate his Summum Bonum Himself to all created Beings his Will and Purpose was not that the Principle of Fire Evil should predominate and subsist in any thing by itself without the Light but that the Light should take place and the Angels with their Worlds should become such as God is a most joyful Being and a pleasant Paradise Therefore thô God created each in a distinct Principle yet he made each of them that is Michael as well as Vriel and Lucifer to consist of those three things and to pass immediately from the Fire to the Light and to send forth or exhale like the Sun out of himself a Spirit into his Sphere to vivify and to seed and sustent it all over Upon which saith Trismegist Omnia lux fuerunt vel in lumen conversa jucundum suave nimium Spectaculum For God is light and in him there is no darkness at all 1 John 1.5 And all things had for ever continued in this same state if Lucifer who being the most glorious of the three had not admired himself and instead of loving and admiring God for it and of seeking God's Kingdom and Glory more than his own fall'n in love with his own self whence he as a Man in love doth by his longing attract what he loves into himself and his Soul saith the Scripture 2 Sam. 13.39 doth as it were issue out or go forth to join with it drew himself into himself and by the astringency of his Lust or Desire for Lust or Desire is astringent and attractive filling or impregnating and offuscating himself as one that dotes upon that which he loves whether it be Man Woman Gold or Silver cannot receive in his mind any other thing but that his mind runs upon nothing but his beloved treasure and is wholly taken up with it Matth. 6.21 he becomes pensive and as it were overcast with a thick Cloud or dark Mist so he was offuscated and became cloudy and dark and as the more he lusted and drew the more and thicker the Clouds did gather and grow whereby a Heat and Burning was excitated in him and he was reinflamed as it doth happen to those who having kept their Lusts a good while under Hatches break out into the more violent heat and passion and to a wet heap of Hay Fruits Flowers and other things which are apt to ferment and to grow hot of themselves by reason that the Vapor or the Cloud that comes from them during their Fermentation being kept within the heap by the Contiguity and Coherence of its parts which affords no passage or way for Transpiration grows there thicker and thicker And withall he set his Sphere which being a thin Matter was as apt as any Smoke is to take Flame on Fire whereby the Matter thereof which was very thin and subtle was concocted and hardned its loose parts were compacted into
wit of the Life that saves and we must be born again to live and that of Water So that two things a dying and a new birth of Water are necessary to Life and the only way through which we must unavoidably pass to come to Happiness or to the perfect new Birth of the Spirit of Wisdom in which latter Birth chiefly consists our Salvation Which things See Dr. Wallâ—s his Sermons of Regeneration Printed for Mr. Rogers at the Sun near Temple Bar. because very few Divines do know what they are and therefore pass them over and teach with Dr. Wallis That we are not bound to know and to trouble our selves with such nice Enquiries as if we were not to be saved by coming saith Paul 1 Tim. 2.4 to the knowledge of the Truth I think fit to declare and for this end to begin by the new Birth of Water To be born of Water then is not to be Baptized as we are now with Water but to take the beginning of our Life from VVater To do which man must become Water be Water himself if not in his Flesh and Bones as Nicodemus took it however within the Heart that is in the inward Man by making his Heart tender 2 Chron. 34.27 and as humble as resigned and in a word as passive or unactive as Water That is to say as Water hath no motion of it self but stands still or if moved falls downwards continually or flows this way or that way as the Wind agitates it so our Hearts should no more have any will of their own but lay still as a dead thing or as being resolved even to die at God's Feet That as out of the shapeless passive unactive Water all the Concretes in the World are formed and produced 2 Pet. 3 5. by the only working of God's Spirit upon it Gen. 1.2 Psal 33.6 so we may out of that state wherein we have no more any motion desire lust or will of out own but only that to yield all and enter into God's Will receive a new form and shaper or be reformed or born again of the first Spirit that gave Adam a true Life Gen. 2.7 after the Image of God put off the earthly Image we have from Father Adam 1 Cor 15.49 And thus by Humility rise again to that state which he and Eve fell from by Pride And this is what is shewed us by the Water and the Way of using it in Baptism We are saith Paul Rom. 6.4 by Baptism buried with Christ into death that is as they which were Baptized in St. Paul's time being cover'd all over when they were dipt in Water were by this means as it were dead and buried to the World So we by this 〈◊〉 Baptism or birth or state of Water become as dead men buried to all the Lusts of the Flesh and to all Self-will as Pride Covetousness and Envy and to all the reliance and hope we have on this World that as Christ adds he rose up from grave through God's Spirit so we should out of this state rise into a new Creature that hath got a Divine Form which is rising from the Dead and the first Resurrection All is made out of Spirit or as Hippocrates saith in primo de Diaeta out of Fire and Water Spiritus est organum in manu summi Dei quo agitantur omnes in hoc mundo species saith Trismegistus of it Which Spirit coming down first from the Stars into the Air and thence into the Water works on it continually whence an Oil is produced and this Oil by a longer digestion becomes a Salt which Salt is the first Matter and true Body of Concretes This is demonstrable from the juices of Vegetables if they be distilled before their Fermentation but better by distilling some May dew or Rain-water because being thin and light and a transparent Liquor by reason of their being circulated in the Air they are not thought by many to have and contain an Oil yet in their distillation they yield an Oil and a Salt which must have been formed there by the Spirit from the Stars it was impregnated with working upon its Vehicle the said Dew or Rain-water So likewise Man being made of Water and of Spirit must be born again of them to become a new Creature and must first become water make his heart soft and tender break that Rock as Moses did Exod. 17.6 and melt the Ice or hardness of his heart into water or the tears of Repentance that by the Holy Spirit which is the Dew the Manna or the true Bread from Heaven that gives life unto the world John 6.32 33. an Oil first and then a Salt which is the true Flesh and Blood or the true Body of Christ ver 51. and also the new Body the blessed Souls shall rise with or our house from above may be formed produced and perfected within him Therefore Christ exhorts all Men to have some Salt in themselves Mark 9.50 that is to say as the Salt understand essential Salt is the first matter of things and results from the Spirit 's action upon the water so all Men should always have some of that same first substance which the Spirit of God forms in Souls bathed in tears and so should give leave to his Spirit to work it in them and produce by its working a Salt to salt them withal ver 49. or preserve both their Body and Soul to Eternal Life from all sort of Corruption such as Leprosy which makes the whole Body insensible and as that thorow hardness of heart which turns Man into such Salt as Lot's Wife was that is a Salt Alkali which is gone through the Fire and therefore can by no means be further wrought upon for thereby losing its Oyl or its Radical Moisture the Vehicle of the Spirit is no more susceptible as the moist essential Salt or Nitre of the Earth is of any sweet influence of Heaven working on it but becomes a meer dead Coal a Lime-stone an Alkali made by Incineration and that melts no more like Ice and other essential Salts by the warmth of the Spirit but by a strong fierce Fire into a hard stone like Glass which is past for evermore all hope of recovery or of regeneration and so makes Man incapable of such Vegetation as the dry Rod of Aaron by its budding forth again typified the Souls must have Therefore remember Lot's Wife flee from the Land of the North this hard frosty dark lowring dismal or Northerly state saith the Lord by Zachary 2.6 whoever will inhabit or live in Jerusalem ver 4. This birth of Water therefore is what makes Man susceptible of the sweet influence and working of God's Spirit on his Soul to renew it and make it grow green and bud and bear Fruits or be fruitful for thereby we do like John by his Baptism of water prepare the way of the Lord that is for the Lord 's coming by his comforting Spirit this birth of
34-29 1 of which you have a very fresh Instance in the late King. To return to the manner of the second Coming of Christ by the Holy Ghost observe that as the lightning comes at first out of the East and then shines even unto the West that is enlightneth the Hemisphere all over so his Coming which is not with any observation Luke 17.20 appears first like the Day-spring chap. 1.78 or the dawning of the day or is like the morning Star arising in our hearts 2 Pet. 1.19 for there all our thoughts or first glimpses of Light rise then encreasing more and more to the perfect light or day Prov. 4.18 it comes to be like the Sun at Noon and at the Solstice in reference to both which distinct states Christ is called the Morning Star by St. John Rev. 22.16 20. and the Sun of Righteousness by the Prophet Malachy 4.2 because he both dissipates the Morning Clouds by his light and strengthneth by the power of it a Believer so that he brings him to ripeness or to his full perfection the flash at his appearance shining nothing near so bright and comfortable as the Sun and as itself would do if it lasted for ever or endured a great while without vanishing again For after the same manner Christ the Word or the Wisdom and Light and Power of God 1 Cor. 1.24 within us in our hearts Rom. 10 8. springing out of the centre out of a man 's own darkness 2 Cor. 4.6 first appears to the sad mind like glimmering sparks of light which are a great refreshing to the Soul light or knowledge bringing still along with it great joy as I have said Then encreasing and sending its sweet beams by little and little towards the Circumserence till it shines through the whole Sphere it enligthneth all over and at the same time comforts and strengthneth sick sainting Man in such sort that he may rise from the shadow of death wherein he lay as benumm'd and walk and run and not faint and mount up with wings as Eagles Isa 40.31 Joel 2.7 and going from strength to strength Psal 84.7 both take God's Kingdom by force and rise to the very top or crown or zenith thereof which is God's holy mountain or the highest state of bliss and of glory and of light which Mankind is capable of Dan 12.3 Mat. 13 43 -19.28 Rev. 3.21 continuing all the while springing shining enlightning and refreshing the firy dark Soul to eternal life with the water of that Well that is Wisdom and Knowledge flowing out of a Man's self whereof Christ spake in St. John 4 14-7.38 As an ever flowing spring of living water streaming through a hot and desart place would revive the weary Traveller dying for Thirst so this new Spring of Wisdom revives the dry sainting Soul of Samson and Ishmael that is of Christ's stout Champions Gen. 21.20 the Church Militant on Earth as soon as they begin to thirst after Righteousness Mat. 5.6 as it was typified by the water gushing out of the Asses dry Jaw-bone which Samson after a great Victory being ready to die met with in his thirst Judg. 15.18 19. and by the Wells of water which Israel found at last in the dry and desart Land Exod. 15.27 But before he I mean the said sick Man comes to this he must dye the second death according to God's threatning Gen. 2.17 which because God's Word is true shall not pass away from him before it be fulfilled Mat. 24.35 and this is not so easie a matter for him to do as our learned Divines who pass it over sicco pede teach in their Sermons For to speak of this dying which is the other thing needful for the obtaining the said birth of the Spirit it is really a dying and dying you will grant is a hard thing to Mankind Neither is it only such dying as is that of this body of the flesh which Men easily go through But such as is proper and peculiar to the Soul which is so intolerable that none but the Son of Man or at least the Soul of Man enabled by the virtue and strength of the Son of Man can sustain or bear with it Prov. 18.14 For no man he saith himself John. 3.13 doth ascend up to Heaven but he that comes down from thence to give us power and strength and thus by enabling us to die lifts us up thither and there go along with it the terrors of Hell it self Which thing because it seems new and very strange to the world is what I do here take upon me to demonstrate And first to shew what it is This dying is the same death as that Adam died of after he had transgressed which must be some other thing than the death of his Body for he was surely to die the day that he transgressed Gen. 2.17 whereas his Body did live 900 years after And that was a rising or an exasperation of the Fire of his Soul after he tasted the Apple for he had lost long before viz. before he fell asleep the Light of Life which his Soul enjoyed at his Creation to a very intense or high degree of sierceness raging in him till the time he catcht hold of the promise made to him of the Woman's Seed Christ the Light of the world For Life without Light is but a dark and obscure Fire kindled either here or there in some individual place and burning without shining as do all Acids the Frost and those Corrosives called Ignes Potentiales by Chymical Writers whereby the Life just subsists in a very anxious fretful state or condition as being always feeding upon the thing it is in that is upon the Body which it had formed itself till that Body be consum'd or till this hungry Fire be fully satiated And this Fire thus burning was represented to us by the firy Serpent of God's People in the Desart and by a Worm or Serpent which Christ saith doth never die because it is always renascens reproducing or kindling itself anew viz. in the eternal Souls for there it can as well do it always as for once by reason that its Body or Subject doth not decay and when exasperated it is the Death of the Soul or its Hell burning gnawing and making it for ever anxious and full of pain except it reacheth the Light that makes all things comfortable Here consider the grimness of a dark and frosty Night which chills benums and destroys and burns all things on the ground and what state things would lay in if the Light of the Sun were taken out of the world Would not all the living things lay still like Worms in Winter and be frozen up as hard and stiff as Ice in their place Sure the world itself would be nothing but Death all over And thence conceive if you can how sharp severe and bitter are to the despairing Soul whose dark Fire corroding and biting it like sharp Frost or a fretting Humor or some tart