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
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
The same Author hath also published THE Vertuous Woman found her Loss bewail'd and Character exemplified In a Sermon preached at the Funeral of that most Exellent and Religious Lady the Right Honourable MARY Countess Dowager of VVARVVICK the most Illustrious Patern of sincere Piety and solid Goodness this Age hath produced to which is annexed some of her Ladiship 's pious and useful Meditations The great Evil of Procrastination or the Sinfulness and Danger of deferring Repentance In several Discourses A Sermon preached before the Company of Apothecaries on Eccles 10.1 published at the Request of the said Company Say on Or a seasonable Plea for a full hearing betwixt Man and Man and a serious Plea for the like hearing betwixt God and Man in a Sermon preached at the Assizes at Chelmsford in Essex All four sold by Nathaniel Ranew at the King's-Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard 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 TUNBRIDGWELLS 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 Forms of Meditations Prayers and Thanksgivings suited to the occasion By ANTHONY WALKER D.D. O ye Wells bless ye the Lord praise him and magnify him for ever Song of the three Children London Printed for Nathaniel Ranew at the King's-Arms in St. Paul'â— Church-Yard MDCLXXXV THE Epistle Dedicatory TO Mr. NATHANIEL HAWS Citizen of London and Treasurer of Christ-Church Hospital Honoured Friend THO the mutual Intercourse of kind and good Offices which hath some Years past betwixt us and especially at Tunbridg-Wells might excuse yea oblige me to so open an Acknowledgment of the Sense I have of your Civilities and Friendship and the inscribing your Name upon these Papers without further prospect of you than in your single and personal Capacity would be too small a return for those Kindnesses by which I am become your Debtor Yet give me leave to tell you I herein consider you under that more publick Character wherewith your Zeal your Cost your Pains about the erecting of that commodious beautiful and Elegant Structure of the Chappel we all here injoy the benefit of justly invests you And if I could represent your Effigies in the Front of these few Sheets it should be with your green Book in your Hand gratefully receiving modestly solliciting and faithfully recording the royal noble generous Contributions to this pious useful Work which have amounted to about Eleven hundred Pounds by your prudent Care and Industry faithfully expended in the erecting and adoining of it And I hereby as much as in me lies constitute you who was for the greater part receiver of their Money Receiver-general in their Name of all the Honour I can do them and the best Gratitude I can return them for their so large and pious Liberality And in this Inscription which I make to you as their Trustee and Representative I dedicate these Papers to them all with deepest Submission begging both their Pardon and Acceptance of so faint and disproportionable a return from the meanest of those Divines who willingly bestow our Pains amongst them till some of those excellent Persons of greater Ability Name and Merit be pleas'd to do it with actual Performances which may equal my Wishes and Desires to do them Honour and edify and inflame their Devotion The late fresh Accession of Princely Bounty set as a Crown upon the Head of the preceding Charity will not only be the lasting Ornament and Glory of the publick Table you have exposed in the Chappel to every Mans view of all Monies received and expended to prevent Obloquy and Suspicion in them who know you not for those who know you do not need it But I hope is a good Omen that in due time it may be as conveniently endow'd as it is commodiously built that there may be Wells of Salvation for the poor Neighbourhood all the Year and if I may without imputation of Lightness allude to St. Paul's Expression The Word may be preach'd in season and out of Water season Let not this unexpected Address be as unwelcome as unlook'd for neither let the Meanness of it cool the Reciprocation of that Esteem and Friendship which hath hitherto been so obligingly allow'd to Honoured Sir Your cordial Friend and willing Servant ANTHONY WALKER From my Lodgings near Tunbridg-Wells July 24. 1684. THE PREFACE TO THE Christian Reader Especially Such as use the Mineral Waters Good Reader AS it is unquestionably the Duty and Interest of every Christian both to acquire and retain a deep and most serious sense of God upon his own Heart and as much as possibly he can to impress the like upon his fellow Christians So this Care is in a greater and more eminent degree incumbent upon Christ's Ministers whom he hath singled out and appointed to attend upon this most important Affair and Business And as no means are to be esteem'd improper or superfluous which God hath afforded or designed to this end we ought our selves to learn and teach others from both the Books which God hath written for our Institution and Instruction Now these Books are that of the Creatures and that of the Scriptures of his Works and of his Word of his Providences and of his Ordinances of Nature and of Grace Holy David joyns both these together in the 19th Psalm He begins with the first The Heavens declare the Glory of God the Firmament shews his handy-work to Verse the 7th where he proceeds to the second The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple the Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the Heart c. And as it cannot be denied that both these great Volumes are full of the glorious Discoveries of God so it must be confest that the Waters are one of the fairest and most legible Characters in which God's Name is written in the Book of Nature The Rains the Seas the Rivers and the Fountains are as authentick witnesses of the the Being and of the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God as any of those other visibles which reflect the invisible Perfections of the great Creator Preserver and Governour of all things The Waterâ— are a natural Looking-glass or Mirror in them Face answers to Face as the Wise-Man tells us Prov. 27 19. And the Face of God may bâ— seen reflected in them as clearly and distinctly as in any of his providentiaâ— Manifestations And if the ordinary Properties of common Waters in their cleansing fructifying softning moistning thirst-quenching and uniting Qualities perform this so well how much more do the Mineraâ— Springs by their extraordinary Virtues of healing opening purging dulcifying mollifying strengthning c. and being most signally beneficial loudly proclaim it That it must
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
all those Drops with all the Sands of these sandy Desarts would not equal the Years of that Eternity to which O my Soul thou hastenest so fast These rich Wells are in a low Valley surrounded with high sandy dry and barren Hills The meek and lowly God will inrich with his Grace He resists the Proud and gives Grace to the Humble The method of our Water-drinking is instructive We begin with fewer Glasses and rise gradually till we arrive at a due Proportion this we should imitate We must grow in Grace go from Strength to Strength The way of the Just is as the Morning-Light which shineth more and more unto the perfect Day A Christian should know no Period but Perfection He that thinks he hath Grace enough may thereby be convinced he hath too little When we are going off we then decrease our Number this we must avoid 't is bad to stand at a stay for not to go forward is to go backward in the things of God But to decline sadly forebodes our final going off That Question of our Lord Where are the nine was a cutting and upbraiding one Ten were healed and but one among them was found thankful How mean and despicable soever I am Lord make me truly humble and thankful 'T is better to be a grateful Samaritan than a graceless Israelite Lord bless these Waters to us Lord give us leave to use them And Lord give us both Cause and Hearts to be thankful for them O thou maker of the Fountains make these useful to us all who drink of them Lord give us to drink plenteously of the Wells of Salvation O Lord who givest these Waters without our asking We humbly ask thy Blessing upon the use of them O thou Fountain of Living Waters evermore give us of those Streams which flow from thee Give us this day our daily Bread whatever is needful for Health or Strength whether Food or Physick Impregnate these Waters O Lord with thine own Goodness Lord let us have the use of these Waters by thy Leave and a Blessing upon them by thy Love Lord suffer us not to provoke thee to Anger where we come to seek Relief from thee O Lamb of God from under whose Throne flow Living Waters wash away our Sins by those Waters O thou Son of God who wast with thy Father when as yet there were no created Fountains abounding with Water Manifest that Love to me which flows from the eternal Fountain of free Grace and that Love wherewith thou lovedst thine before the World was Lord remove that Curse our Sins have deserved these Waters should be imbittered by and sweeten them with Blessings we neither have nor can deserve from thee Good Lord help us to improve for thee all the Mercies we here or elsewhere receive or hope for from thee Ejaculatory Praises BLessed be the Maker of these Fountains for all that Power Wisdom Goodness manifested in the making of them Blessed be God for any Blessing now or formerly received by them O thou Fountain of Goodness who art Good and dost Good we praise thee for all the Good thou ever didst for any by these Good Fountains O that we could praise thee as thankfully as thou givest these Waters freely Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits who forgiveth all thy Sins and healeth all thy Diseases O all ye Works of the Lord bless ye the Lord praise him and magnify him for ever O ye Tunbridg-Wells bless ye the Lord praise him and magnify him for ever O let all who ever received Benefit by the Waters of these Wells bless the Lord praise him and magnify him for ever O my Soul bless thou the Lord praise him and magnify him for ever Blessed be God for all the natural and supernatural Fountains he hath made as the God of Nature as the God of Grace Blessed be God for making us and blessed be God for making all things for us blessed be God for Springs of Common Water and of Mineral Waters for the Fountain of free Grace and for the Covenant of Grace for his Son and for his Spirit for his Word and for his Sacraments for all the means of Grace and hopes of Glory Amen FINIS Books lately printed for Nathaniel Ranew at the King's-Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard THE Works of Josephus with great Diligence revised and amended according to the excellent French Translation of Monsieur D'ANDILLY Also the Embassy of Philo Judaeus to the Emperor Caligula with the References of Scripture a Map of the Holy Land and divers other Copper Plates The Principles of Christian Religion with a large Body of Divinity methodically and familiarly handled by way of Question and Answer for the use of Families together with Immanuel or the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God By the most Reverend James Vsher late Arch-bishop of Armagh to which is now added in this seventh Edition twenty Sermons preach'd at Oxford before the King and elsewhere with the Life of the Author and an Alphabetical Table never before extant Redemption of Time the Duty and Wisdom of Christians in evil Days Or A Practical Discourse shewing what special Opportunities ought to be redeemed what Mispences of Time are to be avoided with convincing Reasons quickening Motives and proper Directions for the right Improvement of precious Time By John Wade Minister of Hammersmith
Superstructure to be next erected and built upon it when and where the Foundation of it his Fear is laid and well settled Glory is Excellency manifested And to give God Glory is to acknowledg the excellent Perfections of his Nature with Affections and Actions sutable to those acknowledged Perfections and to praise him for them Now both because this is expresly call'd the everlasting Gospel which is the glad Tidings of Salvation to lost Mankind by Jesus Christ which the Angel that is the Ministers of the Gospel was to preach and also because the Light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God shines in the Face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 that is the Gospel and is therein most clearly manifested We give Glory to God most eminently most acceptably by believing and obeying the Gospel That 's the true Tabernacle in which his Glory dwells in the World He hath made all his Glory pass before him in the Accomplishment of Mans Salvation by his Son's Mediation which he strives with us by his Spirit to perswade and draw us to accept and improve Herein he hath gloriously displayed his unsearchable Wisdom his infinite Power the inexhaustible Treasuries of his Grace and Mercy and the Immutability of his Truth and Faithfulness which cannot shrink or shake but stands faster than the ancient Hills And we then give him the Glory he expects when by obeying the Gospel we openly profess that we esteem him to be such as the Gospel hath declared him to be so wise so great so good so true as he is worthy to be acknowledged for what he hath done for us in and by the Gospel of his Son 3. The third degree or step in the injoyned Duty is And worship him which made the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the Fountains of Water In this third Branch he calls the World from their Superstitions to the Worship of the only true God of whom he gives a most August Description by his incommunicable Works and excludes and shuts out all Competitors from being worshipped who cannot shew their Title to it by such stupendous Works as these And as in the first he laid the Foundation and in the second raised the Superstructure so in this third he secures its standing Nothing so much threatning the over-throw and ruine of God's Glory as giving religious Worship to any thing that by nature is not God But our present Concern and Business permits me not to grasp at the whole of this Angelick Sermon nor allows me to enquire into the scope and give the Explication of the whole Prophetick Scene but confines me to the third Branch and even in that excludes a great part of the Periphrasis by which he who may and must be worshipped is described that is He that made the Heaven Earth and Sea which is a Character of the true God so proper so peculiar so exclusive of all Competitors so intelligible so awful and affecting that we meet with it every where most frequently in holy Writ in the Law the Prophets the Psalms and the New Testament But my own choice and design and I suppose your Expectation limits me to the last Syllable of this glorious Name The Fountains of Waters which when I have joyn'd to the preceptive Words in the beginning by an innocent omission of the intermediate comes to this Worship him that made the Fountains of Waters In which Words we have three Particulars to be observed 1. A Description of the Object of Religious Adoration which may and which must be worshipped Him that made the Fountains of Waters 2. An imply'd Reason of the requiring us to give such Worship to him Because he made the Fountains of Waters 3. An actual injoyning the Payment of this Homage to him under that Notion and upon that account Worship him who made the Fountains and do it for that reason because he made them Now for the clearer understanding and more useful improvement of these Particulars and to demonstrate the argumentative force of this Reason that he who made the Fountains must therefore be worshipped I shall reduce all I have to speak to them to this easy method I. To enquire what is the sole Object adequate Reason and right Notion of Religious Worship II. Who made and in a short Digression how he made the Fountains III. Why the Angel propounds him to be worshipp'd under this Notion Maker of the Fountains and how it may appear that this is a good and sufficient Reason to oblige us to it IV. Draw practical Inferences from the whole proper to us at this Place and Time I begin with the first Inquiry concerning the Object Reason and right Notion of Religious Worship The true God is the sole Object of Religious Worship Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve And the adequate reason of his Worship is because he is God that is a Being absolutely perfect which is the best Notion of God A Being which hath infinite Wisdom Power Goodness and full Authority and Dominion over us Alsufficient Ability and most gracious Willingness to help us And there are as many Reasons for his Worship as there are Proofs and Manifestations of these his adorable Perfections either in the Works of Creation and Providence as he is God of Nature or in the Work of Redemption by the Renovation and Salvation of Sinners as he is the God of all Grace Now tho I do not equallize these Reasons and affirm all of them to be of the same Evidence and Cogency Yet I say whatever Works of Nature or of Grace manifest these and the like adorable Perfections to be in him render him for that reason a suitable Object of Adoration and bind us to perform it to him Now the Worship we owe and must pay him is sometimes taken largely for the whole of true Religion by which we expect Salvation In colendo rectè Deo una salus est St. Augustin Our whole Salvation depends upon our right worshipping of God And again To love God with all our Heart and Soul and Strength and to commend God as much as possibly we can to the Love of our Neighbour Hic est Dei cultus haec vera Religio haec recta Pietas haec tantùm Deo debita Servitus De Civ Dei lib. 5. c. 4. This is God's Worship this is true Religion this is right Godliness this is the only Service due to God So that to worship God is to be truly godly and sincerely religious good in good earnest and to pay him all the Service our holy Religion exacts from us towards him But secondly The Notion of Worship is more confined and restrained and is either internal or external 1. Internal again is either the Act of the Mind Reason and Judgment Or of the Heart Soul Will and Affections In the first respect as it is an Act of our Reason Mind and Understanding it implies our knowing and acknowledging his Superiority and full
Morning Prayer Te Deum or that and is taken out of the Additions to Danâ—el Where all the Magnalia the signal Works of God are reckoned up and excited to bless the Lord which is to provoke Men to bless God for them There we find Fountains or Wells in the List or Catalogue of those famous Works of God O ye Wells bless ye the Lord praise him and magnify him for ever And I wish that in this place at least that Canticle were sometimes read as the Liturgy appoints for not only that Versicle is very proper but the whole very warming and enflaming I stay not to descant upon every Scripture I have cited nor to shew wherein their Strength lay to prove what I produc'd them for because I suppose such Evidence to accompany them that 't is needless and would be superfluous I may subjoin Arguments to prove that God made the Fountains though very transiently 1. Our Text supposes it and takes it for granted And both this Text and the 8th of Proverbs and many other Scriptures rank them in the same Order and Series with the Heaven the Earth and the Sea to signifie that God is as undoubtedly the Maker of those as of these 2. The true God made the Waters above the Heavens He is the Father of the Rain and he begets the drops of Dew Job 38.28 And by parity of Reason He makes the Waters under the Earth and the Mists the Vapors and the Springs that rise from thence 3. He makes the miraculous extraordinary Fountains and Streams that flow from them as that Exod. 17.6 Behold I will stand before thee there upon the Rock and thou shalt smite the Rock and there shall come forth Waters out of it Which the Psalmist ascribes to God Psa 78.15 He clave the Rock in the Wilderness and gave them Drink as out of the great Depths And Psal 105.41 He opened the Rock and the Waters gushed out they ran in dry places like a River And the other Fountains are the effects of the same Power and are accounted less miraculous only because they are more common 4. God is the great Artificer and Maker of Universal Nature He that made all things is God And whatever second causes he hath appointed and constituted as instrumental to produce the Fountains he is as truly the Maker of them still as he is the Maker of every one of us tho we had Fathers who begat us and Mothers in whose Wombs we were all formed Job 31.15 Did not he that made me in the Womb make him and did not one fashion us in the Womb Causa causae est causa causati He is as truly to be intitled to what he produceth mediately as to his most immediate Productions 5. Lastly The Scripture which is exceeding jealous of the Glory of God in point of Worship and can endure Competitors and Copartners less than a King in his Throne or an Husband in his Bed My Glory will I not give to another Isa 42.8 yet allows and requires the Glory of Religious Worship to be given to him that made the Fountains which is an infallible Inference that by the Scriptures Testimony he that made them is the true God This may suffice to prove that God made the Fountains But to demonstrate how he made them is more difficult 'T is a noble and delightful but withall a busy and perplexed Inquiry both amongst Divines and Philosophers concerning the Origine of Fountains their various useful Qualities and how they became inriched with them their Perennity and constant flowing for so many Ages their vast depth in the lowest Bowels of the Earth where they are often found and again their strange ascent and heighth and breaking out as they sometimes do in the highest Tops and Summities of Mountains and many more of no less difficult Solution But tho the search into these things be exceeding pleasant to inquisitive Minds and it might not be unwelcome to many of you to discuss them Yet it is not so proper for the Pulpit as the Schools and would not well become a Discourse which designs to minister to Devotion rather than to gratify your Curiosity and delight your Fancies Yet that I may not tantalize your Minds by a meer starting of Questions nor disoblige you by a vexing Disappointment I will first refer you to those Authors who by what they say themselves and by directing you to near an hundred more may if not satisfy the curious yet weary the most inquisitive and industrious and having done that tho I wade not through shall dip a little into these Questions In that Age which was Ingeniorum ferax about our Saviour's Birth when it seem'd good to God to raise up in and adorn the World with Wits of the first Magnitude to usher in and attend upon the Incarnation of his eternal Wisdom such as Virgil Tully Ovid Horace liv'd L. Annaeus Seneca that excellent and I may say Divine Moralist and learned natural Philosopher who hath fine Discourses on this Subject lib. 3. of his natural Questions And few have gone beyond him notwithstanding the advantage of coming so long in time behind him The laborious and diligent Polonian Johan Jonstonus Thaumatographia naturalis Clasis secundae Capit. 4. de origine Fontium where you may meet with the Epitome of what our own Country-man Tho. Lydiat hath written most accutely on this Subject Voetius in his select Disputations both discusses the Questions relating to this matter and gives copious References Corn. a Lapide on Ecclesiastes 1.7 is large in both disputing it himself and in referring to the Greek and Latin Fathers and Philosophers What Alstedius says is in no wise despicable Encyclop lib. 13. Physicorum part 2. cap. 8. Regula 3. and part 4. c. 2. and lib. 18. Hydrograph cap. 6. I forbear to name Aristotle and those who follow the Tract of the old Philosophy or Cartesius and his Sectators in the new because they are well known to those who can or will puruse them and are referred to the first epecially in those I have nam'd already and tho it may seem an ignorant or culpable Omission to take no notice of the ingenious Mr. Thomas Burnet's new Theory of the Earth both in Latin and English I shall have occasion to mention him hereafter But not to tire my self and you with naming more the English Reader may meet with more Satisfaction than he could expect in so few Pages from any other Pen in the acurately learned and truly great Man the Author of Origines Sacrae lib. 3. cap. 4. § 6. whose great Happiness it is to speak much in a little and be short without Obscurity at once concise and perspicuous brief and clear And having before I hope satisfyingly prov'd that God made the Fountains Let me briefly touch the Way the Manner the Art by which that great and wise Artificer perform'd this Work produc'd and made them And to dismiss and wave the rest there are
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
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