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

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

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'● 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 Water● 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 b● seen reflected in them as clearly and distinctly as in any of his providentia● 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 Minera● Springs by their extraordinary Virtues of healing opening purging dulcifying mollifying strengthning c. and being most signally beneficial loudly proclaim it That it must

argue great Stupidness not to observe it and greater Ingratitude yea Impiety not to admire love and praise him for them who hath indued them with these Virtues especially in those who use them and have found them beneficial and reap'd Advantage by the use of them These things considered and seeing so many hundreds yea thousands in this and other Nations yearly use such Waters both by Bathing and Potation I cannot but wonder that nothing hath hitherto been publish'd that I could ever hear of to provoke promote or assist their Devotion from this particular Topick Certainly if the Scale or Ladder of the Creatures be excellently fitted to help the Minds ascent to God there is no round or step in all that Ladder more steady and firm how unstable soever Water be of it self than this of the Waters Cardinal Bellarmin in the Treatise which he wrote De ascensione mentis in Deum per scalas rerum creaturum not as an ingaged Disputant and peevish angry Controvertist but as becomes a serious pious Christian in his September the Month he reserved for Contemplation and Devotion with a calm and sedate Spirit relishing of no Heats but those decent and commendable ones of Zeal Devotion Admiration Love and Thankfulness hath one of the most considerable Chapters Gradus Quartus upon this Subject the sum of which for the sake of English Readers I have subjoyned amongst the Meditations and Prayers I have therefore like Elihu in the Book of Job provoked by the silence of those who were fitter for it adventured to adapt a Discourse and add some Forms of Meditation Prayers and Thanksgivings for the use of those who attend the Mineral Waters I heartily wish it had come a few days or weeks sooner into my mind that I might have had a little more time to have rendred it less incompleat But I was loth wholly to slip this Water-season and therefore must adventure it abroad so unpolisht as it is It may provoke some abler Hand or if it find but tolerable Acceptance put me upon the trial what I can do to its melioration with some more leisure and intention of thoughts Much of it was written at the Wells since my coming down this Season and all transcrib'd and sent up sheet by sheet where 't is true I had my Text daily before mine Eyes but wanted my Books to comment on it But tho 't was partly writ at Tunbridg-Wells and chiefly calculated for those who use them yet I had a Prospect of their Benefit who use other Mineral Waters whether for inward or outward Distempers by drinking or by bathing Amongst many other strange Fountains St. Augustin writes of two One which is always full of Fish De Genesi ad lit lib. 3. cap. 8. Another that will light or kindle Torches tho its Water of it self be cold De Civ Dei lib. 21. cap. 5. And there is in Lancashire the like Fountain as I was lately here informed by a Person of Reputation whose Testimony I do not in the least question he being an Eye-witness of it that being stirr'd at the bottom the steam of it will kindle Paper into a flame If I can at these Fountains catch any Fish in his sense who said henceforth you shall become Fishers of Men I shall sacrifice my Praises not to my Net but unto Him at whose Word I let it down For to fish for any thing else in such an Undertaking I look upon as so unmanly so unpriestly so unchristian that I should greatly despise my self should I not despise so low so muddy motives And if I can bring Fire out of this Water and kindle a Torch of Religion and inflame my own and other Mens Devotion the most ascending of those flames shall mount up to Him in humble Acknowledgments who put the price into my hand and gave me a heart in any measure to improve it I will trouble you with no Apologies for my publishing these Papers they seldom are free from Blame never from sinister Suspicion and such Gildings oftner make them keck for whom they are prepared than the Pills themselves they were designed to cover I thank God I can sincerely and with comfort say I meant well and aimed at the Glory of God and the Edification of those into whose hands they may come how weakly soever I have performed and this will yield me inward satisfaction tho it should render me in some Mens eyes as David's dancing before the Ark rendred him in the eyes of Michal I shall conclude with these few Requests and the first thing I ask of thee good Reader is That thou wouldst be like to God in accepting of a willing mind Secondly If thou meetest here and there with an expression out of the road of common phrase thou wouldst not impute it to a vain affectation of hard words but consider that the nature of the Subject constrain'd me to the use of them For tho I am a very incompetent Judge of Oratory yet I know that the most masculine Eloquence is made up of plain expressive words provided they be not slovenly and rude which suitably cloath the Notions of the Speaker and aptly convey them to the Understandings of the Hearers My Age allows me not to be a florid Speaker had I ability to be so I remember it was the reproach of Hortensius to be at once both green and gray a verdant Orator in his fading withered years In a word who-ever knows the Auditory to which I spake cannot deny that speaking as I did and excusing of my self that I could speak no better needs no excuse Thirdly That if thou wilt not be so humble and so pious as to be made better by it thy self yet be not so unjust and unkind as to reproach it and thereby hinder others from being benefited by it Lastly If but one or two shall imploy some of those vacant hours this time and place affords them and shall thereby be helpt to pray to God or to praise him I entreat them to beg a Blessing on this Work and him who is their Christian Brother and Servant for Jesus sake A. W. Reader Whereas the Title over the Pages are A Sermon preached at Tunbridg it should have been Two Sermons preached at Tunbridg-Wells Jo. Hen. Alstedius Encyclop lib. 18. cap. 6. de Fontibus praecipuis Peroratio Hydrographiae HAEC est Hydrographia Marium Lacuum Fluminum Fontium Qu●● quatuor praecones Potentiae Sapientiae Clementiae Divinae Surda qui praetervehitur a●re nè ille plusquam ingratus Nam siv● quantitatem consideres illa est stupenda siv● qualitates illae sunt utilissimae sive motum ille est admirandus Quae omnia nos manu ducunt ad Dei Opt. Max. admirationem adorationem cui soli sit laus in solidum The Seas the Lakes the Rivers and the Fountains are four loud Proclaimer● of the Divine Power VVisdom and Goodness to which who ever turns a deaf Ear he is worse than

this preaching Angel worship not the Wells or Fountains or any supposed tutelary Deities or Daemons residing in them or presiding over them but him that made them and alone can bless them Idolize not the likeness of any thing that is in the Waters under the Earth nor the Virtues of those Waters nor the faint Resemblance there seems to be of an eternal Being in their Perennity nor any thing in them or in any other Being which is made but him that is the Maker of them and the great Creator and Preserver of all things else for nil factum adorandum God made nothing to be worshipt'd and nothing must be worship'd that is made 2. But the second and more positive Reason why he directs us to worship him that made the Fountains is because the making of them is a signal proof that he is the true God and witness those Perfections to be in him for which he is truly adorable and a meet Object capable and worthy of Religious Adoration I before suggested that whatever Work of Nature or of Grace manifests the Author of it to be indued with infinite Perfections or that he is a Being absolutely and infinitely perfect is a good and sufficient Reason for the worshipping of him Now not to enquire into all or more than the signal Trinity of Attributes infinite Power infinite Wisdom infinite Goodness if the making of the Fountains be a valid and convincing Argument that he who made them hath all these is infinitely powerful wise and good nay hath but any of them supposing that they might be parted is perfect in Power only or in Wisdom or in Goodness that alone were a good Argument both that he might and ought to be worshipped Not that the making of the Fountains proves no more for I think it is easy to evince that their Maker is an Eternal Being from Prov. 8. and Eternal is truly an incommunicable Attribute and a most adorable Perfection And more might be named but we may safely confine our selves to the three afore specified and if the making of them proves him to be all or any of these he must be worship'd that is such because he is such I will touch them in order First The making the Fountains proves him infinitely powerful which we may consider in several respects 1. 'T is a Work and a Demonstration of Almighty Power to produce out of nothing that which was not to give that a Being which had none before Now there was a time when or rather before time it self was there were no Fountains abounding with Water Prov. 8.24 And his Almighty Fiat gave them Being who spake the Word and they were made who commanded and they were brought forth By the Word of the Lord were the Waters made and all the kinds and regions of them by the breath of his Mouth and the first of Genesis makes at least as signal and more repeated mention of the Waters the Deep the Seas then of Heaven and Earth Some think that the first matter the Platonists ὕλη the Scriptures Tohu and Bohu which we call the Chaos was a watery fluid Mass Mr. Burnet's Theory of the Earth is chiefly built upon this Hypothesis And the great Abyss or Barathron was the first or oldest of God's Works of Power and the Issues and Outlets thereof are the Effects of the same Power and they are those we call the Fountains of the great Deep so that the making them evidences him to be an Almighty Creator 2. Having made and shut up those vast Stores and Treasuries of Water 't is a proof of his Power to unlock and unbar those mighty Rocks and Mountains which imprisoned and shut them in and give them vent and passage and open the very Womb of the Earth and Nature that they may issue out The Jews have a saying that God keeps three Keys in his own Hand the Key of the Womb the Key of the Grave and the Key of the Barn sinifying thereby that Fruitfulness or Barrenness Life and Death Plenty and Scarcity depend immediately on him and are great Evidences of his Power and certainly it is no less to have the Key of the great Abyss 'T is one of the most majestick Proofs of the Divine Power which God himself insists upon Job 38.8 11. To shut up the Sea with doors and to say to it Hither shalt thou go and no further and here shall thy proud Wave stop themselves And 't is no less Power which cleaves the mighty Rocks to let it out than to bridle its swelling Surges by the smallest Sand. 3. He makes new sudden extraordinary Fountains when he pleases without and beyond any natural apparent Causes strikes the flinty Rock and Waters gush forth more readily than Sparks or Fire would by strikeing it with Steel He must certainly be the Almighty Lord of Nature who can unhinge it and change its Laws when ever he pleases turning the dry Ground into Water-springs 4. As the making Heaven and Earth prove his Omnipotence for 't is upon that account we profess in our Creed to believe him Almighty I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth c. No less doth the making of the Sea and Fountains prove the same for they are rank'd in the same Series in this very Text. 5. 'T is a mighty proof of his Power to continue them to supply and feed them for so many Ages that they die not but are justly stiled living Waters Preservation is a continued Creation Secondly The making of the Fountains is a proof of his Wisdom as may appear 1. In his contriving and building the whole System of universal Nature so admirably so commodiously every piece thereof agreeing so excellently with all the others that they are mutually subservient This harmonious Fabrick this exact Composition of the whole is a Work of that deep that infinite and adorable Wisdom that it is an unanswerable Argument for an intelligent Providence And may put to shame and to silence all the Atheists and Semi-Atheists in the World And tho I confess 't is more usual to instance in the Heavens as being more visible and to argue from the Scituation Motion and Position of the Sun Moon and Stars towards the Earth to render their Influences more propitious that the whole may be fruitful and a commodious Habitation that all may in good degree injoy their Comfort and their Blessing and none be wholly depriv'd or destitute nor scorch'd or spoiled by them Yet with the like advantage might we argue from the Sea and Fountains the spreading and diffusing of which through so many hidden Veins within the Earth and dislodging themselves in so many commodious places and flowing in so many chrystal cooling healthful Streams both greatly beautifies and garnisheth the Earth and renders it fertile and delightful for benefit of Man and Beasts 2. As they are so contrived that all the Phaenomena about them are unaccountable and the wisest and most inquisitive

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

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

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

to fight against him Yet O Lord so inconquerable is thy Goodness that thy Patience seconds thy Bounty in continuing to us what our ill Deserts have forfeited as thou gav'st it freely without any good Desert of ours And not only in supplying our bare Necessities but furnishing of us for Convenience for Pleasure and Delight yea for recovery of those Distempers which we possibly have brought upon our selves by the abuse of thy own Blessings for the whole World is thy well-stor'd Shop and every Element is furnish'd with Supply The Air with Fowls the Water with Fish the Earth with small and great Cattel and with a numberless variety of Plants and Minerals and the Fire is the common Servant to them all to concoct their Crudities to dress and make them fit for Use and Nourishment Neither are they less apt for Physick than for Food for Medicine than for Meat To pass the rest in a grateful tho silent Admiration The Fountains are not only thy Cellars to quench our Thirst but thy Baths and thy Alimbecks where Almighty Goodness is the Operator and the God of Nature prevents the Trouble and Charge of Art O let this thy Goodness at length conquer the Obstinacy of our Rebellions that our Ingratitude and Provocations may never overcome thy Clemency and Patience that we may be so weary and asham'd of sinning against thee that thou mayest never be weary nor repent the doing of us good Amen MEDITAT V. Upon the Water of Jealousy Numbers the 5th THere are many righteous Laws and severe Threatnings in holy Scripture of the Execution of which we meet with no recorded Instance or Example Such is that of the rebellious Son being ston'd to death upon his Parents Complaint of him and testifying against him for his Disobedience Deut. 21.18 And that of the bitter Water to be drunk by the Wife of the jealous Husband which Water was to be mixt with the Dust of the Floor of the Tabernacle probably to make the Punishment Sins Anagram and to signify it should not fail of its dire Effects on them who trampled under foot the Authority of him who dwelt in it which caused her Belly to swell and Thigh to rot who was defiled Numb 5. There is a great Affinity and Likeness between God's Books of his Word and of his Works the Laws of both have righteous Sanctions either expressed or imply'd and tho we read not Examples of the Punishments of those who brake the first nor have observed instances of their Misery who have transgrest the latter yet assuredly wilful Offenders shall not escape the smart and burden of vindictive Justice O my Soul thy Maker is thy Husband provoke him not to Jealousy let not the Impunity of others imbolden thee they may feel that those surda verbera which thou canst take no notice of or he who sees their day is coming may reserve severer Wrath against that day What ever others do do thou thy Duty Love flows in these Waters make sutable returns of Love Provoke not him whose Help thou always needest and here most signally expectest not only lest thy Hopes abuse thee with a Disappointment but the expected Blessing be turn'd into a Curse and instead of opening Obstructions and yielding Help and Health they make thy Belly swell and occasion Sorrow Pain and Death MEDITAT VI. WHen I observe the great Quantities of Water drunk every Morning at these Wells it calls to my mind that Expression of David of some who drink Iniquity like Water Lust is a very thirsty and insatiable thing it never saith it is enough 't is an hydropick Sickness of the Soul the more it drinks the more it thirsts The Fountain of Corruption cannot be stopt it is impatient of a Damm If one Outlet be shut it will find or make another But O how poisonous how deadly are those draughts it swallows down with so greedy a delight We here drink innocent Healths But such Men drink much worse than Circean Cups their own Damnation How can any Sinner hope for impunity when every Sin carries its own Hell a bottomless desire after more And O most Righteous Lord 't is just and equal that they who have forsaken Thee the satisfying Fountain of Living Waters should weary themselves in their labouring after Disappointment in hewing out such broken Cisterns as can hold no Water O Thou who hast given me a Soul capable of thy Self and incapable of rest till it rest in thy self who art the Center of its Being and Desires draw me to thy Self fit me for thy Self fill me with thy Self give me to drink of those Waters of Paradise every drop of which is bigger than the Ocean Give me to hunger and thirst after Righteousness and I have the Security of his Word who cannot lie that I shall be satisfied that having a Well of Water in my self derived from thee the living Fountain I may thirst no more with an uneasy vexing deadly Thirst MEDITAT VII Ezek. 47.9 And every thing shall live whither the River cometh THe latter part of this Prophet is so dark that all Interpreters are ready to cry out as I remember Carthusianus doth when he comes to it I now enter into the thick darkness 'T is no wonder therefore that the heads of that River which brake out in those Regions of Obscurity should be more hidden than those of Nile yet undoubtedly this is that River which David saith makes glad the City of God and which he elsewhere calls the River of his Pleasure What can this be but those Waters of the Sanctuary which flow from the Throne of God and the Lamb the Graces and Comforts of thy Spirit O let that Blessed Spirit which proceedeth from the Father and the Son and whom the Nicene Creed teacheth us to call the Lord and Giver of Life come down upon us and effect more in and for our Souls than we expect or look for to our Bodies from the Waters of these Wells that by the coming of this River to us we may live the life of Grace here and may be fitted for the Life of Everlasting Glory hereafter MEDITAT VIII Upon 2 Kings 5.12 Are not Abana and Pharphar Rivers of Damascus better than all the Waters of Israel May I not wash in them and be clean and he went away in a rage With vers 17. Thy Servant will henceforth offer neither Burnt-Offering nor Sacrifice unto other Gods but unto the LORD THere 's not a greater difference betwixt the Waters in which he wash'd and the Fire by which he offered burnt Sacrifice than between the Sentiments and Language of the Syrian Leper and the cleansed Proselyte How did the Rage of his insolent Mind flame out at his disdainful Lips But when that Jordan which wash'd his Body had baptiz'd his Soul healing both with how sedate a Calmness and humble and resolved Firmness doth he devote himself to Israel's God and to the Rights of his before despised Worship Tho right

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