120 METAPHORS FROM WATER. Book I. ing Apo!l:les by a wonderful EA'ufion, as Verfe 39· therefore flowing of Water mull: be underltood, of the plentiful Gifts and Operations of the Holy Gho!l:, by which the Apofl:!ts and other Minif\ers by Preachmg of the Gulpd converted many unto Chrift, and filled them with living Comfort. What Chrift adds, viz. as the S~ri~ture faith, belongs to the following Words, and the flowing of living Waters out of their ll;.llies is inferred from fume certain Places of the Old Tdlamenr, ft1ch as Ifa. l;iii. t 1. 'Ih,u fhalt be like a watered Garden, aild like a Spring wbofe Waters lie not, (that is, fail not Or do not wax dry;) Or from the whokSublbnce ot the univerlal Goipel Promifes ex: pounded or fet forth by the Allegory of Rivers, F()untains an.d Waters, fucl1 are, !fa. xltv. 3· and xltx. tO. Ezek. xx.xv1. 25, 26. Joel 111. 1. and 111. 23. Zecb. xu. 10. and xiv. 8. But Hei;tjius• elegantly joins the Words [as the Scripture faith] with the Words immediately going before: !le that beliewth on me, as tbe Scripturefaith. Chrill has Re– fpect to that Place, Deut. xviii. I 5, r8. where the Prophet is prumilcd. Neither was thel·e any Place which was then more in their Minds, John i. 21. and vi. 14 /![Is iii. 22. John vi. 40.-So that the Words which follow [out of his Belly !hall flowRiver~ of living Waters] are really the Words of Cluil\ himfelf as is clear, Verfe 39· See John iv. 14. fo far he. The Hebrew word l?:J ( Peleg) which fignifies a Rivulet, River or Stream with a gentle or natural Current, is much of the Signincation of the former, Job xxix. 6. Rivers of Oil, Ggnines Abundance of goud Things, Prov. xxi. 1. 'I'he King's Heart is ia the Hand of tbe Lord, (as, the Rivulets of Water, that is, he will incline it, tO what he pleafes. This Similitude !hews that K10gs are carried with great Impetuofity, where their Inclinations prompt them. But yet that it is in the Power of God to convert them from Evil to Good, as he dealt with the 'Naters in the Beginning, directing the 'vVay where every River mull: run. . A FOUNTAIN is generally taken in a good Senfi·, with RefpeCI: to Temporals and Spiriruals. l:xampltS of the former areDcut. xxxiii. 28. :The Fountain of J acob, that· is, the People of lfi'ael, whtch fprung from Jacob, }hall remain like a lajli11g Fotmlaiil, Jer. ix. 1. The E;-e is called a Fountain (or a Vein) of 'fears, that is, it fi1eds Tears plentifully. See Mark v. 29 Lev . xii. 7· and xx. tS, &c. Examples cf the latter are, Pfal. xxxvi. 9· For with thee is tbe Fountain of Life, that is, thou, 0 God, art the Caule of all Life and heavenly Bkficrlnels. Pfal.lxxxvii. 7· All m;• Spri"gs, (or Founta;ns) are in thee. The Senle is, that Believers regener"ted by the Spirit of God (of whom he fpeaks, Verfe 4, 5.) fi1ould celebrate and ling Praites ro God in the Kingdom of Chrift ufing this Argument-All the Fountain$ of our Life are in thee, 0 our bldfed Savior: Thou alone art the Author, Fountain and Ori– ginal of temporal, fpiritual, and eternal Life. Pro'V. xiii. q. 'The Do8rine of the Wife is a Fountain of Life, that is, wbokfome, or health-bringing, and full of Comforr, like a clear Fountain which never w.wts re– frelhing or cooling Water. The like, Chap. x. I 1. is laid of the Moutb of aju;1 or righteous Man. And Chap. xiv. 27. of the Fear ofthe Lord; whence it is manireftthat this is to be underftood of the Preaching of the laving Word of God by juft and wife Men, that is, Believers. The W•rd of Chri!l: the Savior is called a Fountain and Sprinj;, Ifa. xii. 3· (where the 'vVord is in the plural Number, to denote Abundance) Ztcb. xiii. 1. Joel iii. 23. With Refpect to this faving Word the Church ofChrift is called A Founta"' oJGardms, a fVe/1 ofli·ving Waters, and Streams of Lebanon, Cant. iv. '5· Cbaldee: The Words of the Law are compared to a Well of living Waters. This Fountain is only in the Church of Cht•ift, and therefore this Name is allo attributed to ir, and it is aifo called a SprinJ: }hut 11p (or locked) a Fountain fealed, Verfe 12. becaufe it is fealed and kept by the Holy Spirit through the Word to eternal Salvation, 2 Cor. i. 22. Eph. i. 13. and that in a Manner utterly unknown to all human Senle and Realon. Peter calls falle Teachers, Wells without Waters, 2 Pet. ii. 17· that is, fuch as make a lpecious Shew of divine Truth, but really have no Grace, or heavenly Doctrine. God is called the FGun– tain of Life, but of that we have treated in the Chapter of an Anthropapathy. That • In Ariftarcho facro, p. 4-06. Life
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