4° VERSE I. Col. 1.2,7. The Spirit comparedto Water, ...admiammaemmarbbIn Fira,TawAter,and that not a little meafure tofprinckte or bedew, but to Baptize the faithful! in, Alatth.3.u. fia.z .5. and that not in a font or I/ellen, which growes letfe analeffe, but in a fpringing and living river, /oh.7. 39. Nowwater befides its purging propertie, is firtiof a fpreading nature : It hath no bounds nor limits to it felfe, as firme and folid bodies have, but receives its re- firaint by theveffell or continent which holds it : fo the Spirit of the Lord is not firaightned in hitnfelfe , but onlyby the narrow hearts ofmen into which he comp. 2'earenot firaitnedlaith the Apofilein us,that is,in that minifierie ofgrace, and difpenfation ofthe Spirit which is committed tous,but inyour ownebewek,which arenot in any proportion enlarged unto that abundance and fulneffe ofheavenlygrace, which in the Gofpel offalva- tion is offered unto you. Secondly, Spring water is a growing and multiplying thing; which is the reafon why rivers which rife from narrow fountaines, have yet by reafon of a conflant and regular fitpply a great breadth in remote channels, becaufe the water lives. Wheras in pits and torrents it growethkite and leffe: fo thegraces oftheSpirit are living and fpringing things,the \ , longer theycontinue,the larger they grow, (like the wa- ters of the fanauary, Ezek. 36 .25.) and the reafon is becaufe they come from a fountaine which is alllife,a. 4.10. lob. 1 4 .6. Co1.3 .4. Thirdly, as water multiplies in it felle, fo by infinuation and mollification it hath a frueiifying vertue in other things. Fruitful! trees are planted by the waters fide ; fo the Spirit (catchingand mollifying the heart , maketh it fruitful! in holy obe- dience,e.z.,.ek,,r 1.19,20. Fourthly, water is very iirong in its owne fiteamc: we fee what mighty engines it mo- veth,w hat huge vetiels it rouleth Ilk; a ball, what walls and bulwarkes it overthrowes : fo the fpirit ofGod is able to beate owne all firong holds, which the wit of man,orthe maliceofSatan,can ereaagaina the Church. The
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