fontes aquarum, fountains of waters, but it hath a gracious sense, and presents God's benefits. So, They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters 35; so, The water, that I shall give, shall be in him, a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life"; and so, everywhere else, when we are brought to the fountains, to this water, in the fountain, in the institution, howsoever we puddle it with impertinent questions in disputation, howsoever we foul it with our sins, and ill conversation, the fountain is pure; baptism presents, and offers grace, and remission of sins to all. Nay, not only this fountain of water, but the greatest water of all, the flood itself, St. Basil understands, and applies to baptism, as the apostle himself does"; baptism was a figure of the flood, and the ark, for upon that place, The Lord sitteth upon the flood, and the Lord doth remain king for ever, he says, Baptismi gratiam diluvium nominat, nam delet et purgat; David calls baptism the flood, because it destroys all that was sinful in us; and so also he refers to baptism, those words, (when David had confessed his sins) I thought I would confess against myself my wickedness, unto the Lord; and when it is added, Surely in the flood of great waters, they shall not come near him, Peccato non appropinquabunt, says he, original sin shall not come near him, that is truly baptized; nay all the actual sins in his future life, shall be drowned in this baptism, as often, as he doth religiously, and repentantly consider, that in baptism, when the merit of Christ was communicated to him, he received an antidote against all poison, against all sin, if he applied them together, sin and the merit of Christ; for so also he says, of that place, God will subdue all our iniquities, and cast our sins into the bottom of the sea". Hoc est, in mare baptismi, says Basil, Into the sea of baptism: there was a brazen sea in the temple"; and there is a golden sea in the church of Christ, which is baptisterium, the font, the sea, into which God flings all their sins, who rightly, and effectually receive that sacrament. These fountains of waters then in the text, are the waters of baptism and if we should take them also, in that sense, that 35 Jer. ii. 13. 36 John iv. 14. 39 Mic. vii. 19, 37 1 Pet. iii. 21. waters signify tribulations, and afflictions, it is true too, that in baptism, (that is, in the profession of Christ,) we are delivered over to many tribulations; the rule is general, Castigat omnes, He hastiseth all; the example, the precedent is peremptory, Oportuit pati, Christ ought to suffer", and so enter into glory: but howsoever waters be afflictions, they are waters of life too, says the text; though baptism imprint a cross upon us, that we should not be ashamed of Christ's cross, that we should not be afraid of our own crosses, yet by all these waters, by all these crossways, we go directly to the eternal life, the kingdom of heaven, for they are lively fountains, fountains of life. And this is intended, and promised, in the last words, Absterget omnem lachrymam, God shall wipe all tears from our eyes; God shall give us a joyful apprehension of heaven, here in his church in this life. But is this a way to wipe tears from the child's face, to sprinkle water upon it? Is this a wiping away, to pour more on? It is the powerful, and wonderful way of his working; for as his red blood, makes our red souls, white, that his redness, gives our redness a candour, so his water, his baptism, and the powerful effect thereof, shall dry up, and wipe away Omnem lachrymam, All tears from our eyes, howsoever occasioned. This water shall dry them up; Christ had many occasions of tears; we have more; some of our own; which he had not: we must weep because we are not so good, as we should be: we cannot perform the law. We must weep, because we are not so good, as we could be; our freewill is lost; but yet every man finds, he might be better, if he would: but the sharpest, and saltest, and smartest occasion of our tears, is from this, that we must not be so good, as we would be; that the profaneness of the libertine, the reproachful slanders, the contumelious scandals, the scornful names, that the wicked lay upon those, who in their measure desire to express their zeal to God's glory, make us afraid to profess ourselves so religious as we could find in our hearts to be, and could truly be if we might. Christ wept often in contemplation of others; foreseeing the calamities of Jerusalem, he wept over the city: coming to the grave of Lazarus, 41 Luke xxiv. 26. he wept with them, but in his own agony in the garden, it is not said that he wept; if we could stop the flood of tears, in our afflictions, yet there belongs an excessive grief to this, that the ungodly disposition of other men, is a slacking of our godliness, of our sanctification too. Christ Jesus for the joy that was set before him endured the cross; we for the joy of this promise, that God will wipe all tears from our eyes, must suffer all this; whether they be tears of compunction, or tears of compassion, tears for ourselves, or tears for others; whether they be Magdalen's tears, or Peter's tears; tears for sins of infirmity of the flesh, or tears for weakness of our faith; whether they be tears for thy parents, because they are improvident towards thee, or tears for thy children, because they are disobedient to thee, whether they be tears for the church, because our sermons, or our censures pinch you, or tears for the state, that penal laws, pecuniary, or bloody, lie heavy upon you, Deus absterget omnem lachrymam, here is your comfort, that as he hath promised inestimable blessings to them, that are sealed, and washed in him, so he hath given you security, that these blessings belong to you: for, if you find, that he hath governed you, (bred you in his visible church) and led you to his fountain of the water of life in baptism, you may be sure, that he will in his due time, wipe all tears from your eyes, establish the kingdom of heaven upon you, in this life, in a holy, and modest infallibility. 42 Heb. xii. 63 SERMON LXXXV. PREACHED AT A CHRISTENING. EPHESIANS V. 25—27. Husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it, and cleanse it, by the washing of water, through the word: that he might make it unto himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blame. ALMIGHTY GOD ever loved unity, but he never loved singularity; God was always alone in heaven, there were no other gods, but he; but he was never singular, there was never any time, when there were not three persons in heaven; Pater et ego unum sumus; The Father and I are one, says Christ: one in essence, and one in consent; our substance is the same, and our will is the same; but yet, Tecum fui ab initio, says Christ, In the person of Wisdom, I was with thee, disposing all things, at the creation. As then God seems to have been eternally delighted, with this eternal generation, (with persons that had ever a relation to one another, Father, and Son) so when he came to the creation of this lower world, he came presently to those three relations, of which the whole frame of this world consists; of which, (because the principal foundation, and preservation of all states that are to continue, is power) the first relation was between prince and subject, when God said to man, Subijcite et dominamini, Subdue and govern all creatures'; the second relation was between husband and wife, when Adam said, This now is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; and the third relation was between parents and children, when Eve said, That she had obtained a man by the Lord3, that by the plentiful favour of God, she had conceived and borne a son: from that time, to the dissolution of that frame, from that beginning to the end of the world, these three relations, of master and servant, man and wife, father and children, have 3 Gen. iv. 1. 1 Gen. i. 28. 2 Gen. ii. 23. been, and ever shall be the materials, and the elements of all society, of families, and of cities, and of kingdoms. And therefore it is a large, and a subtle philosophy which St. Paul professes in this place, to show all the qualities, and properties of these several elements, that is, all the duties of these several callings; but in this text, he handles only the mutual duties of the second couple, man and wife, and in that consideration, shall we determine this exercise, because a great part of that concerns the education of children, (which especially occasions our meeting now). The general duty, that goes through all these three relations, is expressed, Subditi estote invicem, Submit yourselves to one another, in the fear of God; for God hath given no master such imperiousness, no husband such a superiority, no father such a sovereignty, but that there lies a burden upon them too, to consider with a compassionate sensibleness, the grievances, that oppress the other part, which is coupled to them. For if the servant, the wife, the son be oppressed, worn out, annihilated, there is no such thing left as a master, or a husband, or a father; they depend upon one another, and therefore he that hath not care of his fellow, destroys himself. The wife is to submit herself; and so is the husband too: they have a burden both. There is a greater subjection lies upon her, than upon the man, in respect of her transgression towards her husband at first: even before there was any man in the world, to solicit, or tempt her chastity, she could find another way to be false and treacherous to her husband: both the husband and the wife offended against God, but the husband offended not towards his wife, but rather ate the apple, Ne contristaretur delicias suas, as St. Hierome assigns the cause, lest by refusing to eat, when she had done so, he should deject her into a desperate sense of her sin. And for this fault of hers, her subjection was so much aggravated, Thy desire shall be subject to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. But if she had not committed that fault, yet there would have been a mutual subjection between them; as there is even in nature, between both the other couples; for if man had continued in innocency, yet it is most probably thought, that as there would certainly have been marriage, and so children, |