A30213:145
The water of life, or, A discourse showing the richness and glory of the…The water of life, or, A discourse shewing the richness and glory of the…
The water of life, or, A discourse showing the richness and glory of the grace and spirit of the gospel, as set forth in Scripture by this term, The water of life by John Bunyan.The water of life, or, A discourse shewing the richness and glory of the grace and spirit of the gospel, as set forth in Scripture by this term, The water of life by John Bunyan.
London: printed for Nathanael Ponder, 1688
Title page typeset from the transcription.
OF THE River of Water OF LIFE.OF THE River of VVater OF LIFE.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
3. Clear] is set in opposition to dirty Water and muddiness. I read of some Waters that are fouled with the Feet of Beasts, and with the feet of Men, yea, and deep Waters too. Yea, saith God to some, ye have drunken of the deep Waters, And have fouled the residue with your feet, ⟨p. 93⟩and again, As for my Flock they eat that which ye have trodden with your 1feet, and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. These Waters are Doctrines contained in the Text, muddied and dirtied by the false glosses and sluttish opinions of erroneous Judgments; of which the poor Sheep, have been made to drink. And verily this is apparent enough, by the very colour and hue of those poor Souls: for tho the truth of God was in them, yet the very stain of Tradition and Superstition might be also seen in their Scales. For as the Fish of the River receive, by being there, the changeable colours of the Waters, so Professors, what Doctrine, they hear and drink, do look like that. If their Doctrines are muddy their Notions are muddy; if their Doctrines are bloody, their Notions and Tempers are bloody: but if their Doctrines are clear, so are their Notions, for their Doctrine has given ⟨p. 94⟩them a clear understanding of things.
Now here we have a River of Water of Life, that is clear, clear without dirt, and mud. Clear without the humane Inventions and muddy Conceptions of unsanctified, and uninstructed Judgments; yea, here you have a River the streams whereof lie open to all in the Church, so that they need not those instruments of Conveyance that are foul, and that use to make Water stink if they receive it to bring it to them that have need.