above the Earth. And that thoſe productions that are made in, and upon the Earth, are partly attributed to the very Water, the ſame Scripture teſtifies, where it ſaith that the Plants, and the Hearbs did not grow, becauſe God had not cauſed it to rain upon the Earth. Such is the efficacy of this Element of Water, that Spirituall regeneration cannot be done without it, as Chriſt himſelf teſtified to Nicodemus. Very great alſo is the vertue of it in the Religious Worſhip of God, in expiations, and purifications; yea, the neceſſity of it is no leſs then that of Fire. Infinite are the benefits, and divers are the uſes thereof, as being that by vertue of which all things ſubſiſt, are generated, nouriſhed, and increaſed. Thence it was that Thales of Miletus, and Heſiod concluded that Water was the beginning of all things, and ſaid it was the firſt of all the Elements, and the moſt potent, and that becauſe it hath the maſtery over all the reſt. For, as Pliny ſaith, Waters ſwallow up the Earth, extinguiſh flames, aſcend on high, and by the ſtretching forth of the clouds, challenge the Heaven for their own: the ſame falling become the Cauſe of all things that grow in the Earth. Very many are the wonders that are done by Waters, according to the Writings of Pliny, Solinus, and many other Hiſtorians, of the wonderfull vertue whereof, Ovid alſo makes mention in theſe Verſes.
Hornd Hammons Waters at high noon
Are cold; hot at Sun-riſe and ſetting Sun.
Wood, put in bubling Athemas is Fir'd,
The Moon then fartheſt from the Sun retir'd,
Circonian ſtreams congeal his guts to Stone
That thereof drinks; and what therein is thrown.
Crathis, and Sybaris (from the Mountains rold)
Color the hair like Amber, or pure Gold.
Some fountains, of a more prodigious kinde,
Not only change the body, but the minde.
Who hath not heard of obſcene Salmacis?
Of th' Æthiopian lake ? for who of this
