Precious faith considered in its nature, working, and growth

And here I shall first begin with the sagacities of Faith. There hath been a great stir in the world about wisdom; Philosophers have hunted after it; the Jews have vainly cried up themselves, nos sapientes, we are the wise men, say they; but in truth the only Sage under the Sun is the believer. Upon Gods own survey it was found, that there is none that understandeth, Rom. 3.11. none but the believer only, his knowledge is divine, all Arts and Sciences are but toys to it, which occasioned the worthy Pitiscus to say, that he played in Mathematics with his rule and compass, but he sweat in Divinity; his design is the wisest, he seeks a crown, a kingdom of glory: the Primitive Christians were wont to talk so much of the kingdom, the kingdom, that the Pagan Emperors grew jealous of them; but alas, their aims were much higher, in comparison whereof earthly Monarchs do but play at push-pin about Crowns of dust, and spend their time like Domitian in catching flies; the believer leaving the world behind his back, pitches upon heaven, and God, the heaven of heaven, ⟨p. 171⟩in him to enjoy mirrors of truths, Sabbaths of love, rivers of pleasures, and plenitudes of joy and bliss for ever; and what wiser design can enter into mans heart? surely none, as the last day will demonstrate, when it shall put an eternal blush on all other designs. And as his end is the wisest, so his way to it is the surest, he goes to it by Jesus Christ, whose merit as a golden key unlocks the doors of bliss to the believer, and whose spirit attires him with all graces to make him fit to enter in, and all this is not a fancy, a fools Paradise, but a truth, a real thing, founded on that infallible word, which stands faster then the pillars of heaven and earth. But to unfold the sagacities of faith more fully, I shall consider them with relation to several objects.

And here I shall first begin with the sagacities of Faith. There hath been a great stir in the world about wisdom; Philosophers have hunted after it; the Jews have vainly cried up themselves, nos sapientes, we are the wise men, say they; but in truth the only Sage under the Sun is the believer. Upon Gods own survey it was found, that there is none that understandeth, Rom. 3.11. none but the believer only, his knowledge is divine, all Arts and Sciences are but toyes to it, which occasioned the worthy Pitiscus to say, that he played in Mathematicks with his rule and compass, but he sweat in Divinity; his design is the wisest, he seeks a crown, a kingdom of glory: the Primitive Christians were wont to talk so much of the kingdom, the kingdom, that the Pagan Emperors grew jealous of them; but alass, their aims were much higher, in comparison whereof earthly Monarchs do but play at push-pin about Crowns of dust, and spend their time like Domitian in catching flies; the believer leaving the world behind his back, pitches upon heaven, and God, the heaven of heaven,