Precious faith considered in its nature, working, and growth

In the last Place I shall mention The great Works of Power Recorded in Scripture: many of these are Types of the Magnalia or Spiritual Wonders wrought in or for the Souls of Men. Thus the Ark which saved from the Deluge was a Type of Salvation from Wrath in and through Christ; Isaac, born of a dead Body and Womb, a Type of the New-creature brought forth by supernatural Grace; and The bringing Israel out of Egypt, a Type of the great Redemption wrought by Christ. These a Believer may Experiment in their Spiritual Imports and Mysteries, which are more great and glorious than the Things themselves. Not to be prolix in this; I shall only instance in two Things, viz. The Creation of the World, Historically set forth, Gen. 1. and The Miracles wrought by Christ, related in the Gospel. As touching Creation, as clear a Glass as it is of the Eternal Power and Godhead, the Philosophers were much mistaken about it: Aristotle asserting, That the World was Eternal; as if it were possible, That there should be an infinite orderly Succession of Things, or a third, fourth, fifth, &c. without a first; or as if a World, a Creature, could be made as the Son of God was Begotten, or join Eternities with its Creator. The Stoics dreaming at least of an Eternal Matter or Chaos; as if that Axiome, ex nihilo nihil fit, which runs true in Nature, ⟨p. 383⟩did reach God himself; or as if He, like our Mechanics on Earth, could not work without Tools or Materials: Or, as if the Gulf between Nothing and Being were so great, that Infinite Power could not fill it up, and fetch over a Creature from Nullity into Being. The Epicureans fancying the World to be made by a fortuitous concourse of Atoms luckily meeting together in the framing of it; as if the blind Particles of Matter could range themselves into a World full of delicate Order and Harmony; or as if the various parts, regular motions, and orderly dispositions in the great Universe could be but a chance; or as if the admirable consent and confederation of all the parts therein, in which contraries conspire and agree together for the good of the whole, were but a fortunate casualty. Such were the dreams of the Sophi; but the Believer by Faith understands, That the Worlds were framed by the Word of God, Hebr. 11.3. And over and above may experience a Creation, a precious New-creation in his own Heart;