Heaven upon earth, or, The best friend in the worst of times. Delivered in…

and they see themselves vile, and even are ready to wonder that the earth did not open and swallow them up before this, they admire that God should endure them so long, and think it no small miracle that they were not crushed in the Egg, that they were not cast from the darkness of the Womb, to the darkness of Hell. Now they can cry out of Original Sin, and the indisposition of their souls to any thing that is good, and inclination to that which is bad: They say as well as David, That they were born in sin, and in iniquity did their mother conceive them; they think every thing too good for them, all mercy on this side everlasting misery. They count every bit they eat, and every drop they drink more then they deserve. They think themselves unworthy of the least of Gods mercies, Gen. 32.10. Others say thanksgivings, but he feels them; others say confessions, but he feels them. It is one thing for a man to speak of his own unworthiness, and another thing to lie under the sense of it. The heart and tongue are to distinct members. The heart ⟨p. 187⟩may speak that which the tongue can't utter, and the tongue may utter that which the heart never felt. But a man that is brought into acquaintance with God, speaks what he experiences, or that he doth not dissemble with God, when he confesseth his sin before him. They lay themselves as low as Hell; this is humility, and this an effect of acquaintance with God. Hence it is that Paul saith of himself. Eph. 3.8. Unto me who am less then the least of all Saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship, &c. He wants words to express Gods greatness, and his own smallness. Now, what was it that made Paul speak and think thus of himself? There was a time when Paul would have spit in any ones face that should have spoke as much against him, as he did against himself. What is it that hath wrought such a strange alteration in this great Rabbi, and made him so little? Why, this acquaintance with God, the sight of Christ was the thing that laid this proud Pharisee in the dust, and made him blind also. Mark this, always the more heavenly any man is, the more humble, See Exod. 3.11.