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

Moses who was the Mediator of the old Covenant, he was said to speak with God face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend. I might make mention of many more, who were the excellent ones of the earth; because they did delight in God, & God delighted in them, Mal. 3.16, 17. ⟨p. 27⟩They that feared the Lord, spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard: and the book of remembrance was written for them that fear the Lord, and that thought upon his name: And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in the day when I make up my Jewels. Ye see how God accounts of those that are of his acquaintance, that met together and spake of God, and that thought upon his name; he reckons them amongst his Jewels his peculiar Treasure: Such honour have all those that are acquainted with God. Ye see then the excellency of man above all the rest of the other Creatures. Now if man fail in this which is his highest excellency, he will become the vilest of Creatures. Every thing if it fail in its chiefest end and purpose, and highest excellency, becomes base and of no account: If salt lose its savour (saith our Saviour) it is good for nothing. If man have lost his acquaintance with God, he is henceforth good for nothing. The mind of man is his eye, by which he is to behold God; now if this eye be blind, if the light be darkness, how great is that darkness! The Jews in Ezek. 15.1. are likened to a Vine, which, if it be barren, is good for no use: Shall wood be taken thereof for any work? It is fit for nothing but to burn. So it is in man, his great use and excellency is his acquaintance with God: now if he fails in this, he is good for nothing. Verily, man is a base, vile worthless thing without acquaintance with God. None are less esteemed among men, than they that want wisdom to converse among men. None are less esteemed before God, than they that know him not, that have not acquaintance with him, to converse ⟨p. 28⟩with him. Ye see wherein the excellency and worth of man consisteth, and that if there be a deformity, where ought to be our chiefest beauty, the whole is accounted as a deformed piece. It concerns us then to look that we keep our glory unspotted, our excellency in its due value; that we do not degrade our selves below what God hath placed us in. If we are not acquainted with God, our souls serve us to little purpose: