This is a quote from Alexander Comrie (1706 - 1774) taken from Stellige en practicale verkaring van de Heidelbergsche Catechismus - A Certain and Practical Explanation of the Heidelberg Catechism. He was also the author of the "ABC of Faith" and other books and a faithful ambassador of God -
"The knowledge of our misery is of the greatest importance for the very reason that God by His Spirit thereby lays the foundation in us for the saving operations of which we become the recipients in this time state, and upon which the building of our salvation is erected. There is a foundation outside of us, namely Christ Jesus, upon which the soul is founded or is grafted into Him. By thus being founded upon Him or being grafted into Him, one is made to be a living stone. There is also a foundation within us, however, consisting in the saving knowledge of our miserable, sinful, and lost condition. It is here that we observe the distinction between a true and a counterfeit work.
However far a person may progress by virtue of the common operation of the Spirit, the deficiency is always at this point, for the foundation of all of his progress is not grounded in the true knowledge of his sins and miseries. If the footing and the foundation have been constructed correctly, the building which is to rest upon it shall also turn out well. However if the first is lacking, all that follows must of necessity turn out wrong so that even all knowledge, illumination, and tasting of the heavenly gifts- yes, even the power of the world to come-will be of no avail.
Of, if you do not deceive yourself willfully or feed yourself with ashes and perish with a lie in your right hand, ask much for this experiential knowledge and this true realization of your sins and miseries."
