If they complain, it is of themselves. Their hearts rise not up against the Lord, far less do they open their mouth against the heavens. They justify God and condemn themselves, reverencing His holiness and spotless righteousness in His proceedings against them.

2. They go quietly under it as tolerable. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait. For the salvation of the Lord, it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. He sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. He putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. Lamentations 3 26-29

While the unsubdued spirit rages under the yoke as a bullock unaccustomed to it, the spirit brought to the lot goes softly under it. They see it is of the Lord's mercies that it is not worse. They take up the naked cross as God lays it down without those overweights upon it that turbulent passions add thereunto. And so it becomes really more easy than they thought it could have been, like a burden fitted on the back. They are satisfied in it, as drawing their comfort from another quarter than their outward condition, even as the house stands fast when the prop is taken away that it did not lean upon.

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. Have the cup 3.17 and 18. Thus did David in the day of his distress. He encouraged himself in the Lord, his God, 1 Samuel 36.

It is an argument of a spirit not brought down to the lot when men are damp and sunk under the hardships of it. as if their condition in the world were the point whereon their happiness turned. It is want of mortification that makes men's comforts to wax and wane, ebb and flow, according to the various appearances of their lot in the world.

4. They have a complacency in it as that which is fit and good for them. Isaiah 39, 8. 2 Corinthians 12. 10. Men have a sort of complacency in the working of physic medicine, though it gripes them sore. rationally think with themselves that it is good and best for them. So these lowly souls consider their afflicted lot as a spiritual medicine necessary, fit, and good for them. Yea, best for them for the time since it is ministered by their Heavenly Father. And so they reach a holy complacency in their low, afflicted lot.

The lowly spirit extracts this sweet out of the bitterness in his lot, considering how the Lord, by means of that afflicting lot, stops the provision for unruly lusts, that they may be starved. How he cuts off the by-channels that the whole stream of the soul's love may run towards himself. How he pulls off and holds off the man's burden and clog of earthly comforts, that he may run the more expeditiously in the way to heaven.

5. They rest in it. as what they desire not to come out of, till the God that brought them into it see it meet to bring them out with His good will. Isaiah 28, 16. Though an unsubdued spirit's time for deliverance is always ready, a humble soul will be afraid of being taken out of its afflicted lot. too soon it will not be for moving for a change till the heavens moving bring it about so this hinders not prayer and the use of appointed means with dependence on the Lord but requires faith, hope, patience and resignation 2 Samuel 15 25 and 26

the proud sinner We shall consider the generation of the proud, getting their will and carrying all to their mind, and in their character also are three things. There are crosses in their lot. They also have their trials allotted them by overruling providence. and let them be in what circumstances they will in the world they cannot miss them altogether for consider one the confusion and vanity brought into the creation by man's sin have made it impossible to get through the world but men must meet with what will ruffle them Ecclesiastes 1 14 Sin has turned the world from a paradise into a thicket. There is no getting through without being scratched. As midges in the summer will fly about those walking abroad in a goodly attire, as well as about those in sordid apparel, so will crosses in the world meet with the high as well as the low.

Two, the pride of their heart exposes them particularly to crosses. A proud heart will make a cross to itself, where a lowly soul would find none. Esther 5, 13. It will make a real cross ten times the weight it would be to the humble. The generation of the proud are like nettles, and form hedges, upon which things flying about do fix, while they pass over low and plain things. So none are more exposed to crosses than they. though none so unfit to bear them, as appears from the reigning pride in their spirit. Their spirits were never subdued by a work of thorough humiliation. They remain at the height in which the corruption of nature placed them. Hence, they can by no means bear the yoke God lays on them. The neck is swollen with the ill humors of pride and passion. Hence, when the yoke once begins to touch it, they cannot have any more ease.

We may view the case of the proud generation here in three things. One, they have an over of value for themselves, and so will not stoop to the yoke. It is below them. What a swelling vanity is in that! Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? Exodus 5, 2. Hence the work of humiliation is necessary to make one take on the yoke, whether of Christ's precepts or prophethoods. The first error is in the understanding, whence Solomon ordinarily calls a wicked man a fool. Accordingly, the first stroke in conversion is thereto by conviction too humble. Men are bigger in their own conceit than they are in deed. Therefore God, suiting things to what we are really, cannot please us.

2. They have an unmortified self-will arising from that over-value for themselves, and they will not stoop. Exodus 5. The question between heaven and us is whether God's will or our own must prevail. Our will is corrupt. God's will is holy. They cannot agree in one. God says in his providence our will must yield to his, but that it will not do till the iron sinew in it be broken. Romans 8, 7. Isaiah 48, 4. They have a crowd of unsubdued passions taking part with self-will, and they say, He shall not stoop. Romans 7, 8, and 9. And so the war begins, and there is a field of battle within and without the man. James 4, 1. A holy God crosses the self-will of proud creatures by his providence. overruling and disposing of things contrary to their inclination, sometimes by his own immediate hand, as in the case of Cain, Genesis 4, 4 and 5, sometimes by the hand of men, carrying things against their mind, as in the case of Ahab, to whom Naboth refused his vineyard, 1 Kings 21, 4. The proud heart and will, unable to submit to the cross or to bear to be controlled, rises up against it and fights for the mastery with its whole force of unmortified passions. The design is to remove the cross, even the crook, and bring the thing to their own mind. This is the cause of this unholy war, in which there is one black hand of hellish passions that marches upward and makes an attack on heaven itself, namely discontent, impatience, murmuring, fretting, and the like. The foolishness of man perverteth his way, and his heart fretteth against the Lord. Proverbs 19, 3. These fire the breast, fall the countenance. Genesis 4, 6. let off sometimes the volley of indecent and passionate complaints, Jude, verse 16, and sometimes of blasphemies, 2 Kings, 6.33.

There is another that marches forward and makes an attack on the instrument or instruments of the cross, namely wrath, anger, fury, revenge, bitterness, etc. Proverbs 27, 4. These carry the man out of the position of himself. Luke 21, 19. Fill the heart with a boiling heat. Psalm 39, 3. The mouth with clamor and evil speaking, Ephesians 4.31, and threatenings are breathed out, Acts 9.1. And sometimes sets the hands on work, a most heavy event, as in the case of Ahab against Naboth.

Thus the proud carry on the war, but oftentimes they lose the day, and the cross remains immovable for all they can do. Yea, and sometimes they themselves fall in the quarrel, ending in their ruin, Exodus 15, 9 and 10. But that is not the case in the text.

The Spiritual Consequences of Pride
For we are to consider them as getting their will and carrying all to their mind. This speaks, one, holy providence yielding to the man's unmortified self-will and letting it go according to his mind. Genesis 6, 3. God sees it meet to let the struggle with him fall, for it prevails not to his good. Isaiah 1 5. So the reins are laid on the proud man's neck, and he has what he would be at. Ephraim is joined to two idols. Let him alone. Hosea 4 17.

2. The lost remaining in its strength and vigor. Psalm 78 30. They were not estranged from their lusts. God, in the method of His covenant, sometimes gives His people their will and sets them where they would be. But then, in that case, the lust for the thing is mortified, and they are as weaned children. Psalm 131, 2. But here the lust remains rampant. The proud seek meat for it and get it.

3. The cross is removed, the yoke taken off, Psalm 78, 29. They could not think of bringing their mind to their lot, but they thwarted with it, wrestled and fought against it, till it is brought up to their mind. So the day is their own, the victory is on their side. The man is pleased in his having carried his point, even as one is when he is dividing the spoil. 1 Kings 21 18-19

Thus the case of the afflicted lowly generation and the proud generation prospering is stated.

The Fruits of Humility
Now I am to confirm the doctrine, or the decision of the text, that the case of the former is better than that of the latter. It is better to be in a low afflicted condition, with the spirit humbled and brought down to the lot, than to be of a proud and high spirit, getting the lot brought up to it, and matters go according to one's mind. This will appear from the following considerations.

1. Humility is so far preferable to pride, that in no circumstances whatsoever its preferableness can fail. Let all the afflictions in the world attend the humble spirit, and all the prosperity in the world attend pride. Humility will still have the better, as gold in a dunghill is more excellent than so much lead in a cabinet. For humility is a part of the image of God. Pride is the masterpiece of the image of the devil. Let us view him who was the express image of the Father's person. And we shall behold him meek and lowly in heart. Matthew 11, 29. None more afflicted, yet his spirit perfectly brought down to his lot. Isaiah 53, 7. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. That is the shining part of the divine image. For though God cannot be low in respect of his state and condition, yet he is of infinite condescension. Isaiah 57, 15. None bears as he, Romans 2, 4, nor suffers patiently so much contradiction to his will, which is proposed to us for our encouragement in affliction, as it shone in Christ. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be worried and faint in your minds. Hebrews 12, 3. Pride, on the other hand, is the very image of the devil. 1 Timothy 3, 6 Shall we value ourselves on the height of our spirit? Satan will vie with the highest of us in that point, for though he is the most miserable, yet he is the proudest in the whole creation. There is the greatest distance between his spirit and his lot. The former is as high as the throne of God, the latter as low as hell. And as it is impossible that ever his lot should be brought up to his spirit, so his spirit will never come down to his lot, and therefore he will be eternally in a state of war with his lot. Hence even at this time he has no rest, but goes about, seeks rest indeed, but finds none. Now is it not better to be like God than like the devil? Like him who is the fountain of all good than him who is the spring and sink of all evil? Can anything possibly cast the balance here and turn the preference to the other side? Then better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, etc. Humility and lowliness of spirit qualify us for friendly communion and intercourse with God in Christ. Pride makes God our enemy, 1 Peter 5, 5. Our happiness here and hereafter depends on our friendly intercourse with heaven. If we have not that, nothing can make up our loss. Psalm 30, 5. If we have that, nothing can make us miserable. Romans 8, 31. If God be for us, who can be against us? Now, who are they whom God is for but the humble and lowly? They who being in Christ are so made like him. He blesses them and declares them the heirs of the crown of glory. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5, 3. He will look to them, be their condition ever so low, while he overlooks others. Isaiah 66, 2. He will have respect to them, however they be despised, though the Lord be high. Yet hath he respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar off. Psalm 138.6 He will dwell with them, however poorly they dwell. Isaiah 57.15 He will certainly exalt them in due time, however low they lie now. Isaiah 40.4 Whom is he against? Whom does he resist? Then he curseth Jeremiah 17 5, and that curse will dry up their arm at length. The proud man is God's rival. He makes himself his own God, and would have those about him make him theirs too. He rages, he blusters, if they will not fall down before him. God will bring him down. Isaiah 44, Psalm 18, 27. Now is it not better to be qualified for communion with God than to have Him engaged against us at any rate? Humility is a duty pleasing to God. Pride a sin pleasing to the devil. Isaiah 57, 15, 1 Timothy 3, 6. God requires us to be humble, especially under affliction, and be clothed with humility. 1 Peter 5, 5 and 6. That is our becoming garment. The humble publican was accepted. The proud Pharisee rejected. We may say of the generation of the proud as wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. 1 Thessalonians 2, 16. They please neither God nor men, but only themselves and Satan, whom they resemble in it. Now duty is better than sin at any rate. They whose spirits are brought down to their afflicted lot have much quiet and repose of mind, while the proud that must have their lot brought up to their mind have much disquiet, trouble, and vexation. Consider here that, on the one hand, quiet of mind and ease within is a great blessing, upon which the comfort of life depends. Nothing without this can make one's life happy. Daniel 5.6. And where this is maintained, nothing can make it miserable. John 16.33. This being security in God, there is a defiance bid to all the troubles of the world. Psalm 46, 2 and 3, like the child sailing in the midst of the rolling waves. The spirit brought down to the lot makes and maintains this inward tranquility. Our whole trouble in our lot in the world rises from the disagreement of our mind therewith. Let the mind be brought to the lot, and the whole tumult is instantly hushed. Let it be kept in that disposition, and the man shall stand at ease in his affliction, like a rock unmoved with waters beating on it. Colossians 3.15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called. On the one hand, consider what disquiet of mind the proud suffer, ere they can get their lot brought up to their mind. They have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. Jeremiah 9, 5. James 4, 2. Ye lust, and have not. Ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain. Ye fight and roar, yet ye have not. What arrows of grief go through their heart? What torture of anxiety, fretting, and vexation must they endure? What contrary passions fight within them? And what sallies, escapades of passion do they make? What uneasiness was Haman in before he could carry the point of revenge against Mordecai, obtaining the king's decree? When the thing has got to their mind, it will not quit the cost. The enjoyment thereof brings not so much satisfaction and pleasure as the want of it gave pain. This was evident in Rachel's case as to the having of children, and in that case, Psalms 78, 30, and 31. There is a dead fly in the ointment that mars the savour they expected to find in it. Fruit plucked off the tree of Providence, ere it is ripe, will readily set the teeth on edge. It proves like the manna kept Overnight, Exodus 16, 20. They have but an unsure hold of it, It does not last with them, Either it is taken from them soon, And they are just where they were again. I gave thee a king in mine anger, And took him away in my wrath, Hosea 13, 11. Having a root of pride, It quickly withers away, Or else they are taken from it, that they have no access to enjoy it. So Haman obtained the decree, but ere the day of the execution came, he was gone. They that get their spirit brought down to their afflicted lot gain a point far more valuable than they who in their pride force up their lot to their mind. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. Proverbs 16.32. This will appear if you consider. The latter makes but a better condition in outward things, the former makes a better man. The life is more than meat. The man himself is more valuable than all external conveniences that attend him. What therefore betters the man is preferable to what betters only his condition.

Who doubts but where two are sick? and the one gets himself transported from a coarse bed to a fine one, the sickness still remaining, the other lies still in the coarse bed, but the sickness is removed, but the case of the latter is preferable, so here, etc. the subduing of our own passions is more excellent than to have the whole world subdued to our will for then we are masters of ourselves according to that Luke 21 19 whereas in the other case we are still slaves to the worst of masters Romans 6 16 in the one case we are safe though what storm will In the other we lie exposed to thousands of dangers.

He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls. Proverbs 25, 28. When both shall come to be judged, it will appear the one hath multiplied the tale of their good works in bringing their spirit to their lot, the others the tale of their ill works in bringing their lot to their spirit, we have to do with an omniscient God, in whose eyes every internal action is a work, good or bad, to be reckoned for. Romans 2, 16.

An afflicted lot is painful, but where it is well managed, it is very fruitful, it exercises the graces of the Spirit in a Christian which otherwise would lie dormant. But there is never an act of resignation to the will of God under the cross, nor an act of trusting in Him for His help, but they will be recorded in Heaven's register. as good works, Malachi 3.16, and these are occasioned by affliction.

On the other hand, there is never a rising of the proud heart against the lot, nor a faithful attempt to bring it to our mind, whether it succeed or not, but it passes for an ill work before God How then will the tale of such be multiplied by the war in which the spoil is divided?

Use Application of Information 1. Hence we may learn it is not always best for folks to get their will. Many there are who cannot be pleased with God's will about them, and they get their own will with a vengeance. Psalm 81, 11 and 12. It's really written on us, me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts, lust, and they walked in their own counsels. It may be most pleasant and grateful for the time, but it is not the safest. Let not the people pride themselves in their carrying things that way than by a strong hand. Let them not triumph in such a victory. The after reckoning will open their eyes.

The afflicted crossed party, whose lot is kept low, is so far from being a loser, that he is a gainer thereby, if his spirit is brought down to it. And if he will see things in the light of God's unerring word, he is in better case than if he had got all carried to his mind. In the one way, the vessels of wrath are fitted for destruction, Psalm 78, 29 through 31. In the other, the vessels of mercy are fitted for glory, and so God disciplines his own, Lamentations 3, 27.

3. It is better to yield to providence than to fight it out, though we should win. Yielding to the sovereign disposal is both our becoming duty and our greatest interest. Taking that way, we act most honorably, for what honor can there be in the creatures disputing his ground with his creator? And we act most wisely, for whatever may be the success of some battles in that case, we may be sure victory will be on heaven's side in the war, for by strength shall no man prevail." 1 Samuel 2 9 4 It is of so much greater concern for us to get our spirits brought down than our outward condition raised. But who believes this? All men strive to raise their outward condition. Most men never mind the bringing down of their spirits, and few there are who apply themselves to it. and what is that but to be concerned, to minister drink to the thirsty sick, but never to mind to seek a cure for them whereby their thirst may be carried off. Use, application of exhortation. As you meet with crosses in your lot in the world, Let your desire be rather to have your spirit humbled and brought down than to get the cross removed. I mean not but that you may use all lawful means for the removal of your cross in dependence on God, but only that you be more concerned to get your spirit to bow and ply than to get the crook in your lot evened. It is far more needful for us to have our spirits humbled under the cross than to have the cross removed. The removal of the cross is needful only for the ease of the flesh, the humbling for the profit of our souls, to purify them and bring them into a state of health and cure. The humbling of the spirit will have a mighty good effect on a cross a lot, but the removal of the cross will have none on the proud spirit. The humbling will lighten the cross mightily for the time, Matthew 11, 30, and in due time carry it cleanly off, 1 Peter 5, 6. But the removal of the cross is not a means to humble the proud, though it may present irritation. The disease still remains. 3. Think with yourselves how dangerous and hopeless a case it is to have the cross removed before the Spirit is humbled. That is, to have the means of cure pulled away and blocked up from us, while the power of the disease is yet uncured. To be taken off trials, err, we have given any good proof of ourselves, and so to be given over of our physician as hopeless. Isaiah 1, 5, Hosea 4, 17. Use, application, for direction. Believing the gospel, take God for your God in Christ, towards your eternal salvation, and then dwell much on the thoughts of God's greatness and holiness, and of your own sinfulness. So will you be humbled under the mighty hand of God, and in due time He will lift you up. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. 1 Peter 5 6 In the preceding part of this chapter, the apostle presents the duties of the church officers towards the people, and then the duty of the people, both towards their officers and among themselves, which he winds up in one word, submission. for which cause he recommends humility as the great means to bring all to their respective duties. This is enforced with an argument taken from the different treatment the Lord gives to the proud and the humble, his opposing himself to the one and showing favor to the other. Chapter 4 the duty of man in affliction. Our text is an exhortation drawn from that consideration and in it we have the duty we are to study. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time and therein we may notice the state of those to whom it is supposed, those under the mighty hand of God, whom his hand hath humbled, or brought low in respect of their circumstances in the world. And by these, I think, are meant, not only such as are under particular signal afflictions, which is the lot of some, but also those who, by the providence of God, are in any kind of way lowered, which is the lot of all. all being in a state of submission or dependence on others. God has made this life a state of trial. And for that cause he has by his mighty hand subjected men one to another as wives, children, servants, to husbands, parents, masters, and these again to their superiors, among whom again even the highest depend on those under them as magistrates and ministers on the people, even the supreme magistrates. This state of the world God has made for the trial of men in their several stations and dependence on others. and therefore when the time of trial is over it also comes to an end then cometh the end when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power first Corinthians 15 24 and 25 meantime while it lasts It makes humility necessary to all, to prompt them to the duty they owe their superiors, to whom God's mighty hand has subjected them. The duty itself, namely, humiliation of our spirits under the humbling circumstances the Lord has placed us in. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Whether we are under particular afflictions which have cast us down from the height we were sometime in, or whether we are only inferiors in one or more relations, or whether, which is most common, both these are in our case. We must therein eye the mighty hand of God as that which placed us there, and is over us, there to hold us down in it. And so, with an awful regard thereto, bow down under it in the temper and disposition of our spirits, suiting our spirits to our lot, and careful to performing the duty of our low sphere, a particular spring of this duty. Therefore we must consider that those who cannot quietly keep the place assigned them of God in their afflictions or relations but still press upward against the mighty hand that is over them. That mighty hand resists them, throwing them down, and often farther down than before, whereas it treats them with grace and favor that compose themselves under it to a quiet discharge of their duty in their situation. So, eyeing, considering this, we must set ourselves to humble ourselves. the infallible issue of that course, that he may exalt you in due time. The particle that is not always to be understood finally as denoting the end or design the agent proposes to himself, but sometimes eventually only as denoting the event or issue of the action. John 9, 2 and 3 1 John 2, 19 so here the meaning is not humble yourselves on design he may exalt you but and it shall issue in his exalting you compare James 4 10 here is a happy event of humiliation of spirit secured and that is exaltation or lifting up on high by the power of God that he may exalt you Exalting will and surely follow on humiliation of spirit suitable to the low lot as the morning follows the night or the sun rises after the dawn. And these words are fitted to obviate the objections that the world and our corrupt hearts are apt to make against bringing down the spirit to the low lot. Objections. If we let our spirit fall, we shall lie always at folk's feet, and they will trample on us. Answer. No. Pride of spirit, unsubdued, will bring men to lie at the feet of others forever. Isaiah 66, 24. But humiliation of spirit will bring them undoubtedly out from under their feet. Malachi 4, 2 and 3. They that humble themselves now will be exalted forever. They will be brought out of their low situation and circumstances. Cast yourselves even down with your low lot, and assure yourselves you shall not lie there. Objection! But if we do not raise ourselves, none will raise us, and therefore we must see to ourselves to do ourselves right? Answer, that is wrong. Humble ye yourselves in respect of your spirit, and God will raise you up in respect of your lot or low condition. And they that have God engaged for raising them have no reason to say they have none to do it for them. Bringing down of the spirit is our duty. Raising us up is God's work. Let us not forfeit the privilege of God's raising us up by elevating that work to ourselves, taking it out of His hand. Objection. But sure, we shall never rise high if we let our spirits fall. Answer. That is wrong, too. God will not only raise the humble ones, But he will lift them up on high, for so the word signifies. They shall be as high at length as ever they were low. Were they ever so low? No, the exultation will be in proportion to the humiliation. Here is the date of that happy event, when it will fall out, in due time, or in the season, the proper season for it, Galatians 6, 9. In due season we shall reap, if we faint not. We are apt to weary in humbling, trying circumstances, and would instantly have up our head John 7, 6. But Solomon observes, there is a time for everything when it does best, and the wise will wait for it. Ecclesiastes 3, 1 through 8. There is a time, too, for exalting men that humble themselves. God has set it, and it is the due time for the purpose, the time when it does best, even as sowing in the spring and reaping in the harvest. When that time comes, your exalting shall no longer be put off, and it would come too soon should it come before that time. Submitting to the will of God. Doctrine. The bent of one's heart in humbling circumstances should lie towards a suitable humbling of the spirit, as under God's mighty hand placing us in them. We shall consider what things are supposed in this. 1. It supposes that God brings man into humbling circumstances, and all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought it down, the high tree. Ezekiel 17 24. There is a root of pride in the hearts of all men on earth that must be mortified ere they can be meet for heaven, and therefore no man can miss in this time of trial some things that will give a proof whether he can stoop or no, and God brings them into humbling circumstances for that very end. The Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart. Deuteronomy 8.2. 2. These circumstances prove pressing as a weight on the heart, tending to bury it down. Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. Psalm 107.12. They strike at the grain of the heart and cross the natural inclination. Whence a trial arises whether, when God lays on his mighty hand, the man can yield under it or not, and, consequently, whether he is meet for heaven or not. The heart is naturally apt to rise up against these humbling circumstances, and consequently against the mighty hand that brings and keeps them on. The man naturally bends his force to get off the weight that he may get up his head, seeking more to please himself than to please his God. They cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty, but none saith, Where is God, my Maker? Job 35, 9 and 10. This is the first gate the heart runs to in humbling circumstances. And in this way, the unsubdued spirit holds on. 4. But what God requires is rather to labor to bring down the heart than to get up the head. James 4, 10. Here lies the proof of one's meekness for heaven. And then is one in the way, heaven-ward, when he is more concerned to get down his heart than to get up his head, to go calmly under his burden than to get it off, to bow under the mighty hand than to put it off him. 5. There must be a noticing of the hand of God in humbling circumstances. Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it? Micah 6, 9. There is an abjectness of spirit, whereby some give up themselves to the will of others in the harshest treatment, merely to please them, without regard to the authority and command of God. This is real meanness of spirit, whereby one lies quietly to be trampled on by a fellow worm from its imaginary weight, and none so readily fall into it as the proud, as sometimes to serve their own turn. These are men pleasers. Ephesians 6, 6, with Galatians 1, 10. What are those humbling circumstances the mighty hand of God brings man into? Supposing here what was before taught concerning the crook and the lot being of God's making, these are circumstances, one, of imperfection. God has placed all men in such circumstances under a variety of wants and imperfections. Philippians 3, 12. We can look nowhere. where we are not beset with them. There is a heap of natural and moral imperfections about us. Our bodies and our souls, in all their faculties, are in a state of imperfection. The pride of all glory is stained, and it is a shame for us not to be humbled under such wants as tend us. It is like a beggar strutting in his rags. of inferiority in relations, whereby men are set in the lower place in relations and society, and made to depend on others. 1 Corinthians 7.24. God has for a trial of man's submission to himself subjected them to others whom he has set over them to discover what regard they will pay to his authority and commands at second hand. dominion or superiority is a part of the divine image shining in them 1st Corinthians 11 7 and therefore reverence of them consisting in an awful regard to that ray of the divine image shining in them is necessarily required Ephesians 5 23 Hebrews 12 9 the same holds in all other relations and superiorities namely that they are so far in the place of God to their relatives. Psalm 82, 6. And though the parties be worthless in themselves, that looses not from the debt due to them. Acts 23, 4 and 5. Romans 13, 7. The reason is, because it is not their qualities, but their character, which is the ground of that debt of reverence and subjection. And the trial God takes of us in that matter turns not on the point of the former, but of the latter. Now God, having placed us in these circumstances of inferiority, all refractoryness in all things, not contrary to the command of God, is rising up against His mighty hand, Romans 13, 2, because it is immediately upon us for that effect, though it is a man's hand that is immediately on us. of contradiction, tending directly to balk us of our will. This was a part of our Lord's state of humiliation, and the Apostle supposes it will be a part of ours, too. Hebrews 12, 3. There is a perfect harmony in heaven, no one to contradict another there, for they are in their state of retribution and exaltation, but we are here in our state of trial. and humiliation, and therefore cannot miss contradiction, be replaced ever so high. Whether these contradictions be just or unjust, God tries men with them to humble them, to break them off from addiction to their own will, and to teach them resignation and self-denial. They are in their own nature humbling, and much the same to us as the breaking of a horse or a bullock is to them. And I believe there are many cases in which there can be no accounting for them, but by recurring to this use God has for them. 4. Of Affliction. Proverbs 16, 19. Prosperity puffs up sinners with pride. For it is very hard to keep a low spirit with a high and prosperous lot. But God, by affliction, calls men down from their heights to sit in the dust, plucks away their gay feathers wherein they prided themselves, rubs the paint and varnish from off the creature whereby it appears more in its native deformity. There are various kinds of affliction, some more, some less humbling, but all of them are humbling. Wherefore, not to lower the spirit under the affliction is to attempt to rise up when God is casting and holding us down, and cannot fail is continued in to provoke the Lord to break us in pieces. Ezekiel 24 13 For the afflicting hand of God is mighty. 5. Of sin. As the punishment of sin. We may allude to that, Job 30.19. All the sin in the world is a punishment of Adam's first sin. Man threw himself into the mire at first, and now he is justly left Weltering in it, men willfully make one false step, and for that cause they are justly left to make another worse. And sin hangs about all, even the best. And this is overruled of God for our humiliation, that we may be ashamed and never open our mouth any more. Wherefore, not to be humbled under our sinfulness is to rise up against the mighty hand of God, and to justify all our sinful departing from Him, as lost to all sense of duty, and void of shame. HUMBLING OURSELVES UNDER GOD What is it in humbling circumstances to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God? This is the great thing to be aimed at in our humbling circumstances, and we may take it up in these eight things. 1. Noticing God's mighty hand, as implied in bringing about everything that concerns us, either in the way of efficacy or permission, and he said, It is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. 1 Samuel 3, 18. And the king said, The Lord hath said unto him, Curse David! Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so? 2 Samuel 16 10 He is the fountain of all perfection, but we must trace our imperfections to his sovereign will. It is he that hath posted every one in their relations by his providence. Without him, we could not meet with such contradictions. 4. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water. He turneth it whithersoever he will. Proverbs 21. 1. He sends afflictions and justly punishes one sin with another. Isaiah 6. 10. 2. A sense of our own worthlessness and nothingness before Him. Psalm 144. 3. Looking to the infinite majesty of the mighty hand dealing with us, we should say with Abraham, Behold, I am but dust and ashes. Genesis 18. 27. And say Amen to the cry Isaiah 46. All flesh is grass, etc. The keeping up of thoughts of our own excellence under the pressure of God's mighty hand is the very thing that swells the heart in pride, causing it to rise up against it. And it is the letting of all such thoughts of ourselves fall before the eyes of His glory that is the humbling required. 3. A sense of our guilt and filthiness. Romans 3 10 Isaiah 64 6 The mighty hand does not press us down, but as sinners it is meet. Then, that under it we see our sinfulness, our guilt, whereby we shall appear criminals, justly caused to suffer, our filthiness, whereupon we may be brought to loathe ourselves. And then we shall think nothing lays us lower than we well deserve. It is the overlooking our sinfulness that suffers the proud heart to swell. 4. A silent submission under the hand of God. His sovereignty challenges this of us. Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Romans 9, 20. And nothing but unsubdued pride of spirit can allow us to answer again under his sovereign hand. A view of his sovereignty humbled and awed the psalmist into submission with a profound silence. I was dumb. I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it. Psalm 39, 9. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job 1, 21. And Job 40, 4 and 5. What shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will proceed no farther. And Eli, It is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. 1 Samuel 3. 18. 5. A magnifying of his mercies towards us in the midst of all his proceedings against us. Psalm 144. 3. Has he laid us low? If we be duly humbled, we shall wonder he has laid us no lower. Ezra 9. 13. For however low the humble are laid, they will see that they are not yet so low as their sins deserve. Lamentations 3.22. 6. A holy and silent admiration of the ways and counsels of God as to us unsearchable. Romans 11.33. Pride of heart thanks nothing too high for the man, and so reigns before its tribunal the divine proceedings, pretends to see through them, censures freely, and condemns. But humiliation of spirit disposes a man to think awfully and honorably of those mysteries of providence he is not able to see through. 7. a forgetting, and laying aside before the Lord all our dignity, whereby we excel others. Revelation 4, 10. Pride feeds itself on the man's real or imaginary personal excellence and dignity, and being so inured to it before others cannot forget it before God. Luke 18, 11. God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men, But humiliation of spirit makes it all to vanish before him, as does the shadow before the shining sun, and it lays the man in his own eyes lower than any. Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. Proverbs 32. a submitting readily to the meanest offices requisite or agreeable to our circumstances. Pride at every turn finds something that is below the man to condescend or stoop to, measuring by his own mind and will, not by the circumstances in which God has placed him, but humility measures by the circumstances One is placed in and readily falls in with what they require. Hereof our Savior gave us an example to be imitated, Philippians 2, 8. Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death. If by then your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet. John 13, 14. Use applications of exhortation. Let the bent of your heart, then, in all your humbling circumstances, be towards the humbling of your spirit, as under the mighty hand of God. This lies in two things. One, carefully notice all your humbling circumstances and overlook none of them. Observe your imperfections, inferiority in relations, contradictions you meet with, your afflictions, uncertainty of all things about you and your sinfulness. Look through them carefully and consider the steps of the conduct of providence toward you in these, that you may know yourselves and may not be strangers at home, blind to your own real state. and case. 2. Observe what these circumstances require of you as suitable to them. Bend your endeavor towards it to bring your spirits into that temper of humiliation that as your lot is really low in all these respects so your spirits may be low too as under the mighty hand of God Let this be your great aim through your whole life and your exercise every day. Motives. 1. God is certainly at work to humble one and all of us, however high any are lifted up in this world. Providence has hung certain badges for humiliation on them, whether they will notice them or not. Isaiah 46. Now it is our duty to fall in with the design of providence, that while God is humbling us, we may be humbling ourselves, and that we may not receive humbling dispensations in vain. 2. The humiliation of our spirit will not take effect without our own agency therein. While God is working on us that way, we must work together with Him, for He works on us as rational agents who, being moved, move themselves. Philippians 2, 12, and 13. God, by His providence, may force down our lot and condition without us, but the Spirit must come down voluntarily and of choice, or not at all. Therefore strike in with humbling providence, in humbling yourselves, as mariners spread out the sails, when the wind begins to blow, that they may go away before it. 3. If you do not, you resist the mighty hand of God. Acts 7.51. Ye resist insofar as ye do not yield, but stand as a rock, keeping your ground against your Maker in humbling providence. Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved. Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return. Jeremiah 5, 3. Much more when you work against him to force up your condition, which you may see God means to hold down. And of this resistance consider the sinfulness. What an evil thing it is! It is a direct fighting against God, a shaking off of subjection to our sovereign Lord, and a rising in rebellion against him. Isaiah 45, 9. The folly of it. How unequal is the match? How can the struggle end well? Job 9, 4. What else can possibly be the issue of the potsherds of the earth dashing against the rock of ages, but that they are broken to pieces? All men must certainly bow or break under the mighty hand of God. Job 41, 8. A season for humbling ourselves. 4. This is the time of humiliation, even the time of this life. Everything is beautiful in its season, and the bringing down of the spirit now is beautiful, as in the time thereof, even as the plowing and the sowing of the ground is in the spring. Consider, humiliation of spirit is in the sight of God of great price. 1 Peter 3, 4 As he has a special aversion to pride of heart, he has a special liking of humility. Chapter 5, verse 5. The humbling of sinners and bringing them down from their heights, wherein the corruption of their nature has set them, is the great end of his word and of his providence. It is no easy thing to humble man's spirit. It is not a little that will do it. It is a work that is not soon done. There is need of a digging deep for a thorough humiliation in the work of conversion. Luke 6, 48. Many a stroke must be given at the root of the tree of the natural pride of heart before it falls. Oftentimes it seems to be fallen and yet it arises again. And even when the root stroke is given in believers, the rod of pride buds again, so that there is still occasion for new, humbling work. The whole time of this life is appointed for humiliation. This was signified by the forty years the Israelites had in the wilderness. Deuteronomy 8.2. It was so to Christ, and therefore it must be so to men. Hebrews 12.2. And in that time they must either be formed according to his image or else appear as reprobate silver that will not take it on by any means. Romans 8 29. So that whatever lifting up men may now and then get in this life the habitual course of it will still be humbling. There is no humbling after this. Revelation 22 11. If the pride of the heart is not brought down in this life, it will never be. No kindly humiliation is to be expected in the other life. Though the pride will be broken in pieces, but not softened. Their lot and condition will be brought to the lowest path, but the pride of their spirits will still remain. Whence they will be in eternal agonies, through the opposition betwixt their spirits and lot. Revelation 16, 21. Wherefore, beware lest you sit out your time of humiliation. Humbled we must be, or we are gone forever. And this is the time, the only time of it. Therefore make your hay while the sun shines. Strike in with humbling providence and fight not against them while you have them. Acts 13 41. The season of grace will not last. If you sleep in seed time, you will beg in harvest. 5. This is the way to turn humbling circumstances to a good account, so that instead of being losers, you would be gainers by them. Psalm 119, 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted. Would you gather grapes of these thorns and thistles, set yourselves to get your spirits humbled by them? Humiliation of spirit is the most valuable thing in itself. Proverbs 16.32 It cannot be bought too dear. Whatever one is made to suffer, if his spirit is thereby duly brought down, he has what is well worth bearing all the hardship for. 1 Peter 3.4 Humility of spirit brings many advantages along with it. It is a fruitful bough well laden wherever it is. It contributes to one's ease under the cross. Matthew 11 30 Lamentations 3 27-29 It is a sacrifice particularly acceptable to God. Psalm 51 17 The eye of God is particularly on such for good. To this man will I look, even to him that is poor. and of a contrite spirit, and tremblet at my word. Isaiah 66, 2. Yea, he dwells with them. Isaiah 57, 15. And it carries a line of wisdom through one's whole conduct with the lowly, his wisdom. Proverbs 11, 2. 6. Consider it a mighty hand that is at work with us, the hand of the mighty God. Let us then bend our spirits towards a compliance with it, and not wrestle against it. Consider. We must fall under it, since the design of it is to bring us down. We cannot stand before it, for it cannot miscarry in its designs. Isaiah 46. 10. My counsel shall stand. So fall before it we must, either in the way of duty or judgment. Thy narrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under thee. Psalm 45, 5. They that are so wise as to fall in humiliation under the mighty hand, be they ever so low, the same hand will raise them up again. James 4, 10. In a word, be the proud ever so high, God will bring them down. Be the humble ever so low. God will raise them up. Chapter 5 Directions for Reaching Dishumiliation General Directions 1. Fix it in your heart to seek some spiritual improvement of the conduct of providence towards you. Micah 6, 9. till once your heart get a set that way, your humiliation is not to be expected. Hosea 14 9 But nothing is more reasonable, if we would act either like men or Christians, than to aim at turning what is so grievous to the flesh unto the prophet of the Spirit, that if we are losers on one hand, we may be gainers on another. Settle the matter of your eternal salvation in the first place by be taking yourself to Christ and taking God for your God in him according to the gospel offer. Hosea 2 19 Hebrews 8 10. Let your humbling circumstances move you to this that while the creature dries up you may go to the fountain. For it is impossible to reach due humiliation under his mighty hand without faith in him as your God and friend. Hebrews 11 6 1 John 4 19 3 Use the means of soul humbling in the faith of the promise. Psalm 28, 7. Moses, smiting the rock in faith of the promise, made water gush out, which otherwise would not at all have appeared. Let us do likewise in dealing with our rocky hearts. They must be laid on the soft bed of the gospel, and struck there, as Joel 2, 13. Turn unto the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful. or they will never kindly break or fall in humiliation. Particular Directions 1. Assure yourselves that there are no circumstances that you are not in so humbling, but you may cast your heart acceptably brought down to them. 1 Corinthians 10 13. But God is faithful. who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. This is truth, 2 Corinthians 12, 9. My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness, and you should be persuaded of it. with application to yourselves, if ever you would reach the end. I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. Philippians 4.13 God allows you to be persuaded of it, whatever is your weakness and the difficulty of the task. For our sakes, no doubt this is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope, and he that thresheth in hope. should be partakers of his hope. 1 Corinthians 9, 10. And the belief thereof is a piece of the life of faith. 2 Timothy 2, 1. If you have no hope of success, your endeavors, as they will be heartless, so they will be vain. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees. Hebrews 12, 12. 2. Whatever hand is, or is not, in your humbling circumstances, do you take God for your party, and consider yourselves therein, as under his mighty hand? Micah 6, 9. Men in their humbling circumstances overlook God, so they find not themselves called to humility under them. They fix their eyes on the creature instrument, and instead of humility, their hearts rise. But take him for your party, that ye may remember the battle, and do no more. Job 41, 8. 3. Be much in the thoughts of God's infinite greatness. Consider his holiness and majesty to all you into the deepest humiliations. Isaiah 6, 3-5. Job met with many humbling providences in his case, But he was never sufficiently humbled unto them, till the Lord made a new discovery of himself unto him, in his infinite majesty and greatness. He kept his ground against his friends, and stood to his point, till the Lord took that method with him. It was begun with thunder, Job 37, 1 and 2, then followed God's voice out of the whirlwind, chapter 38, verse 1. Whereon Job is brought down, chapter 40, verses 4 and 5. It is renewed till he is farther humbled, chapter 42, verses 5 and 6. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. 4. Inure yourselves silently to admit mysteries in the conduct of providence towards you, which you are not able to comprehend, but will adore." Romans 11, 33. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. That was the first word God said to Job 38, 2. Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? It went to his heart, stuck with him, and he comes over it again. Chapter 42.3. As that which particularly brought him to his knees, to the dust. Even in those depths of providence which we seem to see far into, we may well allow there are some mysteries beyond what we see. And in those which are perplexing and puzzling, sovereignty should silence us. His infinite wisdom should satisfy, though we cannot see. 5. Be much in the thoughts of your own sinfulness. Job 44. Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon mine mouth. It is overlooking of that which gives us so much ado with humbling circumstances. While the eyes are held that they cannot see sin, the heart rises against them. But when they are opened, it falls. Wherefore, whenever God is dealing with you in humbling dispensations, Turn your eyes upon that occasion, on the sinfulness of your nature, heart, and life, and that will help forward your humiliation. 6. Settle it in your heart that there is need of all the humbling circumstances you are put in. This is truth. 1 Peter 1. 6. Though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, God brings no needless trials upon us, afflicts none, but as their need requires, Lamentation 3.33. For He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of man. That is an observable difference betwixt our earthly and our heavenly Father's correction. Hebrews 12.10. They, after their own pleasure, but He, for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Look to the temper of your own hearts and nature, how apt to be lifted up to forget God, to be carried away with the vanities of the world. What foolishness is bound up in your heart? Thus you will see the need of humbling circumstances for ballast and of the rod for the fool's back. At any time you cannot see that need, believe it on the ground of God's infinite wisdom that does nothing in vain. 7. Believe a kind design of providence in them towards you. God calls us to this as the key that opens the heart under them. Revelation 3.19 Satan suggests suspicions to the contrary as the bar which may hold it shut. This evil is of the Lord. What should I wait for the Lord any longer? 2 Kings 6.33 As long as the suspicion of an ill design in them against us reigns. The creature will, like the worm at the man's feet, put itself in the best posture of defense it can, and harden itself in sorrow. But the faith of a kind design will cause it to open out itself in humility before him. Oh, if I knew there were a kind design in it, I would willingly bear it, although there were more of it. But I fear a ruining design of providence against me therein. Answer, now what word of God or discovery from heaven have you to ground these fears upon? None at all. But from hell, 1 Corinthians 10, 13, what think you the design towards you in the gospel is? Can you believe no kind of design in all the words of grace? They're heaped up. What is that, I pray, but black unbelief in its hue of hell, flying in the face of the truth of God and making him a liar? Isaiah 55, 1, 1 John 5, 10 and 11. The gospel is a breathing of love and goodwill to the world of mankind. Sinners, Titus 2, 11. Titus 3, 3 and 4, 1 John 4, 14, John 3, 17. But you believe it not, in that case more than devils believe it. If you can believe a kind of design there, you must believe it in your humbling circumstances too. For the design of providence cannot be contrary to the design of the gospel. But contrary wise, the latter is to help forward to the other. 8. Think with yourselves that this life is the time of trial for heaven. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. James 1 12. And therefore, there should be a welcoming of humbling circumstances in that view. Verse 2. Count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations. If there is an honorable office or beneficial employment to be bestowed, then strive to be taken on trial for it, in hope they may be thereupon legally admitted to it. Now God takes trial of men for heaven by humbling circumstances, as the whole Bible teaches. And shall man be so very slow to stoop to them? The future glory of the believer. I would ask you, is it nothing to you to stand a candidate for glory to be put on trial for heaven? Is there not an honor in it, an honor that all the saints have had? We count them happy which endure, James 5, 11, And a fair prospect in it, for our light affliction, Which is but for a moment. Worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 2 Corinthians 4 17 Do but put the case that God should overlook you as one whom it is needless ever to try on that head, that he should order you, your portion in his life, with full ease, as one that is to get no more of him. What would that be? What a vast disproportion is there between your trials and the future glory. Your most humbling circumstances, how light are they in comparison of the weight of it. The longest continuance of them is but for a moment compared with that eternal weight. Alas, there is much unbelief at the root of all our uneasiness under our humbling circumstances. Had we a clearer view of the other world, we should not make so much of either the smiles or frowns of this. What do you think of coming off foul in the trial of your humbling circumstances? The lead is consumed of the fire, the founder melteth in vain, for the wicked are not plucked away. Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them, Jeremiah 6, 29 and 30. That the issue of it be only, that your heart appear of such a temper as by no means to be humbled, and that therefore you must and shall be taken off them, while yet no humbling appears. I think the awfulness of the dispensation is such as might set us to our knees to deprecate the lifting us up from our humbling circumstances. Ere our hearts are humbled. Isaiah 1, 5. Ezekiel 24, 13. 9. Think with yourselves how, by humbling circumstances, the Lord prepares us for heaven, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Colossians 1, 12, 2 Corinthians 5, 5. The stones and timber are laid down, turned over and over, and hewed, ere they be set up in the building. and not set up just as they come out of the quarry and wood? Were they capable of a choice such of them as would refuse the iron tool would be refused a place in the building? Pray, how do you think you are made meat for heaven by the warm sunshine of this world's ease and getting all your will here? No, sir, that would put your mouth out of taste for the jewels of the other world. Vessels of dishonor are fitted for destruction that way, but vessels of honor for glory, by humbling circumstances. I would say here, will nothing please you but two heavens, one here and another hereafter? God has secured one heaven for the saints, one place where they shall get all their will, wish, and desire, where there shall be no weight on them to hold them down, and that is in the other world. But you must have it both here and there, or you cannot digest it. Why do you not quarrel, too, that there are not two summers in one year, two days in the The order of the one heaven is as firm as that of the years and the days, and you cannot reverse it. Therefore, choose you whether you will take your night or your day first, your winter or your summer, your heaven here or hereafter. Two, without being humbled, with humbling circumstances in this life, ye are not capable of heaven. Now he that hath wrought up for the self the same thing is God." 2 Corinthians 5.5. You may indeed lie at ease here in a bed of sloth and dream of heaven, beg with hopes of a fool's paradise, wishing to cast yourselves just out of Delilah's lap into Abraham's bosom.