I. Some things supposed in this. It supposeth

and bears in it, that,
1. God brings men into humbling circumstan- ces, Ezek. xvii. 24. "And all the trees of the ** field shall know, that I the Lord have brought ** down the high tree." There is a root of pride in the hearts of all men on earth ; that must be mor- tified ere they can be meet for heaven: and there- fore no man can miss, in this time of trial, some things that will giva a proof whether he can stoop or no. And God brings them into humbling cir-
106 The Crook in the LoU
cumstances for that ver\' end, Deut. viii. 2. '""The " Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the " wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, **and to know what was in thine heart."
2. These circumsances prove pressing' at a weight on th« heart, tending to bear it down, Psal. cvii. 12. " Therefore he brought down their heart " with labour." — They strike at the grain of the heart, and cross the natural inclination : whence a trial natiirally ariseth, whether, when God lays on his mighty hand, the man can yield under it, or not ; and consequently, whether he is meet for hea- ven or not*
3. 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, Job XXXV. 9, 10. **They cry out by reason " of the arm of the mighty : But none saith. Where "is God my Maker:" This is the first gate ihe heart runs to in humbling circumstances ; and in this way the unsubdued spirit holds on.
4. But what God requires, is, rather to labour to bring down the heart, ihan to get up the head, James iv. 10. Here lies the proof of one's meet- ness for heaven ; and then is one in the way hea- ven-ward, when he is more concerned to get down his heart than up his head, to go calmly under his l^rden than to get it off, to crouch under the migh- ty hand than to put it off him.
5. There must be a noticing of God as our par- ty, in humbling circumstances ; " Hear yc the rod, ** and him who hath appointed it," Mic. vi. 9. There is an abjectness of spirit, whereby some
The Crook in the Lot, 107
give up themselves to the will of others, in the harshest treatment, merely to please them, with- out 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, at sometimes, to serve their own turn. Acts xii. 22. These are men-pleasers, Eph. vi. 6. with Gal. i. 10.