II. What are these humbling circumstances the

mighty hand of God brings them into. Suppo- sing here what was before taught concerning the crook in the lot's being of God's making, these are circumstances,
1. Oi imperfection. God has placed all men in such circumstances under a variety of wants and imperfections, Phil. iii. 12. We can look no where, 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 attend us ; it is like a beggar strutting in his rags.
2. Of inferiority in relations, whereby men are set in the lower place in relations and society, and made to depend on others, 2 Cor. vii. 24. God has, for a trial of men's submission to him- self, subjected them to others whom he has set o- ver 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, 1 Cor. xi. T. And there- fore reverence of them, consisting in an awful re- gard to that ray of the divine image shining in them, is necessarily required, Eph. v. 33. Hcb.
108 The Crook In the Loi.
xii. 9» compare Psalm cxi. 9. The tame holds lu all other relations and superiorities, viz. that they are so far in the place of God to their relatives, Psalm Ixxxii. 6. And though the parties be worthless in themselves, ihat he looseth not one Jrom the debt to them, Acts xxiii. 4, 5. Kom. xiii. 7. the reason is, because it is not their quali- ties, but their character, which is the ground of that debt of reverence and subjection ; and the tri- al 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 circumstan- ces of inferiority, all refractoriness in all things, not contrary to the command of God, is a rising up against his mighty hand, Rom. xiii. 2. because it is mediately upon us for that effect, though it is man's hand that is immediately on us.
3. 0{ co?itradiction, tending directly to baulk us of our will. This was a part of our Lord's state of humiliation, and the apostle supposes it will bt a part of ours too, Hcb. xii. 3. There is a per- feet harmony in heaven, no one to contradict ano- ther there : for they are in their state of retribi- Vion and exaltation : but we are here in our^tat' of trial and humiliation, and therefore cannc miss contradiction, be we placed ever so high.
Whether these contradictions be just or unjust, God tryiis men with them to humble them, break them off from addictedness to their own will, and to teach them resignation and self-denial. They are in their own nature humbling, and much the iamc to us, as the breaking of a hone or a bullock is to them. And I believe there are many cases iR which there can be no accounting for them, but by recurring to this use God has for them.
The Croak in the Lou 109
4. Oi affliction^ Prov. xvi; 19. Prosperity puffs up sinners xvitk pride ; and, O! but it is 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 jay- 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 A\ of them are humbling.
Wherefore, not to lower the spirit under the af- fliction, is to pretend to rise up when God is cast- ing and holding down, with a witness ; and can- not miss, if continued in, to provoke the Lord to breik us in pieces, Egek. xxiv. IZ. For the af- flicting hand is mighty*
5. Of5/?z, as the punishment of sin. We may allude to that, Job xxx. 19. All the sin in the world is a punishment of Adam's first sin. Man threv/ himsclt into the mire at first, and now he is justly left weltering in it. Men wilfully 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 over-ruled of God for our humiliation, that v/e may be ashamed, and never open our mouth any more. Wherefore, act to be humbled undt^r our sinfulness, is to,mr» up against the mighty hand of God, and to ju^itlfy all our sinful departings from him, ai lost to all sens^ of duty, and void of shame.