I. A general viezv of this point. And consider,

1st J Some things supposed 2Lnd implied in it. It bears,
1 . That those who shall share of this lifting up, must lay their accounts, in the first place, with a casting doivn. Rev. vii. 14. John xvi. 33. — *^ In the '^^ world ye shall have tribulation,'* There is no com- ing to the promised land, according to the settled Tnethod of grace, but through the wilderness; nor entering into this exaltation, but through a strait gate. If we cannot away with casting down, wc will not taste of the sweet of the lifting up.
2. Being cast down by the mighty hand of God, we must learn to lie still and quiet under it, till the
128 The Crook in the Lot.
same hand tliat cast us down raise us up, if wt
would share of this promised lifting up. Lam. iii. 2r* It is not the being cast into humbling circumstances, by the providence of God, but the coming down of our spirits under them, by the grace of God, that brings us within the compass of this promise.
3. Never humbled, in humbling circumstances, never lifted vp in the way of this promise. Mea may keep their spirits on the high bend in their humbling circumstances, and in that case may get a lifting up. Prov. xvi. 19. But note this, what they get will be a lifting up, to the end that they may get the more grievous fall. " Surely thou '' didst set them in slipperv' places, thou castedst " them down in a moment," Psalm Ixxiii. 18. But they who will not humble themselves in hum- bling circumstances, will find their obstinacy a need nail, that will keep their misery ever fast on them without remedy.
4. Humility of spint, in humbling circumstan- ces, ascertains a lifting up out ofthem^some time, with the good will and favour of heaven. Luke xviii. 14. *^ I tell you, this man went down to his ''house justified rather than the other; for every " one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he '•that humbleth himself shall \\e exalted." Solo- mon observes, Prov. :^v. %» that "a soft answer *-turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up '' anger." And so it is, that while the proud, through, their obstinacy, do but wreathe the yoke faster a- bout their own necks, the yielding humble ones, by heir yielding, i\iake their relief sure. 1 Sam. ii. 8, :', 10. "He raiseththc poor out of the dust, and '* lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set *' them among princes, and to make them inherit •* the throne of glor}'. He will keep the feet of hit
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*' saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness ;. ''for by strength shall no man prevail. The ad- *' versaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces." So the cannon-ball breaks dovrn a stone wall, while the yielding packs of wool take away its force.
5. There is an appointed time for the lifting up of those that humble themselves in their humbling circumstances. Hab. ii. 3. " For the vision is yet *' for an appointed time, but at the end it shall " speak and not lie : though it tarry, wait for it, *' because it will surely come, it will not tarr}%" To every thing there is a time, as for humbling, so for lifting up, Eccl. iii. 3. We know it not, but God knows it, who hath appointed it. Let not the humble one say, I will never be lifted up ; there is a time fixt for it, as precisely as for the rising of the sun, after the long and dark night, or the re- tura of the spring after the long and sharp winter,
6. It is not to be expected, that immediately upon one^s humbling- him. follov.r. No ; one is not only to lie down under the mighty hand, but lie still waiting the due time ; humbling work is longsome work ; the Israelites had forty years of it in the wilderness. God's peo- ple must be brought to put a blank in his hand, as to the time ; and while they have a long night of walking in darkness, must trust, Isa 1. 10. ''• Who *^ is among you that feareth the Lord, that obey- " eth the voice of his s'^rvant, tha; walketh in *' darkness and hath no light .^ Let him trust in " the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God."
7. The appointed time for the lining up is the duetime^ the tim^i fittest for it, wherein it will come most seasonably. " And let us not be weary in well "doing i for, in due season we shall reap, if w*
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"faint not," Gal. vi. 9. For that is the time God has chosen for it; and be sure his choice, as the choice of infinite wisdom, is the best: and there- fore faith sets to wait it. Isa. xxviii. 16, " He that '^ believeth shall not make h iste." There is much of the beauty of a thing dcnends on the timing of it, and he has fixed that in all that he does, Eccl. iii. 11. "He hath made everything beautiful in " his time."
8. The lifting up of the humble will not miss to come in the appointed and due time, Hab. ii. 3. Time makes no halting, in its running day and night; so the due tune is fast coming, and, when it comes, it will bring the lifting up along with it. Let the humbling circumstances be ever so low, ever so hopeless, it is impossible but the lifting up from them must come in the due time.