II. A word, in the general, to the lifting' up^

abiding those that humble themselves. There is a two-fold lifting up.
1. A />ar^2a/ lifting up, competent to the hum- bled in time, during this life. Psal. XXX. 1. "I will " extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast lifted me up, and " hast not made my foes to rejoice over me." This is a lifting up ia part, and but in part, not wholly; and such liftings up the humblod may expect, while in this world but no more. — These give a breath- ing to the weary, a change of burdens, but do not set them at perfect ease. So Israel, in the wilder- ness,in the midstof their many mourningtimes, had some singing ones, Exod. xv. i. Num. xxi. 17.
2. A total lifting up, competent to them at the end of time, at death. Luke xvi, 22. " It came to " pass, that the beggar died, and was carried, by the " angels, into Abraham^s bosom." Then the Lord .leals with them no more by parcels and halves, but
The Crook in tht Lot. 131
carries them relief to perfection, Heb. xii. 23. Then he takes off all their burdens, eases them oi all their weights, and lays no more on for ever. He then lifts them up to a height they were never at before; no, not even at their highest. He sets them quite above all that is low, and therein fixes them, never "to be brought down more. Now, there is a due time for both these.
(1.) For the partial lifting up. Every time is not fit for it ; we are not always fit to receive com- fort, an er»se or a change of our burdens. God sees there are times wherein it is needful for his people to be "in heaviness," \ Pet. i. 6. to have their *' hearts brought down with grief," Psal. cvii. 12. But then there is a time really appointed for it ia the divine wisdom, when he will think it as need- ful to comfort them, as before to bring do'v\Ti, 2 Cor. ii. 7. 'So that, contrary ways, ye ought rather to for-
* give, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one
* should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.' We are, in that case, in the hand of God, as in the hand of our physician, who appoints the time the dravv-ing plaster shall be applied, and leaves it not to the patient.
(2.) For the ? oppressed with our burdens, we are ready to think, O to be away, and set beyond them all. Job vii. 2, 3. " As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, *•* and as a hireling looketh for the reward of his " w^ork ; so am. I made to possess months of vanity, " and wearisome nights are appointed to me." But it may be fitter, for all that, that we stay a while, and wrestle with our burdens, Phil. i. 24, 25. ** Nevertheless, to aJDide in the flesh is more need- "that 1 shall abide and continue with you all, for
i32 The Crook in the Lot.
'•your furtherance and joy of faith." A few days might have taken Israel out of Eg>'pt into Canaan ; but they would have been over-soon there if they had made all that speed ; so they behoved to spend fort}'^ years in the wilderness, till their due time of entering Canaan should come. And be sure the saints, entering heaven, will be convinced, that the time of it n best chosen, and there will be a beauty in that it was not sooner. And thus a lifting up is secured for the humble.