while the proud, through their obstinacy, do but wreathe the yoke faster about their own necks, the humble ones, by their yielding, make their relief sure, 1 Sam. ii. 8-10. "He raiseth up the

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 glory. He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces." So cannon will break down a stone wall, while yielding packs of wool will 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 tarry." To every thing there is a time, as for humbling, so for lifting up, Eccles. iii. 3. We know it not, but God knows it, who hath appointed it. Let not the humble one say, I shall never be lifted up. There is a time fixed for it, as precisely as for the rising of the sun after a long and dark night, or the return of the spring after a long and sharp winter.

6. It is not to be expected, that immediately upon one's humbling himself, the lifting up is to follow. No one is not merely to lie down under the mighty hand, but to lie still, waiting the due time; humbling work is longsome work; the Israelites had forty years of it in the wilderness. God's people 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 obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and

There is a two-fold lifting up.

113

hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God."

7. The appointed time for the lifting up is the due time, the time fittest for it, wherein it will come

most seasonably. “And let us not be weary in well-doing; for, in due season we shall reap, if we 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 therefore faith sets to wait it, Isa. xxviii. 16. "He that believeth shall not make haste." Much of the beauty of any thing depends on the timing of it, and he has fixed that in all that he does, Eccl. iii. 11, made every thing beautiful in his time."

"He hath

8. The lifting up of the humble will not fail to come in the appointed and due time, Hab. ii. 3. Time makes no halting, it is running day and night; so the due time 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.

A word, in the general, to the lifting up, abiding those that humble themselves. There is a two-fold lifting up.

1. A partial lifting up, competent to the humbled in time, during this life, Psa. 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 in part, and but in part, not wholly; and such liftings up the humbled may expect, while in this world, but no more.-These give a breathing to the weary, a change of burdens, but do not set them at perfect ease. So Israel, in the wilderness, in the midst of their many mourning times, had some singing ones, Exod. xv. 1. Numbers 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 deals with them no more by parcels, but carries their relief to perfection, Heb. xii. 22, 23. Then

he takes off all their burdens, eases them of 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 morę. 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 comfort and ease, or a change of our burdens. God sees there are times wherein it is needful for his people to be" in heaviness," 1 Pet. i. 6, to have their "hearts brought down with grief," Psal. cvii. 12. But then there is a time really appointed for it in the divine wisdom, when he will think it as needful to comfort them, as before to bring down, 2 Cor. ii. 7.

So that, contrarywise, ye ought rather to forgive, and comfort him, lest perhaps such an one should be swallowed up with over much sorrow. We are, in that case, in the hand of God, as in the hand of our physician, who appoints the time the drawing plaster shall continue, and when the healing plaster shall be applied, and leaves it not to the patient.

(2.) For the total lifting up. When we are sore oppressed with our burdens, we are ready to think, Oh! to be away, and set beyond them all, Job vii. 2, 3. "As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work; so am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me."

But

The lifting up of the humble sure.

115 it may be fitter, for all that, that we stay awhile, and struggle with our burdens, Phil. i. 24, 25. "Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all, for your furtherance and joy of faith." A few days might have taken Israel out of Egypt into Canaan; but they would have been too soon there, if they had made all that speed; so they behoved to spend forty 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 is best chosen, and there will be a beauty in that it was no sooner. And thus a lifting up is secured for the humble.

If one should assure you, when reduced to poverty, that the time would certainly come yet, that you should be rich; when sore sick, that you should not die of that disease, but certainly recover; that would help you to bear your poverty and sickness the better, and you would comfort yourselves with that prospect. However, one may continue poor, and never be rich, may be sick, and die of his disease; but whoever humble themselves under their humbling circumstances, we can assure them from the Lord's word they shall certainly, without all peradventure, be lifted up out of, and relieved from, their humbling circumstances: they shall certainly see the day of their ease and relief, when they shall remember their burdens as waters that fail. And you may be assured thereof, from the following considerations.

The nature of God, duly considered, ensures it, Psal. ciii. 8, 9. "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide; neither will he keep his anger for

ever." The humbled soul, looking to God in Christ, may see three things, in his nature jointly securing it.

1. Infinite power, that can do all things. No circumstances are so low, but he can raise them; so entangling and perplexing, but he can unravel them; so hopeless, but he can remedy them, Gen. xviii. 14 "Is any thing too hard for the Lord?" Be our case what it will, it is never past reach with him to help it; but then, it is the most proper season for him to take it in hand, when all others have given it over, Deut. xxxii. 36. “For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants; when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left."

2. Infinite goodness inclining to help. He is good and gracious in his nature, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. And therefore his power is a spring of comfort to them, Rom. xiv. 4. Men may be willing that are not able, or able that are not willing; but infinite goodness, joining infinite power in God, may ascertain the humbled of a lifting up in due time. That is a word of inconceivable sweetness, 1 John iv. 16. "And we have known and believed the love that God hath unto us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." He has the bowels of a father towards the humble, Psal. ciii. 13. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." Yea, bowels of mercy more tender than a mother to her sucking child, Isa. xlix. 15. Wherefore, howbeit his wisdom may see it necessary to put them in humbling circumstances, and keep them there for a tine, it is not possible he can leave them therein altogether.

3. Infinite wisdom, that doth nothing in vain, and therefore will not needlessly keep one in humbling circumstancss, Lam. iii. 32, 33. "But though he