James 4:9

The next duty we are exhorted to by the apostle, is. deep humiliation, and. voluntary affliction of our souls before God for sin, and upon the account of any calamity, either on ourselves or others.

Learn hence, that as the afflicting hand of God does increase upon. person,. family, or. people, so ought the humiliation and mourning of that person, family, or people, to increase; we ought not only to be humbled when God afflicts, but also to be humbled in proportion to what God inflicts; great afflictions call for great humiliations; woe to that person, that family, or that people, who will not afflicted when God afflicts them, nor humble themselves, when God humbles them; who, when God casts them down, will hold up their heads in mirth and jollity: God loves to see us bear our cross, but he cannot endure to see us make sport with it, or slight of it. If God once perceives us driving away our sorrow with harp and viol, or drowning it with wine, he can quickly turn our wine into water, and our laughter into the voice of weeping.

Now is it not better to turn our mirth into mourning, than to have God turn it into mourning? They who turn their mirth into mourning, shall find comfort after their mourning; but they shall know nothing but mourning, whose mirth God turns into mourning: be afflicted, therefore, and mourn and weep.

Quest. But how comes the apostle to make use of so many words to one purpose, be afflicted, mourn, weep, humble yourselves, &c.?

Ans. All these heaps of expressions do import and imply,

1. The necessity of the duty.

2. The difficulty of the duty.

3. The continuance of the duty,

and accordingly much enforcement is necessary; flesh and blood loves pleasure, but declines sorrow and heaviness; nature loves no bitter draughts, though bitter things are sometimes the best things; therefore the apostle's call to afflict our souls, and humble ourselves in the sight of God, is repeated; and mark the encouragement given thus to do, humble yourselves in the sight of God, and he shall lift you up:

Submission and humility is the true way to exaltation and glory; the way to rise is to fall: he that humbleth himself shall be exalted, Luke 14:11.

He shall lift thee up in due time, 1 Peter 5:6. Wait God's leisure, and the promise shall surely be fulfilled; the world looketh upon humility as the way to contempt, but God pronounces it the way to honour; before honour is humility.