Thomas Boston, Works, 3:554 (The Crook in the Lot):
God brings men into humbling circumstances; Ezek. 17:24, “And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree.” There is a root of pride in the hearts of all men on earth, that must be mortified ere they can be meet for heaven; and therefore no man can miss, in this time of trial, some things that will give a proof, whether he can stoop or no. And God brings them into humbling circumstances for that very end, Deut. 8:2, “The Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart.”
God brings men into humbling circumstances; Ezek. 17:24, “And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree.” There is a root of pride in the hearts of all men on earth, that must be mortified ere they can be meet for heaven; and therefore no man can miss, in this time of trial, some things that will give a proof, whether he can stoop or no. And God brings them into humbling circumstances for that very end, Deut. 8:2, “The Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart.”
