Note, 1. The hearts of the children of men are subject, not only to
God's view, but to his judgment: As the fining-pot is for silver, both
to prove it and to improve it so the Lord tries the hearts; he searches
whether they are standard or no, and those that are he refines and
makes purer, Jer. xvii. 10. God tries the heart by affliction (Ps.
lxvi. 10, 11), and often chooses his people in that furnace (Isa.
xlviii. 10) and makes them choice. 2. It is God only that tries the
hearts. Men may try their silver and gold with the fining-pot and the
furnace, but they have no such way of trying one another's hearts; God
only does that, who is both the searcher and the sovereign of the
heart.