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CROOK IN THE LOT, 
 
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CROOK IN THE LOT; 
 
 SOVEREIGNTY AND WISDOM OF GOD 
 
 THE AFFLICTIONS OF MEN. 
 
 BY THE LATE/ 
 
 REV. THOMAS BOSTON. 
 
 LONDON : 
 JAMES N1SBET, BERNERS STREET. 
 
 MDCCCXXXII. 
 
CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 Eccl. vii. 13. 
 
 Consider the work of God : For who can 
 make that straight which he hath made 
 crooked? 
 
 A JUST view of afflicting incidents is 
 altogether necessary to a Christian 
 deportment under them : And that view 
 is to be obtained only by faith, not by 
 sense. For, it is the light of the word 
 alone that represents them justly, disco- 
 vering in them the work of God, and 
 consequently designs becoming the di- 
 vine perfections. These perceived by 
 the eye of faith, and duly considered, 
 
I THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 afford a just view of afflicting incidents 
 fitted to quell the turbulent motions of 
 corrupt affections under dismal outward 
 appearances. 
 
 It is under this view that Solomon, in the 
 preceding part of this chapter, advances 
 several paradoxes, which are surpris- 
 ing determinations in favour of certain 
 things, that, to the eye of sense, look- 
 ing gloomy and hideous, are therefore 
 generally reputed grievous and shocking. 
 He pronounceth the day of one's death to 
 be better than the day of his birth; namely, 
 the day of the death of one, who having 
 become the friend of God through faith, 
 hath lived to the honour of God, and 
 the service of his generation, and thereby 
 raised to himself a good and savoury 
 name better tha.i precious ointment. In 
 like manner, he pronounceth the house 
 of mourning to be preferable to the house 
 of feasting, sorrow to laughter, and a 
 wise mans rebuke to a fool's song ; for 
 that, howbeit the latter are indeed the 
 more pleasant, yet the former are the 
 more profitable. And observing with 
 concern, how men are in hazard, not 
 only from the world's frowns and ill- 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 3 
 
 usage, oppression making a wise man 
 mad, but also from its smiles and ca- 
 resses, a gift destroy eth the heart ; 
 therefore, since whatever way it goes 
 there is danger, he pronounceth the 
 end of every worldly thing better than 
 the beginning thereof. And from the 
 whole, he justly infers, that it is bet- 
 ter to be humble and patient, than 
 proud and impatient, under afflicting 
 dispensations ; since, in the former case, 
 we wisely submit to what is really best; 
 in the latter, we fight against it. And 
 he warns us against being angry with 
 our lot, because of the adversity found 
 therein ; cautions against making odious 
 comparisons of former and present times, 
 in that point insinuating undue reflec- 
 tions on the providence of God, and 
 prescribes, first, a general remedy against 
 that querulous and fretful disposition, 
 namely, holy wisdom, as that which 
 makes the best of every thing, and even 
 giveth life in killing circumstances; and 
 then a particular remedy, consisting in 
 a due application of that wisdom, towards 
 forming a just view of the case, Consider 
 b 2 
 
4 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 the work of God : For who can make that 
 straight which he hath made crooked? 
 
 In which words is proposed, 1. The re- 
 medy itself; 2. The suitableness thereof. 
 
 First, The remedy itself, is a wise 
 eyeing of the hand of God in all we find 
 to bear hard upon us : Consider the work, 
 or, see thou the doing of God, namely, in 
 the crooked, rough, and disagreeable 
 parts of thy lot, the crosses thou findest 
 in it. Thou seest very well the cross 
 itself; yea, thou turnest it over and over 
 in thy mind, and leisurely viewest it on 
 all sides; thou lookest, withal, to this 
 and the other second cause of it, and so 
 thou art in a foam and a fret: But wouldst 
 thou be quieted and satisfied in the mat- 
 ter, lift up thine eyes towards heaven, see 
 the doing of God in it, the operation of 
 his hand : Look at that, and consider it 
 well; eye the first cause of the crook in 
 thy lot; behold how it is the work of God, 
 his doing. 
 
 Secondly. As for the suitableness of this 
 remedy, that view of the crook in our lot 
 is very suitable to still indecent risings of 
 heart, and quiet us under it : " For who 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 5 
 
 can, that is, none can, make that straight 
 which God hath made crooked? As to 
 the crook in thy lot, God hath made it; 
 and it must continue while he will have 
 it so. Shouldst thou apply thine utmost 
 force to make it straight, thine attempt 
 will be vain : it will not alter for all 
 thou canst do : only he who made it 
 can mend it, or make it straight. This 
 consideration, this view of the matter, 
 is a proper means, at once, to silence 
 and to satisfy men, and so to bring them 
 unto a dutiful submission to their Maker 
 and 
 lot. 
 
 Now, we take up the purpose of the 
 text in these three doctrines. 
 
 Doct. I. Whatsoever crook there is in 
 one's lot, it is of God's making. 
 
 Doct. II. What God sees meet to mar, 
 one will not be able to mend in his lot. 
 
 Doct. III. The considering of the 
 crook in the lot, as the work of God, or 
 of his making, is a proper means to 
 bring one to a Christian deportment un- 
 der it. 
 
 Doct. I. Whatsoever crook there is in 
 one's lot, it is of God's making. 
 
6 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 Here, two things are to be considered, 
 namely, the crook itself, and God's making 
 of it. 
 
 I. As to the crook itself, the crook in 
 the lot, for the better understanding there- 
 of, these few things that follow are pre- 
 mised. 
 
 1. There is a certain train or course of 
 events, by the providence of God, falling 
 to every one of us during our life in this 
 world : And that is our lot, as being 
 allotted to us by the sovereign God, our 
 Creator and Governor, ' in whose hand 
 our breath is, and whose are all our ways* 
 This train of events is widely different to 
 different persons, according to the will 
 and pleasure of the sovereign manager, 
 who ordereth men's conditions in the 
 world in a great variety, some moving in a 
 higher, some in a lower sphere. 
 
 2. In that train or course of events, 
 some fall out cross to us, and against the 
 grain; and these make the crook in our 
 lot. While we are here, there will be 
 cross events, as well as agreeable ones, 
 in our lot and condition. Sometimes 
 things are softly and agreeably gliding 
 on ; but, by and by, there is some in- 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 7 
 
 cident which alters that course, grates us, 
 and pains us, as when we have made a 
 wrong step, we begin to halt, 
 
 3. Every body's lot in this world hath 
 some crook in it. Complainers are apt 
 to make odious comparisons : they look 
 about, and taking a distant view of the 
 condition of others, can discern nothing 
 in it but what is straight, and just to 
 one's wish; so they pronounce their 
 neighbour's lot wholly straight. But 
 that is a false verdict; there is no per- 
 fection here; no lot out of heaven with- 
 out a crook. For, as to ' all the works 
 that are done under the sun, behold all 
 is vanity and vexation of spirit. That 
 which is crooked cannot be made 
 straight.' Who would have thought 
 but Haman's lot was very straight, 
 while his family was in a flourishing 
 condition, and he prospering in riches 
 and honour, being prime minister of 
 state in the Persian court, and stand- 
 ing high in the king's favour ? Yet there 
 was, at the same time, a crook in his 
 lot, which so galled him, that ' all this 
 availed him nothing/ Esth. v. 13. 
 Every one feels for himself, where he is 
 
8 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 pinched, though others perceive it not* 
 Nobody's lot, in this world, is wholly 
 crooked ; there are always some straight 
 and even parts in it. Indeed, when 
 men's passions, having got up, have cast 
 a mist over their minds, they are ready 
 to say, all is wrong with them, nothing 
 right ; but, though in hell that tale is, and 
 ever will be, true, yet it is never true in 
 this world ; for there, indeed, there is not 
 a drop of comfort allowed, Luke xvi. 25, 
 but here it always holds good, that' it is of 
 the Lord's mercies we are not consumed/ 
 Lam. iii. 22. 
 
 4. The crook in the lot came into the 
 world by sin : it is owing to the fall, 
 Rom. v. 12. ' By one man sin entered 
 into the world, and death by sin;' un- 
 der which death, the crook in the lot 
 is comprehended, as a state of comfort 
 or prosperity is, in scripture style, ex- 
 prest by living, 1 Sam. xxv. 6. Johniv. 
 50,51. Sin so bowed the hearts and 
 minds of men, that they became crooked 
 in respect of the holy law; and God 
 justly so bowed their lot, that it became 
 crooked too. And this crook in our lot 
 inseparably follows our sinful condition, 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 9 
 
 till dropping this body of sin and death, 
 we arrive within the gates of heaven. 
 
 These being premised, a crook in the lot 
 speaks, in general, two things, (1.) Ad- 
 versity, (2.) Continuance. Accordingly 
 it makes a day of adversity, opposed to 
 the day of prosperity, in the verse imme- 
 diately following the text. 
 
 The crook in the lot is, First, Some one 
 or other piece of adversity. The pros- 
 perous part of one's lot, which goes for- 
 ward according to one's wish, is the 
 straight and even part of it; the adverse 
 part, going a contrary way, is the crooked 
 part thereof. God hath intermixed these 
 two in men's condition in this world ; 
 that, as there is some prosperity therein, 
 making the straight line, so there is also 
 some adversity, making the crooked. 
 The which mixture hath place, not only 
 in the lot of saints, who are told, that in 
 the world they shall have tribulation, but 
 even in the lot of all, as already observed. 
 Secondly, It is adversity of some conti- 
 nuance. We do not reckon it a crooked 
 thing, which, though forcibly bended 
 and bowed together, yet presently reco- 
 vers its former straightness. These are 
 
10 Tilt CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 twinges of the rod of adversity, which 
 passing like a stitch in one's side, all 
 is immediately set to rights again : one's 
 lot may be suddenly overclouded, and 
 the cloud vanish ere he is aware. But 
 under the crook, one having leisure to 
 find his smart, is in some concern to get 
 the crook evened. So the crook in the 
 lot is adversity, continued for shorter or 
 longer time. 
 
 Now, there is a threefold crook in the lot 
 incident to the children of men. 
 
 1. One made by a cross dispensation 
 which, howsoever in itself passing, yet 
 hath lasting effects. Such a crook did 
 Herod's cruelty make in the lot of the 
 mothers in Bethlehem, who by the mur- 
 derers were left ' weeping for their slain 
 children, and would not be comforted, 
 because they were not.' Matth. ii. 18. 
 A slip of the foot may soon be made, 
 which will make a man go halting all 
 his days. ' As the fishes are taken in an 
 evil net: So are the sons of men snared 
 in an evil time.' Eccl. ix. 12. The 
 thing may fall out in a moment, under 
 which the party shall go halting to the 
 grave. 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 11 
 
 2. There is a crook made by a train 
 of cross dispensations, whether of the 
 same or different kinds, following hard 
 one upon another, and leaving lasting 
 effects behind them. Thus in the case 
 of Job, while one messenger of evil tid- 
 ings was yet speaking, another came, Job i. 
 16 — 18. Cross events coming one upon 
 the neck of another, deep calling unto the 
 deep, make a sore crook. In that case, 
 the party is like unto one, who recover- 
 ing his sliding foot from one unnrm piece 
 of ground, sets it on another equally 
 unnrm, which immediately gives way 
 under him too : or, like unto one, who, 
 travelling in an unknown mountainous 
 track, after having, with difficulty, made 
 his way over one mountain, is expect- 
 ing to see the plain country; but, instead 
 thereof, there comes in view, time after 
 time, a new mountain to be passed. 
 This crook in Asaph's lot had like to 
 have made him give up all his reli- 
 gion, until he went into the sanctuary, 
 where this mystery of Providence was 
 unriddled to him. Psalm lxxiii. 13— 17. 
 Solomon observes, ' That there be just 
 
12 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 men, unto whom it happeneth according 
 to the work of the wicked.' Eccl. viii. 14. 
 Providence taking a run against them, as 
 if they were to be run down for good 
 and all. Whoever they be, whose life in 
 no part thereof affords them experience 
 of this, sure Joseph missed not of it in 
 his young days, nor Jacob in his middle 
 days, nor Peter in his old days, nor our 
 Saviour all his days. 
 
 3. There is a crook made by one cross 
 dispensation, with lasting effects thereof 
 coming in the room of another removed. 
 Thus one crook straightened, there is 
 another made in its place : and so there 
 is still a crook. Want of children had 
 long been the crook in Rachel's lot. 
 That was at length evened to her mind ; 
 but then she got another in its stead, hard 
 labour in travailing to bring forth. Gen. 
 xxx. l.j xxxv. 16. This world is a wil- 
 derness, in which we may indeed get our 
 station changed ; but the remove will be 
 out of one wilderness station to another. 
 When one part of the lot is evened, some 
 other part thereof will speedily become 
 crooked. 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 13 
 
 More particularly, the crook in the lot 
 hath in it four things of the nature of that 
 which is crooked. 
 
 (1.) Disagreeableness. A crooked thing 
 is wayward : and, being laid to a rule, 
 answers it not, but declines from it. 
 There is not, in any body's lot, any such 
 thing as a crook, in respect of the will 
 and purposes of God. Take the most 
 harsh and dismal dispensation in one's 
 lot, and lay it to the eternal decree, made 
 in the depth of infinite wisdom, before 
 the world began, and it will answer it 
 exactly, without the least deviation, all 
 things being wrought after the counsel of 
 his will. Eph. i. 11. Lay it to the 
 providential will of God, in the govern- 
 ment of the world, and there is a per- 
 fect harmony. — If Paul is to be bound 
 at Jerusalem, and * delivered into the 
 hands of the Gentiles,' it is l the will 
 of the Lord' it should be so. Actsxxi. 
 11 — 14. Wherefore the greatest crook 
 of the lot, on earth, is straight in heaven: 
 there is no disagreeableness in it there. 
 But in every person's lot, there, is a crook 
 in respect of their mind and natural in- 
 clination. The adverse dispensation lies 
 
14 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 cross to that rule, and will by no means 
 answer it, nor harmonise with it. When 
 Divine Providence lays the one to the 
 other, there is a manifest disagreeable- 
 ness : the man's will goes one way, and 
 the dispensation another way: the will 
 bends upwards, and cross events press 
 down : so they are contrary. And there, 
 and only there, lies the crook. It is this 
 disagreeableness which makes the crook 
 in the lot fit matter of trial and exercise 
 to us, in this our state of probation : in 
 the which, if thou wouldst approve thy- 
 self to God, walking by faith, not by 
 sight, thou must quiet thyself in the will 
 and purpose of God, and not insist that 
 it should be according to thy mind. Job 
 xxxiv. 33. 
 
 (2.) Umightlincss Crooked things are 
 unpleasant to the eye : and no crook in 
 the lot seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, 
 making up an unsightly appearance; 
 Heb. xii. 11. Therefore men need to 
 beware of giving way to their thoughts, 
 in dwelling on the crook in their lot, and 
 keeping it too much in view. David 
 shews a hurtful experience of his, in that 
 kind, Psalm xxxix. 3. ' While I was 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 15 
 
 musing the fire burned.' Jacob acted a 
 wiser part, called his youngest son Ben- 
 jamin, the son of the right hand, whom 
 the dying mother had named Benoni, 
 the son of my sorrow ; by this means 
 providing, that the crook in his lot should 
 not be set afresh in his view, on every 
 occasion of mentioning the name of his 
 son. Indeed, a Christian may safely 
 take a steady and leisurely view of the 
 crook of his lot in the light of the holy 
 word, which represents it as the disci- 
 pline of the covenant. So faith will dis- 
 cover a hidden sightliness in it, under 
 a very unsightly outward appearance; 
 perceiving the suitableness thereof to 
 the infinite goodness, love, and wisdom 
 of God, and to the real and most valu- 
 able interests of the party : by which 
 means one comes to take pleasure, and 
 that a most refined pleasure, in distress. 
 2 Cor. xii. 10. But whatever the crook 
 in the lot be to the eye of faith, it is not 
 at all pleasant to the eye of sense. 
 
 (3.) Unfitness for motion. Solomon 
 observes the cause of the uneasy and un- 
 graceful walking of the lame, Prov.xxvi. 
 7. * The legs of the lame are not equal.' 
 
16 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 This uneasiness they find, who are ex 
 ercised about the crook in their lot: a 
 high spirit and a low adverse lot, makes 
 great difficulty in the Christian walk. 
 There is nothing that gives temptation 
 more easy access, than the crook in the 
 lot: nothing more apt to lead us out of 
 the way. Therefore, saith the apostle, 
 Heb. xii. 13. l Make straight paths 
 for your feet, lest that which is lame 
 be turned out of the way.' They are to 
 be pitied, then, who are labouring under 
 it, and not be rigidly censured ; though 
 they are rare persons who learn this 
 lesson, till taught by their own expe- 
 rience. It is long since Job made an ob- 
 servation in this case, which holds good 
 unto this day, Job xii. 5. ' He that is 
 ready to slip with his feet, is as a lamp 
 despised in the thought of him that is at 
 ease. 
 
 (4.) ' Aptness to catch hold and en- 
 tangle, like hooks, fish-hooks?' Amos 
 iv. 2. The crook in the lot doth so very 
 readily make impression, to the ruffling 
 and fretting one's spirit, irritating cor- 
 ruption, that Satan fails not to make 
 diligent use of it to these dangerous pur- 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 17 
 
 poses ; the which point once gained by the 
 tempter, the tempted, ere he is aware, 
 finds himself entangled as in a thicket, 
 out of which he knows not how to ex- 
 tricate himself. In that temptation it 
 often proves like a crooked stick, trou- 
 bling a standing pool, the which not only 
 raiseth up the mud all over, but brings 
 up from the bottom some very ugly thing. 
 Thus it brought up a spice of blasphemy 
 and atheism in Asaph's case, Psal. lxxiii. 
 13. 'Verily I have cleansed my heart 
 in vain, and washed my hands in in- 
 nocence :' As if he had said, there is 
 nothing at all in religion, it is a vain and 
 empty thing, that profiteth nothing ; I 
 was a fool to have been in care about 
 purity and holiness, whether of heart or 
 life. Ah! is this the pious Asaph! How 
 is he turned so quite unlike himself! 
 but the crook in the lot is the handle, 
 whereby the tempter makes surprising 
 discoveries of latent corruption even in 
 the best. 
 
 This is the nature of the crook in the 
 lot; let us now observe what part of the 
 lot it falls in. Three conclusions may be 
 established upon this head. 
 
18 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 1st, It may fall in any part of the 
 lot ; there is no exempted one in the case : 
 for sin being found in every part, the 
 crook may take place in any part. Being 
 1 all as an unclean thing, we may all 
 fade as a leaf/ Isai. lxiv. 6. The main 
 stream of sin, which the crook readily 
 follows, runs in very different channels, 
 in the case of different persons. And 
 in regard of the various dispositions of 
 the minds of men, that will prove a sink- 
 ing weight unto one, which another'would 
 go very lightly under. 
 
 Idly, It may at once fall in many parts 
 of the lot, the Lord calling, as in a 
 solemn day, one's terrors round about, 
 Lam. ii. 22. Sometimes God makes one 
 notable crook in a man's lot ; but its 
 name may be Gad, being but the fore- 
 runner of a troop which cometh. — Then 
 the crooks are multiplied, so that the 
 party is made to halt on each side. 
 While one stream, let in from one quar- 
 ter, is running full against him, another 
 is let in on him from another quarter, 
 till in the end the waters break in on 
 every hand. 
 
 '6dly } It often falls in the tender part ; 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 19 
 
 I mean, that part of the lot wherein we 
 are least able to bear it, or, at least think 
 so. Psal. Iv. 12, 13. 'It was not an 
 enemy that reproached me, then I could 
 have borne it. But it was thou, a man 
 mine equal, my guide, and mine ac- 
 quaintance.' If there is any one part of 
 the lot in which, of all others, a person 
 is disposed to nestle, the thorn will readily 
 be laid there, especially if he belongs 
 to God ; in that thing wherein he is 
 least of all able to be touched, he will 
 be sure to be pressed. There the trial 
 will be taken of him ; for there is the 
 grand competition with Christ. ' I take 
 from them the desires of their eyes, and 
 that whereupon they set their minds/ 
 Ezek. xxiv. 25. Since the crook in the 
 lot is the special trial appointed for every 
 one, it is altogether reasonable, and be- 
 coming the wisdom of God, that it fall 
 on that which of all things doth most rival 
 him. 
 
 But more particularly the crook may 
 be observed to fall in these four parts of 
 the lot. 
 
 First, In the natural part, affecting per- 
 c2 
 
20 THE CROOK 19 THE LOT. 
 
 sons considered as of the make allotted 
 for them by the great God that formed all 
 things. The parents of mankind, Adam 
 and Eve, were formed altogether sound 
 and entire, without the least blemish, 
 whether in soul or body; but in the for- 
 mation of their posterity, there often ap- 
 pears a notable variation from the ori- 
 ginal. Bodily defects, superfluities, de- 
 formities, infirmities, natural or accidental, 
 make the crook in the lot of some : they 
 have something unsightly or grievous 
 about them. Crooks of this kind more 
 or less observable, are very common and 
 ordinary, the best not exempted from 
 them ; and it is purely owing to sovereign 
 pleasure they are not more numerous. 
 Tender eyes made the crook in the lot of 
 Leah, Rachel's beauty was balanced with 
 barrenness. Paul, the great Apostle of the 
 Gentiles, was, it should seem, no person- 
 able man, but of a mean outward appear- 
 ance, for which fools were apt to contemn 
 him, 2 Cor. x. 10. Timothy was of a crazy 
 frame, weakly and sickly, 1 Tim. v. 23. 
 And there is a yet far more considerable 
 crook in the lot of the lame, the blind, 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 21 
 
 the deaf, and the dumb. Some are weak 
 to a degree in their intellectuals; and it is 
 the crook in the lot of several bright souls 
 to be overcast with clouds, notably be- 
 misted and darkened, from the crazy 
 bodies they are lodged in; an eminent 
 instance whereof we have in the grave, 
 wise, and patient Job, ' going mourning 
 without the sun; yea, standing up and 
 crying in the congregation,' Job xxx. 28. 
 Secondly, It may fall in the honorary 
 part. There is an honour due to all men, 
 the small as well as the great, 1 Pet. ii. 
 17, and that upon the ground of the 
 original constitution of human nature, as 
 it was framed in the image of God. But, 
 in the sovereign disposal of holy provi- 
 dence, the crook in the lot of some falls 
 here; they are neglected and slighted; 
 their credit is still kept low : they go 
 through the world under a cloud, being 
 put into an ill name, their reputation 
 sunk. This sometimes is the native con- 
 sequence of their own foolish and sinful 
 conduct ; as in the case of Dinah, who, 
 by her gadding abroad to satisfy her 
 youthful curiosity, regardless of, and 
 therefore not waiting for a providential 
 
22 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 call, brought a lasting stain on her ho- 
 nour, Gen. xxxiv. But, where the Lord 
 intends a crook of this kind in one's lot, 
 innocence will not be able to ward it off 
 in an ill-natured world; neither will true 
 merit be able to make head against it, 
 to make one's lot stand straight in that 
 part. Thus David represents his case, 
 Psal. xxxi. 11, 12, 13. 'They that did 
 see me without, fled from me: I am for- 
 gotten as a dead man out of mind : I am 
 like a broken vessel. For I have heard 
 the slander of many/ 
 
 Thirdly , It may fall in the vocational 
 part. Whatever is man's calling or sta- 
 tion in the world, be it sacred or civil, the 
 crook in their lot may take its place there- 
 in. Isaiah was an eminent prophet, but 
 most unsuccessful, Isai. liii. 1. Jeremiah 
 met with such a train of discouragements 
 and ill usage in the exercise of his sacred 
 function, that he was well near giving it 
 up, saying, ' I will not make mention of 
 him, nor speak any more in his name/ 
 Jer. xx. 9. The Psalmist observes this 
 crook often to be made in the lot of some 
 men very industrious in their civil busi- 
 ness, who sow the fields — and at times God 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 23 
 
 blesseth them — * and suffereth not their 
 cattle to decrease :' But again, they are 
 minished andbrought low through oppres- 
 sion, affliction, and sorrow, Psal.cvii. 37 
 — 39. Such a crook was made in Job's 
 lot after he had long stood even. Some 
 manage their employments with all care 
 and diligence; the husbandman carefully 
 labouring his ground ; the sheep-master 
 diligent to know the state ' of his flocks, 
 and looking well to his herds;' the trades- 
 man, early and late at his business; the 
 merchant diligently plying his, watching 
 and falling in with the most fair and promis- 
 ing opportunities ; but there is such a crook 
 in that part of their lot, as all they are able 
 to do can by no means even. For why ? 
 The most proper means used for com- 
 passing an end are insignificant without 
 a word of divine appointment command- 
 ing their success. * Who is he that saith, 
 and it cometh to pass, when the Lora 
 commandeth it not?' Lam. iii. 27. Peo- 
 ple ply their business with skill and in- 
 dustry, but the wind turns in their face. 
 Providence crosseth their enterprises, dis- 
 concerts their measures, frustrates their 
 hopes and expectations, renders their en- 
 
24 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 deavours unsuccessful, and so puts and 
 keeps them still in straitening circum- 
 stances. ' So the race is not to the swift, 
 nor the battle to the strong, neither yet 
 bread to the wise/ Eccl. ix. 12. Provi- 
 dence interposing, crooks the measures 
 which human prudence and industry had 
 laid straight towards the respective ends; 
 so the swift lose the race, and the strong 
 the battle, and the wise miss of bread ; 
 while, in the mean time, some one or 
 other providential incident, supplying the 
 defect of human wisdom, conduct, and 
 ability, the slow gain the race, and carry 
 the prize; the weak win the battle, and 
 enrich themselves with the spoil; and the 
 bread falls into the lap of the fool. 
 
 Lastly, It may fall on the relational 
 part. Relations are the joints of society ; 
 and there the crook in the lot may take 
 place, one's smartest pain being often felt 
 in these joints. They are in their nature 
 the springs of man's comfort; yet, they 
 often turn the greatest bitterness to him. 
 Sometimes this crook is occasioned by the 
 loss of relations. Thus a crook was made 
 in the lot of Jacob, by means of the death 
 of Rachel, his beloved wife, aud the loss 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 25 
 
 of Joseph, his son and darling, which had 
 like to have made him go halting to the 
 grave. Job laments this crook in his lot, 
 chap. xvi. 7. ' Thou hast made desolate 
 all my company;' meaning his dear chil- 
 dren, every one of whom he had laid in 
 the grave, not so much as one son or 
 daughter left him. Again; sometimes it 
 is made through the afflicting hand of 
 God lying heavy on them : the which, in 
 virtue of the relation, recoils on the party, 
 as is feelingly expressed by that believing 
 woman, Matth. xv. 22. ' Have mercy on 
 me, O Lord ; my daughter is grievously 
 vexed.' Ephraim felt the smart of a course 
 of afflictions, ' when he called his son's 
 name Beriah, because it went evil with 
 his house,' 1 Chron.vii. 23. Since all is 
 not only vanity, but vexation of spirit, 
 it can hardly miss, but the more of these 
 springs of comfort are opened to a man, 
 he must, at one time or other, find he has 
 but the more sources of sorrow to gush 
 out and spring in upon him; the sorrow 
 always proportioned to the comfort found 
 in them, or expected from them. And, 
 finally, the crook is sometimes made by 
 their proving uncomfortable through the 
 
26 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 disagreeableness of their temper, dispo- 
 sition, and way. There was a crook in 
 Job's lot, by means of an undutiful, ill- 
 natured wife, Job xix. 1 7. In Abigail's, 
 by means of a surly, ill-tempered hus- 
 band, 1 Sam. xxv. 25. In Eli's, through 
 the perverseness and obstinacy of his chil- 
 dren, chap. ii. 25. In Jonathan's, through 
 the furious temper of his father, chap. xx. 
 30, 33. So do men oftentimes find their 
 greatest cross, where they expected their 
 greatest comfort. Sin hath unhinged the 
 whole creation, and made every relation 
 susceptible of the crook. In the family 
 are found masters hard and unjust, ser- 
 vants froward and unfaithful ; in a neigh- 
 bourhood, men selfish and uneasy ; in the 
 church, ministers unedifying, and offen- 
 sive in their walk, and people contemp- 
 tuous and disorderly, a burden to the 
 spirits of ministers ; in the state, magis- 
 trates oppressive, and discountenancers 
 of that which is good, and subjects turbu- 
 lent and seditious; all these cause crooks 
 in the lot of their relatives. And thus 
 far of the crook itself. 
 
 II. Having seen the crook itself, we 
 are, in the next place, to consider God's 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 27 
 
 making it. And here is to be shewn, 
 1. That it is of God's making. 2. How it 
 is of his making. 3. Why he makes it. 
 
 First, That the crook in the lot, what- 
 ever it is, is of God's making, appears 
 from these three considerations. 
 
 First, It cannot be questioned, but the 
 crook in the lot, considered as a crook, is 
 a penal evil, whatever it is for the matter 
 thereof; that is, whether the thing in it- 
 self, its immediate cause and occasion, be 
 sinful or not, it is certainly a punishment 
 or affliction. Now, as it may be, as such, 
 holily and justly brought on us, by our 
 Sovereign Lord and Judge, so he ex- 
 pressly claims the doing or making of it, 
 Amos iii. 6. ' Shall there be evil in a 
 city, and the Lord has not done it?' 
 Wherefore, since there can be no penal 
 evil, but of God's making, and the crook 
 in the lot is such an evil, it is necessarily 
 concluded to be of God's making. 
 
 Secondly, It is evident, from the scrip- 
 ture doctrine of divine providence, that 
 God brings about every man's lot, and all 
 the parts thereof. He sits at the helm of 
 human affairs, and turns them about 
 whithersoever he listeth. * Whatsoever 
 
28 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven 
 and earth, in the seas, and all deep places/ 
 Psal. cxxxv. 6. There is not any thing 
 whatsoever befals us, without his over- 
 ruling hand. The same providence that 
 brought us out of the womb, bringeth us 
 to, and fixeth us in, the condition and 
 place allotted for us, by him who ' hath 
 determined the times and bounds of our 
 habitation/ Acts xvii. 26. It over-rules 
 the smallest and most casual things about 
 us, even the hairs of our head, Matth. 
 x. 29, 30. ' The lot cast into the lap/ 
 Prov. xvi. 33, Yea, the free acts of our 
 will, whereby we choose for ourselves, 
 for even ' the king's heart is in the hand 
 of the Lord, as the rivers of water/ 
 Prov. xxi. 1 . And the whole steps we 
 make, and which others make in re- 
 ference to us ; for ' the way of man is 
 not in himself; it is not in man that 
 walketh to direct his steps/ Jer. x. 23. 
 And this, whether these steps causing 
 the crook be deliberate and sinful ones, 
 such as Joseph's brethren selling him 
 into Egypt ; or whether they be un- 
 designed, such as man-slaughter purely 
 casual, as when one hewing wood, kills 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 29 
 
 his neighbour with * the head of the axe 
 slipping from the helve/ Deut. xix. 5. 
 For there is a holy and wise providence 
 that governs the sinful and the heedless 
 actions of men, as a rider doth a lame 
 horse, of whose halting, not he, but the 
 horse's lameness, is the true and proper 
 cause ; wherefore in the former of these 
 cases, God is said to have sent Joseph 
 into Egypt, Gen. xlv. 7, and in the latter, 
 to deliver one into his neighbour's hand, 
 Exod. xxi. 13. 
 
 Lastly, God hath, by an eternal de- 
 cree, immoveable as mountains of brass, 
 Zech. vi. 1, appointed the whole of every 
 one's lot, the crooked parts thereof, as 
 well as the straight. By the same eternal 
 decree, whereby the high and low parts 
 of the earth, the mountains and the vallies, 
 were appointed, are the heights and the 
 depths, the prosperity and adversity, in 
 the lot of the inhbaitants, thereof deter- 
 mined ; and they are brought about, in 
 time, in a perfect agreeableness thereto. 
 
 The mystery of providence, in the go- 
 vernment of the world, is, in all the parts 
 thereof, the building reared up of God, 
 in exact conformity to the plan in his de- 
 
30 THE CROOK IN IHE LOT. 
 
 cree, ' who worketh all things after the 
 counsel of his own will. 7 Eph. i. 11. So 
 that there is never a crook in one's lot, 
 but may be run up to this original. Here- 
 of Job piously sets us an example in his 
 own case, Job xxiii. 12, 14. ' He is in 
 one mind, and who can turn him? And 
 what his soul desireth, even that he doth. 
 For he performeth the thing that is ap- 
 pointed for me ; and many such things 
 are with him.' 
 
 Secondly, That we may see how the 
 crook in the lot is of God's making, we 
 must distinguish between pure sinless 
 crooks, and impure sinful ones. 
 
 First, There are pure and. unless crooks ; 
 the wihch are mere afflictions, cleanly 
 crosses, grievous indeed, but not defiling. 
 Such were Lazarus's poverty, Rachel's 
 barrenness, Leah's tender eyes, the blind- 
 ness of the man who had been so from 
 his birth, John lix. 1. Now, the crooks 
 of this kind are of God's making, by the 
 efficacy of his power directly bringing 
 them to pass, and causing them to be. He 
 is the maker of the poor, Prov. xvii. 5. 
 ' Whoso mocketh the poor, reproacheth 
 his Maker;' that is, reproacheth God who 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 31 
 
 made him poor, according to that, 1 Sam. 
 ii. 7. ' The Lord maketh poor.' It is he 
 that hath the keys of the womb, and as he 
 sees meet shuts it, 1 Sam. i. 5, or opens 
 it, Gen. xxix. 31. And it is 'he that 
 formeth the eyes/ Psal. xciv.9. And the 
 man was c born blind, that the works of 
 God should be made manifest in him, 7 
 John ix. 3. Therefore he saith to Moses, 
 Exod. iv. 11. * Who maketh the dumb, 
 or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind ? Have 
 not I, the Lord ?' Such crooks in the lot 
 are of God's making, in the most ample 
 sense, and in their full comprehension, 
 being the direct effects of his agency, as 
 well as the heavens and the earth are. 
 
 Secondly, There are impure sinful crooks, 
 which, in their own nature, are sins as 
 well as afflictions, defiling as well as 
 grievous. Such was the crook made in 
 David's lot, through his family disorders, 
 the defiling of Tamar, the murder of Am- 
 non, the rebellion of Absalom, all of them 
 unnatural. Of the same kind was that 
 made in Job's lot by the Sabeans and 
 Chaldeans, taking away his substance and 
 slaying his servants. As these were the 
 afflictions of David and Job respectively, 
 
32 THE CROOK JN THE LOT. 
 
 so they were the sins of the actors, the 
 unhappy instruments thereof. Thus one 
 and the same thing may be, to one a hei- 
 nous sin, defiling and laying him under 
 guilt, and to another an affliction, laying 
 him under suffering only. Now, the crooks 
 of this kind are not of God's making, in 
 the same latitude as those of the former: 
 Fot he neither puts evil in the heart of 
 any, nor stirreth up to it: ' He cannot be 
 tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any 
 man, 7 James i. 13. But they are of his 
 making, by his holy permission of them, 
 powerful bounding of them, and wise over- 
 ruling of them to some good end. 
 
 1st, He holily permits them, suffering 
 men ' to walk in their own ways/ Acts 
 xiv. 16. Though he is not the author of 
 those sinful crooks, causing them to be by 
 the efficacy of his power: yet if he did not 
 permit them, willing not to hinder them, 
 they could not be at all: for ' he shutteth, 
 and no man openeth,' Rev. hi. 7. Buthe 
 justly withholds his grace which the sinner 
 doth not desire, takes off the restraint 
 under which he is uneasy, and since the 
 sinner will be gone, lays the reins on his 
 neck, and leaves him to the swing of his 
 
J II E CROOK IN THE LOT. 33 
 
 lust. Hos. iv. 17. ' Ephraim is joined to 
 idols; let him alone/ Psal.lxxxi. 11,12. 
 i Israel would none of me : So I gave 
 them up to their own hearts' lust.' In 
 which unhappy situation the sinful crook 
 doth, from the sinner's own proper motion, 
 naturally and infallibly follow; even as 
 water runs down a hill, wherever there is 
 a gap left open before it. So in these cir- 
 cumstances, ' Israel walked in their own 
 counsels.' And thus this kind of crook 
 is of God's making, as a just Judge, 
 punishing the sufferer by it. The which 
 view of the matter silenced David under 
 Shimei's cursings, 2 Sam. xv. 10. ' Let 
 him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord 
 hath bidden him.' 
 
 2d(y, He powerfully bounds them, Psal. 
 lxxvi. 10. ' The remainder of wrath' (viz. 
 the creature's wrath) ' thou shalt restrain.' 
 Did not God bound these crooks, howso- 
 ever sore they are in any one's case, they 
 would be yet sorer: But he says to the 
 sinful instrument, as he said to the sea, 
 * hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther; 
 and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.' 
 He lays a restraining hand on him, that 
 he cannot go one step farther, in the way 
 
 D 
 
34 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 his impetuous lust drives, than he sees 
 meet to permit. Hence it comes to pass, 
 that the crook of this kind is neither more 
 nor less, but just as great as he by his 
 powerful bounding makes it to be. An 
 eminent instance hereof we have in the 
 case of Job, whose lot was crooked through 
 a peculiar agency of the devil ; but even 
 to that grand sinner, God set a bound 
 in the case; ' The Lord said unto Satau, 
 Behold all that he hath is in thy power, 
 only upon himself put not forth thine 
 hand/ Job i. 12. Now, Satan went the 
 full length of the bound, leaving nothing 
 within the compass thereof untouched, 
 which he saw could make for his purpose, 
 ver. 18, 19. But he could by no means 
 move one step beyond it, to carry his 
 point, which he could not gain within it. 
 And therefore, to make the trial greater, 
 and the crook sorer, nothing remained but 
 that the bound set should be removed, 
 and the sphere of his agency enlarged ; 
 for which cause he saith, ' But touch his 
 bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee 
 to thy face/ chap. ii. 5. and it being re- 
 moved accordingly, but withal a new one 
 set, ver. 6. ' Behold he is in thine hand, 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 35 
 
 but save his life;' the crook was carried 
 to the utmost that the new bound would 
 permit, in a consistency with his design 
 of bringing Job to blaspheme ; ' Satan 
 smote him with sore boils, from the sole 
 of his foot unto the crown of his head,' 
 ver. 7. And had it not been for this 
 bound, securing Job's life, he, after find- 
 ing this attempt successless too, had 
 doubtless dispatched him for good and 
 all. 
 
 3dly, He wisely over-rules them to some 
 good purpose, becoming the divine per- 
 fections. While the sinful instrument 
 hath an ill design in the crook caused by 
 him, God directs to a hoiy and good end. 
 In the disorders of David's family, Am- 
 non's design was to gratify a brutish lust; 
 Absalom's, to glut himself with revenge, 
 and to satisfy his pride and ambition ; buf 
 God meant thereby to punish David for 
 his sin in the matter of Uriah. In the 
 crook made in Job's lot, by Satan, and the 
 Sabeans and Chaldeans, his instruments, 
 Satan's design was to cause Job to blas- 
 pheme, and their's to gratify their covet- 
 ousness : but God had another design 
 therein becoming himself, namely, to ma- 
 d 2 
 
36 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 riifest Job's sincerity and uprightness. 
 Did not he wisely and powerfully over- 
 rule these crooks made in men's lot, no 
 gocd could come out of them; but he al- 
 ways over-rules them so as to fulfil his 
 own holy purposes thereby, howbeit the 
 sinner meaneth not so; for his designs 
 cannot miscarry, his < counsel shall stand/ 
 Tsai.xlvi. 10. So the sinful crook is, by 
 the over-ruling hand of God, turned about 
 to his own glory, and his people's good 
 in the end ; according to the word, Prov. 
 xvi. 4. 'The Lord hath made all things 
 for himself.' Rom.viii. 28. ' All things 
 work together for good to them that love 
 God.' Thus Haman's plot for the destruc- 
 tion of the Jews ' was turned to the con- 
 trary,' Esth. ix. 1. And the crook made 
 in Joseph's lot, by his own brethren sell- 
 ing him into Egypt, though it was on their 
 part most sinful, and of a most mischiev- 
 ous design ; yet, as it was of God's mak- 
 ing, by his holy permission, powerful 
 bounding, and wise over-ruling of it, had 
 an issue well becoming the divine wisdom 
 and goodness : both of which Joseph no- 
 ticeth to them, Gen. 1. 20. ' As for you, 
 ye thought evil against me; but God 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 37 
 
 meant it into good, to bring to pass, as it 
 is this day, to save much people alive.' 
 
 Thirdly, It remains to enquire, Why 
 God makes a crook in one's lot ? And this 
 is to be cleared by discovering the design 
 of that dispensation : a matter which it 
 concerns everyone toknow,and carefully 
 to notice, in order to a Christian improve- 
 ment of the crook in their lot. The de- 
 sign thereof seems to be, chiefly, seven- 
 fold. 
 
 First, The trial of one's state t Whether 
 one is in the state of grace or not ? Whe- 
 ther a sincere Christian, or a hypocrite? 
 Though every affliction is trying, yet here 
 I conceive lies the main providential trial 
 a man is brought upon, with reference to 
 his state, forasmuch as the crook in the lot, 
 being a matter of a continued course, one 
 has occasion to open and show himself 
 again and again in the same thing; whence 
 it comes to pass, that it ministers ground 
 for a decision, in that momentous point. 
 It was plainly on this bottom that the trial 
 of Job's state was put. The question was, 
 whether Job was an upright and sincere 
 servant of God, as God himself testified 
 of him ; or but a mercenary one, a hypo- 
 
38 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 crite, as Satan alleged against him? And 
 the trial hereof was put upon the crook to 
 be made in his lot, Job i. 8 — 12. and ii. 
 3 — 6. Accordingly, that which all his 
 friends, save Elihu, the last speaker, did, 
 in their reasoning with him under his trial, 
 aim at, was to prove him a hypocrite ; Sa- 
 tan thus making use of these good men 
 for gaining his point. As God took trial 
 of Israel in the wilderness, for the land of 
 Canaan, by a train of afflicting dispensa- 
 tions, the which Caleb and Joshua bearing 
 strenuously, were declared meet to enter 
 the promised land, as having followed the 
 Lord fully ; while others being tired out 
 with them, their carcasses fell in the wil- 
 derness; so he makes trial of men for 
 heaven, by the crook in their lot. If one 
 can stand that test, he is manifested to be 
 a saint, a sincere servant of God, as Job 
 was proved to be ; if not, he is but a 
 hypocrite : he cannot stand the test of the 
 crook in his lot, but goes away like dross 
 in God's furnace. A melancholy instance 
 of which we have in that man of honour 
 and wealth, who, with high pretences of 
 religion, arising from a principle of moral 
 seriousness, addressed himself to our Sa- 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 39 
 
 viour, to know ' what he should do that 
 he might inherit eternal life,' Mark x. 
 17,21. Our Saviour, to discover the man 
 to himself, makes a crook in his lot, where 
 all along before it had stood even, obliging 
 him, by a probatory command, to sell and 
 give away all that he had, and follow 
 him. ' Sell whatsoever thou hast, and 
 give to the poor, and come take up the 
 cross and follow me/ Hereby he was, 
 that moment, in the court of conscience, 
 stript of his great possessions ; so that 
 thenceforth he could no longer keep them, 
 with a good conscience, as he might have 
 done before. The man instantly felt the 
 smart of this crook made in his lot ; ' he 
 was sad at that saying/ that is, imme- 
 diately upon the hearing of it, being 
 struck with pain, disorder, and confusion 
 of mind, his countenance changed, became 
 cloudy and louring, as the same word is 
 used, Matth. xvi. 3. He could not stand 
 the test of that crook ; he could by no 
 means submit his lot to God in that point, 
 but behoved to have it, at any rate, ac- 
 cording to his own mind. So he, ' went 
 away grieved, for he had great posses- 
 sions/ He went away from Christ back 
 
40 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 to his plentiful estate, and though with a 
 pained and sorrowful heart, sat him down 
 again on it a violent possessor before the 
 Lord, thwarting the divine order. And 
 there is no appearance that ever this order 
 was revoked, nor that ever he came to a 
 better temper in reference thereunto. 
 
 Secondly, Excitation to duty, weaning 
 one from this world, and prompting him 
 to look after the happiness of the other 
 world. Many have been beholden to the 
 crook in their lot, for that ever they came 
 to themselves, settled, and turned serious. 
 Going for a time like a wild ass used to the 
 wilderness, scorning to be turned, their 
 foot hath slid in due time ; and a crook 
 being hereby made in their lot, their month 
 hath come wherein they have been caught, 
 Jer. ii. 24. Thus was the prodigal brought 
 to himself,and obliged to entertain thoughts 
 of returning unto his father, Luke xv. 17. 
 The crook in their lot convinces them at 
 length that here is not their rest. Finding 
 still a pricking thorn of uneasiness, when- 
 soever they lay down their head where 
 they would fainest take rest in the crea- 
 ture, and that they are obliged to lift it 
 again, they are brought to conclude, there 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 41 
 
 is no hope from that quarter, and begin to 
 cast about for rest another way, so it makes 
 them errands to God, which they had not 
 before; forasmuch as they feel a need of 
 the comforts of the other world, to which 
 their mouths were out of taste, while their 
 lot stood even to their mind. Wherefore, 
 whatever use we make of the crook in our 
 lot, the voice of it is, Arise ye, and depart, 
 this is not your rest. And it is surely that, 
 which of all means of mortification, of the 
 afflictive kind, doth most deaden a real 
 Christian to this life and world. 
 
 Thirdly, Conviction of sin. As when 
 one walking heedlessly is suddenly taken 
 ill of a lameness : his going halting the 
 rest of his way convinceth him of having 
 made a wrong step ; and every new pain- 
 ful step brings it afresh to his mind : so 
 God makes a crook in one's lot, to con- 
 vince him of some false step he hath made, 
 or course he hath taken. What the sinner 
 would otherwise be apt to overlook, for- 
 get, or think light of, is by this means re- 
 called to mind, set before him as an evil 
 and bitter thing, and kept in remembrance, 
 that his heart may every now and then 
 bleed for it afresh. Thus, by the crook, 
 
42 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 men's sin finds them out to their convic- 
 tion, ' as the thief is ashamed when he is 
 found,' Numb, xxxii. 23. Jer. ii. 26. The 
 which Joseph's brethren do feelingly ex- 
 press, under the crook made in their lot 
 in Egypt, Gen. xliii. 21. ' We are verily 
 guilty concerning our brother,' chap. xliv. 
 16. ' God hath found out the iniquity of 
 thy servants.' The crook in the lot doth 
 usually, in its nature or circumstances, so 
 natively refer to the false step or course, 
 that it serves for a providential memorial 
 of it, bringing the sin, though of an old 
 date, fresh to remembrance, and for a 
 badge of the sinner's folly, in word or 
 deed, to keep it ever before him. When 
 Jacob found Leah, through Laban's un- 
 fair dealing, palmed upon him for Rachel, 
 how could he miss of a stinging remem- 
 brance of the cheat he had, seven years at 
 least before, put on his own father, pre- 
 tending himself to be Esau? Gen.xxvii. 
 19. How could it miss of galling him 
 occasionally afterwards during the course 
 of the marriage? He had imposed on his 
 father the younger brother for the elder, 
 and Laban imposed on him the elder sister 
 for the younger. The dimness of Isaac's 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 43 
 
 eyes favoured the former cheat; and the 
 darkness of the evening did as much fa- 
 vour the latter. So he behoved to say, as 
 .Adoni-bezek in another case, Judges i. 7. 
 ' As I have done, so God hath requited 
 me.' Tn like manner, Rachel dying in 
 childbirth, could hardly avoid a melan- 
 choly reflection on her rash and passionate 
 expression, ' Give me children, or else I 
 die.' Gen. xxx. 1. Even holy Job read, 
 in the crook of his lot, some false steps 
 he had made in his youth, many years 
 before, Job xiii. 26. ' Thou writest bitter 
 things against me, and makestme to pos- 
 sess the iniquities of my youth.' 
 
 Fourthly, Correction, or punishment for 
 sin. In nothing more than in the crook 
 of the lot, is that word verified, Jer. ii. 19. 
 'Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, 
 and thy backslidings shall reprove thee.' 
 God may, for a time, wink at one's sin, 
 which afterward he will brand with his 
 indignation by crooking the sinner's lot, 
 as he did in the case of Jacob, and of 
 Rachel, mentioned before. Though the 
 sin was a passing action, or a course of 
 no long continuance, the mark of the di- 
 vine displeasure for it, set on the sinner 
 
44 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 in the crook of his lot, may pain him long 
 and sore, that by repeated experience he 
 may know what an evil and bitter thing 
 it was. David's killing Uriah by the 
 sword of the Ammonites was soon over ; 
 but for that cause ' the sword never de- 
 parted from his house/ 2 Sam. xii. 10. 
 Gehazi quickly obtained two bags of mo- 
 ney from Naaman, in the way of falsehood 
 and lying; but as a lasting mark of the 
 divine indignation against the profane 
 trick, he got withal a leprosy which clave 
 to him while he lived, and to his posterity 
 after him, 2 Kings v. 27. This may be 
 the case, as well where the sin is pardoned, 
 as to the guilt of eternal wrath, as where 
 it is not. And one may have confessed 
 and sincerely repented of that sin, which 
 yet shall make him go halting to the grave, 
 though it cannot carry him to hell. A 
 man's person may be accepted in the Be- 
 loved, who yet hath a particular badge of 
 the divine displeasure, with his sin hung 
 upon him in the crook of his lot, Psal. 
 x cix. 8. ' Thou wast a God that forgavest 
 them, though thou tookest vengeance on 
 their inventions.' 
 
 Fifthly, Preventing of sin, Hos. ii. 6. 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 45 
 
 * I will hedge up thy way with thorns, 
 and make a wall that she shall not find 
 her paths.' The crook in the lot will rea- 
 dily be found to lie cross to some wrong 
 bias of the heart, which peculiarly sways 
 with the party : so it is like a thorn-hedge 
 or wall in the way which that bias inclines 
 him to. The defiling objects in the world 
 do specially take and prove ensnaring, as 
 they are suited to the particular cast of 
 temper in men : but by means of the crook 
 in the lot, the paint and varnish is worn 
 off the defiling object, whereby it loseth 
 its former taking appearance : so the fuel 
 being removed, the edge of corrupt affec- 
 tions is blunted, temptation weakened, 
 and much sin prevented ; the sinner after 
 ' gadding about so much to change his 
 way, returning ashamed.' Jer. ii. 36, 37. 
 Thus the Lord crooks one's lot that he 
 may withdraw man from his purpose, and 
 hide pride from men :' And so ' he keep- 
 eth back his soul from the pit.' Job xxxiii. 
 17,18. Everyone knows what is most 
 pleasant to him ; but God alone knows 
 what is the most profitable. As all men 
 are liars, so all men are fools too: He 
 is the only wise God, Jude 25. Many 
 
46 THE CROOK IS THE LOT. 
 
 are obliged to the crook in their lot, that 
 they go not to those excesses, which their 
 vain minds and corrupt affections would 
 with full sail carry them to ; and they 
 would from their hearts bless God for 
 making it, if they did but calmly consider 
 what would most probably be the issue of 
 the removal thereof. When one is in 
 hazard of fretting under the hardship of 
 bearing the crook, he would do well to 
 consider what condition he is as yet in, 
 for to bear its removal in a Christian 
 manner. 
 
 Sixthly, Discovery of the latent corrup- 
 tion, whether in saints or sinners. There 
 are some corruptions in every man's heart, 
 which lie, as it were, so near the surface, 
 that they are ready on every turn to cast 
 up ; but then there are others also which 
 lie so very deep, that they are scarcely 
 observed at all. But as the fire under the 
 pot makes the scum to cast up, appear 
 at top, and run over; so the crook in the 
 lot raiseth up from the bottom, and brings 
 out such corruption as otherwise one 
 could hardly imagine to be within. Who 
 would have suspected such strength of 
 passion in the meek Moses as he disco- 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 47 
 
 vered at the waters of strife, and for which 
 he was kept out of Canaan? Psalm cvi. 
 32, 33. Num. xx. 13. So much bitter- 
 ness of spirit in the patient Job, as to 
 charge God with becoming cruel to him ? 
 Job xxx. 21. So much ill-nature in the 
 good Jeremiah, as to curse not only the 
 day of his birth, but even the man who 
 brought tidings of it to his father ? Jer. 
 xx. 14, 15. Or, such a twang of atheism 
 in Asaph, as to pronounce religion a vain 
 thing? Psalm lxxiii. 13. But the crook 
 in the lot, bringing out these things, shew- 
 ed them to have been within, how long 
 soever they had lurked unobserved. And 
 as this design, however indecently proud 
 scoffers allow themselves to treat it, is in 
 no way inconsistent with the divine per- 
 fections ; so the discovery itself is neces- 
 sary for the due humiliation of sinners, 
 and to stain the pride of all glory, that 
 men may know themselves. Both which 
 appear, in that it was on this very design 
 that God made the long-continued crook 
 in Israel's lot in the wilderness; even to 
 humble them and prove them, to know 
 what was in their heart, Deut. viii.2. 
 Lastly, The exercise of grace in the 
 
48 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 children of God. Believers, through the 
 remains of indwelling corruption, are 
 liable to fits of spiritual laziness and in- 
 activity, in which their graces lie dormant 
 for the time. Besides, there are some 
 graces, which, of their own nature, are 
 but occasional in their exercises; as being 
 exercised only upon occasion of certain 
 things, to which they have a necessary re- 
 lation : such as patience and long-suffer- 
 ing. Now, the crook in the lot serves to 
 rouse up a Christian to the exercise of the 
 graces, overpowered by corruption, and 
 withal to call forth to action the occasional 
 graces, ministering proper occasions for 
 them. The truth is, the crook in the lot 
 is the great engine of Providence for 
 making men appear in their true colours, 
 discovering both their ill and their good ; 
 and if the grace of God be in them, it will 
 bring it out, and cause it to display itself. 
 It so puts the Christian to his shifts, that 
 however it makes him stagger for a while, 
 yet it will at length evidence both the 
 reality and the strength of grace in him. 
 * Ye are in heaviness through manifold 
 temptations, that the trial of your faith, 
 being much more precious than of gold 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 49 
 
 that perisheth, may be found unto praise,' 
 1 Pet. i. 6, 7. The crook in the lot gives 
 rise to many acts of faith, hope, love, self- 
 denial, resignation, and other graces; to 
 many heavenly breathings, pantings, and 
 groanings, which otherwise would not be 
 brought forth. And I make no question 
 but these things, howsoever by carnal 
 men despised as trifling, are more pre- 
 cious in the sight of God than even be- 
 lievers themselves are aware of, being 
 acts of immediate internal worship ; and 
 will, at length, have a surprising notice 
 taken of them, and of the sum of them, 
 howbeit the persons themselves often can 
 hardly think them worth their own notice 
 at all. We know who hath said to the 
 gracious soul, ' Let me see thy counte- 
 nance ; thy countenance is comely/ ' Thou 
 hast ravished my heart with one of thine 
 eyes/ Song ii. 24; iv. 9. The steady 
 acting of a gallant army of horse and 
 foot to the routing of the enemy, is 
 highly prized ; but the acting of holy fear 
 and humble hope, is in reality far more 
 valuable, as being so in the sight of God, 
 whose judgment, we are sure, is accord- 
 ing to truth. This the Psalmist teacheth, 
 
50 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 Psalm cxlvii. 11, 12. < He delighteth not 
 in the strength of the horse ; he taketh not 
 pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord 
 taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in 
 those that hope in his mercy.' And in- 
 deed the exercise of the graces of his spirit 
 in his people, is so very precious in his 
 sight, that whatever grace any of them do 
 excel in, they will readily get such a crook 
 made in their lot as will be a special trial 
 for it, that will make a proof of its full 
 strength. Abraham excelled in the grace 
 of faith, in trusting God's bare word of 
 promise over the feelings of sense : and God 
 giving him a promise, that he would make 
 of him a great nation, made withal a crook 
 in his lot, by which he had enough to do 
 with all the strength of his faith ; while he 
 was obliged for good and all to leave his 
 country and kindred, and sojourn among 
 the Canaanites ; his wife continuing bar- 
 ren, till past the age of child-bearing; and 
 when she had at length brought forth 
 Isaac, and he was grown up, he was 
 called to offer him up for a burnt-offering, 
 the more exquisite trial of his faith, in that 
 Ishmael was now expelled his family, and 
 that it was declared, That in Isaac only 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 51 
 
 his seed should be called, Gen. xxi. 12. 
 * Moses was very meek above all the men 
 which were upon the face of the earth,' 
 Numb. xii. 3. And he was entrusted with 
 the conduct of a most perverse and un- 
 manageable people, the crook in his lot 
 plainly designed for the exercise of his 
 meekness. Job excelled in patience, and 
 by the crook in his lot, he got as much to 
 do with it. For God gives none of his 
 people to excel in a gift, but some one 
 time or other he will afford them use for 
 the whole compass of it. 
 
 Now, the use of this doctrine is three- 
 fold, (1.) For reproof. (2.) For conso- 
 lation. And (3.) For exhortation. 
 
 Use 1 . Of reproof. And it meets with 
 three sorts of persons as reproveable. 
 
 First, The carnal and earthly, who do 
 not with awe and reverence regard the 
 crook in their lot as of God's making. 
 There is certainly a signature of the divine 
 hand upon it to be perceived by just ob- 
 servers ; and that challengeth an awful 
 regard, the neglect of which forebodes 
 destruction, Psal. xxviii. 5. ' Because 
 they regard not the works of the Lord, 
 nor the operation of his hands, thou shalt 
 e 2 
 
62 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 destroy them, and not build them up/ And 
 herein they are deeply guilty, who, poring 
 upon second causes, and looking no fur- 
 ther than the unhappy instruments of the 
 crook in their lot, overlooking the first 
 cause, as a dog snarls at the stone, but 
 looks not to the hand that casts it. This 
 is, in fact, to make a God of the creature; 
 so regarding it, as if it could of itself 
 effect any thing, while in the mean time, 
 it is but an instrument in the hand of 
 God, * the rod of his anger/ Isa. x. 5. 
 * Ordained of him for judgment, esta- 
 blished for correction,' Hab.i.l2.0h ! why 
 should men terminate their view on the 
 instruments of the crook in their lot, and 
 so magnify their scourges ! The truth is, 
 they are, for the most part, rather to be 
 pitied, as having an undesirable office, 
 who, for the gratifying their sensuality, set 
 themselves to despise the crook in their 
 lot, and make nothing of it, and give up 
 themselves to their own corrupt affections, 
 in making crooks in the lot of others, which 
 return on their own heads at length with a 
 vengeance, as did 'the blood ofjezreel 
 on the house of Jehu,' Hos. i.4. And it 
 is specially undesirable to be so employed 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 53 
 
 in the case of such as belong to God ; for 
 rarely is the ground of the quarrel the 
 same on the part of the instrument as on 
 God's part, but very different; witness 
 Shimei's cursing David, as a bloody man, 
 meaning the blood of the house of Saul, 
 which he was not guilty of, while God 
 meant it of the blood of Uriah, which he 
 could not deny, 2 Sam. xvi. 7, 8. More- 
 over, the quarrel will be, at length 
 taken up between God and his people ; 
 and then their scourgers will find they 
 had but a thankless office, Zech. i. 16. 
 1 1 was but a little displeased, and they 
 helped forward the affliction/ saith God, 
 in resentment of the heathen crooking the 
 lot of his people. In like manner are 
 they guilty, who impute the crook in their 
 lot to fortune, or their ill-luck, which in 
 very deed is nothing but a creature of 
 imagination, framed for a blind to keep 
 man from acknowledging the hand of 
 God. Thus, what the Philistines doubt, 
 they do more impiously determine, say- 
 ing, in effect, ' It is not his hand that 
 smote us, it was a chance that happened 
 us,' 1 Sam. vi. 9. And, finally, these 
 also, who, in the way of giving up them- 
 
54 THE CJIOOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 selves to carnal mirth and sensuality, set 
 themselves to despise the crook in their 
 lot, to make nothing of it, and to forget it. 
 I question not, but one committing his 
 case to the Lord, and looking to him for 
 remedy in the first place, may lawfully 
 call in the moderate use of the comforts 
 of life, for help, in the second place. But 
 as for that course so frequent and usual in 
 this case among carnal men, if the crook 
 of the lot really be, as indeed it is, of 
 God's making, it must needs be a most 
 indecent, unbecoming course, to be ab- 
 horred of all good men, Prov. iii. 11. 
 1 My son, despise not the chastening of 
 the Lord.' It is surely a very desperate 
 method of cure, which cannot miss of 
 issuing in something worse *han the dis- 
 ease, however it may palliate it for a 
 while, Isa. xxii. 12. 14. 'In that day 
 did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping 
 and mourning, and behold joy and glad- 
 ness, eating flesh and drinking wine: 
 And it was revealed in mine ears, by the 
 Lord of hosts, surely this iniquity shall 
 not be purged from you till ye die/ 
 
 Secondly ,The unsubmissive, whose hearts, 
 like the troubled sea, swell and boil, fret 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 55 
 
 and murmur, and cannot be at rest under 
 the crook in their lot. This is a most sin- 
 ful and dangerous course. The apostle 
 Jude, characterizing some, ' to whom is 
 reserved the blackness of darkness for 
 ever/ saith of them, ver. 16. 'These are 
 murmurers, complainers/ namely, still 
 complaining of their lot, which is the 
 import of the word there used by the 
 Holy Ghost. For, since the crook in 
 their lot, which their unsubdued spirits 
 can by no means submit to, is of God's 
 making, this their practice must needs be 
 a fighting against God : and these their 
 complainings and murmurings are indeed 
 against him, whatever face they put upon 
 them. Thus when the Israelites mur- 
 mured against Moses, God charges them 
 with murmuring against himself : < How 
 long shall I bear with this evil congre- 
 gation, which murmured against me V 
 Numb.xiv. 2. 27. Ah ! may not he who 
 made and fashioned us without our ad- 
 vice, be allowed to make our lot too, 
 without asking our mind, but we must 
 rise up against him on account of the 
 crook made in it? What doth this speak, 
 but that the proud creature cannot endure 
 
56 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 God's work, nor digest what he hath 
 done? And how black and dangerous 
 is that temper of spirit ! How is it pos- 
 sible to miss of being broken to pieces in 
 such a course ? ' He is wise in heart, and 
 mighty in strength : Who hath hardened 
 himself against him, and hath prospered?' 
 Job ix. 4. 
 
 Lastly, The careless and unfruitful, 
 who do not set themselves dutifully to 
 comply with the design of the crook in 
 their lot. God and nature do nothing in 
 vain. Since he makes the crook, there is 
 doubtless a becoming design in it, which 
 we are obliged in duty to fall in with, 
 according to that, Micah vi. 9. * Hear 
 ye the rod.' And, indeed, if one shut 
 not his own eyes, but be willing to un- 
 derstand, he may easily perceive the 
 general design thereof to be to wean 
 him from this world, and move him to 
 seek and take up his heart's rest in God. 
 And the nature and the circumstances of 
 the crook itself being duly considered, it 
 will not be very hard to make a more 
 particular discovery of the design thereof. 
 But, alas! the careless sinner, sunk in 
 spiritual sloth and stupidity, is in no 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 57 
 
 concern to discover the design of Pro- 
 vidence in the crook ; so he cannot fall 
 in with it, but remains unfruitful ; and 
 all the pains taken on him, by the great 
 Husbandman, in the dispensation, are 
 lost. They cry out by reason of ' the arm 
 of the mighty;' groaning under the pres- 
 sure of the crook itself, and weight of the 
 hand of the instrument thereof: * But 
 none saith. Where is God my Maker?' 
 they look not, they turn not unto God for 
 all that, Job xxxv. 9, 10. 
 
 Use 11. Of consolation. It speaks com- 
 fort to the afflicted children of God. 
 Whatever is the crook in your lot, it 
 is of God's making ; and therefore you 
 may look upon it kindly. Since it is 
 your Father has made it for you, ques- 
 tion not but there is a favourable design 
 in it towards you, A discreet child wel- 
 comed! his fathers rod, knowing that 
 being a father, he seeks his benefit there- 
 by ; and shall not God's children wel- 
 come the crook in their lot, as designed 
 by their Father, who cannot mistake his 
 measures to work for their good, accord- 
 ing to the promise? The truth is, the 
 crook in the lot of a believer, how pain- 
 
58 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 ful soever it proves, is a part of the 
 discipline of the covenant, the nurture 
 secured by the promise of the Father to 
 Christ's children, Psalm lxxxix. 30, 32. 
 ' If his children forsake my law, and 
 walk not in my judgments, then will I 
 visit their transgressions with the rod.' 
 Furthermore, all who are disposed to be- 
 take themselves to God under the crook 
 in their lot, may take comfort in this, 
 let them know that there is no crook in 
 their lot but may be made straight; for 
 God made it, surely then he can mend it. 
 He himself can make straight what he 
 hath made crooked, though none other 
 can. There is nothing too hard for him 
 to do : * He raiseth up the poor out of 
 the dust, and lifteth the needy out of 
 the dunghill; that he may set him with 
 princes. He maketh the barren woman 
 to keep house, and to be a joyful mother 
 of children,' Psalm cxiii. 7 — 9. Say not 
 that your crook hath been of so long con- 
 tinuance, that it will never mend. Put it 
 in the hand of God, who made it, that he 
 may mend it, and wait on him ; and if it 
 be for thy good, that it should be mended, 
 it shall be mended ; for ' no good thing 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 59 
 
 will he withhold from them that walk up- 
 rightly,' Psalm lxxxiv. 11. 
 
 Use last, Of exhortation. Since the 
 crook in the lot is of God's making, 
 then, viewing the hand of God in your's, 
 be reconciled to it, and submit under it, 
 whatever it is; I say, viewing the hand of 
 God in it, for otherwise your submission 
 under the crook in your lot cannot be a 
 Christian submission, acceptable to God, 
 having no reference to him as your party 
 in the matter. 
 
 Object. I. But some will say, ' The 
 crook in my lot is from the hand of the 
 creature; and such a one too as I de- 
 served no such treatment from. 
 
 Am. From what hath been already 
 said, it appears that, although the crook 
 in thy lot be indeed immediately from 
 the creature's hand, yet it is mediately 
 from the hand of God; there being no- 
 thing of that kind, no penal evil, but the 
 Lord hath done it. Therefore, without all 
 peradventure, God himself is thy princi- 
 pal party, whoever be the less principal. 
 And albeit thou hast not deserved thy 
 crook at the hand of the instrument or 
 instruments which he makes use of for 
 
60 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 thy correction, thou certainly deservest it 
 at his hand ; and he may make use of 
 what instrument he will in the matter, or 
 may do it immediately by himself, even 
 as seems good in his sight. 
 
 Object. II. 'But the crook in my lot 
 might quickly be evened, if the instru- 
 ment or instruments thereof pleased ; only 
 there is no dealing with them, so as to con- 
 vince them of their fault in making it.' 
 
 Ans. If it is so, be sure God's time 
 is not as yet come, that that crook 
 should be evened ; for if it were come, 
 though they stand now like an impreg- 
 nable fort, they would give way like a 
 sandy bank under one's feet : they should 
 1 bow down to thee with their face to- 
 ward the earth, and lick up the dust of 
 thy feet.' Isai. xlix. 23. Meanwhile, that 
 state of the matter is so far from justi- 
 fying one's not eyeing the hand of God 
 in the crook in the lot, that it makes a 
 piece of trial in which his hand very 
 eminently appears, namely, that man 
 should be signally injurious and bur- 
 densome to others, yet by no means sus- 
 ceptible of conviction. This was the 
 trial of the church from her adversaries. 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 61 
 
 Jer. 1. 7. ' All that found them have 
 devoured them; and their adversaries 
 said, We offend not : because they have 
 sinned against the Lord, the habitation 
 of justice.' They were very abusive, and 
 gave her barbarous usage; yet would 
 they take with no fault in the matter. 
 How could they ward off the conviction ? 
 Were they verily blameless in their de- 
 vouring the Lord's straying sheep? No, 
 surely, they were not. Did they look 
 upon themselvers as ministers of the di- 
 vine justice against her ? No, they did 
 not. 
 
 Some indeed would make a question 
 here, How the adversaries of the church 
 could celebrate her God as the habita- 
 tion of justice? But the original point- 
 ing of the text being retained, it appears, 
 that there is no ground at all for this 
 question here, and withal the whole mat- 
 ter is set in a clear light. ' All that 
 found them have devoured them ; and 
 their adversaries said, We offend not: 
 because they have sinned against the 
 Lord, the habitation of justice.' These 
 last are not the words of the adversaries, 
 but the words of the prophet, shewing 
 
62 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 how it came to pass that the adversa- 
 ries devoured the Lord's sheep, as they 
 lighted on them, and withal stood to 
 the defence of it, when they had done, 
 far from acknowledging any wrong ; the 
 matter lay here, the sheep had sinned 
 against the Lord, the habitation of jus- 
 tice; and, as a just punishment hereof 
 from his hand, they could have no justice 
 at the hand of his adversaries. 
 
 Wherefore, laying aside these frivo- 
 lous pretences, and eyeing the hand of 
 God, as that which hath bowed your 
 lot in that part, and keeps it in the bow, 
 be reconciled to, and submit under the 
 crook, whatever it is, saying from the 
 heart, ' Truly this is a grief, and I must 
 bear it,' Jer. x. 19. And to move you 
 hereunto, consider, 
 
 1. It is a duty you owe to God, as 
 your sovereign Lord and Benefactor. His 
 sovereignty challengeth our submission ; 
 and it can in no case be meanness of 
 spirit to submit unto the crook which 
 his hand hath made in our lot, and to 
 go quietly under the yoke that he hath 
 laid on ; but it is really madness for the 
 potsherds of the earth, by their turbulent 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 63 
 
 and refractory carriage under it, to strive 
 with their Maker. And his beneficence 
 to us, ill-deserving creatures, may well 
 stop our mouths from our complaining 
 of his making a crook in our lot, who 
 had done us no wrong had he made the 
 whole of it crooked : ' Shall we receive 
 good at the hand of God, and shall we 
 not receive evil?' Job ii. 10. 
 
 2. It is an unalterable statute, for the 
 time of this life, that nobody shall want 
 a crook in their lot; for ' man is born 
 unto trouble as the sparks fly upward,' 
 Job v. 7. And those who are designed 
 for heaven, are in a special manner as- 
 sured of a crook in their's, that ' in the 
 world they shall have tribulation/ John 
 xvi. 33 ; for by means thereof the Lord 
 makes them meet for heaven. And how 
 can you imagine that you shall be ex- 
 empted from the common lot of man- 
 kind? ' Shall the rock be removed out 
 of his place for thee?' And since God 
 makes the crooks in men's lot according 
 to the different exigence of their cases, 
 you may be sure that your's is necessary 
 for you. 
 
 3 A crook in the lot, which one can 
 
64 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 by no means submit to, makes a condi- 
 tion of all things the likest to that in hell. 
 For there a yoke, which the wretched 
 sufferers can neither bear nor shake off, 
 is wreathed about their necks; there the 
 almighty arm draws against them, and 
 they against it; there they are ever suf- 
 fering and ever sinning; still in the fur- 
 nace, but their dross not consumed, nor 
 they purified. Even such is the case of 
 those who now cannot submit under the 
 crook in their lot. 
 
 4. Great is the loss by not submitting 
 under it. The crook in the lot, rightly 
 improved, hath turned to the best ac- 
 count, and made the best time to some 
 that ever they had all their life long, as 
 the Psalmist from his own experience 
 testifies, Psal. cxix, 67. ' Before I was 
 afflicted, I went astray; but now have I 
 kept thy word.' There are many now 
 in heaven, who are blessing God for the 
 crook they had in their "lot here. What 
 a sad thing must it then be to lose this 
 fair wind for Immanuel's land ! But 
 if the crook in thy lot do thee no good, 
 be sure it will not miss of doing thee 
 great damage; it will hugely increase 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 65 
 
 guilt and aggravate thy condemnation, 
 while it shall for ever cut to the heart, to 
 think of the pains taken on thee, by means 
 of the crook in the lot, to wean thee from 
 the world, and bring thee to God, but all 
 in vain. Take heed, therefore, how you 
 manage it, ' Lest — thou mourn at the last 
 — and say, How have I hated instruction, 
 and my heart despised reproof!" Prov. v. 
 10 — 12. 
 
 Doct. II. What God sees meet to mar, we 
 shall not be able to mend in our lot. 
 What crook God makes in our lot, we 
 shall not be able to even. — We shall, 
 
 I. Shew God's marring and making a 
 crook in one's lot, as he sees meet. 
 
 II. We shall consider men's attempt- 
 ing to mend or even that crook in their 
 lot. 
 
 III. In what sense it is to be under- 
 stood that we shall not be able to mend, 
 or even the crook in our lot. 
 
 IV. Render some reasons of the point. 
 
 I. As to the first head, namely, shew 
 God's marring and making a crook in one's 
 lot, as he sees meet. 
 
 i 
 
66 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 First, God keeps the choice of every 
 one's crook to himself; and therein he 
 exerts his sovereignty, Matth. xx. 15. It 
 is not left to our option what that crook 
 shall be, or what our peculiar burden ; 
 but, as the potter makes of the same clay 
 one vessel for one use, another for another 
 use; so God makes one crook for one, 
 another for another, according to his own 
 will and pleasure, Psal cxxxv. 6. ' What- 
 soever the Lord pleased, that did he, in 
 heaven and in earth/ &c. 
 
 Secondly, He sees and observes the 
 bias of every one's will and inclination, 
 how it lies, and wherein it especially 
 bends away from himself, and conse- 
 quently wherein it needs the special bow; 
 so he did in that man's case, Mark x. 21. 
 ' One thing thou lackest; go thy way, sell 
 whatsoever thou hast, and give to the 
 poor/ &c. Observe the bent of his heart 
 to his great possessions. He takes notice 
 what is that idol that in every one's case 
 is most apt to be his rival, that so he may 
 suit the trial to the case, making the crook 
 there. 
 
 Thirdly, By the conduct of his pro- 
 vidence, or a touch of his hand, he gives 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 67 
 
 that part of one's lot a bow the contrary 
 way ; so that henceforth it lies quite con- 
 trary to the bias of the party's will, Ezek. 
 xxiv. 25. And here the trial is made, the 
 bent of the will lying one way, and that 
 part of one's lot another, that it does not 
 answer the inclination of the party, but 
 thwarts with it. 
 
 Lastly, He wills that crook in the lot to 
 remain while he sees meet, for longer or 
 shorter time, just according to his own 
 holy ends he designs it for, 2 Sam. xii. 10. 
 Hos. v. 15. By that will it is so fixed, 
 that the whole creation cannot alter it, or 
 put it out of the bow. 
 
 II. We shall consider men's attempting 
 to mend or even that crook in their lot. 
 This, in a word, lies in their making ef- 
 forts to bring their lot in that point to 
 their own will, that they may both go 
 one way; so it imports three things : 
 
 First, A certain uneasiness under the 
 crook in the lot; it is a yoke which is 
 hard for the party to bear, till his spirit 
 be tamed and subdued, Jer. xxxi. 18. 
 1 Thou hast chastised me, and I was chas- 
 tised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the 
 yoke ; turn thou me, and I shall be turned,' 
 f2 
 
68 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 &c. And it is for the breaking down of the 
 weight of one's spirit that God lays it on : 
 for which cause it is declared to be a good 
 thing to bear it, Lam. iii. 27, that being 
 the way to make one at length as a weaned 
 child. 
 
 Secondly, A strong desire to have the 
 cross removed, and to have matters in 
 that part going according to our inclina- 
 tions. This is very natural, nature de- 
 siring to be freed from every thing that is 
 burdensome or cross to it; and if that de- 
 sire be kept in a due subordination to the 
 will of God, and be not too peremptory, 
 it is not sinful, Matth. xxvi. 39. * If it be 
 possible, let this cup pass from me ; never- 
 theless, not as I will,' &c. Hence so 
 many accepted prayers of the people of 
 God, for the removal of the crook in their 
 lot. 
 
 Lastly, An earnest use of means for 
 that end. This natively follows on that 
 desire. The man, being pressed with 
 the cross, which is in his crook, labours all 
 he can in the use of means to be rid of it. 
 And if the means used be lawful, and not 
 relied upon, but followed with an eye to 
 God in them, the attempt is not sinful 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 69 
 
 either, whether he succeed in the use of 
 them or not. 
 
 III. In what sense it is to be under- 
 stood, that we shall not be able to mend 
 or even the crook in our lot. 
 
 Negatively., It is not to be understood, 
 as if the case were absolutely hopeless, 
 and that there is no remedy for the crook 
 in the lot. For there is no case so despe- 
 rate, but God may right it, Gen.xviii. 14. 
 * Is any thing too hard for the Lord?' 
 When the crook has continued long, and 
 spurned all remedies one has used for it, 
 one is ready to lose hope about it; but 
 many a crook, given over for hopeless 
 that would never mend, God has made 
 perfectly straight, as in Job's case. 
 
 But, Positively, We shall never be able 
 to mend it by ourselves; if the Lord him- 
 self take it not in hand to remove it, it 
 will stand before us immoveable, like a 
 mountain of brass, though perhaps it may 
 be in itself a thing that might easily be 
 removed. We take it up in these three 
 things. 
 
 1. It will never do by the mere force 
 of our hand, 1 Sam. ii. 9. — * For by 
 
70 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 strength shall no man prevail.' The most 
 vigorous endeavours we can use will not 
 even the crook, if God give it not a touch 
 of his hand ; so that all endeavours that 
 way, without an eye to God, are vain and 
 fruitless, and will be but ploughing on the 
 rock, Psalm cxxvii. 1 , 2. 
 
 2. The use of all allowable means, for 
 it will be successless, unless the Lord bless 
 them for that end, Lam. iii. 37. ' Who is 
 he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when 
 the Lord commandeth it not?' As one 
 may eat and not be satisfied, so one may 
 use means proper for evening the crook in 
 his lot, and yet prevail nothing ; for no- 
 thing can be or do for us any more than 
 God makes it to be or do, Eccl.,ix. 11. 
 ' The race is not to the swift, nor the bat- 
 tle to the strong; neither yet bread to the 
 wise, nor yet riches to men of understand- 
 ing,' &c. 
 
 3. It will never do in our time, but in 
 God's time, which seldom is so early as 
 ours, John vii. 6. * My time is not yet come, 
 but your time is always ready.' Hence 
 that crook remains sometimes immoveable, 
 as if it were kept by an invisible hand ; 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 71 
 
 and at another time it goes away with a 
 touch, because God's time is come for 
 evening it. 
 
 IV. We shall now assign the reasons of 
 the point. 
 
 1st, Because of the absolute dependence 
 we have upon God, Acts xvii. 28. As the 
 light depends on the sun, or the shadow on 
 the body, so we depend on God, and with- 
 out him can do nothing, great or small. 
 And God will have us to find it so, to 
 teach us our dependence. 
 
 Idly, Because his will is irresistible, 
 Isai. xlvi. 10. ' My counsel shall stand, 
 and I will do all my pleasure/ When God 
 wills one thing, and the creature the con- 
 trary, it is easy to see which will must be 
 done. When the omnipotent arm holds, 
 in vain does the creature draw, Job ix. 4. 
 * Who hath hardened himself against him 
 and prospered?' 
 
 Inference 1. There is a necessity of 
 yielding and submitting under the crook 
 in our lot ; for we may as well think to 
 remove the rocks and mountains, which 
 God has settled, as to make that part of 
 our lot straight which he hath made 
 crooked. 
 
72 THE CHOCK IN THE LOT. 
 
 2. The evening of the crook in our lot, 
 by main force of our own, is but a cheat 
 we put on ourselves, and will not last, 
 but, like a stick by main force made 
 straight, it will quickly return to the bow 
 again. 
 
 3. The only habile way of getting the 
 crook evened, is to apply to God for it. 
 
 Exhortation 1. Let us then apply to 
 God for removing any crook in our lot, 
 that in the settled order of things may be 
 removed. Men cannot cease to desire 
 the removal of a crook, more than that of 
 a thorn in the flesh : but, since we are not 
 able to mend what God sees meet to mar, 
 it is evident we are to apply to him that 
 made it to mend it, and not take the even- 
 ing of it in our own hand. 
 
 Motive 1. All our attempts for its re- 
 moval will, without him, be vain and 
 fruitless, Psal. cxxvii. 1. Let us be as 
 resolute as we will to have it evened, if 
 God say it not, we will labour in vain, 
 Lam. iii. 37. Howsoever fair the means 
 we use bid for it, they will be ineffectual 
 if he command not the blessing, Eccl. ix. 
 11. 
 
 2. Such attempts will readily make it 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 73 
 
 worse. Nothing is more ordinary, than 
 for a proud spirit striving with the crook, 
 to make it more crooked, Eccl. x. 8. 
 * Whoso breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall 
 bite him. Ver. 9. ' Whoso removeth 
 stones, shall be hurt therewith/ &c. This 
 is evident in the case of the murmurers in 
 the wilderness. It natively comes to be 
 so ; because, at that rate, the will of the 
 party bends farther away from it : and, 
 moreover, God is provoked to wreath the 
 yoke faster about one's neck, that he will 
 by no means let it sit easy on him. 
 
 3. There is no crook but what may be 
 remedied by him, and made perfectly 
 straight, Psal. cxlvi. 8. ' The Lord raiseth 
 them that are bowed down/ &c. He can 
 raise the oldest sit-fast, concerning which 
 there remains no hope with us, Rom.iv.17. 
 ' Who quickeneth the dead and calleth 
 those things which be not as though they 
 were?' It is his prerogative to do won- 
 ders; to begin a work, where the whole 
 creation gives it over as hopeless, and 
 carry it on to perfection. Gen. xviii. 14. 
 
 4. He loves to be employed in evening 
 crooks, and calls us to employ him that 
 way, Psal. 1. 15. ' Call upon me in the 
 
74 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 day of trouble, and I will deliver thee,* 
 &c. He makes them for that very end, 
 that he may bring us to him on that er- 
 rand, and may manifest his power and 
 goodness in evening of them, Hos. v. 15. 
 The straits of the children of men afford a 
 large field for displaying his glorious per- 
 fections, which otherways would be want- 
 ing, Exod. xv. 11. 
 
 5. A crook thus got evened is a double 
 mercy. There are some crooks evened 
 by a touch of the hand of common provi- 
 dence, while people are either not exer- 
 cised about them, or when they fret for 
 their removal; these are sapless mercies, 
 and short-lived, Psal.lxxviii. 30, 31. Hos. 
 xiii. 11. Fruits thus too hastily plucked 
 off the tree of providence can hardly miss 
 to set the teeth on edge, and will certainly 
 be bitter to the gracious soul. But O the 
 sweets of the evening of the crook got by 
 a humble application to, and waiting on 
 the Lord ! It has the image and super- 
 scription of divine favour upon it, which 
 makes it bulky and valuable, Gen. xxxiii. 
 10. ' For therefore I have seen thy face, 
 as though I had seen the face of God/ &c. 
 chap, xxi.6. 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 75 
 
 6. God has signalized his favour to his 
 dearest children, in making and mending 
 notable crooks in their lot. His darling 
 ones ordinarily have the greatest crooks 
 made in their lot, Heb. xii. 6. But then 
 they make way for their richest expe- 
 riences in the removal of them, upon 
 their application to him. This is clear 
 from the case of Abraham, Jacob, and 
 Joseph. Which of the patriarchs had so 
 great crooks as they ? but which of them, 
 on the other hand, had so signal tokens of 
 the divine favour ? The greatest of men, 
 as Samson and the Baptist, have been 
 born of women naturally barren ; so do 
 the greatest crooks issue in the richest 
 mercies to them that are exercised there- 
 by. 
 
 7. It is the shortest and surest way to 
 go straight to God with the crook in the 
 lot. If we would have our wish in that 
 point, we must, as the eagle, first soar 
 aloft, and then come down on the prey, 
 Mark v. 36. Our faithless out-of-the-way 
 attempts to even the crook, are but our 
 fool's haste, that is no speed ; as in the 
 case of Abraham's going in to Hagar. 
 God is the first mover, who sets all the 
 
76 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 wheels in motion for evening the crook, 
 the which without him will remain im- 
 moveable, Hos. ii. 21, 22. 
 
 Object. 1. ' But it is needless, for I 
 see, that though the crook in my lot may 
 mend, yet I will never mend. In its own 
 nature it is capable of being removed, but 
 it is plain it is not to be removed, it is 
 hopeless. 
 
 Ans. That is the language of unbeliev- 
 ing haste, which faith and patience should 
 correct, Psal. cxvi. 11, 12. Abrahamhad 
 so much to say for the hopelessness of his 
 crook, but yet he applies to God in faith 
 for the mending of it, Rom. iv. 19, 20. 
 Sarah had made such a conclusion, for 
 which she was rebuked, Gen. xviii. 13,14. 
 Nothing can make it needless in such a 
 case to apply to God. 
 
 Object. 2. ' But I have applied to him 
 again and again for it, yet it is never 
 mended. 7 
 
 Ans. Delays are not denials of suits 
 at the court of heaven, but trials of the 
 faith and patience of the petitioners. And 
 whoso will hang on will certainly suc- 
 ceed at long-run. ' And shall not God 
 avenge his own elect, which cry day and 
 
THE CUOOK IN THE LOT. 77 
 
 night unto him, though he bear long with 
 them? I tell you that he will avenge 
 them speedily.' Luke xviii. 7, 8. 31. 
 Sometimes indeed folks grow pettish, in 
 the case of the crook in the lot, and let it 
 dropout in their prayers, in a course of 
 despondency, while yet it continues un- 
 easy to them ; but, if God mind to even it 
 in mercy, he will oblige them to take it in 
 again into them, Ezek. xxxvi. 37. ' I will 
 yet, for this, be enquired of by the house 
 of Israel, to do it for them,' &c. If the 
 removal come, while it is dropt, there will 
 be little comfort in it : though it were 
 never to be removed while we live, that 
 should not cut off our applying to God 
 for the removal ; for there are many 
 prayers not to be answered till we come 
 to the other world, and there all will be 
 answered at once, Rom.vii.24. 
 
 Directions for right managing the applica- 
 tion for removing the crook in the lot. 
 
 1. Pray for it, Ezek. xxxvi. 37, and 
 pray in faith, believing that, for the sake 
 of Jesus, you shall certainly obtain at 
 length, and in this life too, if it is good for 
 
78 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 you ; but without peradventure in the 
 other life, Matt. xxi. 22. They will not 
 be disappointed that sing the song of 
 Moses and of the Lamb, Rev. xv. 3. 
 And, in some cases of that nature, extra- 
 ordinary prayer, with fasting, is very ex- 
 pedient, Matt. xvii. 21. 
 
 2. Humble yourselves under it, as the 
 yoke which the sovereign hand has laid 
 on you, Micah vii. 9. ' I will bear the 
 indignation of the Lord, because I have 
 sinned against him.' Justify God, con- 
 demn yourselves, kiss the rod, and go 
 quietly under it; this is the most feasible 
 way to get rid of it, James iv. 10. — When 
 the bullock is broken and tamed, as ac- 
 customed to the yoke, then it is taken off, 
 the end being obtained, Psa. x. 1 7. ' Thou 
 wilt prepare their hearts, thou wilt cause 
 thine ear to hear/ 
 
 3. Wait on patiently till the hand that 
 made it mend it, Psa. xxvii. 14. Do 
 not give up the matter as hopeless, be- 
 cause you are not so soon relieved as you 
 would; ' but let patience have her perfect 
 work, that ye may be perfect and entire, 
 wanting nothing, James i. 4. Leave the 
 timing of the deliverance to the Lord ; 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 79 
 
 his time will at length, to conviction, ap- 
 pear the best, and it will not go beyond it, 
 Isa. lx. 22. 'I, the Lord, will hasten it in 
 his time;' waiting on him, you will not 
 be disappointed, ' For they shall not be 
 ashamed that wait for me,' Isa. xlix. 23. 
 
 Exhortation 2. What crook there is, 
 that, in the settled order of things, cannot 
 be got removed or evened in this world, 
 let us apply to God for suitable relief 
 under it. For instance, the common 
 crook in the lot of saints, viz, in-dwelling 
 sin ; as God has made that crook not to 
 be removed here, he can certainly balance 
 it, and afford relief under it. The same is 
 to be said of any crook, while it remains 
 unremoved. In both cases apply yourself 
 to God, for making up your losses an- 
 other way. And there are five things I 
 would have you to keep in view, and aim 
 at here. 
 
 1. To take God in Christ for, and in- 
 stead of, that thing, the withholding or 
 taking away of which from you makes the 
 crook in your lot, Psa. cxlii. 4, 5. There 
 is never a crook God makes in our lot, 
 but it is in effect heaven's offer of a blest 
 exchange to us; such as Mark x. 21. 
 
80 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 ' Sell whatsoever thou hast,and thou shalt 
 have treasure in heaven.' In managing 
 of which exchange, God first puts out his 
 hand, and takes away some earthly thing 
 from us; and it is expected we put out 
 our hand next, and take some heavenly 
 thing from him in the stead of it, and par- 
 ticularly, his Christ. Wherefore has God 
 emptied your left hand of such and such 
 an earthly comfort? Stretch out your 
 right hand to God in Christ, take him in 
 the room of it, and welcome. Therefore 
 the soul's closing with Christ is called 
 buying, wherein parting with one thing 
 we get another in its stead. * The king- 
 dom of heaven is like unto a merchant- 
 man seeking goodly pearls, who, when 
 he had found one pearl of great price, 
 he went and sold all that he had and 
 bought it,' Matt. xiii. 45, 46. Do this, 
 and you will be more than even hands 
 with the crook in your lot. 
 
 2. Look for the streams running as full 
 from him as ever it did or could run, 
 when the crook of the lot has dried it. 
 This is the work of faith, confidently to 
 hang on for that from God, which is 
 denied us from the creature. * When my 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 81 
 
 father and mother forsake me, then the 
 Lord will take me up/ Psa. xxvii. 10. 
 This is a most rational expectation : for it 
 is certain there is no good in the creature 
 but what is from God ; therefore there is 
 no good to be found in the creature, the 
 stream, but what may be got immediately 
 from God, the fountain. And O ! but it 
 is a welcome plea, to come to God and 
 say, Now, Lord, thou hast taken away 
 from me such a creature-comfort, I must 
 have as good from thyself. 
 
 3. The spiritual fruits of the crook in 
 the lot, Heb.iXii. 11. We see the way in 
 the world is, when one trade fails, to fall 
 on and drive another trade ; so should 
 we, when there is a crook in the lot, 
 making our earthly comforts low, set our- 
 selves the more for spiritual attainments. 
 If our trade with the world sinks, let us 
 see to drive a trade with heaven more 
 vigorously ; see, if by means of the crook, 
 we can reach more faith, love, heavenly- 
 mindedness, contempt of the world, hu- 
 mility, self-denial, &c. 2 Cor. vi. 10. So 
 while we lose at one hand, we shall gain at 
 another. 
 
 4. Grace to carry us up undtr the 
 
 G 
 
82 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 crook. l For this thing I besought the 
 Lord thrice; and he said, My grace is 
 sufficient for thee/ 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9. Whe- 
 ther a man be faint, and have a light bur- 
 den, or be refreshed, and strengthened, 
 and have a heavy one, it is all a case ; the 
 latter can go as easy under his burden as 
 the former under his. Grace proportioned 
 to the trial is what we should aim at; get- 
 ting that, though the crook be not evened, 
 we are even hands with it. 
 
 5. The keeping in our eye the eternal 
 rest and weight of glory m the other world, 
 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. ' For our light afflic- 
 tions, which are but for a moment, work- 
 eth for us a far more exceeding and eter- 
 nal weight of glory, while we look not at 
 the things which are seen, but at the things 
 that are not seen.' This will balance the 
 crook in your lot, be it what it will; 
 while they who have no well-grounded 
 hope of salvation, will find the crook in 
 their lot in this world such a weight, as 
 they have nothing to counterbalance ; yet 
 the hope of eternal rest may bear up 
 under all the toil and trouble met with 
 here. 
 
 Exhortation 3. Let us then set our- 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 83 
 
 selves rightly to bear and carry under the 
 crook in our lot, while God sees meet to 
 continue it. What we cannot mend, let 
 us bear Christianly, and not fight against 
 God, and so kick against the pricks. So 
 let us bear it, 
 
 1 . Patiently, without firing and fretting, 
 or murmuring, James v. 7. Psalm xxxvii. 
 7. Though we lose our comfort in the 
 creature, through the crook in our lot, let 
 us not lose the profession of ourselves, 
 Luke xxi. 19. The crook in our lot makes 
 us like one who has but a scanty cold-rife 
 fire to warm at ; but impatience under it 
 scatters it, so as to set the house on fire 
 about us, and exposeth us, Prov. xxv. 28. 
 'He that hath no rule over his own spirit, 
 is like a city that is broken down, and 
 without walls.' 
 
 2. With Christian fortitude, without 
 sinking under discouragement—' nor faint 
 when thou art rebuked of him/ Heb. 
 xii. 5. Satan's work is by the crook, either 
 to bend or break people's spirits, and 
 oftentimes by bending to break them ; 
 our work is to carry evenly under it, 
 steering a middle course, guarding against 
 splitting on the rocks on either hand. 
 
 c 2 
 
84 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 Our happiness lies not in any earthly 
 comfort, nor will the want of any of them 
 render us miserable, Hab. iii. 17, IB. So 
 that we are resolutely to hold on our way 
 with a holy contempt, and regardlessness 
 of the hardships, Job xvii. 9. i The righ- 
 teous also shall hold on his way, and he 
 that hath clean hands shall be stronger 
 and stronger.' 
 
 Quest. ' When is one to be reckoned to 
 fall under sinking discouragement from 
 the crook in his lot?' 
 
 Am. When it prevails so far as to unfit 
 for the duties, either of our particular or 
 Christian calling. We maybe sure it has 
 carried us beyond the bounds of moderate 
 grief, when it unfits us for the common 
 affairs of life, which the Lord calls us to 
 manage, 1 Cor. vii. 24. It is recorded to 
 the commendation of Abraham, Gen. xxiii. 
 3, 4. Or for the duties of religion, hin- 
 dering them altogether, 1 Pet. iii. 7. ' That 
 your prayers be not hindered,' (Greek, 
 cut off, or up, like a tree from the roots,) 
 or making one quite hopeless in them, 
 Mal.ii. 13. 
 
 3. Profitably, so as we may gain some 
 advantage thereby, Psa. cxix. 71. ' It is 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 85 
 
 good for me that I have been afflicted; 
 that T might learn thy statutes.' There is 
 an advantage to be made thereby, Rom. 
 v. 3, 4, 5. And it is certainly an ill-ma- 
 naged crook in our lot, when we get not 
 some spiritual good of it, Heb. xi. 21. 
 The crook is a kind of spiritual medicine; 
 and as it is lost physic that purges away 
 no ill humours, but in vain are its un- 
 pleasantness to the taste and its gripings 
 endured; so it is a lost crook, and ill is 
 the bitterness of it tasted, that we are not 
 bettered by, Isa. xxvii. 9. ' By this, there- 
 fore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, 
 and this is all the fruit, to take away his 
 sin/ 
 
 Motives to press this exhortation. Con- 
 sider, 
 
 1. There will be no evening of it while 
 God sees meet to continue it. Let vis 
 carry under it as we will, and make what 
 sallies we please in the case, it will conti- 
 nue immoveable, as fixed with bands of 
 iron and brass, Job xxii. 13, 14. ' But he 
 is of one mind, and who can turn him ? 
 And what his soul desireth, even that he 
 doth.' * For he performeth the thing 
 that is appointed for me; and many 
 
86 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 such things are with him/ Is it not wis- 
 dom then to make the best we may of 
 what we cannot mend? Make a virtue 
 then of necessity. What is not to be 
 cured must be endured, and should with 
 a Christian resignation. 
 
 2. An awkward carriage under it no- 
 tably increases the pain of it. What 
 makes the yoke gall our necks, but that we 
 struggle so much against it, and cannot 
 let it sit at ease on us, Jer. xxxi. 18. How 
 often are we, in that case, like men dash- 
 ing their heads against a rock to remove 
 it ! The rock stands unmoved, but they 
 are wounded, and lose exceedingly by 
 their struggle. Impatience under the 
 crcok lays an over-weight on the burden, 
 and makes it heavier, while withal it 
 weakens us, and makes us less able to 
 bear it. 
 
 3. The crook in thy lot is the special 
 trial God has chosen out for thee to take 
 thy measure by, 1 Pet. i. 6,7. It is God's 
 fire, whereby he tries what metal men are 
 of; heaven's touchstone for discovering 
 of true and counterfeit Christians. They 
 may bear, and go through several trials, 
 which the crook in the lot will discover to 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 87 
 
 be naught, because, by no means they can 
 bear that, Mark x. 21,22. Think then 
 with thyself under it. Now, here the trial 
 of my state turns ; I must by this, be 
 proved either sincere, or a hypocrite ; for, 
 can any be a cordial subject of Christ, 
 without being able to submit his lot to 
 him? Do not all who sincerely come to 
 Christ, put a blank in his hand ? Acts ix. 6. 
 Psal.xlvii.4. And does he not tell us, 
 that without that disposition we are not his 
 disciples? Luke xiv. 26. * If any man 
 come to me, and hate not his father and 
 mother, and wife, and children, and bre- 
 thren, and sisters, yea, and his own life 
 also, he cannot be my disciple.' Perhaps 
 you find you submit to any thing but that ; 
 and will not that but mar all? Mark x. 21. 
 Did ever any hear of a sincere closing 
 with Christ with a reserve or exception of 
 one thing, wherein they behoved to be 
 their own lords? 
 
 Quest. * Is that disposition then a qua- 
 lification necessarily pre-required to our 
 believing : And if so, where must we have 
 it? Can we work it out of our natural 
 powers?' 
 
 Am. No, it is not so ; but it necessarily 
 
88 THE CK.OOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 accompanies and goes along with believ- 
 ing, flowing from the same saving illumi- 
 nation in the knowledge of Christ, where- 
 by the soul is brought to believe on him. 
 Hereby the soul sees him an able Saviour, 
 so trusts on him for salvation ; the right- 
 ful Lord and infinitely wise Ruler, and so 
 submits the lot to him, Matth. xiii. 45,46. 
 The soul taking him for a Saviour, takes 
 him also for a Head and Ruler. It is 
 Christ's giving himself to us, and our re- 
 ceiving him, that causes us to quit other 
 things to and for him, as it is the light 
 dispels the darkness. 
 
 Case. ' Alas! I cannot get my heart 
 freely to submit my lot to him in that 
 point.' 
 
 Ans. 1. That submission will not be 
 carried on in any without a struggle ; the 
 old man will never submit it, and when 
 the new man of grace is submitting it, the 
 old man will still be reclaiming, Gal. v. 17. 
 ' For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, 
 and the spirit against the flesh. And 
 these are contrary, the one to the other; 
 so that ye cannot do the things that ye 
 would,' but are sincerely desirous and ha- 
 bitually aiming to submit it. Do ye, from 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 89 
 
 the ungracious struggle against the crook, 
 turn away to the struggle with your own 
 heart to bring it to submit, believing the 
 promise, and using the means for it, being 
 grieved from the heart with yourselves, 
 that ye cannot submit it? This is submit- 
 ting of your lot, in the favourable con- 
 struction of the gospel, Rom.vii. 17. 20. 
 — 2 Cor. viii.12. If ye had your choice, 
 would ye rather have your heart brought 
 to submit to the crook, than the crook 
 evened to your heart's desire ? Horn. vii. 
 22, 23. And do ye not sincerely endea- 
 vour to submit it, notwithstanding the re- 
 luctance of the flesh? Gal. v. 17. 
 
 2. Where is the Christian self-denial, 
 and taking up of the cross, without sub- 
 mitting to the crook ? This is the first les- 
 son Christ puts in the hands of his disci- 
 ples, Matth. xvi. 24. ' If any man will 
 come after me, let him deny himself, and 
 take up his cross, and follow me.' Self- 
 denial would procure a reconciliation with 
 the crook, and an admittance of the cross; 
 but while we cannot bear our corrupt self 
 to be denied any of its cravings, and par- 
 ticularly that which God sees meet espe- 
 cially to be denied in, we cannot bear the 
 
90 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 crook in our lot, but fight against it in 
 favour of self. 
 
 3. Where is our conformity to Christ, 
 while we cannot submit to the crook? We 
 cannot evidence ourselves Christians, with- 
 out conformity to Christ. ' lie that saith 
 he abideth in him, ought himself also to 
 walk, even as he walked,' 1 John ii. 6. 
 There was a continued crook in Christ's 
 lot, but he submitted to it, Phil. ii. 8. 
 ' And being found in fashion as a man, 
 he humbled himself and became obedient 
 unto death, even the death of the cross,' 
 Rom . xv. 3. For even Christ pleased not 
 himself ,&cc. And so must we, if we will 
 prove ourselves Christians indeed, Matth. 
 xi. 29— 2 Tim. ii. 11,12. 
 
 4. How will we prove ourselves the ge- 
 nuine kindly children of God, if still war- 
 ring with the crook? We cannot pray, Our 
 Father, — '\hy will be done on earth, as it is 
 in heaven, Matth. vi. Nay, the language of 
 that practice is, we must have our own 
 will, and God's will cannot satisfy us. 
 
 Motive 4. The trial by the crook here 
 will not last long, 1 Cor. viii. 31. What 
 though the work be sore, it may be the 
 better comported with, that it will not be 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 91 
 
 tedious ; a few days or years at farthest, 
 will put an end to it, and take you off your 
 trials. Do not say, I shall never be eased 
 of it ; for if ye be not eased before, ye will 
 be eased of it at death, come in the room 
 of it after what will. A serious view of 
 death and eternity might make us to set 
 ourselves to carry rightly under our crook 
 while itlasteth. 
 
 5. If ye would, in a Christian manner, 
 set yourselves to bear the crook, ye would 
 find it easier than ye imagine, Matth. xi. 
 29, 30. ' Take my yoke upon you, and 
 learn of me, and ye shall find rest to your 
 souls.' Verse 30. ' For my yoke is easy, 
 and my burden is light.' Satan has no 
 readier way to gain his purpose, than to 
 persuade men it is impossible, that ever 
 their minds should ply with the crook ; 
 that it is a burden to them, altogether in- 
 supportable ; as long as you believe that, 
 be sure ye will never be able to bear it. 
 But the Lord makes no crock in the lot 
 of any, but what may be so borne of them 
 acceptably, though not sinlessly and per- 
 fectly, Matth. xi. 30. For there is strength 
 for that effect secured in the covenant, 
 2 Cor. iii. 5., Phil, iv, 13., and being by 
 
92 HIE CHOOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 faith fetched it will certainly come, Psal. 
 xxviii. 7. 
 
 6. If you act as Christians under your 
 crook here, you will not lose your labour, 
 but get a full reward of grace in the other 
 world, through Christ, 2 Tiro.ii.12., lCor. 
 xv. 58. There is a blessing pronounced 
 on him that endureth on this very ground, 
 James i. 12. ' Blessed is the man that en- 
 dureth temptation ; for, when he is tried, 
 he shall receive the crown of life which 
 the Lord hath promised to them that love 
 him.' Heaven is the place into which those 
 approved, upon the trial of the crook, are 
 received, Romans vii. 14. \ The?e are 
 they which come out of great tribulation, 
 and have washed their robes, and made 
 them white in the blood of the Lamb. 7 
 When we come there, no vestiges of it will 
 be remaining in your lot, nor will ye have 
 the least uneasy remembrance of it; but 
 it will accent your praises, and increase 
 your joy. 
 
 7. If you do not act as Christians un- 
 der it, you will lose your souls in the other 
 world, Jude,ver. 15, 16. Those who- are 
 at war with God in their lot here, God 
 will have war with them for ever. If they 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 93 
 
 will not submit to his yoke here, and go 
 quietly under it he will wreathe his yoke 
 about their neck for ever, with everlasting 
 bonds that shall never beloosed, Job ix. 4. 
 
 Lastly, Whatever crook is in the lot of 
 any, it is very likely there is a public crook 
 abiding the generation, that will be more 
 trying. This is a day of sinning beyond 
 the days of our fathers; a day wherein 
 God is making great crooks in the lot of 
 the dearest to himself; but these seem to 
 presage such a general public crook to be 
 abiding the generation, as will make our 
 now private ones of very little weight, 
 1 Peter iv. 17, 18. Therefore, set your- 
 selves to carry rightly under the crook in 
 your lot. 
 
 If you ask what way one may reach 
 that ; for direction we propose, 
 
 Doct.III. The considering the crook in 
 the lot, as the woik of God, is a proper 
 means to bring one to carry rightly un- 
 der it. 
 
 1. What is it to consider the crook as 
 the work of God, we take it up in these 
 five things : 
 
94 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 First, An enquiry into the spring whence 
 it riseth, Gen. xxv. 22. Reason and re- 
 ligion, both teach us, not only to notice 
 the crook, which we cannot avoid, but to 
 consider and enquire into the spring of it. 
 Surely, it is not our choice, nor do we 
 designedly make it for ourselves: and to 
 ascribe it to fortune is to ascribe it to no- 
 thing : it is not sprung of itself, but sown 
 by one hand or another for us, Job v. 6. 
 And we are to notice the hand from whence 
 it comes. 
 
 Secondly, A perceiving of the hand of 
 God in it. Whatever hand any creature 
 hath therein, we ought not to terminate 
 our view in them, but look above and 
 beyond them, to the supreme manager's 
 agency therein, Job i. 21. Without this 
 we make a god of the creature instru- 
 mental of the crook, looking on it as if 
 it were the first cause, which, is peculiar 
 to God, Rom. xi. 36, and bring our- 
 selves under that doom, Psalm xxviii. 5. 
 1 Because they regard not the works of 
 the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, 
 he shall destroy them, and not build them 
 up/ 
 
 Thirdly, A representing it to ourselves 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 95 
 
 as a work of God, whichhe hath wrought 
 against us for holy and wise ends, be- 
 coming the divine perfections. This is 
 to take it by the right handle, to repre- 
 sent it to ourselves, under a right no- 
 tion, from whence a right management 
 under it may spring. It can never be 
 safe to overlook God in it, but very safe 
 to overlook the creature, ascribing it unto 
 God, as if no other hand were in it, his 
 being always the principal therein. ' It 
 is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him 
 good.' 1 Sam.iii. 18. Thus David over- 
 looked Shimei, and looked to God in the 
 matter of his cursing, as one would the 
 axe, fixing his eyes on him that wielded it. 
 Here two things are to come into consi- 
 deration. 
 
 \st. The decree of God, purposing that 
 crook for us from eternity ; ' for he 
 worketh all things by the counsel of his 
 own will/ Eph. i. 11., the sealed book 
 in which are written all the black lines 
 that make the crook. Whatever valley 
 of darkness, grief, and sorrow we are 
 carried through, we are to look on them 
 as made by the mountains of brass, the 
 immoveable divine purposes, Zech. vi. 1 : 
 
96 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 This can be no presumption in that case, if 
 we carry it no further than the event goes 
 in our sight and feeling ; for so far the 
 book is opened for us to look into. 
 
 Indly, The providence of God bringing 
 to pass that crook for us in time, Amos 
 iii. 6. There is nothing can befal us with- 
 out him in whom we live. Whatever 
 kind of agency of the creatures may be 
 in the making of our crook, whatever 
 they have done or not done towards it, 
 he is the spring that sets all the created 
 wheels in motion, which ceasing, they 
 would all stop: though he is still infi- 
 nitely pure in his agency, however impure 
 they be in theirs. Job considered both 
 these, ch.xxiii. 14. 
 
 Fourthly, A continuing in the thought 
 of it as such. It is not a simple glance 
 of the eye, but a contemplating and lei- 
 surely viewing of it as his work, that is 
 the proper mean. We are to be, 
 
 1st, Habitually impressed with this 
 consideration : as the crook is some last- 
 ing grievance, so the consideration of this 
 as the remedy should be habitually kept 
 up. There are other considerations be- 
 sides this that we must entertain, so that 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 97 
 
 we cannot always have it expressly in 
 our mind : but we must lay it down for 
 a rooted principle, according to which we 
 are to manage the crook, and keep the 
 heart in a disposition, whereby it may 
 slip into our minds, as occasion calls, ex- 
 pressly. 
 
 Idly, Occasionally exercised in it. 
 Whenever we begin to feel the smart 
 of the crook, we should fetch in this re- 
 medy ; when the yoke begins to gall the 
 neck, there should be an application of 
 this spiritual ointment. And, however 
 often the former comes upon us, it will 
 be our wisdom to fetch in the latter as 
 the proper remedy; the oftener it is used 
 it will more easily come to hand, and also 
 be the more effectual. 
 
 Fifthly, A considering it for the endfov 
 which it is proposed to us, namely, to 
 bring to a dutiful carriage under it. 
 Men's corruptions will cause them to en- 
 ter on this consideration : and as is the 
 principle, so will the eud and effect of it 
 be corrupt, 2 Kings vi. 33. But we must 
 enter on, and use it for a good end, if we 
 would have good of it, taking it as a prac- 
 
 H 
 
98 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 tical consideration for regulating our con- 
 duct under the crook. 
 
 II. How it is to be understood to be 
 a proper means to bring one to carry 
 rightly under the crook. 
 
 1. Negatively ; Not as if it were suffi- 
 cient of itself, and as it stands alone, to 
 produce that effect. But, 
 
 2. Positively; As it is used in faith, 
 in the faith of the gospel ; that is to say, 
 A sinner's bare considering the crook in 
 his lot as the work of God, without any 
 saving relation to him, will never be away 
 to carry himself rightly under it : but hav- 
 ing believed in Jesus Christ, and so the 
 crook as the work of God, his God, is the 
 proper means to bring him to that desir- 
 able temper and behaviour. Many hearers 
 mistake here. When they hear such and 
 such lawful considerations proposed for 
 bringing them to duty, they presently 
 imagine, that by the mere force of them, 
 they may gain the point. And many 
 preachers too, who, forgetting Christ and 
 the gospel, pretend, by the force of rea- 
 son, to make men Christians: the eyes 
 of both being held, that they do not see 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 99 
 
 the corruption of men's nature, which 
 is such as sets the true cure above the 
 force of reason ; all that they are sen- 
 sible of, being some ill habits, which they 
 think may be shaken off by a vigorous ap- 
 plication of their rational faculties. To 
 clear this matter, consider, 
 
 First, Is it rational to think to set 
 fallen man, with his corrupted nature, 
 to work the same way with innocent 
 Adam ? That is, to set beggars on a level 
 with the rich, lame men to a journey 
 with them that have limbs. Innocent 
 Adam had a stock of gracious abilities, 
 whereby he might have, by the force 
 of moral considerations, brought himself 
 to perform duty aright. But where is 
 that with us? 2 Cor. iii. 5. Whatever 
 force be in them to a soul endowed with 
 spiritual life, what force is in them to 
 raise the dead, such as we are ? £ph. 
 ii. 1. 
 
 Secondly, The scripture is very plain 
 on this head, showing the indispensable 
 necessity of faith, Heb. xi. — And that, 
 such as unites to Christ, John xv. 5. 
 ' Without me/ that is, separate from me, 
 ' ye can do nothing;' no, not with all 
 h2 
 
100 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 the moral considerations ye can use. 
 How were the ten commandments given 
 on Mount Sinai? not bare exactions of 
 duty, but fronted with the gospel, to be 
 believed in the first place. ' I am the Lord 
 thy God/ &cc. And so Solomon, whom 
 many do regard rather as a moral phi- 
 losopher, than an inspired writer lead- 
 ing to Christ, fronts his writings, in the 
 beginning of the Proverbs, with most 
 express gospel. And we must have it 
 expressly repeated in our Bibles with 
 every moral precept, or else shut our 
 eyes and take these precepts without it; 
 that is the effect of our natural enmity 
 to Christ. If we loved him more, we 
 should see him more in every page, and 
 in every command, receiving the law at 
 his mouth. 
 
 Thirdly, Do but consider what it is to 
 carry ourselves rightly under the crook in 
 the lot; what humiliation of soul, self- 
 denial, and absolute resignation to the will 
 of God, must be in it : what love to God 
 it must proceed from : how regard to his 
 glory must influence it as the chief end 
 thereof; and try, and see if it is not im- 
 possible for you to reach it without that 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 101 
 
 faith afore -mentioned. I know a Chris- 
 tian may reach it without full assurance: 
 but still, according to the measure of 
 their persuasion that God is their God, 
 so will their attainments in it be ; these 
 keep equal pace. O what kind of hearts 
 do they imagine themselves to have, that 
 think they can for a moment empty them 
 of the creature, farther than they can fill 
 them with a God as their God, in its 
 room and stead ! No doubt men may, 
 from the force of moral considerations, 
 work themselves to a behaviour under the 
 crook, externally right, such as many Pa- 
 gans had; but a Christian disposition of 
 spirit under it will never be reached, with- 
 out that faith in God. 
 
 Object. * Then it is saints only that are 
 capable of improvement of that consi- 
 deration/ 
 
 Ans. Yea, indeed it is so, as to that 
 and all other moral considerations, for 
 true Christian ends: and that amounts to 
 no more, than that directions for walking 
 rightly are only for the living, that have 
 the use of their limbs : and therefore, that 
 we may improve it, set yourselves to be- 
 lieve in the first place. 
 
102 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 III. I shall confirm that it is a proper 
 mean to bring one to carry rightly under 
 it. This will appear, if we consider these 
 four things. 
 
 1. It is of great use to divert from the 
 considering and dwelling on those things 
 about the crook, which serve to irritate 
 our corruption. Such are the baulking 
 of our will and wishes, the satisfaction 
 we would have in the matter's going ac- 
 cording to our mind, the instruments of 
 the crook how injurious they are to us, 
 how unreasonable, how obstinate, &c. 
 The dwelling on these considerations is 
 but the blowing of fire within ; but to 
 turn our eyes to it as the work of God, 
 would be a cure by way of diversion, 
 2 Sam. vi. 9, 10, and such diversion of 
 the thoughts is not only lawful, but expe- 
 dient and necessary. 
 
 2. It has a moral aptitude for produc- 
 ing the good effect. Though our cure is 
 not compassed by the mere force of rea- 
 son ; yet it is carried on, not by a brutal 
 movement, but in a rational way, Eph. 
 v. 14. This consideration has a moral 
 efficacy on our reason, it is fit to awe us 
 into a submission, and ministers a deal 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 103 
 
 of argument for carrying Christianly un- 
 der our crook. 
 
 3. It hath a divine appointment on it 
 for that end, which is to be believed, 
 Prov. iii. 6. So the text. The creature 
 in itself is an efficacious and moveless 
 thing, a mere vanity. Acts xvii. 28. 
 What makes any thing a means fit for 
 the end, is a word of divine appoint- 
 ment, Matth. iv. 4. To use any thing 
 then for an end, without the faith of this, 
 is to make a god of the creature ; there- 
 fore it is to be used in a dependance 
 on God, according to that word of ap- 
 pointment, 1 Tim. iv. 4, 5. And every 
 thing is fit for the end for which God 
 has appointed it. This consideration is 
 appointed for that end; and therefore is 
 a fit means for it. 
 
 4. The Spirit may be expected to work 
 by it, and does work by it in them that 
 believe, and look to him for it, forasmuch 
 as it is a mean of his own appointment. 
 Papists, Legalists, and all superstitious 
 persons devise various means of sanctifi- 
 cation, seeming to have, or really having 
 a moral fitness for the same; but they 
 
104 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 are quite ineffectual, because, like Abana 
 and Pharpar, tbey want a word of di- 
 vine appointment for curing us of our 
 leprosy ; therefore the Spirit works not 
 by them, since they are none of his own 
 tools, but devised of their hearts. And 
 since the means of divine appointment 
 are ineffectual, without the Spirit, these 
 can never be effectual. But this consi- 
 deration having a divine appointment, 
 the Spirit works by it. 
 
 Use. Then take this direction for your 
 carrying right under the crook in your 
 lot. Inure yourselves to consider it as the 
 work of God. And for helping you to 
 improve it, so as it may be effectual, I 
 offer these advices. 
 
 1. Consider it as the work of your God 
 in Christ. This is the way to sprinkle 
 it with gospel-grace, and so to make it 
 tolerable, Psalm xxii. 1,2, 3. The dis- 
 cerning of a Father's hand in the crook 
 will take out much of the bitterness of 
 it, and sugar the pill to you. For this 
 cause it will be necessary, (1.) Solemnly 
 to take God for your God, under your 
 crook, Psalm cxlii. 4, 5. (2.) In all your 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 105 
 
 encounters with it, resolutely to believe, 
 and claim your interest in him, 1 Sam. 
 xxx. 6. 
 
 2. Enlarge the consideration with a 
 view of the divine relations to you, and 
 the divine attributes. Consider it, being 
 the work of your God, the work of your 
 Father, elder Brother, Head, Husband, 
 &c, who therefore, surely consults your 
 good. Consider his holiness and justice, 
 shewing he wrongs you not; his mercy 
 and goodness, that it is not worse; his 
 sovereignty, that may silence you; his in- 
 finite wisdom and love, that may satisfy 
 you in it. 
 
 3. Consider what a work of his it is, 
 how it is a convincing work, for bringing: 
 sin to remembrance ; a correcting work, 
 to chastise you for your follies ; a prevent- 
 ing work, to hedge you up from courses 
 of sin ye would otherwise be apt to run 
 into; a trying work, to discover your state, 
 your graces, and corruptions; a weaning 
 work, to wean you from the world, and 
 fit you for heaven. 
 
 4. In all your considerations of it, in 
 this manner look upward for his Spirit, 
 
106 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 to render them effectual, 1 Cor. iii. 6. — 
 Thus may ye carry Christianly under it, 
 till God even it either here or in heaven.' 
 
 Prov. xvi. 19. 
 
 Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the 
 lowly, than to divide the spoil with the 
 proud. 
 
 Could men once be brought to believe, 
 that it is better to have their minds 
 brought to ply with the crook in their 
 lot, than to force even the crook to their 
 mind, they would then be in a fair way 
 to bring their matters, in that case, to a 
 good account. Hear then the divine de- 
 cision in that case : ' Better it is to be of 
 a humble spirit with the lowly, than to 
 divide the spoil with the proud.' In which 
 words, 
 
 First, There is a comparison instituted, 
 and that between two parties, and two 
 points, wherein they vastly differ. 
 
 \st, The parties are the lowly and the 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 107 
 
 proud, who differ as heaven from earth : 
 the proud are climbing up and soaring 
 aloft; the low are content to creep on 
 the ground, if that is the will of God. 
 Let us view them more particularly as the 
 text represents them. 
 
 (1.) On the one hand is the lowly. 
 Here there is a line reading and a mar- 
 ginal, both, from the Holy Spirit, and they 
 differ only in a letter. The former is the 
 afflicted or poor, that are low in their 
 condition ; those that have a notable crook 
 in their lot through affliction laid on them, 
 whereby their condition is lowered in the 
 world. The other is the lowly or meek 
 humble ones, who are low in their spirit, 
 as well as their condition, and so have 
 their minds brought down to their lot. 
 Both together making the character of 
 this lowly party. 
 
 (2.) On the other hand is the proud, 
 the gay, and high-minded ones. It is 
 supposed here, that they are crossed too, 
 and have crooks in their lot ; for, dividing 
 the spoil is the consequent of a victory, 
 and a victory presupposes a battle. 
 
 2nd, The points wherein these parties 
 
108 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 are supposed to differ; viz. being of a 
 humble spirit, and dividing the spoil. 
 
 Afflicted and lowly ones may some- 
 times get their condition changed, may 
 be raised up on high, and divide the spoil, 
 as Hannah, Job, &c. The proud may 
 sometimes be thrown down and crushed, 
 as Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, &c. But 
 that is not the question, Whether it is 
 better to be raised up with the lowly, or 
 thrown down with the proud ? There 
 would be no difficulty in determining 
 that. But the question is, Whether it is 
 better to be of a low and humble spirit, 
 in low circumstances, with afflicted hum- 
 ble ones ; or to divide the spoil, and get 
 one's will, with the proud ? If men would 
 speak the native sentiments of their hearts, 
 that question would be determined in a 
 contradiction to the text. The points 
 then here compared and set against ano- 
 ther, are these : — 
 
 (1 .) On the one hand, to be of a hum- 
 ble spirit with afflicted lowly ones. (Heb.) 
 To be low of spirit; for the word prima- 
 rily denotes lowness in situation or state : 
 so the point here proposed is to be with 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 109 
 
 or in the state of afflicted lowly ones, 
 having the spirit brought down to that 
 low lot ; the lowness of the spirit balancing 
 the lowness of one's condition. 
 
 (2.) On the other hand, to divide the 
 spoil with the proud. The point here 
 proposed is, to be with or in the state of 
 the proud, having their lot by main force 
 brought to their mind ; as those who, tak- 
 ing themselves to be injured, fight it out 
 with the enemy, overcome and divide the 
 spoil according to their will. 
 
 Secondly, The decision made, wherein 
 the former is preferred to the latter ; 
 ' Better it is to be of a humble spirit with 
 the lowly, than to divide the spoil with 
 the proud,' &c. If these two parties were 
 set before us, it were better to take our 
 lot with those of a low condition, who 
 have their spirits brought as low as their 
 lot, than with those, who, being of a proud 
 and high-bended spirit, have their lot 
 brought up to their mind. A humble 
 spirit is better than a heightened con- 
 dition. 
 
110 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 Doct. There is a generation of lowly af- 
 Jiicted ones, having their spirit lowered 
 and brought down to their lot, whose 
 case, in that respect, is better than that 
 of the proud getting their will, and car- 
 rying all to their mind. 
 
 I. We shall consider the generation of 
 the lowly afflicted ones, having their spirit 
 brought down to their lot. And we shall, 
 
 First, Lay down some general consi- 
 derations about them. 
 
 1. There is such a generation in the 
 world, as bad as the world is. The text 
 expressly mentions them, and the scrip- 
 ture elsewhere, makes mention of them; 
 as Psalm, ix. 12. and x. 12. Matth. v. 3. 
 with Luke vi. 20. Where shall we seek 
 them ? Not in heaven, there are no af- 
 flicted ones there; nor in hell, there are 
 no lowly or humble ones there, whose 
 spirit is brought to their lot. In this 
 world they must then be, where the state 
 of trial is. 
 
 2. If it were not so, Christ, as he was 
 in the world, would have no followers in 
 it. He was the head of that generation 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. HI 
 
 whom they all copy after; ' Learn of me, 
 for I am meek and lowly in heart, 1 Matth. 
 ix. 29. And for his honour, and the 
 honour of his cross, they will never be 
 wanting while the world stands, Rom. 
 viii. 29. 'Whom he did foreknow he also 
 did predestinate to be conformed to the 
 image of his Son.' His image lies in these 
 two, suffering and holiness, whereof low- 
 liness is a chief part. 
 
 3. Nevertheless they are certainly very 
 rare in the world. Agur observes, that 
 there is another generation (Prov. xxx. 
 13. ' Their eyes are lofty, and their 
 eye-lids lifted up,) quite opposite to 
 them, and this makes the greatest com- 
 pany by far. The low and afflicted lot is 
 not so very rare, but the lowly dispo- 
 sition of spirit is rarely yoked with it. 
 Many a high-bended spirit keeps on the 
 bend in spite of the lowering circum- 
 stance. 
 
 4. They can be no more in number 
 than the truly godly ; for nothing less than 
 the power of divine grace can bring down 
 men's minds from their native height, and 
 make their will pliant to the will of God, 
 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. Men may put on a face 
 
112 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 of submission to a low and a crossed lot, 
 because they cannot help it, and they see 
 it is in vain to strive : but to bring the 
 spirit truly to it, must be the effect of 
 humbling grace. 
 
 5. Though all the godly are of that ge- 
 neration, yet there are some of them to 
 whom that character more especially be- 
 longs. The way to heaven lies through 
 tribulation, to all, Acts xiv. 22, and all 
 Christ's followers are reconciled to it not- 
 withstanding, Luke xiv. 26. yet there are 
 some of them more remarkably disciplined 
 than others, whose spirit however is here- 
 by humbled and brought down to their lot, 
 Psal. cxxxi. 2. ' Surely I have behaved and 
 acquitted myself as a child that is weaned 
 of his mother ; my soul is even as a wean- 
 ed child.' Phil. iv. 11, 12. < For I have 
 learned, in whatsoever state I am, there- 
 with to be content. I know both how to 
 be abased, and I know how to abound: 
 every where, and in all things, I am in- 
 structed, both to be full and to be hun- 
 gry, both to abound and to suffer need.' 
 
 6. A lowly disposition of soul, and 
 habitual aim and bent of the heart that 
 way, has a very favourable construction 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 113 
 
 put upon it in heaven. Should we look 
 for a generation perfectly purged of pride 
 and risings of heart against their adverse 
 lot at any time, we should find none in 
 this world : but those who are sincerely 
 aiming and endeavouring to reach it, and 
 keep the way of contented submission, 
 though sometimes they are blown aside, 
 and returning to it again, God accounts 
 to be that lowly generation, 2 Cor. vii. 
 12. James v. 11. 
 
 Secondly, We shall enter into the par- 
 ticulars of their character. There are 
 three things which together make up 
 their character. 
 
 1st, Affliction in their lot. That lowly 
 generation preferred to the proud and 
 prosperous, are a generation of afflicted 
 ones, whom God keeps under the disci- 
 pline of the covenant. We may take it 
 up in these two : — 
 
 1. There is a yoke of affliction of one 
 kind or other oftentimes upon them, Psal. 
 lxxiii. 14. If there be silence in heaven, 
 it is but for half an hour, Rev. viii. 1. 
 God is frequently visiting them as a mas- 
 ter doth his scholars, and a physician his 
 patients ; whereas others are in a sort 
 i 
 
114 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 overlooked by him, Rev. iii. 9. They 
 are accustomed to the yoke, and that from 
 the time they enter into God's family, 
 Psal. cxxix. 1, 2, 3. God sees it good 
 for them, Lam. iii. 27, 28. 
 
 2. There is a particular yoke of afflic- 
 tion which God has chosen for them, that 
 hangs about them, and is seldom, if ever, 
 taken off them, Luke ix. 23. That is their 
 special trial, the crook in their lot, the 
 yoke which lies on them for their constant 
 exercise. Their other trials may be ex- 
 changed, but that is a weight that still 
 hangs about them, bowing them down. 
 
 2dly, Lowliness in their disposition and 
 tenor of spirit. They are a generation 
 of lowly humble ones, whose spirits God 
 has, by his grace, brought down from their 
 natural height. And thus, 
 
 1. They think soberly and meanly of 
 themselves; what they are, 2 Cor. xii. 11.; 
 what they can do, 2 Cor. iii. 5. ; what 
 they are worth, Gen. xxxii. 10. ; and what 
 they deserve, Lam. iii. 22. Viewing them- 
 selves in the glass of the divine law and 
 perfection, they see themselves as a mass 
 of imperfection and sinfulness, Job xlii. 
 5, 6. 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 115 
 
 2. They think highly and honourably of 
 God, Psal.. cxliv. 3. They are taught by 
 the Spirit what God is ; and so entertain 
 elevated thoughts of him. They consider 
 him as the Sovereign of the world ; his 
 perfections as infinite ; his work as per- 
 fect. They look on him as the fountain 
 of happiness, as a God in Christ, doing all 
 things well ; trusting his wisdom, good- 
 ness, and love, even where they cannot 
 see, Heb. xi. 8. 
 
 3. They think favourably of others, as 
 far as in justice they may, Phil. ii. 3. 
 Though they cannot avoid seeing their 
 glaring faults, yet they are ready withal 
 to acknowledge their excellencies, and 
 esteem them so far. And because they 
 see more into their own mercies and ad- 
 vantages for holiness, and misimproving 
 thereof, than they can see into others, they 
 are apt to look on others as better than 
 themselves, all circumstances compared. 
 
 4. They are sunk down into a state of 
 subordination to God and his will, Psal. 
 cxxxi. 1, 2. Pride sets a man up against 
 God, lowliness, brings him back to his 
 place, and lays him down at the feet of 
 his sovereign Lord, saying, Thy will be 
 
 12 
 
11G THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 done on earth, Sec. They seek no more 
 the command, but are content that God 
 himself sit at the helm of their affairs, and 
 manage all for them, Psal. xlvii. 4. 
 
 5. They are not bent on high things, 
 but disposed to stoop to low things, Psal. 
 exxxi. 1. Lowliness levels the towering 
 imaginations, which pride mounts up 
 against heaven ; draws a veil over all 
 personal worth and excellencies before 
 the Lord, and yields a man's all to the 
 Lord, to be as stepping stones to the 
 throne of his glory, 2 Sam. xv. 25, 26. 
 
 6. They are apt to magnify mercies 
 bestowed on them, Gen. xxvii. 10. Pride 
 of heart overlooks and vilifies mercies 
 one is possessed of, and fixeth the eye 
 on what is wanting in one's condition, 
 making one like the flies, which pass over 
 the sound places, and swarm together on 
 the sore. On the contrary, lowliness 
 teaches men to recount the mercies they 
 enjoy in the lowest condition, and to set 
 a mark on the good things they possess, 
 Jobii.10. 
 
 3dh/, A spirit brought down to their 
 lot. Their lot is a low and afflicted one; 
 but their spirit is as low, being, through 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 117 
 
 grace, brought down to it. We may take 
 it up in these five things. 
 
 1. They submit to it as just, Mic. vii. 9. 
 ' I will bear the indignation of the Lord, 
 because I have sinned against him.' 
 There are no hardships in our condition, 
 but we have procured them to ourselves; 
 and it is therefore just we kiss the rod, 
 and be silent under it, and so lower our 
 spirits to our lot. If they complain, they 
 have their complaints on themselves ; 
 their hearts rise not up against the Lord, 
 far less do they open their mouths against 
 the heavens. They justify God, and con- 
 demn themselves, reverencing his holiness 
 and spotless righteousness in his pro- 
 ceedings against them. 
 
 2. They go quietly under it as tolerable, 
 Lam. iii. 26 — 29, It is good that a man 
 should both hope and quietly wait for the 
 salvation of the Lord. It is good for a 
 man that he bear the yoke in his youth. 
 He sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, be- 
 cause he hath borne it upon him; heputteth 
 his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be 
 hope. While the unsubdued spirit rageth 
 under the yoke as a bullock unaccus- 
 tomed to it, the spirit brought to the 
 
118 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 lot, goes softly under it. They see it is 
 of the Lord's mercies that it is not worse; 
 they take up the naked cross, as God lays 
 it down, without those over-weights upon 
 it that turbulent passions add thereunto ; 
 and so it becomes really more easy than 
 they thought it could have been, like a 
 burden fitted to the back. 
 
 3. They are satisfied in it, as drawing 
 their comfort from another than their 
 outward condition, even as the house 
 stands fast, when the prop is taken away 
 that it did not lean upon. ' Although the 
 fig-tree should not blossom, neither fruit 
 be in the vines, yet I will rejoice in the 
 Lord/ Hab. iii. 17, 18. Thus did David 
 in the day of his distress, ' he encouraged 
 himself in the Lord his God. 7 1 Sam. 
 xxx. 6. It is an argument of a spirit not 
 brought down to the lot, when men are 
 damped and sunk under the hardships of 
 it, as if their condition in the world were 
 the point whereon their happiness turned. 
 It is want of mortification that makes 
 their comforts to wax and wane, ebb and 
 flow, according to the various appearances 
 of their lot in the world. 
 
 4. They have a complacency in it, as 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 119 
 
 that which is fit and good for them, Isa. 
 xxxix. 8. 2 Cor. xii. 10. Men have a sort 
 of complacency in the working of physic, 
 though it may be painful ; they ration- 
 ally think with themselves that it is good. 
 and best for them: so these lowly souls 
 consider their afflicted lot as a spiritual 
 medicine, necessary, fit, and good for 
 them; yea, best for them for the time, 
 since it is ministered by their heavenly 
 Father; and so they reach a holy com- 
 placency in their low afflicted lot. 
 
 The lowly spirit extracts this sweet out 
 of the bitterness in his lot, considering 
 how the Lord, by means of that afflicting 
 lot, stops the provision for unruly lusts, 
 that they may be starved : how he cuts off 
 the bye-channels, that the whole stream 
 of the soul's love may run towards him- 
 self; how he pulls off, and holds off the 
 man's burden and clog of earthly com- 
 forts, that he may run the more expe- 
 ditiously the way to heaven. 
 
 5. They rest in it, as what they desire 
 not to come out of, till the God that 
 brought them into it, see it meet to bring 
 them out with his good will, Isa. xxviii. 
 16, Though an unsubdued spirit's time 
 
120 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 for deliverance is always ready, a hum- 
 ble soul will be afraid of being taken out 
 of its afflicted lot too soon, It will not 
 be for a moving for a change, till the mov- 
 ing of the heavens bring it about; so this 
 hinders not prayer, and the use of ap- 
 pointed means, with dependance on the 
 Lord ; but requires faith, hope, patience, 
 and resignation, 2 Sam. xv. 25, 26. 
 
 the proud getting their will, and carrying 
 all to their mind. And in their character 
 also are three things. 
 
 First, There are crosses in their lot. 
 They also have their trials allotted them 
 by over-ruling providence, and let them 
 be in what circumstances they will in the 
 world, they cannot miss them altogether. 
 For consider, 
 
 1. The confusion and vanity brought 
 into the creation by man's sin, have made 
 it impossible to get through the world, 
 but men must meet with what will ruffle 
 them, Eccles. i. 14. Sin has turned the 
 world from a paradise into a thicket, 
 there is no getting through without being 
 scratched. As gnats in the summer 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 121 
 
 will fly about those walking abroad in 
 a goodly attire, as well as about those in 
 sordid apparel; so will crosses in the 
 world meet with the high as well as the 
 low. 
 
 2. The pride of their heart exposes 
 them particularly to crosses. A proud 
 heart will make a cross to itself, where 
 a lowly soul would find none, Esth. v. 
 13. It will make a real cross ten times 
 the weight it would be to the humble. 
 The generation of the proud are like 
 nettles and thorn hedges, upon which 
 things flying about do fix, while they 
 pass over low and plain things : so none 
 are more exposed to crosses than they, 
 though none so unfit to bear them ; as 
 appears from, 
 
 Secondly, Reigning pride in their spirit. 
 Their spirits were never subdued by a 
 work of thorough humiliation, they re- 
 main at the height in which the cor- 
 ruption of nature sets them : hence they 
 can by no means bear the yoke God 
 lays on them. The neck is swollen with 
 the ill humours of pride and passion ; 
 hence, when the yoke once begins to 
 touch it, they cannot have any more ease. 
 
122 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 We may view the case of the proud 
 generation here in three things. 
 
 1. They have an over-value for them- 
 selves ; and so the proud mind says, The 
 man should not stoop to the yoke ; it is 
 below him. What a swelling vanity is 
 in that, Exod. v. 2. ' Who is the Lord 
 that I should obey his voice?' Hence 
 a work of humiliation is necessary to 
 make one take the yoke, whether of 
 Christ's precepts or providence. The first 
 error is in the understanding ; whence 
 Solomon ordinarily calls a wicked man a 
 fool ; accordingly the first stroke in con- 
 version is there too, by conviction to 
 humble. Men are bigger in their own 
 conceit, than they are indeed ; therefore 
 God, suiting things to what we are really, 
 cannot please us. 
 
 2. They have an unmortified self-will, 
 arising from that over-value for them- 
 selves, and it says, he will not stoop, 
 Exod. v. 2. The question betwixt hea- 
 ven and us is, Whether God's will or 
 our own must carry it? Our will is cor- 
 rupt, God's will is holy ; they cannot 
 agree in one. God says in his provi- 
 dence, our will must yield to his ; but 
 
THE CROOK. IN THE LOT. 123 
 
 that it will not do, till the iron sinew in it 
 be broken, Rom. vi. 7., Isa. xlviii. 4. 
 
 3. They have a crowd of unsubdued 
 passions taking part with the self-will; 
 and they say, He shall not stoop, Rom. 
 vii. 8, 9.; and so the war begins, and 
 there is a field of battle within and with- 
 out the man, James iv. 1. 
 
 (1.) A holy God crosses the self-will 
 of the proud creatures by his providence, 
 over-ruling and disposing of things con- 
 trary to their inclination ; sometimes by 
 his own immediate hand, as in the case 
 of Cain, Gen. iv. 4, 5., sometimes by 
 the hand of men carrying things against 
 their mind, as in the case of Ahab, to 
 whom Naboth refused his vineyard. 1 
 Kings xxi. 4. 
 
 (2.) The proud heart and will, unable 
 to submit to the cross, or to bear to be 
 controuled, rises up against it, and fights 
 for the mastery, with its whole force of 
 unmortified passions. The design is to 
 remove the cross, even the crook, and 
 bring the thing to their own mind: this 
 is the cause of this unholy war, in which, 
 
 1. There is one black, band of hellish 
 passions that marches upwards, and 
 
124 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 makes an attack on heaven itself, viz. 
 discontent, impatience, murmuring, fret- 
 tings, and the like. ' The foolishness of 
 man perverteth his way ; and his heart 
 fretteth against the Lord, Prov. xix. 3. 
 These fire the breast, cause the counte- 
 nance to fall, Gen. iv. 6., let off sometimes 
 a volley of indecent and passionate com- 
 plaints, Jude, ver. 16., and sometimes 
 of blasphemies, 2 Kings vi. 33. 
 
 2. There is another that marches for- 
 ward, and makes an attack on the in- 
 strument or instruments of the cross, 
 namely, anger, wrath, fury, revenge, bit- 
 terness, &c. Prov. xxvii. 4. These carry 
 the man out of the possession of himself, 
 Luke xxi. 19. fill the heart with a boil- 
 ing heat, Psa. xxxix. 3. the mouth with 
 clamour and evil speaking, Eph. iv. 31. 
 and threatenings are breathed out, Acts 
 ix. 1. and sometimes set the hands on 
 work, which has a most heavy event, 
 Matth. v. 21, 22, as in the case of Ahab 
 against Naboth. 
 
 Thus the proud carry on the war, but 
 oftentimes they lose the day, and the 
 cross remains immoveable for all they 
 can do ; yea, and sometimes they them- 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 125 
 
 selves fall in the quarrel, it ends in their 
 ruin, Exod. xv. 9, 10. But that is not 
 the case in the text. We are to consider 
 them as, 
 
 Thirdly, Getting their will, and carry- 
 ing all to their mind. This speaks, 
 
 1. Holy providence yielding to the 
 man's unmortined self-will, and letting 
 it go according to his mind, Gen. vi. 3. 
 God sees it meet to let the struggle with 
 him fall, for it prevails not to his good, 
 Isa. i. 5. So the reins are laid on the 
 proud man's neck, and he has what he 
 would ; * Ephraim is joined to idols, let 
 him alone,' Hos. iv. 17. 
 
 2. The lust remaining in its strength 
 and vigour, Psal. lxxxviii. 30. ' They 
 were not estranged from their lust.' God, 
 in the method of his covenant, some- 
 times gives his people their will, and sets 
 them where they would be; but then, 
 in that case, the lust for the thing is mor- 
 tified, and they are as weaned children, 
 Psal. x. 17. But here the lust remains 
 rampant : the proud seek meat for it, 
 and get it. 
 
 3. The cross removed, the yoke taken 
 off, Psalm lxxxviii. 29. They could not 
 
126 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 but they thwarted with it, wrestled and 
 fought against it, till it is brought up to 
 their mind : So the day is their own, the 
 victory is on their side. 
 
 4. The man is pleased at having car- 
 ried his point, even as one is when he is 
 dividing the spoil, 1 Kings xxi. 18, 19. 
 
 Thus the case of the afflicted lowly 
 generation, and the proud generation 
 prospering, is stated. Now, 
 
 III. I am to confirm the doctrine, or 
 the decision of the text, That the case 
 of the former is better than that of the 
 latter. It is better to be in a low af- 
 flicted condition, with the spirit humbled 
 and brought down to the lot, than to be 
 of a proud and high spirit, getting the 
 lot brought up to it, and matters go to 
 will and wish according to one's mind. 
 This will appear from the following con- 
 siderations. 
 
 1st, Humility is so far preferable to 
 pride, that in no circumstances whatso- 
 ever its preferableness can fail. Let all 
 the afflictions in the world attend the hum- 
 ble spirit, and all the prosperity in the 
 world attend pride, humility will still 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 127 
 
 have the better : as gold in a dunghill is 
 more excellent than so much lead in a 
 cabinet, For, 
 
 1. Humility is a piece of the image of 
 God. Pride is the master-piece of the 
 image of the devil. Let us view him 
 who was the express image of the Fa- 
 ther's person, and we shall behold him 
 meek and lowly in heart, Matth. xi. 29. 
 None more afflicted, yet his spirit per- 
 fectly brought down to his lot, Isa. liii. 7. 
 1 He was oppressed, and he was af- 
 flicted, yet he opened not his mouth/ 
 That is a shining piece of the divine 
 image : for though God cannot be low 
 in respect of his state and condition, yet 
 he is of infinite condescension, Isaiah 
 lviii. 15. None bears as he, Rom. ii. 4. 
 nor suffers patiently so much contradic- 
 tion to his will, which is proposed to us 
 for our encouragement in affliction, as 
 it shone in Christ. ' For consider him 
 that endured so much contradiction of 
 sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied 
 and faint in your minds/ Heb. xii. 3. 
 
 Pride, on the other hand, is the very 
 image of the devil, 1 Tim. iii. 6. Will 
 we value ourselves on the height of our 
 
128 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 spirits ? Satan will vie with the highest of 
 us in that point ; for though he is the most 
 miserable, yet he is the proudest in the 
 whole creation. There is the greatest 
 distance between his spirit and his lot; 
 the former is as high as the throne of 
 God, the latter as low as hell : and as it 
 is impossible that ever his lot should be 
 brought up to his spirit ; so his spirit 
 will never come down to his lot : and 
 therefore he will be eternally in a state 
 of war with his lot. Hence, even at this 
 time, he has no rest, but goes about, 
 seeking rest indeed, but finding none. 
 
 Now, is it not better to be like God 
 than like the devil ? Like him who is the 
 fountain of all good, than him who is the 
 spring and sink of all evil ? Can any thing 
 possibly cast the balance here, and turn 
 the preference to the other side? ' Then 
 better is it to be of a humble spirit with 
 the lowly, &c.' 
 
 2. Humility and lowliness of spirit qua- 
 lify us for friendly communion and inter- 
 course with God in Christ. Pride makes 
 God our enemy, 1 Pet. v. 5. (Air happi- 
 ness here and hereafter depends on our 
 frienclly intercourse with heaven. If we 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 129 
 
 have not that, nothing can make up our 
 loss, Psal. xxx. 5. If we have that, no- 
 thing can make us miserable, Rom. viii. 
 31. 'If God be for us, who can be against 
 us?' Now, who are they whom God is for 
 but the humble and lowly? they who be- 
 ing in Christ are so made like him. He 
 blesses them, and declares them the heirs 
 of the crown of glory : ' blessed are the 
 poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of 
 heaven/ Matth. v. 3. He will look to 
 them, be their condition ever so low, while 
 he overlooks others, Isai. lxvi. 2. He 
 will have respect to them, however they 
 be despised : * Though the Lord be high, 
 yet hath he respect to the lowly ; but the 
 proud he knoweth afar off,' Psal. cxxxviii. 
 6. He will dwell with them, however 
 poorly they dwell, Isai. lvii. 15. He will 
 certainly exalt them in due time, however 
 low they lie now, Isai. xl. 4. 
 
 Whom is he against? Whom does he 
 resist? The proud. Them he curseth, 
 Jer. xvii. 5. and that curse will dry up 
 their arm at length. The proud man is 
 God's rival; he makes himself his own 
 God, and would have those about him 
 make him theirs too; he rages, he blusters 
 
 K 
 
130 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 if they will not fall down before him. But 
 God will bring him down, Isai. xl. 4., 
 Psal. xviii. 27. 
 
 Now, is it not better to be qualified for 
 communion with God, than to have him 
 engaged against us, at any rate? 
 
 3. Humility is a duty pleasing to God, 
 pride a sin pleasing to the devil, Isai. lvii. 
 15., 1 Tim. iii. 6. God requires us to be 
 humble, especially under affliction, ' and 
 to be clothed with humility,' 1 Pet. v. 5, 
 6. That is our becoming garment. The 
 humble Publican was accepted, the proud 
 Pharisee rejected. We may say of the 
 generation of the proud, as 1 Thess. ii. 16. 
 * Wrath is come upon them to the utter- 
 most.' They please neither God nor men, 
 but only themselves and Satan, whom 
 they resemble in it. Now duty is better 
 than sin at any rate. 
 
 Idly, They whose spirits are brought 
 down to their afflicted lot, have much 
 quiet and repose of mind, while the proud, 
 that must have their lot brought up to 
 their mind, have much disquiet, trouble, 
 and vexation. Consider here, that, on 
 the one hand, 
 
 1. Quiet of mind, and ease within, is a 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 131 
 
 great blessing, upon which the comfort of 
 life depends. Nothing without this can 
 make one's life happy, Dan. v. 6. And 
 where this is maintained nothing can make 
 it miserable, John xvi. 33. This being 
 secured in God, there is a defiance bid to 
 all the troubles of the world, Psalm xlvi. 
 2, 3, 4. Like the child sailing in the midst 
 of the rolling waves. 
 
 2. The spirit brought down to the lot 
 makes and maintains this inward tranquil- 
 lity. Our whole trouble in our lot in the 
 world riseth from the disagreement of our 
 mind therewith; let the mind be brought 
 to the lot, and the whole tumult is in- 
 stantly hushed; let it be kept in that dis- 
 position, and the man shall stand at ease 
 in his affliction, like a rock unmoved with 
 waters beating on it, Col. iii. 15. ' And 
 let the peace of God rule in your hearts, 
 to the which also ye are called/ 
 
 On the other hand consider, 
 
 1. What disquiet of mind the proud do 
 suffer ere they can get their lot brought 
 up to their mind. ' They have taught their 
 tongues to speak lies, and they weary 
 themselves to commit iniquity,' Jer. ix. 5., 
 James iv. 2. ' Ye lust, and have not: ye 
 k 2 
 
132 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 kill, and desire to have, and cannot ob- 
 tain; ye fight and war, yet ye have not/ 
 What arrows of grief go through their 
 heart ! what torture of anxiety, fretting, 
 and vexation, must they endure! what 
 contrary passions do fight within them ! 
 and what sallies of passions do they 
 make! what uneasiness was Haman in, 
 before he could carry the point of the 
 revenge against Mordecai, obtaining the 
 king's decree! 
 
 2. When the thing is got to their mind, 
 it will not quit the cost. The enjoyment 
 thereof brings not so much satisfaction 
 and pleasure, as the want of it gave pain. 
 This was evident in Rachel's case, as to 
 the having of children ; and in that case, 
 Psal. lxxviii. 30, 31. There is a dead fly 
 in the ointment that mars the savour they 
 expected to find in it. Fruit plucked off 
 the tree of providence, ere it is ripe, will 
 readily set the teeth on edge. It proves 
 like the manna kept over night, Exod.xvi. 
 20. 
 
 3. They have but an unsure hold of it; 
 it doth not last with them. Either it is 
 taken from them soon, and they are just 
 where they were again : ' I gave thee a 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 133 
 
 king in my anger, and took him away in 
 my wrath,' Hos. xiii. 11. Having a root 
 of pride, it quickly withers away ; or else 
 they are taken from it, that they have no 
 access to enjoy it: so Haman obtained 
 the decree ; but ere the day of the execu- 
 tion came, he was gone. 
 
 3dly, They that get their spirit brought 
 down to their afflicted lot, do gain a point 
 far more valuable than they who in their 
 pride force up their lot to their mind, 
 Prov. xvi. 32. He that is slow to anger, 
 f is better than the mighty; and he that 
 ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a 
 city.' This will appear, if you consider, 
 
 1. The latter makes but a better condi- 
 tion in outward things, the former makes 
 a better man. The life is more than meat. 
 • — The man himself is more valuable than 
 all external conveniences that attend him. 
 What therefore betters the man is prefer- 
 able to what betters only his condition. 
 Who doubts, but where two are sick, and 
 the one get himself transported from a 
 coarse bed to a fine one, but the sickness, 
 still remaining; the other lies still in the 
 coarse bed, but the sickness is removed, 
 
134 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 that the case of the latter is preferable ? 
 So it is here. 
 
 2. The subduing of our own passion is 
 more excellent than to have the whole 
 world subdued to our will: for then we 
 are masters of ourselves, according to that, 
 Luke xxi. 19. Whereas, in the other case, 
 we are still slaves to the worst of masters, 
 Rom. vi. 16. In the one case we are safe, 
 blow what storm will; in the other we lie 
 exposed to thousands of dangers, Prov. 
 xxv. 28. ' He that hath no rule over his 
 own spirit, is like a city that is broken 
 down, and without walls.' 
 
 3. When both shall come to be judged, 
 it will appear the one has multiplied the 
 tale of their good works, in bringing their 
 spirit to their lot; the other, the tale of 
 their ill works, in bringing their lot to their 
 spirit. We have to do with an omniscient 
 God, in whose eyes every internal action 
 is a work, good or bad, to be reckoned 
 for, Horn. ii. 16. 
 
 An afflicted lot is painful, but, where it 
 is well managed, it is very fruitful ; it ex- 
 ercises the graces of the Spirit in a Chris- 
 tian, which otherwise would lie dormant. 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 135 
 
 But there is never an act of resignation to 
 the will of God under the cross, nor an 
 act of trusting in him for his help, but 
 they will be recorded in heaven's register 
 as good works, Mai. iii. 16. And these are 
 occasioned by affliction. 
 
 On the other hand, there is never a ris- 
 ing of the proud heart against the lot, nor 
 a faithless attempt to bring it to our mind, 
 whether it succeed or not, but it passes for 
 an ill work before God. How then will 
 the tale of such be multiplied by the war 
 in which the spoil is divided ! 
 
 Use 1 . Of information. Hence we may 
 learn, 
 
 1. It is not always best for folk to get 
 their will. Many there are who cannot 
 be pleased with God's will about them, 
 and they get their own will with a ven- 
 geance, Psal.lxxxi. 11, 12. ' Israel would 
 none of me, so I gave them up to their 
 own hearts' lust; and they walked in their 
 own counsels.' It may be pleasantest and 
 gratefullest for the time, but it is not 
 the safest. Let not people pride them- 
 selves in their carrying things that way 
 then by strong hand; let them not triumph 
 
136 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 on such victory, the after-reckoning will 
 open their eyes. 
 
 2. The afflicted crossed party, whose 
 lot is kept low, is so far from being a 
 loser, that he is a gainer thereby, if his 
 spirit is brought down to it. And if he 
 will see his case in the light of God's un- 
 erring word, he is in better case than if 
 he had got all carried to his mind. In 
 the one way the vessels of wrath are fitted 
 for destruction, Ps. lxxviii. 29, 30, 31. 
 In the other, the vessels of mercy are fitted 
 for glory, and so God disciplines his 
 own, Lam. iii. 27. 
 
 3. It is better to yield to Providence 
 than to fight it out, though we should win. 
 Yielding to the sovereign disposal is both 
 our becoming duty and our greatest in- 
 terest. Taking that way, we act most ho- 
 nourably ; for what honour can there be 
 in the creature's disputing his ground with 
 his Creator? and we act most wisely ; for 
 whatever may be the success of some 
 battles in that case, we may be sure vic- 
 tory will be on heaven's side in the war, 
 1 Sam. ii. 9. ' For, by strength shall no 
 man prevail.' 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 137 
 
 Lastly, It is of far greater concern for 
 us to get our spirits brought down than 
 our outward condition raised. But who 
 believes this ? All men strive to raise their 
 outward condition ; most men never mind 
 the bringing down of their spirits, and 
 few there are who apply themselves to it. 
 And what is that but to be concerned to 
 minister drink to the thirsty sick, but 
 never to mind to seek a cure for them, 
 whereby their thirst may be carried off. 
 
 Use 2. Of exhortation. As you meet 
 with crosses in your lot in the world, let 
 your bent be rather to have your spirit 
 humbled and brought down, than to get 
 the cross removed. I mean not but that 
 you may use all lawful means for the re- 
 moval of your cross, in dependance on 
 God; but only that you be more con- 
 cerned to get your spirit to bow and 
 ply, than to get the crook in your lot 
 evened. 
 
 Motive 1. It is far more needful for us 
 to have our spirits humbled under the 
 cross, than to have the cross removed. 
 The removal of the cross is needful only 
 for the ease of the flesh, the humbling for 
 the profit of our souls, to purify them, 
 
138 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 and bring them into a state of health and 
 cure. 
 
 2. The humbling of the spirit will have 
 a mighty good effect on a crossed lot, but 
 the removal of the cross will have none 
 on the unhumbled spirit. The humbling 
 will lighten the cross mightily for the time, 
 Matth. xi. 30. and in due time carry it 
 cleanly off, 1 Pet. v. 6. But the removal 
 of the cross is not a means to humble the 
 unhumbled ; though it may prevent irri- 
 tation, yet the disease still remains. 
 
 3. Think with yourselves how danger- 
 ous and hopeless a case it is to have the 
 cross removed ere the spirit is humbled ; 
 that is to have the means of cure pulled 
 away and blocked up from us, while the 
 power of the disease is yet unbroken ; to 
 be taken off trials ere we have given any 
 good proof of ourselves, and so to be 
 given over of our physician as hopeless, 
 Isai. i. 5. Hos. iv. 17. 
 
 Use 3. For direction. Believing the 
 gospel, take God for your God in Christ 
 towards your eternal salvation, and then 
 dwell much on the thoughts of God's 
 greatness and holiness, and of your own 
 sinfulness ; so will you be humbled wider 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 139 
 
 the mighty hand of God; and in due time, 
 he will lift you up. 
 
 1 Peter, v. 6. 
 
 Humble yourselves therefore under the 
 mighty hand of God, that he may exalt 
 you in due time. 
 
 In the preceding part of this chapter, the 
 apostle presseth the duties of the church 
 officers towards the people ; and then the 
 duty of the people, both towards their 
 officers, and among themselves, which he 
 winds up in one word, submission. For 
 ■which cause he recommends humility as 
 the great means to bring all to their re- 
 spective duties. This is enforced with an 
 argument taken from the different treat- 
 ment the Lord gives to the proud and 
 humble; his opposing himself to the one, 
 and shewing favour to the other. Our 
 text is an exhortation drawn from that 
 consideration : and in it we have, 
 
 1st, The duty we are therefore to study : 
 hwnbleyourselvestherefore t wider the mighty 
 
140 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 hand of God, that he may exult you in due 
 time. And therein we may notice, 
 
 1. The state of those whom it is pro- 
 posed to, those under the mighty hand of 
 God, whom his hand has humbled, or 
 stated some way low in respect of their 
 circumstances in the world. And by 
 these are, I think, meant, not only such as 
 are under particular signal afflictions, 
 which is the lot of some, but also those 
 who, by the providence of God, are any 
 manner of way lowered, which is the lot 
 of all. All being in a state of submission 
 or dependance on others, God has made 
 this life a state of trial ; and for that cause 
 he has, by his mighty hand, subjected men 
 one to another, as wives, children, ser- 
 vants, to husbands, parents, masters ; and 
 these again to their superiors; among 
 whom, again, even the highest depends 
 on those under them, as magistrates and 
 ministers on the people, even the supreme 
 magistrate being major singulis, minor 
 universis. This state of the world God 
 has made for taking trial of men in their 
 several stations and dependance on others; 
 and therefore, when the time of trial is 
 over, it also comes to an end. ' Then 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 141 
 
 cometh the end — when he shall have put 
 down all rule, and authority, and power,' 
 1 Cor. xv. 24, 25. Meantime, while it 
 lasts, it makes humility necessary to all, 
 to prompt them to the duty they owe their 
 superiors, to whom God's mighty hand 
 has subjected them. 
 
 2. The duty itself, viz. Humiliation of 
 our spirits under the humbling circum- 
 stances the Lord has placed us in. Hum- 
 ble yourselves therefore under the mighty 
 hand of God, that he may exalt you in due 
 time. Whether it is we are under parti- 
 cular afflictions, which have cast us down 
 from the height we were sometimes in, or 
 whether we are only inferiors in one or 
 more relations; or whether, which is most 
 common, both these are in our case, we 
 must therein eye the mighty hand of God, 
 as that which placed us there, and is 
 over us there, to hold us down in it; and 
 so, with an awful regard thereto, crouch 
 down under it, in the temper and dispo- 
 sition of our spirits, suiting our spirits to 
 our lot, and careful of performing the 
 duty of our low sphere. 
 
 3. A particular spring of this duty ; 
 therefore we must consider, that those 
 
142 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 who cannot quietly keep the place as- 
 signed them of God in their afflictions or 
 relations, but still press upward against 
 the mighty hand that is over them, that 
 mighty hand resists them, throwing them 
 down, and often farther down than before; 
 whereas it treats them with grace and 
 favour that compose themselves under it, 
 to a quiet discharge of their duty in their 
 situation ; so, eyeing this, we must set 
 ourselves to humble ourselves. 
 
 Idly, The infallible issue of that course ; 
 that he may exalt you in due time. The 
 particle that, is not always to be under- 
 stood finally, as denoting the end or de- 
 sign the agent proposes to himself, but 
 sometimes eventually only, as denoting 
 the event or issue of the action, John 
 ix. 2., 1 John ii. 19. So here, the meaning 
 is not, Humble yourselves, on design he 
 may exalt you ; but, and it shall issue in 
 his exalting you. Compare James iv. 10. 
 
 (1.) Here is a happy event of humilia- 
 tion of spirit secured, and that is exalta- 
 tion or lifting up on high, by the power of 
 God, that he may exalt you. Exalting will 
 as surely follow on humiliation of spirit, 
 suitable to the low lot, as the morning 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 143 
 
 follows the night, or the sun riseth after 
 the dawning. And these words are fitted, 
 to obviate the objection that the world, 
 and our corrupt hearts are apt to make 
 against bringing down the spirit to the 
 low lot. 
 
 Object. 1 . If we let our spirit fall, we 
 shall lie always among folk's feet, and they 
 will trample on vs. 
 
 Ans. No : pride of spirit unsubdued, 
 will bring men to lie among the feet of 
 others for ever, Isa. lxvi. 24. But hu- 
 miliation of spirit will bring them un- 
 doubtedly out from among their feet, 
 Mai. iv. 2, 3. They that humble them- 
 selves now will be exalted for ever ; they 
 will be brought out of their low situation 
 and circumstances. Cast ye yourselves 
 even down with your low lot, and assure 
 yourselves ye shall not lie there. 
 
 Object. 2. If we do not raise ourselves, 
 none will raise us ; and therefore we must 
 see to ourselves, to do ourselves right. 
 
 A?is. That is wrong. Humble ye your- 
 selves in respect of your spirits, and God 
 will raise you up in respect of your lot, or 
 low condition ; and they that have God 
 engaged for raising them, have no reason 
 
144 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 to say they have none to do it for them. 
 Bringing down of the spirit is our duty, 
 raising us up is God s work ; let us not 
 forfeit the privilege of God's raising us up, 
 by arrogating that work to ourselves, 
 taking it out of his hand. 
 
 Object. 3. But sure we shall never rise 
 high, if we let our spirits fall. 
 
 Ans. That is wrong too : God will not 
 only raise humble ones, but he will lift 
 them up on high ; for so the word signifies. 
 They shall be as high at length as ever 
 they were low, were they ever so low ; 
 nay, the exaltation will bear proportion to 
 the humiliation. 
 
 (2.) Here is the date of that happy 
 event when it will fall out. In due time, 
 or in the season, the proper season for it, 
 Gal. vi. 9. ' In due season we shall reap, 
 if we faint not.' We are apt to weary in 
 humbling trying circumstances, and would 
 always be on the advance, John vii. 6. 
 But Solomon observes, there is a time for 
 every thing when it does best, and the 
 wise shall wait it, Eccl. iii. 1—8. There 
 is a time too for exalting them that hum- 
 ble themselves ; God has set it, and it is 
 the due time for the purpose, the time 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 145 
 
 when it does best, even as sowing in the 
 spring, and reaping in the harvest. When 
 that time comes, your exalting shall no 
 longer be put off, and it would come too 
 soon should it come, before that time. 
 
 Doct. I. The bent of one's heart in hum- 
 bling circumstances , should lie towards a 
 suitable humbling of the spirit, as under 
 God's mighty hand placing us in them. 
 We have here, 
 
 I. Some things supposed in this. It 
 supposeth and bears in it, that, 
 
 1. God brings men into humbling cir- 
 cumstances, Ezek. xvii. 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 circum- 
 stances for that very end, Deut. viii. 2„ 
 ' The Lord thy God led thee these forty 
 years in the wilderness, to humble thee, 
 
 L 
 
146 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 and to prove thee, and to know what was 
 in thine heart/ 
 
 2. These circumstances prove pressing 
 as a weight on the heart, tending to bear 
 it down, Psalm cvii. 12. ' Therefore he 
 brought down their heart with labour/ 
 They strike at the grain of the heart, and 
 cross the natural inclination : whence a 
 trial naturally ariseth, whether, when God 
 lays on his mighty hand, the man can 
 yield under it or. not; and consequently, 
 whether he is meet for heaven or not. 
 
 3. The heart is naturally apt to rise up 
 against these humbling circumstances, and 
 consequently against the mighty hand that 
 brings and keeps them on. The man 
 naturally bends his force to get off the 
 weight, that he may get up his head, 
 seeking more to please himself, than to 
 please his God, Job xxxv. 9, 10. * They 
 cry out by reason of the arm of the 
 mighty : But none saith, Where is God 
 my Maker? This is the first gate the 
 heart runs to in humbling circumstances ; 
 and in this way the unsubdued spirit 
 holds on. 
 
 4. But what God requires is, rather to 
 labour to bring down the heart, than to 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 147 
 
 get up the head, James iv. 10. Here lies 
 the proof of one's meetness for heaven; 
 and then is one in the way heaven-ward, 
 when he is more concerned to get down 
 his heart than up his head, to go calmly 
 under his burden than to get it off, to 
 crouch under the mighty hand, than to 
 put it off him. 
 
 5. There must be a noticing of God as 
 our party, in humbling circumstances; 
 * Hear ye the rod, and him who hath ap- 
 pointed it,' Mic. vi. 9. There is an ab- 
 jectness of spirit, whereby some give up 
 themselves to the will of others, in the 
 harshest treatment, merely to please them, 
 without regard to the authority and com- 
 mand of God. This is real meanness of 
 spirit, whereby one lies quietly to be 
 trampled on by a fellow-worm, from its 
 imaginary weight; and none so readily 
 fall into it as the proud, at some times, to 
 serve their own turn, Acts xii. 22. These 
 are men-pleasers, Eph. vi. 6, with Gal. i. 
 10. 
 
 II. What are these humbling circum- 
 stances the mighty hand of God brings 
 them into. Supposing here what was be- 
 fore taught concerning the crook in the 
 i 2 
 
148 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 lot's being of God's making, these are 
 circumstances, 
 
 1. Of imperfection. God has placed 
 all men in such circumstances under a 
 variety of wants and imperfections, Phil, 
 iii. 12. We can look no where, where 
 we are not beset with them. There is a 
 heap of natural and moral imperfections 
 about us : our bodies and our souls, in 
 all their faculties, are in a state of imper- 
 fection. The pride of all glory is stained ; 
 and it is a shame for us not to be humbled 
 under such wants as attend us; it is like 
 a beggar strutting in his rags. 
 
 2. Of inferiority in relations, whereby 
 men are set in the lower place in relations 
 and society, and made to depend on 
 others, 2 Cor. vii. 24. God has, for a 
 trial of men's submission to himself, sub- 
 jected them to others whom he has set 
 over them, to discover what regard they 
 will pay to his authority and commands at 
 second hand. Dominion or superiority is 
 a part of the divine image shining in them, 
 1 Cor. xi. 7. And therefore reverence 
 of them, consisting of an awful regard to 
 that ray of the divine image shining in 
 them is necessarily required, Eph. v. 33., 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 149 
 
 Heb. xii. 9. compare Psalm cxi. 9. The 
 same holds in all other relations and su- 
 periorities, viz. they that are so far in the 
 place of God to their relatives, Psalm 
 lxxxii. 6. And though the parties be 
 worthless in themselves, that he looseth 
 not one from the debt to them, Acts xxiii. 
 4, 5., Rom. xiii. 7- the reason is, because 
 it is not their qualities, but their cha- 
 racter, which is the ground of that debt of 
 reverence and subjection ; and the trial 
 God takes of us in that matter turns 
 not on the point of the former, but of the 
 latter. 
 
 Now, God having placed us in these 
 circumstances of inferiority, all refractori- 
 ness in all things, not contrary to the com- 
 mand of God, is a rising up against his 
 mighty hand, Rom. xiii. 2. because it is 
 immediately upon us for that effect, though 
 it is a man's hand that is immediately on 
 us. 
 
 3. Of contradiction, tending directly to 
 baulk us of our will. This was a part of 
 our Lord's state of humiliation, and the 
 apostle supposes it will be a part of ours 
 too, Heb. xii. 3. There is a perfect har- 
 
150 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 mony in heaven, no one to contradict 
 another there: for they are in their state 
 of retribution and exaltation : but we are 
 here in our state of trial and humiliation, 
 and therefore cannot miss contradiction, 
 be we placed ever so high. 
 
 Whether these contradictions be just or 
 unjust, God trusts men with them to hum- 
 ble them, break them off from addicted- 
 ness to their own will, and to teach them 
 resignation and self-denial. They are in 
 their own nature humbling, and much 
 the same to us, as the breaking of a horse 
 or a bullock is to them. And I believe 
 there are many cases in which there can 
 be no accounting for them, but by recur- 
 ring to this use God has for them. 
 
 4. Of affliction, Prov. xvi. 19. Pros- 
 perity puffs up sinners with pride ; and O ! 
 but it is hard to keep a low spirit with 
 a high and prosperous lot. But God, 
 by affliction, calls men down from their 
 heights to sit in the dust, plucks away 
 their gay feathers wherein they prided 
 themselves, rubs the paint and varnish 
 from off the creature, whereby it appears 
 more in its native deformity. There are 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 151 
 
 various kinds of affliction, some more, 
 some less humbling, but all of them are 
 humbling. 
 
 Wherefore, not to lower tbe spirit under 
 the affliction, is to pretend to rise up 
 when God is casting and holding down 
 with a witness; and cannot miss, if con- 
 tinued in, to provoke the Lord to break 
 us in pieces, Ezek. xxiv. 13. For the 
 afflicting hand is mighty. 
 
 5. Of sin, as the punishment of sin. 
 We may allude to that, Job xxx. 19. All 
 the sin in the world is a punishment of 
 Adam's first sin. Man threw himself 
 into the mire at first, and now he is justly 
 left weltering in it. Men wilfully make 
 one false step, and for that cause they are 
 justly left to make another worse; and 
 sin hangs about all, even the best. And 
 this is over-ruled of God for our humilia- 
 tion, that we may be ashamed, and never 
 open our mouth any more. Wherefore, 
 not to be humbled under our sinfulness, is 
 to rise up against the mighty hand of 
 God, and to justify all our sinful depart- 
 ings from him, as lost to all sense of duty, 
 and void of shame. 
 
 III. What it is in humbling circum- 
 
152 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 stances, to humble ourselves under the 
 mighty hand of God. This is the great 
 thing to be aimed at in our humbling cir- 
 cumstances. And we may take it up in 
 these eight things. 
 
 1. Noticing the mighty hand, as em- 
 ployed in bringing about every thing that 
 concerns us, either in the way of efficacy 
 or permission, 1 Sam. iii. 18. ' And he 
 said, It is the Loid; let him do what 
 seemeth him good.' 2 Sam. xvi. 10. 
 ' And the king said, The Lord hath said 
 unto him, Curse David : Who shall then 
 say, Wherefore hast thou done so?' He 
 is the fountain of all perfection, but we 
 must trace our imperfections to his sove- 
 reign will. It is he that has posted every 
 one in their relations by his providence; 
 without him we could not meet with such 
 contradictions; for, 'the king's heart is 
 in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of 
 water : he turneth it whithersoever he 
 pleaselh.' Prov. xxi. 1. He sends on 
 afflictions, and he justly punishes one 
 sin with another, Isa. vi. 10. 
 
 2. A sense of our own worthlessness 
 and nothingness before him, Psal.cxliv. 3. 
 Looking to the infinite Majesty of the 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 153 
 
 mighty band dealing with us, we should 
 say, with Abraham, Gen. xviii. 27. ' Be- 
 hold, I am but dust and ashes;' and say 
 Amen to the cry, Isa. xl. 6. All flesh is 
 grass, &c. The keeping up of thoughts of 
 our own excellency, under the pressures 
 of the mighty hand, is the very thing that 
 swells the heart in pride, causing it to rise 
 up against it. And it is the letting of all 
 such thoughts of ourselves fall before the 
 eyes of his glory, that is the humbling re- 
 quired. 
 
 3. A sense of our guilt and Jilthiness, 
 Rom. iii. 10., Isa. xliv. 6. The mighty 
 hand doth not press us down, but as sin- 
 ners ; it is meet then that under it we see 
 our sinfulness ; our guilt, whereby we will 
 appear criminals justly caused to suffer; 
 our filthiness, whereupon we may be 
 brought to loathe ourselves : and then 
 we shall think nothing lays us lower than 
 we well deserve. It is the overlooking 
 our sinfulness that suffers the proud heart 
 to swell. 
 
 4. A silent submission under the hand 
 of God. His sovereignty challengeth this 
 of us, Rom. ix. 20. ' Nay but, O man, 
 who art thou that repliest against God ? 
 
154 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 And nothing but unsubdued height and 
 pride of spirit can allow us to answer 
 again under the sovereign hand. A view 
 of the sovereign hand humbled and awed 
 the Psalmist into a submission, with a pro- 
 found silence, Psalm xxxix. 9. ( I was 
 dumb, I opened not my mouth, because 
 thou didst it.'— Job i. 21. < The Lord 
 gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; 
 blessed be the name of the Lord.' — And 
 xl. 4, 5. ' What shall I answer thee? I 
 will lay mine hand upon my mouth. 
 Once have I spoken, but I will not an- 
 swer ; yea, twice, but I will proceed 
 no farther.' And Eli, 1 Sam. iii. 18. 
 ' It is the Lord ; let him do what seemeth 
 him good.' 
 
 5. A magnifying of his mercies towards 
 us in the midst of all his proceedings 
 against us, Psal. cxliv. 3. Has he laid us 
 low ? If we be duly humbled, we shall 
 wonder he has laid us no lower, Ezra, 
 ix. 13. For however low the humble are 
 laid, they will see they are not yet so low 
 as their sins deserve, Lam. iii. 22. 
 
 6. A holy and silent admiration of the 
 ways and counsels of God, as to us un- 
 searchable, Rom. xi. 33. Pride of heart 
 
TH£ CROOK IN THE LOT. 155 
 
 thinks nothing too high for the man, and 
 so arraigns before its tribunal the divine 
 proceedings, pretends to see through them, 
 censures freely and condemns ; but hu- 
 miliation of spirit disposes a man to think 
 awfully and honourably of the mysteries 
 of Providence he is not able to see 
 through. 
 
 7. A forgetting and laying aside before 
 the Lord all our dignity, whereby we 
 excel others, Rev. iv. 10. Pride feeds 
 itself on the man's real or imaginary per- 
 sonal excellency and dignity, and being 
 so inured to it before others, cannot forget 
 itbefore God. Luke xviii. 11. ' God, 
 I thank thee I am not as other men.' But 
 humiliation of spirit makes it all to vanish 
 before him as doth the shadow before the 
 shining sun, and it lays the man, in his 
 own eyes, lower than any. ' Surely I am 
 more brutish than any man, and have 
 not the understanding of a man/ Prov. 
 xxx. 2. 
 
 8. A submitting readily to the meanest 
 offices requisite in, or agreeable to our 
 circumstances. Pride at every turn finds 
 something that is below the man to con- 
 descend or stoop to, measuring by his 
 
156 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 own mind and will, not by the circum- 
 stances God has placed him in. But 
 humility measures by the circumstances 
 one is 'placed in, and readily falls in with 
 what they require. Hereof our Saviour 
 gave us an example to be imitated, John 
 xiii. 14. * If I then, your Lord and Mas- 
 ter, have washed your feet, ye ought also 
 to wash one another's feet.' Yea more, 
 Phil. ii. 8, ' He humbled himself, and 
 became obedient unto death.' 
 
 Use. Of exhortation. Let the bent of 
 your heart then, in all your humbling cir- 
 cumstances, be towards the humbling of 
 your spirit, as under the mighty hand of 
 God. This lies in two things. 
 
 1. Carefully notice all your humbling 
 circumstances, and overlook none of them. 
 Observe your imperfections; inferiority 
 in relations; contradictions you meet 
 with; your afflictions; uncertainty of all 
 things about you ; and your sinfulness. 
 — Look through them designedly, and 
 consider the steps of the conduct of Pro- 
 vidence towards you in these, that ye 
 may know yourselves, and may not be 
 strangers at home, blind to your own real 
 state and case. 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 157 
 
 2. Observing what these circumstances 
 do require of you, as suitable to them ; 
 bend your endeavours towards it, to 
 bring your spirits into the temper of 
 humiliation, that, as your lot is really 
 low in all these respects, so your spirits 
 may be low too, as under the mighty 
 hand of God. Let this be your great 
 aim through your whole life, and your 
 exercise every day. 
 
 Motive 1. God is certainly at work to 
 humble one and all of us. However high 
 any are lifted up in this world, Providence 
 has hung certain badges for humiliation 
 on them, whether they will notice them 
 or not, Isa. xl. 6. Now it is our duty 
 to fall in with the design of Providence, 
 that while God is humbling us, we may 
 be humbling ourselves, and that we may 
 not receive humbling dispensations in 
 vain. 
 
 2. The humiliation of our spirit will 
 not take effect without our own agency 
 therein ; while God is working on us 
 that way, we must work together with 
 him, for he works on us as rational 
 agents, who being moved, move them- 
 selves, Phil. ii. 12, 13. God by his 
 
158 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 providence may force down our lot and 
 condition without us, but the spirit must 
 come down voluntarily and of choice, or 
 not at all; therefore strike in with hum- 
 bling providences in humbling your- 
 selves, as mariners spread out the sails 
 when the wind begins to blow, that they 
 may go away before it. 
 
 3. If ye do not, ye resist the mighty 
 hand of God, Acts vii. 51. Ye resist in 
 so far as ye do not yield, but stand 
 as a rock keeping your ground against 
 your Maker in humbling providences, 
 Jer. v. 3. ' Thou hast stricken them, 
 but they have not grieved; thou hast 
 consumed them, but they have refused 
 to receive correction. They have made 
 their faces harder than a rock ; they have 
 refused to return.' Much more when ye 
 work against him to force up your con- 
 dition, which we may see God means 
 to hold down. And of this resistance 
 consider, 
 
 (1.) The sinfulness ; what an evil thing 
 it is. It is a direct fighting against God, a 
 shaking off of subjection to our sovereign 
 Lord, and a rising in rebellion against 
 him, Isaiah xlv. 9. 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 159 
 
 (2 .) The folly of it. How unequal is 
 the match ! How can the struggle end 
 well/ Job ix. 4. What else can pos- 
 sibly be the issue of the potsherds of the 
 earth dashing against the Rock of ages, 
 but that they be broken to pieces? We 
 may say as Job xli. 8. All men must 
 certainly bow or break under the mighty 
 hand. 
 
 4. This is the time of humiliation, even 
 the time of this life. Every thing is beau- 
 tiful in its season; and the bringing down 
 of the spirit now as beautiful, as in the 
 time thereof, even as the plowing and 
 sowing of the ground is in the spring. 
 Consider, 
 
 (1.) Humiliation of spirit is in the sight 
 of God of great price, 1 Pet. iii. 4. As 
 he has a special aversion to pride of 
 heart, he has a special liking of humi- 
 lity, chap. v. 5. The humbling of sin* 
 ners and bringing them down from their 
 heights, wherein the corruption of their 
 nature has set them, is the great end of 
 his word, and of his providences. 
 
 (2.) It is no easy thing to humble 
 men's spirits ; it is not little that will do it; 
 it is a work that is not soon done. There 
 
160 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 is need of a digging deep for a thorough 
 humiliation in the work of conversion, 
 Luke vi. 48. Many a stroke must be 
 given at the root of the tree of the na- 
 tural pride of the heart ere it fall ; oft- 
 times it seems to be fallen, and yet, it 
 arises again. And, even when the root 
 stroke is given in believers, the rod of 
 pride buds again, so that there is still 
 occasion for new humbling work. 
 
 (3.) The whole time of this life is ap- 
 pointed for humiliation. This was sig- 
 nified by the forty years the Israelites had 
 in the wilderness, Deut. viii. 2. It was 
 so to Christ, and therefore it must be so 
 to men, Heb. xii. 2. And in that time 
 they must either be formed according to 
 his image, or else appear as reprobate sil- 
 ver that will not take it on by any means, 
 Rom. viii, 29. So that whatever lifting 
 up men may now and then get in this 
 life, the habitual course of it will still be 
 humbling. 
 
 (4.) There is no humbling after this, 
 Rev. xxii. 11. If the pride of the heart 
 be not brought down in this life, it will 
 never be ; no kindly humiliation is to be 
 expected in the other life. There the 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 161 
 
 proud will be broken in pieces, but not 
 softened ; their lot and condition will be 
 brought to the lowest pass, but the lofti- 
 ness of their spirits will still remain, 
 whence they will be in eternal agonies 
 through the opposition betwixt their 
 spirits and lot, Rev. xvi. 21. 
 
 Wherefore, beware lest ye neglect your 
 time of humiliation : humbled we must be, 
 or we are gone for ever; and this is the 
 time, the only time of it; therefore, make 
 your hay while the sun shines ; strike in 
 with humbling providences, and fight not 
 against them while ye have them, Acts 
 xiii. 41. The season of grace will not 
 last; if ye sleep in seed-time, ye will 
 beg in harvest. 
 
 5. This is the way to turn humbling 
 circumstances to a good account ; so that 
 instead of being losers ye may be gainers 
 by them, Psalm cxix. 71. * It is good for 
 me that I have been afflicted. 7 Would 
 ye gather grapes of these thorns and 
 thistles, set yourselves to get your spirits 
 humbled by them. 
 
 (1.) Humiliation of spirit is a most va- 
 luable thing in itself, Prov. xvi. 32. It 
 cannot be bought too dear. Whatever 
 
 M 
 
162 THE CHOOK V& THE LOT. 
 
 one is made to suffer, if his spirit is 
 thereby duly brought down, he has what 
 is well worth bearing all the hardship for, 
 1 Pet. iii 4 
 
 (2.) Humility of spirit brings many 
 advantages along with it. It is a fruitful 
 bough, well loaden, wherever it is. It 
 contributes to one's ease under the cross, 
 Matt. xi. 30., Lam. iii. 27, 28, 29. It is 
 a sacrifice particularly acceptable to God, 
 Psalm li. 17. The eye of God is particu- 
 larly on such for good, Isa. lxvi. 2. * To 
 this man will I look, even to him that is 
 poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trem- 
 bleth at my word.' Yea, he dwells with 
 them, Isa. lvii. 15. And it carries a line 
 of wisdom through one's whole conduct, 
 Prov. xi. 2. ' With the lowly is wisdom.' 
 
 Lastly, Consider it is a mighty hand 
 that is at work with us; the hand of the 
 mighty God ; let us then bend our spirits 
 towards a compliance with it, and not 
 wrestle against it. Consider, 
 
 (1.) We must fall under it. Since the 
 design of it is to bring us down, we can- 
 not stand before it; for it cannot mis- 
 carry in its designs, Isa. xlvi. 10. ' My 
 counsel shall stand.' So fall before it we 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 163 
 
 must, either in the way of duty or judg- 
 ment, Psalm xlv. 5. * Thine arrows are 
 sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, 
 whereby the people fall under thee.' 
 
 (2.) They that are so wise as to fall in 
 humiliation under the mighty hand, be 
 they ever so low, the same hand will raise 
 them up again, Jam. iv. 10. In a word, 
 be the proud ever so high, God will bring 
 them down : be the humble ever so low, 
 God will raise them up. 
 
 Directions for reaching this humiliation. 
 
 I. General Directions. 
 
 Direct. 1. Fix it in your heart to seek 
 some spiritual improvement of the con- 
 duct of Providence towards you, Micah 
 vi. 9. Till once your heart is bent that 
 way, your humiliation is not to be ex- 
 pected, Hosea xiv. 9. But nothing is 
 more reasonable, if we would act either 
 like men or Christians, than to aim at 
 turning what is so grievous to the flesh 
 unto the profit of the spirit ; that, if we are 
 losers on one hand, we may be gainers 
 on the other. 
 
 m 2 
 
164 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 2. Settle the matter of your eternal 
 salvation, in the first place, by betaking 
 yourself to Christ, and taking God for 
 your God in him, according to the gospel- 
 offer, Hos. ii. 19. Heb. viii. 10. Let your 
 humbling circumstances move you to this, 
 that while the creature dries up, you may 
 go to the Fountain : for it is impossible 
 to reach due humiliation under the mighty 
 hand, without faith in him as your God 
 and friend, Heb, xi. 6. 1 John iv. 19. 
 
 3. Use the means of soul-humbling in 
 the faith of the promise, Psalm xxviii. 7. 
 Moses smiting the rock in faith of the 
 promise, made water gush out, which 
 otherwise would not at all have appeared. 
 Let us do likewise in dealing with our 
 rocky hearts. They must be laid on the 
 soft bed of the gospel, and struck there, 
 as Joel ii. 13. ' Turn to the Lord your 
 God,' for 'he is gracious and merciful:' 
 or they will never kindly break or fall in 
 humiliation. 
 
 II. Particular Directions. 
 
 1. Assure yourselves that there are no 
 circumstances so humbling that you are 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 16*5 
 
 in, but you may get your heart acceptably 
 brought down to them, 1 Cor. x. 13. But 
 God is faithful who will not suffer you to 
 be tempted above that ye are able, but will 
 with the temptation also make a way to 
 escape, that ye may be able to bear it. This 
 is truth, 2 Cor. xii. 9. i My grace is 
 sufficient for thee; for my strength is 
 made perfect in weakness/ And you 
 would be persuaded of it, with applica- 
 tion to yourselves, if ever you would reach 
 the end. Phil. iv. 13. 'I can do all 
 things through Christ which strengthened 
 me.' God allows you to be persuaded of 
 it, whatever is your weakness and the 
 difficulty of the task. ' For your sakes 
 this is written, That he that ploweth 
 slould plow in hope ; and that he that 
 thresheth in hope, should be partaker of 
 his hope,' 1 Cor. ix. 10. And the belief 
 thereof is a piece of the life of faith, 2 Tim. 
 ii. 1. If you have no hope of success, 
 your endeavours, as they will be heart- 
 less, so they will be vain. ' Wherefore 
 lift up the hands that hang down, and the 
 feeble knees,' Heb. xii. 12. 
 
 2. Whatever hand is, or is not, in your 
 
166 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 humbling circumstances, do you take 
 God for your party, and consider your- 
 selves therein as under his mighty hand, 
 Micah vi. 9. Men in their humbling cir- 
 cumstances overlook God ; so they find 
 not themselves called to humility under 
 them ; they fix their eyes on the creature 
 instrument, and instead of humility their 
 hearts rise. But take him for your party, 
 that ye may remember the battle, and do 
 no more, Job xli. 8. 
 
 3. Be much in the thoughts of God's 
 infinite greatness; consider his holiness 
 and majesty, fit to awe you into deepest 
 humiliation, Isaiah vi. 3, 4, 5. Job met 
 with many humbling providences in his 
 case, but he was never sufficiently hum- 
 bled under them, till the Lord made a 
 new discovery of himself unto him, in his 
 infinite majesty and greatness. He kept 
 his ground against his friends, and stood 
 to his points, till the Lord took that me- 
 thod with him. It was begun with thun- 
 der, Job xxxvii. J, 2. Then followed 
 God's voice out of the whirlwind, chap, 
 xxxviii. 1. whereon Job is brought down, 
 chap. xl. 4, 5. It is renewed till he is 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 167 
 
 farther humbled, chap. xlii. 5,6. ' Where- 
 fore I abhor myself, and repent in dust 
 and ashes.' 
 
 4. Inure yourselves silently to admit 
 mysteries in the conduct of Providence 
 towards you, which you are not able to 
 comprehend, but will adore, Rom. xi. 33. 
 ' O the depth of the riches, both of the 
 wisdom and knowledge of God ! how un- 
 searchable are his judgments, and his 
 ways past finding out !' That was the first 
 word God said to Job, xxxviii. 2. * Who 
 is this that darker.eth counsel by words 
 without knowledge?' It took him by the 
 heart, stuck with him, and he comes over 
 it again, chap. xlii. 3. as that which par- 
 ticularly brought him to his knees, to the 
 dust. Even in those steps of Providence, 
 which we seem to see far into, we may 
 well allow there are some mysteries be- 
 yond what we see. And in those which 
 are perplexing and puzzling, sovereignty 
 should silence us ; his infinite wisdom 
 should satisfy, though we cannot see. 
 
 5. Be much in the thoughts of your 
 own sinfulness, Job xl. 4. ' Behold I 
 am vile, what shall I answer thee? J will 
 lay mine hand upon my mouth.' It is 
 
168 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 overlooking of that which gives us so 
 much ado with humbling circumstances. 
 While the eyes are held that they cannot 
 see sin, the heart riseth against them ; 
 hut when they are opened, it falls. 
 Wherefore, whenever God is dealing with 
 you in humbling dispensations, turn your 
 eyes, upon that occasion, on the sinfulness 
 of your nature, heart, and life, and that 
 will help forward your humiliation. 
 
 6. Settle it in your heart, that there is 
 need of all the humbling circumstances 
 you are put in. This is truth, 1 Pet. i. 6. 
 ' Though now for a season (if need be) 
 ye are in heaviness from manifold tempta- 
 tions.' God brings no needless trials upon 
 us, afflicts none but as their need requires, 
 Lam. iii. 33. ' For he doth not afflict 
 willingly, nor grieve the children of men.' 
 That is an observable difference betwixt 
 our earthly and our heavenly Father's 
 correction, Heb. xii. 10. 'They, after 
 their own pleasure; but he for our pro- 
 fit, that we might be partakers of his ho- 
 liness.' Look to the temper of your own 
 hearts and nature, how apt to be lift up, 
 forget God, carried away with the vanities 
 of the world ; what foolishness is bound 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 169 
 
 up in your heart. Thus you will see the 
 need of humbling circumstances for bal- 
 last, and of the rod for the fool's back; and 
 if at any time you cannot see that need, 
 believe it on the ground of God's infinite 
 wisdom, that does nothing in vain. 
 
 7. Believe a kind design of Providence 
 in them towards you. God calls us to 
 this, as the key that opens the heart 
 under them, Rev. iii. 19. Satan suggests 
 suspicions to the contrary, as the bar 
 which may hold it shut, 2 Kings vi. 33. 
 1 This evil is of the Lord, what should I 
 wait for the Lord any longer?' As long 
 as the suspicions of an ill design in them 
 against us reigns, the creature will, like 
 the worm at the man's feet, put itself in 
 the best posture of defence it can, and 
 harden itself in sorrow : but the faith of a 
 kind design will cause it to open out it- 
 self in humility before him. 
 
 Case. ' O ! if I knew there were a kind 
 design in it, I would willingly bear it, al- 
 though there were more of it; but I fear 
 a ruining design of Providence against 
 me therein.' 
 
 Ans. Now, what word of God, or dis- 
 covery from heaven, have you to ground 
 
170 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 these fears upon ? None at all, 1 Cor. x. 
 13. What think you the design towards 
 you in the gospel is ? Can you believe no 
 kind design towards you in all the words 
 of grace there heaped up neither? What 
 is that, I pray, but black unbelief, flying 
 in the face of the truth of God, and making 
 him a liar, Isa. lv. 1., 1 John v. 10, 11. 
 The gospel is a breathing of love and 
 good-will to the world of mankind, even 
 to sinners of every description, Titus ii. 
 11, iii. 4., 1 John iv. 14., John iii. 17. 
 But you believe it not, in that case, more 
 than devils believe it. But if you believe 
 a kind design there, you must believe it 
 in your humbling circumstances too; for 
 the design of Providence cannot be con- 
 trary to the design of the gospel ; but 
 contrarywise the one is to help forward 
 the other. 
 
 8. Think with yourselves, that this life 
 is the time of trial for heaven, James i. 12. 
 Blessed is the man that endure th tempta- 
 tion ; for when he is tried, he shall receive 
 the crown of life, which the Lord hath pro- 
 mised to them that love him. And there- 
 fore there should be a welcoming of hum- 
 bling circumstances in that view, ver. 2. 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 171 
 
 * Count all joy when you fall into divers 
 temptations.' If there is an honourable 
 office, or beneficial employment to be 
 bestowed, men strive to be taken on trial 
 for it, in hope they may be thereupon 
 legally admitted to it. Now God takes 
 trial of men for heaven by humbling cir- 
 cumstances, as the whole Bible teacheth ; 
 and shall men be so very loth to stoop to 
 them? I would ask, 
 
 (l.)Is it nothing to you to stand a 
 candidate for glory, to be put on trials for 
 heaven ? Is there not an honour in it, an 
 honour which all the saints have had ? 
 James v. 11. ' Behold we count them 
 happy that endure.' And a fair pros- 
 pect in it, 2 Cor. iv. 17. ' For our light 
 affliction, which is but for a moment, 
 worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory.' Do but put 
 the case, should God overlook you 
 as one whom it is needless ever to try 
 on that head ; should he order your por- 
 tion in this life with full ease, as one that 
 is to get no more of him; what would 
 that be ? 
 
 (2.) What a vast disproportion is there 
 between your trials and the glory ! Your 
 
172 THE CKOOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 most humbling circumstances, how light 
 are they in comparison of the weight of 
 it ! The longest continued of them are 
 but for a moment, compared with the eter- 
 nal weight. Alas ! there is much unbelief 
 at the root of all our uneasiness under our 
 humbling circumstances. Had we a clearer 
 view of the other world, we should not 
 make so much of either the smiles or 
 frowns of this. 
 
 (3.) What think you of coming foul of 
 the trial of your humbling circumstances? 
 Jer. vi. 29, 30. The lead is consumed of 
 the fire ; the founder melteth in vain ; for 
 the wicked are not plucked away. Repro- 
 bate silver shall men call them, because the 
 Lord hath rejected them. That the issue 
 of it be only, that your heart-appear of 
 such a temper as by no means to be 
 humbled; and that therefore you must 
 and shall be taken off them, while yet no 
 humbling appears. I think the awfulness 
 of the dispensation is such, as might set 
 us to our knees to deprecate the lifting us 
 up from our humbling circumstances, ere 
 our hearts are humbled, Isa. i. 5., Ezek. 
 xxiv. 13. 
 
 9. Think with yourselves, how it is by 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 173 
 
 humbling circumstances the Lord prepares 
 us for heaven, Col. i. 12. Giving thanks 
 unto the Father, who hath made us meet to 
 be made partakers of the inheritance of the 
 saints in light, 2 Cor. v. 5. The stones 
 and timber are laid down, turned over 
 and over, and hewed, ere they be set up 
 in the building; and not just set up as 
 they come out of the quarry and wood. 
 Were they capable of a choice, such of 
 them as would refuse the iron tool would 
 be refused a place in the building. Pray, 
 how think ye to be made meet for heaven, 
 by the warm sunshine of this world's ease, 
 and getting all your will here ? Nay, Sirs, 
 that would put your mouth out of taste 
 for the joys of the other world. Vessels 
 of dishonour are fitted for destruction that 
 way ; but vessels of honour for glory by 
 humbling circumstances. I would here 
 say, • 
 
 (1.) Will nothing please you but two 
 heavens, one here, another hereafter? God 
 has secured one heaven for the saints, one 
 place where they shall get all their will, 
 wish, and desire; where there shall be no 
 weight on them to hold them down ; and 
 that is in the other world. But you must 
 
174 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 have it both here and there, or you cannot 
 digest it. Why do you not quarrel too 
 that there are not two summers in one 
 year; two days in twenty-four hours? 
 The order of the one heaven is as firm as 
 that of the years and days, and you will 
 not reverse it : therefore, choose you whe- 
 ther you will take your night or your day 
 first, your winter or your summer, your 
 heaven here or hereafter. 
 
 (2.) Without being humbled with hum- 
 bling circumstances in this life, you are 
 not capable of heaven, 2 Cor. v. 5. ' Now, 
 he that hath wrought us for the self-same 
 thing is God.' You may indeed lie at 
 ease here in a bed of sloth, and dream of 
 heaven big with hopes of a fool's para- 
 dise, wishing to cast yourselves just out 
 of Delilah's lap into Abraham's bosom ; 
 but without you be humbled you are not 
 capable. 
 
 (1.) Of the Bi^e-heaven, that heaven 
 described in the Old and New Testaments. 
 Is not that heaven a lifting up in due time ? 
 But, how shall you be lifted up that are 
 never well got down? Where will your 
 tears be to be wiped away ? What place 
 will there be for your triumph, that will 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 175 
 
 not fight the good fight ? How can it be a 
 rest to you, who cannot away with labour ? 
 
 (2.) Of the saints' heaven, Rev. vii. 14. 
 'And he said unto me, These are they 
 which came out of great tribulation, and 
 have washed their robes, and made them 
 white in the blood of the Lamb.' This 
 answers the question touching Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob, and all the saints with 
 them there : they were brought down to 
 the dust with humbling circumstances, 
 and out of these they came before the 
 throne. How can you ever think to be 
 lifted up with them, with whom you can- 
 not think to be brought down ? 
 
 (3.) Of Christ's heaven, Heb. xii. 2. 
 ' Who for the joy that was set before him, 
 endured the cross, despising the shame, 
 and is now set down at the right hand of 
 God/ O ! consider how the Forerunner 
 made his way, Luke xxiv. 26. ' Ought 
 not Christ to have suffered these things, 
 and to enter into his glory V And lay your 
 accounts with it, that if you get where he 
 is, you must go thither as he went, Luke 
 ix. 23. ' And he said, If any man will 
 come after me, let him deny himself, and 
 take up his cross daily, and follow me/ 
 
176 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 10. Give up at length with your tower- 
 ing hopes from this world, and confine 
 them to the world to come. Be as pil- 
 grims and strangers here, looking for your 
 rest in heaven, and not till you come there. 
 There is a prevailing evil, Isai. lvii. 10. — 
 ' Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy 
 way : yet saidst thou not, There is no 
 hope.' So the Babel- building is still con- 
 tinued, though it has fallen down again 
 and again : For men say, ' The bricks are 
 fallen down, but we will build with hewn 
 stones ; the sycamores are cut down, but 
 we will change them into cedars/ Isai. 
 ix. 10. This makes humbling work very 
 tedious; we are so hard to quit the 
 hold of the creature, to fall off from the 
 breast and be weaned : but fasten your 
 grasp on the other world, and let this 
 go; so shall you 'be humbled' indeed 
 under ' the mighty hand.' The faster 
 you hold the happiness of that world, 
 the easier will it be to accommodate 
 yourselves to your humbling circum- 
 stances here. 
 
 11. Make use of Christ in all his offices, 
 for your humiliation under your humbling 
 circumstances. That only is kindly hu- 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 177 
 
 miliation that comes in that way, Zech. 
 xii. 10. ' And they shall look upon me 
 whom they have pierced, and they shall 
 mourn,' &c. That you must do by trust- 
 ing on him for that effect, 
 
 (1.) As a Priest for you. You have a 
 conscience full of guilt, and that will make 
 one uneasy in any circumstances, and far 
 more in humbling circumstances; it will 
 be like a thorn in the shoulder on which 
 a burden is laid. But the blood of Christ 
 will purge the conscience, draw out the 
 thorn, give ease, Isa. xxxiii. 24. and fit 
 for service, doing or suffering, Heb. ix. 1 4. 
 * How much more shall the blood of Christ 
 — purge your conscience from dead works 
 to serve the living God?' 
 
 (2.) As your JProp/zeHo teach you. We 
 have need to be taught rightly to discern 
 our humbling circumstances; for, often 
 we mistake them so far, that they prove 
 an oppressive load ; whereas, could we 
 rightly see them, just as God sets them to 
 us, they would be humbling, but not so 
 oppressive. Truly we need Christ, and 
 the light of his word and spirit, to let us 
 see our cross and trial as well as our duty, 
 Psal. xxv. 9, 10. 
 
 N 
 
178 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 (3.) As your King. You have a stiff 
 heart, loth to bow even in humbling cir- 
 cumstances : take a lesson from Moses 
 what to do in such a case, Exod. xxxiv. 9. 
 1 And he said, Let my Lord, I pray thee, 
 go amongst us, (for it is a stiff-necked peo- 
 ple,) and pardon our iniquity and our sin.' 
 Put it in his hands that is strong and 
 mighty, Psal. xxiv. 8. He is able to cause 
 it to melt, and, like wax before the fire, 
 turn to the seal. 
 
 Think on these directions, in order to 
 put them in practice, remembering, that 
 if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye 
 do them. Remember humbling work is 
 a work that will fill your hand, while you 
 live here, and that you cannot come to the 
 end of till death; and humbling circum- 
 stances will attend you, while you are in 
 this lower world. A change of them you 
 may get ; but a freedom from them you 
 cannot, till you come to heaven. So the 
 humbling circumstances of our imperfec- 
 tions, relations, contradictions, afflictions, 
 uncertainties, and sinfulness, will afford 
 matter of exercise to us while here. — 
 What remains of the purpose of this text, 
 I shall comprise in, 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT, 179 
 
 Doct. II. There is a due time, wherein 
 those that now humble themselves under 
 the mighty hand oj' God will certainly 
 be lifted up. We shall take, 
 
 I. A general view of this point. And 
 consider, 
 
 1st. Some things supposed and implied 
 in it. It bears, 
 
 1. That those who shall share of this 
 lifting up, must lay their accounts, in the 
 first place, with a casting down, Rev. vii. 
 14., John xvi. 33. ' In the world ye shall 
 have tribulation.' There is no coming to 
 the promised land, according to the settled 
 method of grace, but through the wilder- 
 ness ; nor entering into this exaltation, 
 but through a strait gate. If we cannot 
 away with the casting down, we shall not 
 taste of the sweet of the lifting up. 
 
 2. Being cast down by the mighty hand 
 of God, we must learn to lie still and quiet 
 under it, till the same hand that cast us 
 down, raise us up, if we would share of 
 this promised lifting up, Lam. iii. 27. It 
 is not the being cast down into humbling 
 
 M 2 
 
180 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 circumstances, by the Providence of God, 
 but the submitting of our spirits under 
 them, by the grace of God, that brings us 
 within the compass of this promise. 
 
 3. Never humbled in humbling circum- 
 stances, never lifted up in the way of this 
 promise. Men may keep their spirits on 
 the high bend in their humbling circum- 
 stances, and in that case may obtain a lift- 
 ing up, Prov. xvi. 19. But note this, what 
 they gain will be a lifting up, to the end 
 they may have the more grievous fall. 
 ' Surely thou didst set them in slippery 
 places, thou castest them down in a mo- 
 ment,' Psalm lxxiii. 18. But they who 
 will not humble themselves in humbling 
 circumstances, will find their obstinacy 
 as a nail, that will keep their misery ever 
 fast on them without remedy. 
 
 4. Humility of spirit in humbling cir- 
 cumstances, ascertains a lifting up out of 
 tliem some time, with the good-will and 
 favour of heaven, Luke xviii. 14. ' I tell 
 you this man went down to his house jus- 
 tified rather than the other ; for every one 
 that exalteth himself shall be abased, and 
 he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.' 
 Solomon observes, Prov. xv. 1. that ' a 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 181 
 
 soft answer turneth away wrath ; but 
 grievous words stir up anger.' And so it 
 is, that while the proud, through their ob- 
 stinacy, do but wreathe the yoke faster 
 about their own necks, the yielding hum- 
 ble ones, by their yielding, make their re- 
 lief sure, 1 Sam. ii. 8, 9, 10. ' Heraiseth 
 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 the 
 cannon-ball breaks down a stone wail, 
 while the yielding packs of wool 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 hum- 
 bling, so for lifting up, Eccles. iii. 3. We 
 know it not, but God knows it, who hath 
 
182 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 appointed it. Let not the humble one 
 say, I will never be lifted up; there is a 
 time fixed for it, as precisely as for the 
 rising of the sun after the long and dark 
 night, or the return of the spring after the 
 long and sharp winter. 
 
 6. It is not to be expected, that imme- 
 diately upon one's humbling himself) the 
 lifting up is to follow. No : one is not to 
 lie down under the mighty hand, but lie 
 still, waiting the due time ; humbling work 
 is tedious work ; the Israelites had forty 
 years of it in the wilderness. God's peo- 
 ple 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 dark- 
 ness and hath no light? Let him trust in 
 the name of the Lord, and stay upon his 
 God.' 
 
 7. Theappointed 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 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 183 
 
 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.' There is much of 
 the beauty of a thing depends on the 
 timing of it, and he has fixed that in all 
 that he does, Eccles.iii.il. 'He hath 
 made every thing beautiful in his time/ 
 
 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, 
 in its 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. 
 
 II. A word, in the genral, to the lift- 
 ing vp, abiding those that humble them- 
 selves. There is a two-fold lifting up. 
 
 1. A partial lifting up, competent to the 
 humbled in time, during this life, Psalm 
 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 
 
184 THE CROOK IN THF. LOT. 
 
 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 and halves, but carries their relief 
 to perfection, Heb. xii. 23. Then he takes 
 oft" 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 more. 
 Now, there is a due time for both these. 
 
 (I.) For the partial Mh'mg up. Every 
 time is not fit for it; we are not always fit 
 to receive comfort, an ease or a change of 
 
THE CROOK IX THE LOT. 185 
 
 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,' Psalm 
 cvii. 12. But then there is a time really 
 appointed for it in the divine wisdom, 
 when he will think it as needful to com- 
 fort them, as before to bring down, 2 Cor. 
 ii. 7. ' So that, contraryways, 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 plaister 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, 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 work; so am I made to possess 
 months of vanity, and wearisome nights 
 are appointed me.' But it may be fit- 
 ter, for all that, that we stay a while, 
 and wrestle with our burdens, Phil. i. 24, 
 25. 'Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh 
 
186 ' TIIK CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 is more needful for you. And having 
 this confidence, I know that I shall abide 
 and continue with you all, for your fur- 
 therance and joy of faith.' A few days 
 might have taken Israel out of Egypt into 
 Canaan ; but they would have been over 
 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 not sooner. And thus a lifting up 
 is secured for the humble. 
 
 III. The certainty of the lifting up of 
 those that humble themselves under the 
 humbling circumstances. If one would 
 assure you, when reduced to poverty, 
 that the time should certainly come yet 
 that ye should be rich; when sore sick, 
 that ye 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 con- 
 tinue poor, and never be rich, may be 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 187 
 
 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, with- 
 out all peradventure, be lifted up out of, 
 and relieved from, their humbling circum- 
 stances : they shall certainly see the day 
 of their ease and relief, when they shall 
 remember their burdens as waters that 
 fail. And ye may be assured thereof, 
 from the following considerations. 
 
 1. The nature of God, duly considered, 
 ensures it, Psalm 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 na- 
 ture 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 
 
188 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 to take 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—9. And therefore his 
 power is a spirit of comfort to them, 
 Horn. 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 hum- 
 bled of a lifting up in due time. That is a 
 word of inconceivable sweetness, 1 John 
 iv. 16. 'And we know and believe the 
 love that God hath to 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, 
 Psa. ciii. 13. ' Like as a father pitieth 
 his children, so the Lord pitieth them that 
 fear him. 7 Yea, bowels of mercy more 
 tender than a mother to her sucking child, 
 Isa. xlix. 15. Wherefore, howbeithis wis- 
 dom may see it necessary to put them in 
 humbling circumstances, and keep them 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 189 
 
 in them for a time, it is not possible he 
 can leave them in them for altogether. 
 
 (3.) Infinite wisdom, that doth nothing 
 in vain, and therefore will not needlessly 
 keep one in humbling circumstances, 
 Lam. iii. 32, 33. ' But though he cause 
 grief, yet he will have compassion accord- 
 ing to the multitude of his mercies ; for 
 he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the 
 children of men.' God sends them on 
 for humbling, as the end and design to be 
 brought about by them; when that is ob- 
 tained, and there is no more use for them 
 that way, we may assure ourselves they 
 will be taken off. 
 
 2. The providence of God, viewed in its 
 stated method of procedure with its ob- 
 jects, ensures it. Turn your eyes which 
 way you will on the divine providence, 
 you may conclude thence, that in due 
 time the humble will be lifted up. 
 
 (1.) Observe the providence of God, in 
 the revolutions of the whole course of 
 nature, day succeeding to the longest 
 night, a summer to the winter, a waxing 
 to a waning of the moon, a Mowing to an 
 ebbing of the sea, &c. Let not the Lord's 
 humbled ones be idle spectators of these 
 
190 THE CROOK IS THE LOT. 
 
 things ; they are for our learning, Jer. 
 xxxii. 35, 36, 37. ' Thus saith the Lord, 
 which giveth the sun for a light by day, 
 and the ordinances of the moon, and of 
 the stars for a light by night, which divi- 
 deth the sea, when the waters thereof roar; 
 the Lord of hosts is his name. If these 
 ordinances depart from before me, saith 
 the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall cease 
 from being a nation before me for ever/ 
 Will the Lord's hand keep such a steady 
 course in the earth, sea, and visible hea- 
 vens, as to bring a lifting up in them after 
 a casting down, and only forget his hum- 
 bled ones? No, by no means. 
 
 (2.) Observe the providence of God, in 
 the dispensations thereof, about the Man 
 Christ, the most noble and august object 
 thereof, more valuable than a thousand 
 worlds, Col. ii. 9. Did not providence 
 keep this course with him, first humbling 
 him, then exalting him, and lifting him 
 up ? first bringing him to the dust of 
 death, in a course of sufferings thirty- 
 three years, then exalt him to the Father's 
 right hand in eternity of glory ? Heb. 
 xii. 2. ' Who, for the joy that was set 
 before him, endured the cross, despising 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 191 
 
 the shame, and is now set down at the 
 right hand of the throne of God/ Phil. ii. 
 8, 9. ' And being found in fashion as 
 a man, he humbled himself, and became 
 obedient unto death, even the death of 
 the cross: Wherefore God hath also high- 
 ly exalted him.' The exaltation could not 
 fail to follow his humiliation, Luke xxiv. 
 26. ' Ought not Christ to have suffered 
 these things, and to enter into his glory V 
 And he saw and believed it would follow, 
 as the springing of the seed doth the sow- 
 ing it, John xii. 24. There is a near con- 
 cern the humbled in the humbling circum- 
 stances have herein. 
 
 (1.) This is the pattern Providence 
 copies after in its conduct towards you. 
 The Father was so well pleased with this 
 method, in the case of his own Son, that 
 it was determined to be followed, and 
 just copied over again in the case of all 
 the heirs of glory, Rom. viii. 29. ' For 
 whom he did foreknow, he also did pre- 
 destinate to be conformed to the image of 
 his Son, that he might be the first-born 
 among many brethren.' And who would 
 not be pleased to walk through the dark 
 valley treading his steps? 
 
192 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 (2.) This is a sure pledge of your lifting 
 up. Christ, in his state of humiliation, 
 was considered as a public Person and 
 Jtepresentative, and so is he in his ex- 
 altation. So Christ's exaltation insures 
 your exaltation out of your humbling cir- 
 cumstances, Isa. xxvi. 19. * Thy dead 
 men shall live, together with my dead 
 body shall they arise ; awake and sing, 
 ye that dwell in the dust,' IIos. vi. 1,2. 
 ' Come and let us return unto the Lord : 
 for he hath torn, and he will heal us ; he 
 hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 
 After two days he will revive us : in the 
 third day, he will raise us up, and we 
 shall live in his sight/ Eph. ii. 6. ' And 
 hath raised us up together, and made us 
 sit together in heavenly places in Christ 
 Jesus.' Yea, he is gone into the state of 
 glory for us as our forerunner, Ileb. vi. 
 20. ' Whither the forerunner is for us 
 entered, even Jesus, made a High Priest 
 for ever.' 
 
 (3.) His humiliation was the price of 
 your exaltation, and his exaltation a full 
 testimony of the acceptance of its pay- 
 ment to the full. There are no humbling 
 circumstances vou are in, but you would 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 193 
 
 have perished in them, had not he pur- 
 chased your lifting up out of them by his 
 own humiliation, Isa. xxvi. 19. Now, 
 his humbling grace in you is an evidence 
 of the acceptance of his humiliation for 
 your lifting up. 
 
 3. Observe the providence of God to- 
 wards the church in all ages. This has 
 been the course the Lord has kept with 
 her, Psa. cxxix. 1 — 4. Abel was slain by 
 the wicked Cain, to the great grief of 
 Adam and Eve, and the rest of their 
 pious children ; but then there was an- 
 other seed raised up in Abel's room after, 
 Genesis iv. 25. Noah and his sons were 
 buried alive in the ark more than a year: 
 but then they were brought out into a 
 new world and blessed. Abraham for 
 many years went childless; but at length 
 Isaac was born. Israel was long in 
 miserable bondage in Egypt ; but at 
 length seated in the promised land, &c. 
 We must be content to go by the foot- 
 steps of the flock ; and if in humiliation, 
 we shall surely follow them in exaltation 
 too. 
 
 4. Observe the providence of God in 
 the dispensation of his grace towards his 
 
 o 
 
194 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 children. The general rule is, 1 Pet. v. 5. 
 1 For God resisteth the proud, and giveth 
 grace to the humble/ How are they 
 brought into a state of grace? Is it notf 
 by a sound work of humiliation going 
 before? Luke vi. 48. And ordinarily 
 the greater measure of grace is designed 
 for one, the deeper is their humiliation 
 before, as in Paul's c?se. If they are to 
 be recovered out of a backslidden case, 
 the same method is followed : so that 
 deepest humiliation ordinarily makes way 
 for the greatest comforts, and the darkest 
 hour goes before the rising of the Sun 
 of Righteousness upon them, Isa. lxvi. 
 5— 13. 
 
 5. Observe the providence of God at 
 length throwing down wicked men, how- 
 ever long they stand and prosper, Fsa. 
 xxxvii. 35, 36. * I have seen the wicked 
 in great power, and spreading himself like 
 a green bay tree ; yet he passed away, 
 and lo he was not; yea, I sought him but 
 he could not be found.' They are long 
 green before the sun, but at length they 
 are suddenly smitten with an east wind, 
 and wither away ; their lamp goes out, 
 and they are thrust into obscure dark- 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 195 
 
 ness. Now, it is inconsistent with the 
 benignity of the divine nature, to forget 
 the humble to raise them, while he minds 
 the proud to abase them. 
 
 The word of God puts it beyond all 
 peradventure, which, from the beginning, 
 to the end, is the humbled saint's security 
 for lifting up, Psa. cxix. 49, 50. ' Re- 
 member the word unto thy servant, upon 
 which thou hast caused me to hope. — 
 This is my comfort in my affliction ; for 
 thy word hath quickened me.' His word 
 is the great letter of his name, which 
 he will certainly cause to shine, Psalm 
 cxxxviii. 2. ' For thou hast magnified 
 thy word above all thy name ;' and in all 
 generations hast been safely trusted to, 
 Psa. xii. 6. Consider, 
 
 (1.) The doctrines of the word, which 
 teach faith and hope for the time, and 
 the happy issue the exercises these graces 
 will have. The whole current of scrip- 
 ture, to those in humbling circumstance?, 
 is, ' Not to cast away their confidence, 
 but to hope to the end ;' and that for 
 this good reason, that ' it shall not be 
 in vain. 7 See Psa. xxvii. 14. ' Wait 
 on the Lord ; be of good courage, and 
 o2 
 
196 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 he shall strengthen thine heart ; Wait, I 
 say, on the Lord.' And compare, Rom. 
 ix. 33. Isa. xlix. 23. ' For they shall 
 not be ashamed that wait for me.' 
 
 (2.) The promises of the word, whereby 
 heaven is expressly engaged for a lifting 
 up to those that humble themselves in 
 humbling circumstances, James iv. 10. 
 1 Humble yourselves in the sight of the 
 Lord, and he shall lift you up.' Matt, 
 xxiii. 12. ' And he that humbleth him- 
 self shall be exalted. 7 It may take a 
 time to prepare them for lifting up, but 
 that being done, it is secured, Psa. x. 17. 
 1 Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the 
 humble, thou wilt prepare their heart ; 
 thou wilt cause thine ear to hear.' They 
 have his word for deliverance, Psa. 1. 15. 
 And though they may seem to be for- 
 gotten, they shall not be always so; the 
 time of their deliverance will come, Psa. 
 ix. 18. ' For the needy shall not always 
 be forgotten : the expectation of the poor 
 shall not perish for ever, Psa. cii. 17. 
 ' He will regard the prayer of the des- 
 titute, and not despise their prayer.' 
 
 (3.) The examples of the word suffi- 
 ciently confirming the truth of the doc- 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 197 
 
 trines and promises, Rom. xv. 4. 'For 
 whatsoever things were written afore 
 time, were written for our learning ; that 
 we through patience and comfort of the 
 scriptures might have hope. 7 In the doc- 
 trines and promises the lifting up is pro- 
 posed to our faith, to be reckoned on the 
 credit of God's word ; but, in the ex- 
 amples it is, in the case of others, set 
 before our eyes to be seen, James v. 11. 
 ' Behold we count them happy which en- 
 dure. Ye have heard of the patience 
 of Job, and have seen the end of the 
 Lord ; that the Lord is very pitiful, and 
 of tender mercy.' There we see it in the 
 case of Abraham, Job, David, Paul, and 
 other saints; but above all, in the case of 
 the Man Christ. 
 
 (4.) The intercession of Christ, joining 
 the prayers and cries of his humbled peo- 
 ple, in their humbling circumstances, en- 
 sures a lifting up for them at length. Be 
 it so, that the proud cry not when he 
 bindeth them ; yet his own humbled ones 
 will not do so, they will cry, Ps. xlii. 
 7, 8. ' Deep calleth unto deep, at the 
 noise of thy water spouts ; all thy waves 
 and thy billows are gone over me. Yet 
 
198 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 the Lord will command his loving-kind- 
 ness in the day-time, and in the night his 
 song shall be with me, and my prayer 
 unto the God of my life.' And though 
 unbelievers may soon beoutwearied, and 
 give it over altogether, true believers 
 will not do so ; but though they may, in 
 a fit of temptation, lay it by as hopeless, 
 they will find themselves obliged to take 
 it up again, Jer. xx. 9. ' Then I said, I 
 will not make mention of him, nor speak 
 any more in his name. But his word was 
 in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in 
 my bones, and I was weary with forbear- 
 ing, and I could not stay;' and continue 
 to cry on night and day, Luke xviii. 7. 
 knowing no time for giving it over till 
 they be lifted up. Lam. iii. 49, 50. 'Mine 
 eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, with- 
 out any intermission ; till the Lord look 
 down, and behold from heaven.' Now, 
 Christ's intercession being joined to these 
 cries, there cannot miss to be a lifting up. 
 — Consider, 
 
 (1.) Christ's intercession is certainly 
 joined with the cries and prayers of the 
 humbled in their humbling circumstances. 
 Rev. viii. 3. ' And another angel came 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 199 
 
 and stood at the altar, having a golden 
 censer; and there was given unto him 
 much incense, that he should offer it with 
 the prayers of all saints upon the golden 
 altar which was before the throne/ They 
 are by the Spirit helped to groan for re- 
 lief, Rom. viii. 26, and the prayers and 
 groans, which are through the Spirit, are 
 certainly to be made effectual by the in- 
 tercession of the Son, James v. 16. And 
 ye may know they are by the Spirit, if so 
 be ye are helped to continue praying, 
 hoping for your suit at last on the ground 
 of God's word of promise; for nature's 
 praying is a pool that will dry up in a 
 long drought. It is the spirit of prayer 
 is the lasting spring, John iv. 14. Psa. 
 cxxxviii. 3. 'In the day when I cried 
 thou answeredst me; and strengthenedst 
 me with strength in my soul.' Truly 
 there is an intercession in heaven, on ac- 
 count of the humbling circumstances of 
 the humble ones. ' Then the angel of 
 the Lord answered and said, O Lord of 
 hosts, how long wilt thou not have 
 mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of 
 Judah, against which thou hast had in- 
 dignation these threescore and ten years?' 
 
200 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 Zech. i. 12. How then can they miss of 
 a lifting up in due time? 
 
 (2.) He is in deepest earnest in his in- 
 tercession for his people in their humbling 
 circumstances. Some will speak a good 
 word in favour of the helpless, that will 
 be little concerned whether they suc- 
 ceed or not ; but our intercessor is in 
 earnest in behalf of his humbled ones ; 
 for he is touched with sympathy in their 
 case, Isa. lxiii. 9. ' In all their afflictions 
 he was afflicted.' Amosttendersympathy, 
 Zech. ii. 8. ' For he that toucheth you, 
 toucheth the apple of his eye/ He has 
 their case upon his heart, where he is in 
 the holy place in the highest heavens, 
 Exod. xxviii. 29. and he keeps exact ac- 
 count of the time of their humbling cir- 
 cumstances, be it as long as it will. Zech. 
 i. 12. Moreover, it is his own business ; 
 the lifting up they are to have is a thing 
 that is secured to him, in the promises 
 made to him on the account of his blood 
 shed for them, Psa. lxxxix. 33, 36. So 
 not only are they looking on earth, but the 
 Man Christ is in heaven looking for the ac- 
 complishment of these promises, Heb. x. 
 12,13. « But this man, after he had offered 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 201 
 
 one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down 
 on the right hand of God; from hence- 
 forth expecting till his enemies be made 
 his footstool/ How is it possible, then, that 
 looking should be disappointed? More- 
 over, these humbling circumstances are 
 his own sufferings still, though not in 
 his person, yet in his members, Col. i. 24. 
 i Who now rejoice in my sufferings for 
 you, and fill up that which is behind of 
 the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for 
 his body's sake, which is the church.' 
 Wherefore there is all ground to conclude 
 he is in deep earnest. 
 
 (3.) His intercession is always effec- 
 tual. John xi. 42. ' And I know that 
 thou hearest me always.' It cannot miss 
 to be so, because he is the Father's 
 well-beloved Son ; his intercession has 
 a plea of justice for the ground of it, 
 1 John ii. 1 . ' W T e have an advocate with 
 the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.' 
 Moreover, he has all power in heaven 
 and earth lodged in him, 1 John v. 22. 
 And, finally, he and his Father are one, 
 and their will one. So, for the present 
 time, both Christ and his Father do will 
 
202 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 the lifting up of the humble ones, but yet 
 only in due time. 
 
 Secondly, I proceed to a more parti- 
 cular view of the point. And, 
 
 1st, We will consider the lifting up as 
 brought about in time, which is the partial 
 lifting up. And, 
 
 (1.) Some considerations for clearing 
 the nature thereof. 
 
 1. This lifting up does not take place 
 in every case of a child of God. One 
 may be humbled in humbling circum- 
 stances, from which he is to get a lifting 
 up in time. We would not from the 
 promise presently conclude, that we be- 
 ing humbled under our humbling cir- 
 cumstances, shall certainly be taken out 
 of them, and freed from them ere we 
 get to the end of our journey. For it 
 is certain, there are some, such as our 
 imperfections, and sinfulness, and mor- 
 tality, we can by no means be rid of 
 while in this world. And there are par- 
 ticular humbling circumstances the Lord 
 may hang about one, and keep about 
 him, till they go down to the grave, 
 while, in the mean time, he may lift up 
 
THE CROOK IK THE LOT. 203 
 
 another from the same. Hem an was 
 pressed down all along from his youth, 
 Psalm lxxxviii. 15. others all their life- 
 time, Heb. ii. 15. 
 
 Object. * If that be the case, what 
 comes of the promise of lifting up ? 
 Where is the lifting up, if one may get 
 to the grave under the weight?' 
 
 Ans. Were there no life after this, 
 there would be weight in that objection ; 
 but since there is another life, there is 
 none in it at all. In the other life the 
 promise will be accomplished to the hum- 
 bled, as it was, Luke xvi. 22. Consider 
 that the great term for accomplishing 
 the promises, is the other life, not this. 
 ' These all died in the faith, not having 
 received the promises, but having seen 
 them afar off, and were persuaded of 
 them, and embraced them, 7 Heb. xi. 13. 
 And that whatever accomplishment of the 
 promise is here, it is not the nature of the 
 stock, but of a sample or a pledge. 
 
 Quest. ' But then, may we not give 
 over praying for the lifting up, in that 
 case?' 
 
 Ans. We do not know when that is 
 our case ; for a case may be past all hope 
 
204 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 in our eyes, and the eyes of others, in 
 which God designs a lining up in time, 
 as in Job, chap. vi. 11. ' What is my 
 strength that I should hope? and what 
 is mine end that I should prolong my 
 life? 7 But, be it as it will, we should 
 never give over praying for the lifting 
 up, since it will certainly come to all 
 that pray in faith for it; if not here, yet 
 hereafter. The promise is sure, and that 
 is the commandment; so such praying 
 cannot miss of a happy issue at length, 
 Psalm 1. 15. ' And call upon me in the 
 day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and 
 thou shalt glorify me.' The whole life 
 of a Christian is such a praying, waiting 
 life, to encourage whereunto all tempo- 
 ral deliverances are given as pledges. 
 Rom. viii. 2 3. ' And not only they, but 
 ourselves also, which have the first fruits 
 of the Spirt; even we ourselves groan 
 within ourselves, waiting for the adop- 
 tion, even the redemption of our body/ 
 And whoso observes that full lifting up 
 at death to be at hand, must certainly 
 rise, if he has given over his case as 
 hopeless. 
 
 2. However, there are some cases 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 205 
 
 wherein this lifting up does take place. 
 God gives his people some notable lift- 
 ings up, even in time raising them out 
 of remarkable humbling circumstances. 
 The storm is changed into a calm, and 
 they remember it as waters that fail, 
 Psalm xl. 1 — 4. Two things may be 
 observed on this. 
 
 (1.) One may be in humbling circum- 
 stances very long, and sore, and hope- 
 less, and yet a lifting up may be abiding 
 them, of a much longer continuance. 
 This is sometimes the case of the chil- 
 dren of God, who are set to bear the 
 yoke in their youth, as it was with Joseph 
 and David ; and of them that get it laid 
 on them in their middle age, as it was 
 with Job, who could not be less than 
 forty at his trouble's coming, but after it 
 lived one hundred and forty, Job xlii. 16. 
 God by such methods prepares man for 
 peculiar usefulness. 
 
 (2.) One may be in humbling circum- 
 stances long and sore, and quite hopeless 
 in the ordinary course of providence, 
 yet they may get a clear and warm blink 
 of a lifting up, ere they come to their 
 journey's end, The life of some of God's 
 children is like a cloudy and rainy day, 
 
206 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 wherein, in the evening, the sun breaks 
 out from under the clouds, shines fair 
 and clear a little, and then sets. ' And 
 it shall come to pass in that day, that 
 the light shall not be clear, nor dark. 
 But it shall come to pass, that at evening 
 time it shall be light/ Zech. xiv. 6, 7. 
 Such was the case of Jacob in his old 
 age, brought in honour and comfort into 
 Egypt unto his son, and then died. 
 
 (3.) Yet whatever liftings up they 
 get in this life, they will never want 
 some weights hanging about them for 
 their humbling. They may have their 
 singing times, but their songs while in 
 this world will be mixed with groanings, 
 2 Cor. v. 4. ' For we that are in this 
 tabernacle do groan, being burdened.' 
 The unmixed dispensation is reserved for 
 the other world : but this will be a wil- 
 derness unto the end, where there will 
 be bowlings with the most joyful notes. 
 
 Lastly, All the liftings up the hum- 
 bled meet with now are pledges, and 
 but pledges, samples, and earnests of 
 the great lifting up, abiding them on the 
 other side; and they should look on them 
 so. 
 
 (1.) They are really so, Hos. ii. 15. 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 207 
 
 And I will give her vineyards from thence, 
 and the valley of Achorfor a door of hope ; 
 and she shall sing there as in the days of her 
 youth, and as in the day when she came up 
 out of the land of Egypt. Our Lord Jesus 
 is leading his people now through the 
 wilderness, and the manna and water of 
 the rock are earnests for the time of the 
 milk and honey flowing in the promised 
 land. They are not yet come home to 
 their Father's house, but they are travel- 
 ling on the road, and Christ their elder 
 Brother with them, Song iv. 8. who bears 
 their expenses, takes them into inns by 
 the way, as it were, and refreshes them 
 with partial liftings up; after which, they 
 must proceed on their road again. But 
 that entertainment by the way is a pledge 
 of the full entertainment he will afford 
 them when they arrive at home. 
 
 Object. ' But people may get a lifting 
 up in time, that yet is no pledge of a lift- 
 ing up on the other side : How shall I 
 know it then to be a pledge? 7 
 
 Ans. That lifting up which comes by 
 the promises, is certainly a pledge of the 
 full lifting up in the other world ; for, as 
 the other life is the proper time of the ac- 
 complishing of the promises, so we may 
 
208 the crook in the lot. 
 
 be sure, that when God once begins to 
 clear his bond, he will certainly hold on 
 till it is fully cleared. ' The Lord will 
 perfect that which concerneth me,' Psalm 
 cxxxviii. 8. So we may say as Naomi to 
 Ruth, upon her receiving the six measures 
 of barley from Boaz, Ruth iii. 18. ' He 
 will not be in rest until he have finished 
 the thing this day.' There are liftings up 
 that come by common providence, and 
 these indeed are single, and not pledges 
 of more; but the promise chains mercies 
 together, so that one got is a pledge of 
 another to come, yea, of the whole chain 
 to the end, 2 Sam. v. 12. 
 
 Quest. ' But how shall I know the lift- 
 ing up to come by the way of the pro- 
 mise?' 
 
 Ans. That which comes by the way of 
 the promise, does at once come the low 
 way of humiliation, the high way of faith, 
 or believing the promise, and the long 
 way of waiting hope and patient con- 
 tinuance, James v. 7. Be patient there- 
 fore, brethren,unto the coming of the Lord. 
 Behold the husbandman waiteth for the 
 precious fruit of the earth, and hath long 
 patience for it until he receive the early 
 and latter rain. Humility qualifies for 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 209 
 
 the accomplishment of the promise, faith 
 sucks the breasts of it, and patient waiting 
 hangs by the breast till the milk come 
 abundantly. 
 
 (2.) But no lifting up of God's chil- 
 dren here are any more than pledges of 
 lifting up. God gives worldly men their 
 stock here, but his children get nothing 
 but a sample of their's here, Psalm xvii. 
 1 4. Even as the servant at the term gets 
 his fee in a round sum, while the young 
 heir gets nothing but a few pence for 
 spending money. The truth is, the same 
 spending money is more valuable than 
 the world's stock, Psalm iv. 7. ' Thou 
 hast put gladness in my heart, more than 
 in the time that their corn and their wine 
 increased.' But though it is better than 
 that, and their services too, and more 
 worth than all their waiting, yet it is 
 below the honour of their God to put 
 them off' with it, Heb. xi. 16. ' But now 
 they desire a better country, that is, a 
 heavenly ; wherefore God is not ashamed 
 to be called their God ; for he hath pre- 
 pared for them a city.' 
 
 II. The part iul lifting up itself. What 
 they will get, getting this lifting up pro- 
 
 p 
 
210 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 mised to the humbled. Why, they will 
 get, 
 
 1 . A removal of their humbling circum- 
 stances. God having tried them awhile, 
 and humbled them, and brought down 
 their hearts, will at length take off their 
 burden, remove the weight so long hung 
 at them, and so take them off that part of 
 their trial joyfully, and let them get up 
 their back long bowed down ; and this 
 one of two ways. 
 
 (1.) Either in kind, removing the bur- 
 den for good and all. Such a lifting Job 
 got, when the Lord turned back his cap- 
 tivity, increased again his family and sub- 
 stance, which had both been desolated. 
 David, when Saul his persecutor fell in 
 battle, and he was brought to the king- 
 dom after many a weary day, expecting 
 one day to fall by his hand. It is easy 
 with our God to make such turns in the 
 most humbling circumstances. 
 
 (2.) Or in equivalent, or as good, re- 
 moving the weight of the burden, that 
 though it remains, it presses them no 
 more, 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10. ' And he said 
 unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, 
 for my strength is made perfect in weak- 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 211 
 
 ness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather 
 glory in my infirmities, that the power 
 of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore 
 I take pleasure in mine infirmities/ 
 Though they are not got to the shore, yet 
 their head is no more under the water, 
 but lifted up. David speaks feelingly of 
 such a lifting up, Psa. xxvii. 5, 6. ■ For 
 in the time of trouble he shall hide me in 
 his pavilion ; in the secret of his taberna- 
 cle shall he hide me; he shall set me upon 
 a rock. And now shall mine head be 
 lifted up above mine enemies round about 
 me ; therefore will I offer in his taber- 
 nacle sacrifices of joy : I will sing, yea I 
 will sing praises unto the Lord.' Such 
 had the three children in the fiery fur- 
 nace; the fire burnt, but it could burn 
 nothing of them but their bonds ; they 
 had the warmth and light of it, but nothing 
 of the scorching heat. Sometimes God 
 lifts up his people this way in their hum- 
 bling circumstances. 
 
 2. A comfortable sight of the accept- 
 ance of their prayers, put up their hum- 
 bling circumstances : While prayers are 
 not answered, but trouble continued, the 
 hangers on about the Lord's hand are apt 
 P 2 
 
212 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 to think they are not accepted or regarded 
 in heaven, because there is no alteration 
 in their case, Job ix. 16, 17. If I had 
 called, and he had answered me, yet would 
 I not believe that he had hearkened unto my 
 voice, for he breaketh me with a tempest. 
 But that is a mistake ; they are accepted 
 immediately, though not answered, 1 John 
 v. 14. And this is the confidence we have 
 in him, that if we ask any thing according 
 to his will, he heareth us. The Lord does 
 with them as a father, with the letters 
 coming from his son abroad, reads them 
 one by one with pleasure, and carefully 
 lays them up to be answered at his con- 
 venience. And when the answer comes, 
 the son will know how acceptable they 
 were to his father, Matt. xv. 28. So 
 here, &c. 
 
 3. A heart-satisfying answer of these 
 prayers, that is so as they shall not only 
 get the thing, but see they have it as an 
 answer of prayer; and they will put a 
 double value on the mercy, 1 Sam. ii. 1. 
 Accepted prayers may be very long of 
 answering, many years, as in Abraham 
 and David's case, but they cannot mis- 
 carry of an answer at length, Psalm ix. 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 213 
 
 18. The time will come when God will 
 tell out of them, according to the promise, 
 that they shall change their note, and say, 
 Psalm cxvi. 1. I love the Lord, because 
 he hath heard my voice, and my supplica- 
 tion. Looking on their lifting up as bear- 
 ing the signature of the hand of a prayer- 
 hearing God. 
 
 4. Full satisfaction, as to the conduct 
 of Providence, in all the steps of hum- 
 bling circumstances, and the delay of the 
 lifting up, however perplexing these were 
 before, Rev. xv. 3. Standing on the 
 shore, and looking back to what they have 
 passed through, they will be made to say, 
 * He hath done all things well/ These 
 things which are bitter to Christians in 
 the passing through, are very sweet in 
 the reflection on them; so is Samson's 
 riddle verified in their experiences. 
 
 5. They get the lifting up, together with 
 the interest for the time they lay out of it. 
 When God pays his bonds of promises, 
 he pays both stock and interest together; 
 the mercy is increased according to the 
 time man waited on, and the expenses 
 and hardships sustained, during the de- 
 pendance of the process. The fruits of 
 
2J4 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 common providences are soon ripe, soon 
 rotten; but the fruit of the promise is 
 readily long a ripening, but then it is 
 durable ; and the longer it is a ripening, 
 it is the more valuable when it comes. 
 Abraham and Sarah waited for the pro- 
 mise about ten years, at length they 
 thought on a way to hasten it, Gen. xvi. 
 1 — 6. That soon took in the birth of 
 Ishmael, but he was not the promised 
 son. They were coming into extreme old 
 age ere the promise brought forth, Gen. 
 xviii. 11. But when it came, they got it 
 with an addition of the renewing of their 
 ages, Gen. xxi. 7, and xxv. 1. The most 
 valuable of all the promises was the 
 longest in fulfilling, viz. the promise of 
 Christ, that was four thousand years. 
 
 6. The spiritual enemies, that flew 
 thick and throng about them in the time 
 of the darkness of the humbling circum- 
 stances, will be scattered at this lifting 
 up in the promise, 1 Sam. ii. 1.5. ' And 
 Hannah prayed and said, My heart re- 
 joiceth in the Lord, my mouth is enlarged 
 over mine enemies. They that were full 
 have hired out themselves for bread, and 
 they that were hungry ceased.' For- 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 215 
 
 midable was Pharoah's host behind the 
 Israelites, while they had the Red Sea be- 
 fore them; but when they were through 
 the sea, they saw the Egyptians dead on 
 the shore, Exod. xiv. 30. Such a sight 
 will they that humble themselves under 
 humbling circumstances get of their spi- 
 ritual enemies, when the time comes for 
 the lifting up. 
 
 III. The due time of this lifting up. 
 That is a very natural question of those iu 
 humbling circumstances, Watchman, what 
 of the night? And we cannot answer it 
 to the humbled soul, but in general, Isa. 
 xxi. 11, 12. So take these general obser- 
 vations on it. 
 
 1. The lifting up the humbled will not 
 be long, considering the weight of the 
 matter; that is to say, considering the 
 worth and value of the lifting up of the 
 humble; when it comes it can by no 
 means be reckoned long to the time of it. 
 When you sow your corn in the fields, 
 though it does not ripen so soon as some 
 garden-seeds, but you wait three months 
 or so, yet do not think the harvest long 
 a coming, considering the value of the 
 crop. This view the apostle takes of the 
 
216 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 lifting up in humbling circumstances, 
 2 Cor. iv. 17. * For our light affliction, 
 which is but for a moment, worketh for us 
 a far more exceeding and eternal weight 
 of glory.' So that a believer, looking on 
 the promise with an eye of faith, and per- 
 ceiving its accomplishment, and the worth 
 of it when accomplished, may wonder it 
 is come in so short a time. Therefore it 
 is determined to be a time that comes 
 soon, Luke xviii. 7, soon in respect of its 
 weight and worth. 
 
 2. When the time comes, it and only 
 it will appear the due time. To every thing 
 there is a season, and a great part of wis- 
 dom lies in discerning it, and doing things 
 in the season thereof. And we may be 
 sure Infinite Wisdom cannot miss the 
 season, by mistaking it, Deut. xxxii. 4. 
 * He is a rock, his work is perfect ; for all 
 his ways are judgment.' But whatever 
 God doth will abide the strictest examina- 
 tion in that, as all other points, Eccles. 
 iii. 14. 'I know that whatsoever God 
 doth, it shall be forever; nothing can be 
 put to it, nor any thing taken from it : 
 And God doth it that men may fear before 
 him.' It is true, many times cast up to 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 217 
 
 us as the due time for lifting up, which 
 yet really is not so, because there are some 
 circumstances hid to us, which renders 
 that season unfit for the thing. ■ — Hence 
 John vii. 6. ' My time is not yet come, 
 but your time is always ready.' But when 
 all the circumstances, always foreknown 
 of God, shall come to be opened out, and 
 laid together before us, we shall then see 
 the lifting up is come in the nick of time, 
 most for the honour of God and our good, 
 and that it would not have done so well 
 sooner, 
 
 3. When the time comes that is really 
 the due time, the proper time for the lift- 
 ing up a child of God from his humbling 
 circumstances, it will not be put off one 
 moment longer, Heb. ii. 3. ' At the end 
 it shall speak, it will surely come, it will 
 not tarry.' Though it tarry, it will not 
 linger nor put off to another time. O 
 what rest of heart would the firm faith of 
 this afford us ! there is not a child of God 
 but would, with the utmost carefulness, 
 protest against the lifting up before the 
 due time, as against an unripe fruit casten 
 to him by an angry father that would set 
 his teeth on edge. Since it is so then ? 
 
218 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 could we firmly believe this point, that it 
 would undoubtedly come in the due time, 
 without losing of a minute, it would afford 
 a sound rest. It must be so, because God 
 has said it; were the case never so hope- 
 less, were mountains of difficulties lying 
 in the way of it, at the appointed time it 
 will blow, (Ileb.) Hab. ii. 3. A metaphor 
 from the wind rising in a moment after a 
 dead calm. 
 
 4. The humbling circumstances are or- 
 dinarily carried to the utmost point of 
 hopelessness before the lifting up. The 
 knife was at Isaac's throat before the voice 
 was heard, 2 Cor. i. 8, 9. For we would 
 not, brethren, have you ignorant of our 
 trouble which come to us in Asia, that we 
 were pressed out of measure, above strength, 
 in so much that we despaired even of life ; 
 but we had the sentence of death in ourselves, 
 that we should not trust in ourselves, but in 
 God, which raiseth the dead. Things soon 
 seemed to us arrived at that point ; such 
 is the hastiness of our spirits. But things 
 may have far to go down after we think, 
 they are at the foot of the hill. And we 
 are almost as little competent judges of 
 the point of hopelessness, as of the due 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 219 
 
 time of lifting up. But readily God car- 
 ries his people's humbling circumstances 
 downward, still downward, till they come 
 to that point. Two reasons are to be 
 noticed. 
 
 (1.) One from the explanatory cause of 
 it. Herein God is holding the same 
 course which he held in the case of the 
 man Christ, the beloved pattern copied 
 after in all the dispensations of Providence 
 towards the church, and every particular 
 believer, Rom. viii. 29. He was all along 
 a man of sorrows ; as his time went on, 
 the waters swelled more, till he was 
 brought to the dust of death; then he was 
 buried, and the grave-stone sealed ; which 
 done, the world thought they were freely 
 quit of him, and he would trouble them 
 no more. But they quite mistook it; 
 then, and not till then, was the due time 
 for lifting him up. And the liftings up 
 that his people get most remarkably, are 
 only little pieces fashioned after this grand 
 pattern. 
 
 (2.) Another from the final cause, the 
 end and design Providence aims at in it, 
 and that is to carry the believer clean off 
 his own, and all created foundations, to 
 
220 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 place his trust and hope in the Lord alone, 
 2 Cor. i. 9. ' That we should not trust in 
 ourselves, but in God which raiseth the 
 dead.' The life of a Christian here is 
 designed to be a life of faith ; and though 
 faith may act more easily that it has some 
 help from sense, yet it certainly acts most 
 nobly when it acts over the belly of sense. 
 Then it is pure faith, when it stands only 
 on its own native legs, the power and 
 word of God, Rom. iv. 19, 20. And being 
 not weak in faith, he considered not his own 
 body now dead — neither yet the deadness of 
 Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the 
 promise of God through unbelief; but was 
 strong in faith, giving glory to God. And 
 thus it must do, when matters are carried 
 to the utmost point of hopelessness. 
 
 3. Due preparation of the heart, for 
 the lifting up out of humbling circum- 
 stances, goes before the due time of that 
 lifting up, according to the promise. It 
 is not so in every lifting up ; the lifting up 
 of the common providences are not so 
 critically managed; men will have them, 
 will want them no longer, and God flings 
 them to him in anger, ere they are pre- 
 pared for them, Hos. xiii. 11. 'I gave 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 221 
 
 thee a king in mine anger/ They can by 
 no means abide the trial, and God takes 
 them off as reprobate silver that is not 
 able to abide it, Jer. vi. 29, 30. 
 
 This due preparation consists in a due 
 humiliation, Psa. x. 17. And it often 
 takes much work to bring about this, 
 which is another point that we are very 
 incompetent judges of. We should have 
 thought Job was brought very low in his 
 spirit by the providence of God bruising 
 him on the one hand, and his friends on 
 the other, for a long time : Yet, after all 
 he had endured both ways, God saw it 
 necessary to speak to him himself, for his 
 humiliation, chap, xxxviii. 1. By that 
 speech of God himself he was brought to 
 his knees, chap.xl. 4,5. And we should 
 have thought he was then sufficiently hum- 
 bled, and perhaps he thought so himself 
 too. But God saw a further degree of 
 humiliation necessary, and therefore just 
 begins anew again to speak for his humi- 
 liation, which at length laid him in the 
 dust, chap. xlii. 5, 6. And when he was 
 thus prepared for lifting up, he obtained it. 
 
 There are six things, I conceive, belong- 
 
222 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 ing to this humiliation, preparatory to 
 lifting up. 
 
 1. A deep sense of sinfulness and vn- 
 worthi?iess of being lifted up at all, Job 
 xl.4. 'Behold I am vile, what shall I 
 answer thee ? 1 will lay mine hand upon 
 my mouth.' People may be long in hum- 
 bling circumstances, ere they be brought 
 this length; even good men are much 
 prejudiced in their own favour, and may 
 so far forget themselves as to think God 
 deals his favours unequally, and is more 
 severe on them than on others. Elihu 
 marketh this wrong in Job, under his 
 humbling circumstances, Job xxxiii. 10 
 — 12. And I believe it will be found, 
 there is readily a greater keenness to vin- 
 dicate our honour from the imputation the 
 humbling circumstances seem to lay upon 
 it, than to vindicate the honour of God in 
 the justice and equity of the dispensation. 
 The blindness of an ill-natured world, 
 still ready to suspect the worst causes for 
 humbling circumstances, as if the greatest 
 sufferers were surely the greatest sinners, 
 Luke xiii. 4, gives a handle for this bias 
 of the corrupt nature. — But God isajea- 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 223 
 
 lous God, and when he appears sufficient- 
 ly to humble, he will cause the matter of 
 our honour to give way, like a sandy brae 
 under our feet, while we shall be obliged 
 to apply earnestly to the vindication of 
 his. 
 
 2. A resignation to the divine pleasure 
 as to the time of lifting up. God gives the 
 promise, leaving the time blank as to us. 
 Our time is always ready, and we rashly 
 fill it up at our own hand. God does 
 not keep our time, because it is not the 
 due time. Hence we are ready to think 
 his word fails; whereas it is but our own 
 harsh conclusion from it that fails, Psa. 
 cxvi. 11. 'I said in my haste, all men 
 are liars.' Several of the saints have 
 gotten on the finger ends by this means, 
 and thereby learned to let alone filling 
 up that blank. The first promise was 
 thus used by believing Eve, Gen. iv. 1. 
 Another promise was so by believing 
 Abraham, after about ten years on-waiting, 
 Gen. xvi. another by David, forecited, 
 Psa. cxvi. 11. 
 
 If this be the case of any child of God, 
 let them not be discouraged upon it, 
 thinking they were over rash in applying 
 
224 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 the promise to themselves : they were 
 only so in applying the time to the pro- 
 mise; a mistake that saints in all ages 
 have made, which they repented, and saw 
 the folly of, and let alone that point for 
 the time to come; and then the promise 
 was fulfilled in its own due time. Let 
 them in such circumstances go and do 
 likewise, leaving the time entirely to the 
 Lord. 
 
 3. An entire resignation as to the way 
 and manner of bringing it about. We 
 are ready to do, as to the way of accom- 
 plishing the promise, just as with the 
 time of it, to set a particular way for the 
 Lord's working of it; and if that be not 
 kept, the proud heart is stumbled, 2 Kings 
 v. 11. But Naaman was wroth, and he 
 went away, and said, Behold, I thought 
 he wilt surely come out to me, and stand and 
 call on the name of the Lord his God, and 
 strike his hand over the place. But the 
 Lord will have his people broke off from 
 that too, that they shall prescribe no way 
 to him, but leave that to him entirely, 
 as in that same case, ver. 14. He went 
 down and dipped himself seven times in 
 Jordan, according to the suying of the 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 225 
 
 man of God, — and he was clean. The 
 compass of our knowledge of ways and 
 means is very narrow, as, if one is 
 blocked up, oft-times we cannot see ano- 
 ther ; but our God knows many ways of 
 relief, where we know but one or none 
 at all; and it is very usual for the Lord 
 to bring the lifting up of his people in 
 a way they had no view to, after repeated 
 disappointments from those places whence 
 they had great expectation. 
 
 4. Resignation as to the degree of the 
 lifting up, yea, and as to the very being 
 of it in time. The Lord will have his 
 people weaned so, that however hasty 
 they have sometimes been, that they be- 
 hoved to be so soon lifted up, and could 
 no longer bear, they shall be brought at 
 length to set no time at all, but submit 
 to go to the grave under their weight, 
 if it seem good in the Lord's eyes; and 
 in that case they will be brought to be 
 content with any measure of it in time, 
 without ascribing how much, 2 Sam. xv. 
 25, 26. If I shall find favour in the eijes 
 of the Lord, he will bring me again. — But 
 if he thus say, I have no delight in thee ; 
 Q 
 
226 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 behold, here am I, let him do as seemeili 
 unto him. 
 
 5. The continuing of praying and 
 waiting on the Lord in the case, Eph. 
 vi. 18. ' Praying always with all prayer 
 and supplication in the Spirit, and watch- 
 ing thereunto with all perseverance.' It 
 is pride of heart, and unsubduedness of 
 spirit, that makes people give over pray- 
 ing and waiting, because their humbling 
 circumstances are lengthened out time 
 after time, 2 Kings vi. 33. But due 
 humility, going before the lifting up, 
 brings men into that temper, to pray, 
 wait, and endure resolutely, setting no 
 time for the giving it over till the lifting 
 up come, whether in lime or eternity, 
 Lam. iii. 49, 50. 
 
 6. Mourning under mismanagements in 
 the trial, Job xlii. 3. ' Therefore have I 
 uttered that I understood not, things too 
 wonderful for me, which I knew not.' 
 The proud heart dwells and expatiates on 
 the man's sufferings in the trial, and casts 
 out all the folds of the trial, on that side, 
 and views them again and again. But 
 when the Spirit of God comes duly to 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 227 
 
 humble, in order to lifting up, he will 
 cause the man to pass, in a sort, the 
 suffering side of the trial, and turn his 
 eyes on his own conduct in it, ransack 
 it, judge himself impartially, and con- 
 demn himself: so that his mouth will be 
 stopt. This is that humility that goeth 
 before the lifting up in time, in the way 
 of the promise. 
 
 II. We proceed to consider the lifting 
 up as brought about at the end of time, in 
 the other world. And, 
 
 1st, A word as to the nature of this 
 lifting up. Concerning it we shall say 
 these five things : 
 
 1. There is a certainty of this lifting 
 up, in all cases of the humbled under 
 humbling circumstances. Though one 
 cannot, in every case, make them sure 
 of a lifting up in time, yet they may be 
 assured, be the case what it will, they will, 
 without all peradventure, get a lifting up 
 on the other side, 2 Cor. v. 1. * For we 
 know, that if our earthly house of this 
 tabernacle were dissolved, we have a 
 building of God, a house not made with 
 Q2 
 
228 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 hands, eternal in the heavens.' Though 
 God's humble children may both break- 
 fast and dine on bread of adversity, and 
 water of affliction, they will be sure to 
 sup sweetly and plentifully. And the 
 believing expectation of the latter might 
 serve to qualify the former, and make 
 easy under it. 
 
 2. It will be a. perfect lifting up, Heb. 
 xii. 23. They will be perfectly delivered 
 out of their particular trials, and special 
 furnace, be what it will, that made them 
 weary many a day. Lazarus was then 
 delivered from his poverty and sores, and 
 lying at the rich man's gate, Luke xvi. 22. 
 and fully delivered. Yea, they will get a 
 lifting up from all their humbling circum- 
 stances together. All the imperfections 
 will then be at an end, inferiority in 
 relations, contradictions, afflictions, un- 
 certainty, and sin. If it was long a 
 coming, there will be a blessed moment 
 when they shall get altogether. 
 
 3. They will not only be raised out of 
 their low condition, but they will be set 
 up on high, as Joseph : not only brought 
 out of prison, but made ruler over the 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 229 
 
 land of Egypt. And they will be lifted 
 up. 
 
 (1.) Into a high place, Luke xvi. 22. 
 ' The beggar died, and was carried by 
 the angels into Abraham's bosom.' Now 
 they are at best in a low place, but upon 
 this earth ; there they will be seated in the 
 highest heavens, Phil. i. 23. with Eph. 
 iv. 10. Often, in their humbling circum- 
 stances, they are obliged now to embrace 
 dunghills ; then they will be set with 
 Christ on his throne, Rev. iii. 21. 'To 
 him that overcometh will I grant to sit 
 with me on my throne. 7 Though their 
 belly now cleaves to the earth, and men 
 say, Bow down, that we may pass over 
 you, they will then be settled in the hea- 
 venly mansions, above the sun, moon, 
 and stars. 
 
 (2.) Into a high state and condition, a 
 state of perfection. Out of all their trou- 
 bles, and uneasiness, they will be set into 
 a state of rest; from their mean and in- 
 glorious condition, they will be advanced 
 into a state of glory ; their afflicted and 
 sorrowful life, will be succeeded with a 
 fulness of joy; and, for their humbling 
 
230 THE CROOK IN THELOT. 
 
 circumstances, they will be clothed with 
 eternal glory and honour. 
 
 4. It will be a final lifting up, after 
 which there will be no more casting down 
 for ever, Rev. vii. 16. When we get a 
 lifting up in time, we are apt to imagine 
 fondly we are at the end of our trials; 
 but we soon find we are too hasty in our 
 conclusions, and the cloud returns, Psalm 
 xxx. 6, 7. ' In my prosperity, I said, I 
 shall never be moved. Thou didst hide 
 thy face, and I was troubled.' But then 
 indeed the trial is quite over, the fight is 
 at an end, and then is the time of the 
 retribution and triumph. 
 
 5. There will not be the least remain- 
 ing uneasiness from the humbling circum- 
 stances, but, on the contrary, they will 
 have a glorious and desirable effect. I 
 make no question but the saints will have 
 the remembrance of the humbling cir- 
 cumstances they were under here below. 
 Did the rich man in hell remember his 
 having five brethren on the earth, how 
 sumptuously he fared, how Lazarus sat at 
 his gate ; and can we doubt but the saints 
 will remember perfectly their heavy trials ? 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 231 
 
 Rev. vi. 10. But then they will remem- 
 ber them as waters that fail ; as the man 
 recovered to health, remembers his tos- 
 sings on the sick bed : and that is a way 
 of remembering that sweetens the present 
 state of health beyond what otherwise it 
 would be. Certainly the shore of the 
 Red Sea was the place that, of all places, 
 was the fittest to help the Israelites to 
 sing in the highest key, Rev. xv. 3. And 
 the humbling circumstances of saints on 
 the earth will be of the same use to them 
 in heaven. 
 
 2dly, A word to the due time of this 
 lifting up. There is a particular, definite 
 time for it in every saint's case, which is 
 the due time, but it is hid from us. We 
 can only say in general, 
 
 1. Then is the due time for it, when 
 our work we have to do in this world is 
 over. God has appointed every one their 
 task, fight, trial, and work ; and, till that 
 is done, we are in a sort immortal, John 
 ix. 4. and xi. 9. That work is, 
 
 (1.) Doing work; work set to us, by 
 the great Master, to be done for the 
 honour of God and the good of our fel- 
 
232 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 low-creatures, Eccl. ix. 10. We must 
 be content to be doing on, even in our 
 humbling circumstances, till that be done 
 out. It is not the due time for that lift- 
 ing up, till we are at the end of that work, 
 and so have served our generation. 
 
 (2.) Suffering work. There is a cer- 
 tain portion of suffering that is allotted 
 for the mystical body ; and the head has 
 divided to the several members their 
 proportions thereof; and it is not the due 
 time for that lifting up, till we have ex- 
 hausted the share thereof allotted to us. 
 Paul looked on his life as a going on in 
 that, Col. i. 24. 
 
 2. When that lifting up comes, we shall 
 see it is come exactly in the due time ; 
 that it was well it was neither sooner nor 
 later; for though heaven is always better 
 than earth, and that it would be better 
 for us, absolutely speaking, to be in hea- 
 ven than on earth, yet certainly there is a 
 time wherein it is better, for the honour 
 of God, and his service, that we be on the 
 earth than in heaven, Phil. i. 34. ' Ne- 
 vertheless, to abide in the flesh is more 
 needful for vou.' And it will be no grief 
 
THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 233 
 
 of heart to them when there, that they 
 were so long in their humbling circum- 
 stances, and were not brought sooner. 
 
 Use 1. Let not then the humble cast 
 away their confidence, whatever theirhum- 
 bling circumstances be ; let them assure 
 themselves there will come a lifting up to 
 them at length ; if not here, yet to be sure 
 hereafter. Let them keep this in their 
 view, and comfort themselves with it, for 
 God has said it, Psalm ix. 18. ' The 
 needy shall not alway3 be forgotten,' If 
 the night were never so long, the morning 
 will come at length. 
 
 2. Let patience have her perfect work. 
 The husbandman waits for the return of 
 his seed, the sea-merchant for the return 
 of his ships, the store-master for what he 
 calls year-time, when he draws in the 
 produce of his flocks. All these have 
 long patience, and why should not the 
 Christian too have patience, and patiently 
 wait for the time appointed for his lifting 
 up ? 
 
 You have heard much of the Crook in 
 the Lot; the excellency of humbleness 
 of spirit in a low lot, beyond pride of 
 
231 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 spirit, though joined with a high one : — 
 You have been called to humble your- 
 selves in your humbling circumstances, 
 and assured in that case of a lifting up. 
 To conclude : We may assure ourselves, 
 God will at length break in pieces the proud, 
 he they never so high ; and he will trium- 
 phantly lift up the humble, be they ever so 
 low. 
 
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