u-s 
 
 LIBRA.R Y 
 
 Theological Seminary, 
 
 
 BX 9178 .B668 C7 1841 
 Boston, Thomas, 1677-1732. 
 The crook in the lot 
 
 Book, N®. 
 
 / 
 
THE 
 
 CROOK IN THE LOT ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 A DISPLAY OF THE 
 
 SOVEREIGNTY AND WISDOM OF GOD 
 
 IN THE AFFLICTIONS OF MEN, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN'S DEPORTMENT UNDER THEM. 
 
 BY REV. THOMAS BOSTON 
 
 ^ 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 ROBERT CARTER, 58 CANAL STREET. 
 
 1841. 
 
\ 
 
 RECOMMENDATION. 
 
 I AM gratified to learn that you are about to 
 publish Boston's " Crook in the Lot." Few 
 books contain so much valuable matter within the 
 same space. It may be considered an exposition 
 of God's providence towards his people, while 
 performing their pilgrimage through this vale of 
 tears ; and was evidently the fruit of much ob- 
 servation of the dispensations of God, and of pro- 
 found acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures. I 
 do not know that I could point out a work so well 
 adapted to reconcile the afflicted saint to his lot 
 in this world, and at the same time to teach him 
 how to derive benefit from those events which are 
 most adverse to his natural inclinations. I can, 
 therefore, cordially recommend this little volume 
 to all who desire wisely to interpret, and faithfully 
 to improve, the dealings of Providence towards 
 them ; especially in the " dark and cloudy day" of 
 adversity. 
 
 A. Alexander. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Thomas Boston, tlie author of The Crook in the Lot, 
 was born in the town of Dunse, Scotland, A. D. 1676, of 
 fL'spcctable and reli«jious pareiitajre, and was tlie younj^cst 
 cf seven children. He was licensed to preach the Gospel 
 in 1697, and was ordained at Simprin in 1699. In the year 
 1700 he married Catherine Brown, a lady of f^ood family 
 and rare cndon'mentM of mind ; by her he had a nnnibtr of 
 children, four of whom survived him. He departed this 
 life in tlie hope of a glorious immortality, A. D. 1732, in 
 the 56th year of his age. 
 
 In person, Mr. Boston was above the middle stature, and 
 of a grave and amiable aspect. His mind was vigorous 
 and fruitful ; his imagination lively but under due restraint ; 
 his judgment solid; his aflcctions warm and tender; and 
 his whole demeanour courteous, obliging, and benevolent. 
 Under provocation he was gentle, and always manifested a 
 delicate regard for the feelings of others ; but when a just 
 occasion of rebuke occurred he W'as always prompt in ad- 
 ministering it. 
 
 Having become in early life a subjert of divine grace, he 
 honoured his profession by a deportment at once consistent 
 and uniform. He was pre-eminently a man of prayer, cul- 
 tivating a close communion with God, and receiving many 
 encouraging evidences of his personal acceptance. The 
 divine providence was carefully observed and recorded by 
 him in all its operations, and the law of God was regarded 
 in all its claims with the most scrupulous exactness. Ten- 
 der in conscience, watchful in spirit, and rich in Christian 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 experience, his effort was to avoid even the appearance of 
 evil, and to be fruitful in every good work. 
 
 In regard to others, he was affectionate as a husband, 
 indulo-ent as a father, and sincere and faithful as a friend. 
 Not only did he extend his counsel and sympathy to the 
 distressed, but one tenth of his annual income was reli- 
 giously devoted to the relief of the poor. 
 
 As a scholar, Mr. Boston was well versed in the Latin, 
 Greek, Hebrew, and French languages, and in other depart- 
 ments of learning, was no novice. As a Theologian, his 
 various works afford the best evidence of his great acquire- 
 ments, of his sound and judicious views, and of his skill in 
 defending the truth. In his application to study he was in- 
 defatigable, and it was with him a rule, to leave no subject 
 he was investigating, until he bad mastered ks difficulties. 
 Yet withal he was so unostentatious, that nothing in his 
 manner betrayed the conceit of learning. He was a liberal 
 admirer of the gifts of others, and was unwilling to detract 
 from their merits, although they might differ with him iu 
 opinion. 
 
 As a minister of Jesus Christ he was particularly conspi- 
 cuous. He was "mighty in the Scriptures," not only in 
 his critical acquaintance with them, but in his understand- 
 ing of their spirit and power ; by which he was well quali- 
 fied to expound in a clear, simple, and cogent manner the 
 gi-eat mysteries of the Gospel to others. His thoughts 
 were generally just and often profound ; his mode of ex- 
 pression simple and yet forcible ; his imagination fertile in 
 happily adapted illustrations; his delivery graceful and 
 earnest; and in his whole manner in the pulpit, gravity, 
 meekness, and authority were happily blended. His minis- 
 trations were not only acceptable, but successful in the 
 conversion of sinners, and in the edification of saints. Mr. 
 Boston, although a devoted student, never suffered his de- 
 lightful pursuit of knowledge to interfere with his pastoral 
 visitations. In preparing for the pulpit, he generally wrote 
 out his sermons in full ; — an example worthy of imitation 
 by more modem preachers. It is u remarkable fact that, 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 althous]fh Mr. Boston was so cniiiuiilly endowed by grace 
 and mental culture for llie work of the ministry, yet he 
 was tempted to abandon it after he liad entered on it, from 
 a deep and humbling senee of his unfitness for the work. 
 This was indeed a rare humilit}'. 
 
 In rcclesiastical judicatories Mr. Boston displayed great 
 wisdom and prudence, and was well qualified to give coun- 
 sel in difficult and intricate cases. His talent was so ad- 
 mirable in framing minutes, that he was pnmounced by a 
 statesman of considerable note, the best clerk he had ever 
 known in any court, civil or ecclesiastical. 
 
 In relation to the general concerns of the church, zeal 
 and knowledge were happily combined in him ; and in se- 
 curing its best interests, few were so zealous for its purity, 
 or studious of its peace. He was no friend to innovations, 
 and always subjected novel suggestions to the most careful 
 scrutiny. His opinion on the subject of controversy was, 
 that error was best confuted by a strong representation of 
 the truth ; and in his defence of the Protestant doctrine 
 against the aspersions of a certain book, he fully vindicated 
 the truth, answered objections, but still avoided all otiensive 
 personal allusions. In some notices of his life written for 
 the use of his children, he remarks : 
 
 "Thus also I was much addicted to peace, and averse 
 from controversy ; though once engaged therein, I was set 
 to go through with it. 1 had no great difficulty to retain a 
 due honour and charity for my brethren, ditiering from me 
 both in opinion and practice. But then I was in no great 
 hazard, neither of being swayed by them to depart from 
 what I judged truth or duty. Withal, it was easy to me 
 to yield to them in things wherein I found not myself iu 
 conscience bound up. Whatever precipitant steps I have 
 made in the course of my life, which I desire to be hum- 
 bled for, rashness in conduct was not my weak side. But, 
 since the Lord, by his grace, brought me to consider things, 
 it was much my exercise to discern sin and duty in parti- 
 cular cases ; being afraid to venture on things, until I 
 should see myself called thereto. But when the matter 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 was cleared to me, I generally stuck fast by it, being as 
 much afraid to desert the way which I took to be pointed 
 out to me." 
 
 The same paper he thus concludes : 
 
 " And thus I have given some account of the days of 
 my vanity. Upon the whole, I bless my God in Jesus 
 Christ, that ever he made me a Christian, and took an 
 early dealing with my soul : that ever he made me a mi. 
 nister of the gospel, and gave me some insight into the 
 doctrine of his grace : and that ever he gave me the blessed 
 Bible, and brought me acquainted with the originals, and 
 especially with the Hebrew text. The world hath all along 
 been a step-darae unto me, and whensoever I would have 
 attempted to nestle in it, there was a thorn of uneasiness 
 laid for me. Man is born crying, lives complaining, and 
 dies disappointed from that quarter. ' Ail is vanity and 
 vexation of spirit ; I have waited for thy sal-, aiion, O 
 Lord.' ''■ 
 
 It may be interesting for the reader to know that the 
 truly valuable treatise with which he is here presented, un. 
 der a quaint title, was one of the last of the author's 
 writings, and therefore embodies much of the maturity ol 
 his experience. He was engaged in revising it when he 
 was called to cease from his labours. May it prove a happy 
 legacy to every one into whose hands it may fall. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Introductory Remarks, - - - - H 
 
 PROPOSITION I. 
 
 Whatsoever Crook there i8 in one's Lot, it is of God's 
 making - - - - - - 14 
 
 I. As to the Crook itself, - - - 14— 2» 
 
 II. The Crook is of God's making. How it is of his 
 making. Why lie makes it, - - 29 — 56 
 
 PROPOSITION 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, - - - 56 
 
 I. God's marring and making a Crook in one's Lot, as 
 
 he sees meet, - - - . - 57 
 
 II. Men's attempting to mend or even the Crook in 
 thfir Lot, - . - - . .58 
 
 III. In what sense it is to be understood, that we shall 
 
 not be able to mend, or even the Crook in our Lot, - 59 
 
 IV. Some reasons of the point, - - -61 
 Directions for rightly mana^rini:^ the application for re- 
 moving the Crook in our Lot, - - - Go 
 
 PROPOSITION III. 
 
 Considering the Crook in the Lot, as the work of God, 
 is a proper means to bruig one to behave righlly un- 
 der it, - - - - - - 76 
 
 I. What it is to consider the Crook as the work of God, 77 
 
 II. Hdw it is to be ni)derstood to be a proper means to 
 bring one to behave rightly under the Crook, - 79 
 
 III. That it is a proper means to bring one to behave 
 rightly under it, . . . . - 82 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 A comparison between the Lowly and Proud, - 85 
 
 DocT. — There is a generation of lowly, afflicted 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 carrying 
 all to their mind, - - - . -88 
 
 I. The geueration of the lowly afflicted ones, - ib. 
 
 II. The generation of the proud getting their will, 
 
 and carrying all to their mind, - . - 95 
 
 III. It is better to be in a low afflicted condition, with 
 the spirit humble 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 according to one's 
 mind, - - - - - .99 
 
 Humility the great means to bring all to theu* respec- 
 tive duties, ... - - 109 
 
 DocT. I. The bent of one's heart, in humbling cir. 
 cumstances, should be towards a suitable humbling 
 of the spirit, as under God's mighty hand placing 
 us in them, - - - - - 113 
 
 II. What are those humbling circumstances the 
 mighty hand of God brings men into, - - 115 
 
 III. VVhal it is in humbling circumstances, to humble 
 ourselves under the mighty hand of God, - - 118 
 
 Directions fur reaching humiliation, - - - 126 
 
 DocT. II. In due time, tliose that humble themselves 
 under the mighty hand of God will certainly be 
 lifted up, - ...» 137 
 
THE 
 
 CROOK IN THE LOT 
 
 EccLEs. vii. 13. 
 
 Consider the work of God : for who can make that 
 straight which he hath made crooked 1 
 
 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, discovering in them the 
 work of God, and, consequently, designs becoming 
 the divine perfections. When these are perceived 
 by the eye of faith, and duly considered, we have 
 a just view of afflicting incidents, fitted to quell the 
 turbulent motions of corrupt affections under dis- 
 mal outward appearances. 
 
 It is under this view that Solomon, in the pre- 
 ceding part of this chapter, advances several para- 
 doxes, which are surprising determinations in 
 favour of certain things, that, to the eye of sense, 
 looking gloomy and hideous, are therefore gener- 
 ally reputed grievous and shocking. He pronounc- 
 elh the day of one's death to be better than the 
 
l2 INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 day of his birth ; namely, the day of the death of 
 one, who having become the friend of God through 
 faith, hath led a life to the honour of God, and ser- 
 vice of his generation, and thereby raised himself 
 the good and savoury name better than precious 
 ointment, ver. 1. In like manner, he pronounces 
 the house of mourning to be preferable to the house 
 of feasting, sorrow to laughter, and a wise man's 
 rebuke to a fooFs song ; for that, howbeit the lat- 
 ter are indeed the more pleasant, yet the former 
 are the more profitable, ver. 2 — 6. And observ- 
 ing with concern, how men are in hazard, not only 
 from the world's frowns and ill-usage, oppression 
 making a wise man mad, but also from its smiles 
 and caresses, a gift destroying the heart ; there- 
 fore, since whatever way it goes there is danger, 
 he pronounces the end of every worldly thing bet- 
 ter than the beginning thereof, ver. 7, 8. And from 
 the whole, he justly infers, that it is better to be 
 humble and patient, than proud and impatient, un- 
 der afflicting dispensations ; since, in the former 
 case, we wisely submit to what is really best ; in 
 the latter, we fight against it, ver. 8. And he dis- 
 suades from being angry with our lot, because of 
 the adversity found therein, ver. 9 ; cautions 
 against making odious comparisons of former and 
 present times, in thai point insinuating undue re- 
 flections on the providence of God, ver, 10 : and, 
 against that querulous and fretful disposition, he 
 first prescribes a general remedy, namely, holy 
 wisdom, as that which enables us to make the 
 best of every thing, and even giveth life in killing 
 
BENEFIT OF DUE CONSIDERATION. 13 
 
 circumstances, ver. 11, 12 ; and then a particular 
 remedy, consisting in a due application of that 
 wisdom, towards taking a just view of the case, 
 " Consider the work of God : for who can make 
 that straight wliich he hath made crooked ?" 
 
 In which words are proposed, 1. The remedy 
 itself; 2. The suitableness thereof. 
 
 1. 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 disa- 
 greeable 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 lei- 
 surely 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 fret. But, wouldst thou be quiet- 
 ed and satisfied in the matter, lift up thine eyes to- 
 wards heaven, see the doing of God in it, the oper- 
 ation 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. 
 
 2. This view of the crook in our lot is very 
 suitable to still indecent risings of heart, and quiet 
 us under it : " For who can (that is, none can) 
 make that straight which God hath made crook 
 ed ?" As to the crook in thy lot, God hath mad 
 it ; and it must continue while he will have it so. 
 Shouldst thou ply thine utmost force to even it, or 
 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 
 
 2 
 
14 THE CROOK IN THE LOT. 
 
 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 Governor, under the crook in their lot. 
 
 Now, we take up the purpose of the text in 
 hese three propositions. 
 
 Prop. I. Whatsoever crook there is in one's lot, 
 it is of God's making. 
 
 Prop. II. What God sees meet to mq-r, no one 
 shall be able to mend in his lot. 
 
 Prop. III. The considering of the crook in the 
 lot as the work of God, or of his making, is a pro- 
 per means to bring us to a Christian deportment 
 under it. 
 
 Prop. I. Whatsoever crook there is in one's lot, 
 it is of God's making. 
 
 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 thereof, these few 
 things that follow are premised. 
 
 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. 
 
THE CROOK I\ THE LOT. 15 
 
 2. In that train or course of events, some fall 
 out cross to us, and against tlie 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 incident 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 no- 
 thing 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 perfection here ; no lot out of heaven with- 
 out a crook. For, as to " all the works that are 
 "^one under the sun, behold all is vanity and vexa- 
 tion of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be 
 made straight." Eccl. i. 14, 15. Who would not 
 have thought that Raman'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 
 standing 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 pinched, though others perceive it not. 
 Nobody's lot, in this world, is wholly crooked ; 
 there are always some straight and even parts ia 
 
16 IT CAME BY SIN. 
 
 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 rigiit ; but, 
 though in hell that tale is true, and ever will be so, 
 yet it is never true in this world ; for there, indeed, 
 there is not a drop of comfort allowed, Luke xvi. 
 24, 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 ;" 
 under which death, the crook in the lot is compre- 
 hended, as a state of comfort or prosperity is, in 
 scripiure style, expressed by living. 1 Sam. xxv. 
 6. John iv. 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 ia 
 our lot inseparably follows our sinful condition, 
 till, dropping this body of sin and death, we get 
 within heaven's gates. 
 
 These being premised, a crook in the lot speaks, 
 in general, two things, (1.) Adversity, (2) Conti- 
 nuance. Accordingly it makes a day of adversity, 
 opposed to the day of prosperity, in the verse im- 
 mediately following the text. 
 
 The crook in the lot is, first, some one or other 
 piece of adversity. The prosperous part of one's 
 lot, which goes forward according to one's wish, 
 is the straight and even part of it ; the adverse 
 part, going a contrary way, is the crooked part 
 
IT DENOTES ADVERSITV. 17 
 
 thereof. God liath iiitcniiixed these two in men's 
 condition in this world ; that, as there is some 
 prosperity therein, making the straicrht line, so 
 there is also some adversity, makincr the crooked : 
 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 continuance. We do not reckon it a crooked 
 thing, which, though forcibly bended and bowed 
 together, yet presently recovers its former straight- 
 ness. There are 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 made even. So the crook in the lot is ad- 
 versity, continued for a shorter or longer time. 
 
 Now, there is a threefold crook in the lot inci- 
 dent to the children of men. 
 
 1. One made by a cross dispensation, which, 
 howsoever in itself passing, yet hath lasting ef- 
 fects. Such a crook did Herod's cruelty make in 
 the lot of the mothers in Bethlehem, who by the 
 murderers were left " weeping for their slain chil- 
 dren, 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 
 long after. " As the fishes are taken in an evil 
 net ; so are the sons of men ensnared in an evil 
 lime." Eccl. ix. 12. The thing may fall out in a 
 
 2* 
 
18 SOMETIMES IS LONG CONTINUED. 
 
 moment, under which the party shall go halting to 
 the grave. 
 
 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 leav- 
 ing lasting effects behind them. Thus in the case 
 of Job, while one messenger of evil tidings was 
 yet speaking, another came. Job i. 16 — 18. Cross 
 events coming one upon the neck of another, deep 
 calling unto deep, make a sore crook. In that 
 case, the party is like unto one, who, recovering 
 his sliding foot from one unfirm piece of ground, 
 sets it on another equally unfirm, which imme- 
 diately 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 expecting to see the plain coun- 
 try ; 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 religion, until he went into the sanc- 
 tuary, where this mystery of providence was un- 
 riddled to him. Psal. Ixxiii. 13 — 17. Solomon ob- 
 serves, " That there be just 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 there- 
 of 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. 
 
WISE AN'D RIGHT, AS IT RESPECTS GOD. 19 
 
 3. There is a crook made by one cross dispensa- 
 tion, 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 lonfj been the 
 crook in Rachel's lot. Gen. xxx. 1. That was at 
 length made even to her mind ; but then she got 
 another in its stead, hard labour in travailing to 
 bring forth. Chap. 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 wil- 
 derness station to another. When one part of the 
 lot is made even, soon some other part thereof will 
 be crooked. 
 
 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 way- 
 ward ; 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, with- 
 out 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 government 
 of the world, and there is a perfect harmony. — If 
 Paul is to be bound at Jerusalem, and " delivered 
 into the hands of the Gentiles," it is " the will of the 
 Lord it should be so." Acts xxi. 11, 14. Where- 
 fore, the greatest crook of the lot on earth, is straight 
 
20 CROOKED ONLY AS IT RESPECTS US. 
 
 in heaven : there is no disa^reeableness in it there. 
 But in every person's lot, there is a crook in re- 
 spect of their mind and natural inclination. The 
 adverse dispensation lies cross to that rule, and 
 will by no means answer it, nor harmonize with it. 
 When Divine Providence lays one to the other, 
 there is a manifest disaoreeableness : the man's 
 ^'will goes one way, and the dispensation another 
 way: the'^irnfends upwards, and cross events 
 press down : so they are contrary. And there, and 
 only there, lies the crook. It is this disagreeable- 
 ness which makes the crook in the lot fit matter of 
 trial and exercise to us, in this our state of proba- 
 tion : in which, if thou wouldst approve thyself 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 mmd. Job 
 xxxiv. 33. 
 
 (2.) Unsightliness. Crooked things are unpleas- 
 ant to the eye : and no crook in the lot seemeth to 
 be joyous, but grievous, making an unsightly ap- 
 pearance. Heb. xii. 11. Therefore men need to 
 beware of giving way to their thoughts, to dwell on 
 the crook in their lot, and of keeping it too much 
 in view. David shows a hurtful experience of his, 
 in that kind, Psal. xxxix. 3. " While I was musing 
 the fire burned." Jacob acted a wiser part, called 
 his youngest son Benjamin, 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 
 
OFTEN EXPOSES TO TEMPTATION". 21 
 
 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 discipline of the covenant. So faith will dis- 
 cover a hidden sightliness in it, under a very un- 
 sightly outward appearance ; perceiving the suita- 
 bleness thereof to the infuute goodness, love, and 
 wisdom of God, and to the real and most valuable 
 interests of the party : by which means one comes 
 to take pleasure, and that a most refined pleasure, 
 in distresses. 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 ungraceful walking of 
 the lame, Prov. xxvi. 7. " The legs of the lame are 
 not equal." This uneasiness they find, who are ex- 
 ercised about the crook in their lot: a high spirit 
 and a low adverse lot, makes great difliculty in the 
 Christian walk. There is nothing that gives temp- 
 tation more easy access, than the crook in the lot ; 
 nothing more apt to occasion out-of-the-way steps. 
 Therefore, saith the apostle, Heb. xii. 13. " Make 
 straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame 
 be turned out the way." They who are labouring 
 under it are to be pitied then, and not to be rigidly 
 censured ; though they are rare persons who learn 
 this lesson, till taught by their own experience. It 
 is long since Job made an observation 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 des- 
 pised in the thought of him that is at ease." 
 
22 DIFFERENT IX DIFFERENT PERSONS. 
 
 (4.) " Aptness to catch hold and entangle, 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 corrup- 
 tion, that Satan fails not to make diligent use of it 
 for these dangerous purposes ; 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 extricate himself. In that 
 temptation it often proves like a crooked stick, 
 troubling a standing pool, which not only raises 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. 
 Ixxiii. 13. "Verily I have cleansed my heart in 
 vain, and washed my hands in innocence :" 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 white un- 
 like himself ! but the crook in the lot is a 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. 
 
 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 " all as an unclean thing, we may 
 
DIFFERENT IX DIFFERENT PERSONS. 23 
 
 all fade as a leaf." Isa. l.xiv. 6. The main stream 
 of sin, which the crook, readily follows, runs in 
 very dillerent channels, in the case of different 
 persons. And in regard of the various dispositions 
 of the minds of men, that will prove a sinking 
 weight unto one, wliich another would go very 
 lightly under. 
 
 2dly. It may at once fall into many parts of the 
 lot, the Lord calling, as in a solemn day, one's ter- 
 rors 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 forerunner of a 
 troop which cometh. — Then the crooks are multi- 
 plied, so that the party is made to halt on each 
 side. While one stream, let in from one quarter, 
 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. 
 
 3dly. It often falls in the tender part ; I mean, 
 that part of the lot wherein one is least able to 
 bear it, or, at least thinks he is 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 acquaint- 
 ance." If there is any one part of the lot, which 
 of all others one is disposed to nestle in, 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 tlie 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 where- 
 
24 IN SOME, IN BODILY DEFECTS. 
 
 Upon 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 becom- 
 ing the wisdom of God, that it fall on that which 
 of all things doth most rival him. 
 
 But more particularly, the crook may be observ- 
 ed to fall in these four parts of the lot. 
 
 First, In the natural part affecting persons con- 
 sidered 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, wheth- 
 er in soul or body ; but in the formation of their 
 posterity, there often appears a notable variation 
 from the original. Bodily defects, superfluities, 
 deformities, infirmities, natural or accidental, made 
 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 are not exempted from 
 them : and it is purely owing to sovereign pleas- 
 ure they are not more numerous. Tender eyes 
 made the crook in the lot of Leah, Gen. xxix. 17. 
 Rachel's beauty was balanced with barrenness, 
 the crook in her lot, chap. xxx. 1. Paul, the great 
 apostle of the Gentiles, was, it should seem, no per- 
 sonable man, but of a mean outward appearance, 
 for which fools were apt to contemn him, 2 Cor. 
 X. 10. Timothy was of a weak and sickly frame, 1 
 Tim. V. 23. And there is a yet far more consid- 
 erable crook in the lot of the lame, the blind, the 
 deaf, and dumb. Some are weak to a degree in 
 
IN OTHERS, THEIR REPUTATION. 25 
 
 their intellects ; and it is tlie crook in the lot of 
 several bright soiils to be overcast with clouds, 
 notably bemisted and darkened, from the crazy 
 bodies they are lodsjed 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 Providence, 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 natural consequence 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 wailing for a provi- 
 dential call, brought a lasting stain on her honour, 
 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. II — 13. "They 
 that did see me without, fled from me : I am for- 
 gotten as a dea! man out of mind : I am like a 
 broken vessel. For 1 have heard the slander of 
 many." 
 
 3 
 
28 IN OTHERS, THEIR CALLING IN LIFE. 
 
 Thirdly, It may fall in the vocational part. 
 Whatever is a man's calling or station in the 
 world, be it sacred or civil, the crook in their lot 
 may take its place therein. Isaiah was an eminent 
 prophet, but most unsuccessful, Isa. liii. 1. Jere- 
 miah met with such a train of discouragements and 
 ill usage in the exercise of his sacred function, 
 that he was very near giving it up, sayjng, " 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 business who sow in the 
 fields — and at times " God blesseth them — and 
 suffereth not their cattle to decrease ; but again, 
 they are minished, and brought low, through op- 
 pression, affliction, and sorrow." Psal. cvii. 37 — 
 39. Such a crook was made in Job's lot after he 
 had lonor stood even. Some manage their em- 
 ployments with all care and diligence ; the hus- 
 bandman carefully labouring his ground ; the sheep- 
 master " diligent to know the state of his flocks, 
 and looking well to his herds ;" the tradesman, 
 early and late at his business ; the merchant, dili- 
 gently plying his, watching and falling in with the 
 most fair and promising opportunities ; but there 
 is such a crook in that part of their lot, as all they 
 are able to do can by no means make even. For 
 why? The most proper means used for compass- 
 ing an end are insignificant without a word of di- 
 vine appointment commanding their success. 
 " Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, 
 when the Lord commandeth it not?" Lam. iii. 37. 
 
IN OTHERS, THEIR NEAREST RELATIONS. 27 
 
 People ply their business with skill and industry, 
 but the wind turns in their face. Providence 
 crosses their enterprises, disconcerts tlieir mea- 
 sures, frustrates their hopes and expectations, ren- 
 ders their endeavours unsuccessful, and so puts 
 and keeps them still in straitened circumstances. 
 " 80 the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to 
 the strong, neither yet bread to the wise." Eccl. 
 ix. 11. Providence interposing, crooks the mea- 
 sures 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 the other providential incident, sup- 
 plying 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 bread falls into the lap of the 
 fool. 
 
 Lastly, It may fall in the relational part. Rela- 
 tions 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, 
 and the loss of Joseph, his son and darling, which 
 had like to have made him jjo halting to the grave. 
 Job laments this crook in his lot, Job xvi. 7. 
 " Thou hast made desolate all my company ;" 
 
28 IN DOMESTIC DISQUIETUDE. 
 
 meaning his dear children, 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 ; which, in virtue of their relation, recoils on 
 the party, as is feelingly expressed by that believ- 
 ing woman. Matt. xv. 22. " Have mercy on me, 
 O Lord ; my daughter is grievously vexed." 
 Ephraim felt the smart of family 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 
 sorrows 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 here by their proving 
 uncomfortable through the disagreeableness of 
 their temper, and disposition. There was a crook, 
 in Job's lot, by means of an undutiful, ill-natured 
 wife, Job xix. 17. In Abigail's, by means of a 
 surly, ill-tempered husband, 1 Sam. xxv. 25. In 
 Eli's, through the perverseness and obstinacy of 
 his children, 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, servants fro- 
 
COD, THE AUTHOR OF THESE DISPENSATIONS. 29 
 
 ward and unfaithful ; in a neighbourhood, men sel- 
 fish and uneasy ; in the church, ministers unedi- 
 fying, and offensive in their \v:ilk, and people con- 
 temptuous and disorderly, a burden to the spirits 
 of ministers ; in the state, magistrates oppressive, 
 and discountenancers of that which is good, and 
 subjects turbulent 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 of God's making it. And 
 here is to be shown, 1. That it is of God's mak- 
 ing. 2. How it is of his making. 3. Why he 
 makes it. 
 
 First, That the crook in the lot, whatever it is, 
 is of God's making appears from these three con- 
 siderations. 
 
 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 itself, 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 Sov- 
 ereign Lord and Judge, so he expressly claims the 
 doing or making of it, Amos iii. 6. " Shall there 
 be evil in a city, and the Lord hath 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 scripture doc- 
 3* 
 
30 ALL ARE UNDER HIS ARRANGEMENT. 
 
 trine 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 the Lord 
 please, that did he in heaven and in earth, in the 
 seas and all deep places," Psal. cxxxv. 6. There 
 is not any thing whatsoever befalls us, without his 
 overruling 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 
 the bounds of our habitation." Acts xvii. 26. It 
 overrules the smallest and most casual things 
 about us, such as " hairs of our head falling on the 
 ground," Matt. x. 29, 30. " A 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 refer- 
 ence to us ; for " the way of man is not in him- 
 self; 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 undesigned, such as man- 
 slaughter purely casual, as when one hewing 
 wood, kills 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, 
 
ALL ARE UNDER HIS ARRANGEMENT. 31 
 
 but the horse's lameness, is tlie true and proper 
 cause ; wherefore in the former of these cases, 
 God is said to have sent Joseph into Ejjypt, Gen. 
 xlv. 7, and in the latter, to deliver one into his 
 neighbour's hand, Exod. xxi. 13. 
 
 Lastly, God hath, by an eternal decree, immove- 
 able as mountains '<n^rass, 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 valleys, were ap- 
 pointed, are the heights and the depths, the pros- 
 perity and adversity, in the lot of the inhabitants 
 thereof determined ; and they are brought about, 
 in time, in a perfect agreeableness thereto. 
 
 The mystery of Providence, in the government 
 of the world, is, in all the parts thereof, the build- 
 ing reared up of God, in exact conformity to the 
 plan in his decree, " who worketh all things after 
 the counsel of his own will.'' Eph. i. 11. So that 
 there is never a crook in one's lot, but may be run 
 up to this original. Hereof Job piously sets us an 
 example in his own case. Job xviii. 13, 14. " He 
 is of one mind, and who can turn him ?" and what 
 his soul desireth, even that he doth. For he per- 
 formeth the thing that is appointed 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 sinless crooks ; which 
 
32 SINLESS AND SINFUL CROOKS. 
 
 are mere afflictions, cleanly crosses, grievous in- 
 deed, but not defiling. Such was Lazarus's po- 
 verty, Rachel's barrenness, Leah's tender eyes, 
 the blindness of the man who had been so from 
 Ills birth, John ix. 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 made 
 him poor, according to that, 1 Sam. ii. 7, "The 
 Lord maketh poor." It is he that hath the key 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 " born blind, that the works of God should be 
 made manifest in him." John ix. 3. Therefore he 
 saith to Moses, Exod. iv. 11. "Who maketh the 
 dumb, or d«af, 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. 
 Secondly, There are impure sinful crooks, 
 which, in their own nature, are sins as well as af- 
 flictions, 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 
 Amnon, the rebellion of Absalom, all of them un- 
 natural. 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 
 
GOD TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED IN AFFLICTIONS. 33 
 
 these were the afllictions of Davitl and Job res- 
 pectively, SO they were the sins of the actors, the 
 unhappy instruments tliereof. Thus one and the 
 same thing may be, to one a heinous sin, defiling 
 and laying him under guilt, and to another an af- 
 fliction, 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 ; for 
 he neither puts evil in the heart of any, nor S'tir- 
 reth up to it : " He cannot be tempted with evil, 
 neither tempteth he any man." 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 wavs." 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. iii. 7. But he justly with- 
 holds his grace which the sinner doth not desire, 
 takes off the restraint under wliich he is uneasy, 
 and since the sinner will be gone, lays the reins 
 on his neck, and leaves him to the swing of his 
 lust. Hos. iv. 17. " Ephraim is joined to idols; 
 let him alone." Psal. Ixxxi. 11, 12. "Israel 
 would none of me : so I gave them up to their 
 own heart's lusts." 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 
 
34 LIMITED BY HIS POWER AND GOODNESS. 
 
 left open before it. So in these circumstances, 
 " Israel walked in their own counsels," ver. 12. 
 And thus this kind of crook is of God's making, 
 as a just judge, punishing the sufferer by it. This 
 view of the matter silenced David under Shimei's 
 cursings, 2 Sam. xvi, 10, 11. " Let him alone, and 
 let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him." 
 
 2dly. He powerfully bounds them, Psal. Ixxvi. 
 10. " The remainder of wrath" (that is, the crea- 
 ture's wrath) " thou shalt restrain." Did not God 
 bound these crooks, however 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 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 
 boundinor 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 Satan, 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. 
 
OVERRULED FOR SOME GOOD PURPOSE. 35 
 
 Antl therefore, to make tlie 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 ilcsh and he will curse thee 
 to thy face," chap. ii. 5, and it being removed ac- 
 cordingly, but withal a new one set, ver. 6. " Be- 
 hold he is in thine hand, 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 finding 
 this attempt unsuccessful too, had doubtless des- 
 patched him at once. 
 
 3dly. He wisely overrules them to some good 
 purpose, becoming the divine perfections. While 
 the sinful instrument hath an ill design in the crook 
 caused by him, God directs it to a holy and good 
 end. In the disorders of David's family, Amnon's 
 design was to gratify a brutish lust ; Absalom's, to 
 glut himself with revenge, and to satisfy his pride 
 and ambition ; but 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 Sabe 
 ans and Chaldeans, his instruments, Satan's design 
 "was to cause Job to blasj)heme, and theirs to gra- 
 tify their covetousness : but God had another de- 
 sign therein becoming himself, namely, to manifest 
 Job's sincerity and uprightness. Did not he 
 wisely and powerfully overrule these crooks made 
 
36 WHY IS THE CROOK APPOINTED^ 
 
 in men's lot, no good could come out of them ; but 
 he always overrules them so as to fulfil his own 
 holy purposes thereby : (hovvbeit the sinner mean- 
 eth not so ;) for his designs cannot miscarry, his 
 " counsel shall stand," Isa. xlvi. 10. So the sinful 
 crook is, by the overruling 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 w^ork together for good 
 to them that love God." Thus Haman's plot for 
 the destniction of the Jews " was turned to the 
 contrary." Esth. ix. 1. And the crook made in 
 Joseph's lot, by his own brethren selling him into 
 Eg}''pt, though it was on their part most sinful, and 
 of a most mischievous design ; yet, as it was of 
 God's making, by his holy permission, powerful 
 bounding, and wisely overruling it, had an issue 
 well becoming the divine wisdom and goodness : 
 both of which Joseph notices to them, Gen. 1. 20. 
 " As for you, ye thought evil against me ; but God 
 meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this 
 day, to save much people alive." 
 
 Thirdly, It remains to inquire, why God makes 
 a crook in one's lot ? And this is to be cleared by 
 discovering the design of that dispensation : a mat- 
 ter which it concerns every one to k:iow, and care- 
 fully to notice, in order to a Christian improvement 
 of the crook in their lot. The design thereof 
 seems to be, chiefly, sevenfold. 
 
 First. The trial of one's state, whether one is in 
 the state of grace or not ? Whether a sincere Chris- 
 
FOR THE TRIAL OF 0NE*3 STATE. 37 
 
 tian, or a hypocrite ? Though every aflliction is 
 trying, yet here I conceive lies the main providen- 
 tial trial a man is brought into, with reference to his 
 state ; forasmuch as the crook in the lot, being a 
 mailer of 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, m that momentous point. It 
 was plainly on this foundation 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 hypocrite, 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. Accord- 
 ingly, that which all his friends, save Elihu, the 
 last speaker, did, in their reasonings with him un- 
 der his trial, aim at, was to prove him a hypocrite ; 
 Satan thus making use of these good men for gain- 
 ing his point. x\s God made trial of Israel in the 
 wilderness, for the land of Canaan, by a train of 
 afflicting dispensations, 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 wilderness ; so he makes tria 
 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 
 
 4 
 
38 FOR THE TRIAL OF ONE's STATE. 
 
 like dross in God's furnace. A melanclioly in- 
 stance of which we have in that man of honour 
 and weahh, who, with high pretences of religion, 
 arising from a principle of moral seriousness, ad- 
 dressed himself to our Saviour, to know " what he 
 should do that he might inherit eternal life." Mark 
 X. 17 — 22. 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 proba- 
 tory command, to sell and give away all that he 
 had, and follow him, ver. 21. "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," ver. 22. that is, immediately 
 upon the hearing of it, being struck with pain, 
 disorder, and confusion of mind, his countenance 
 changed, became cloudy and lowering, as the same 
 word is used. Matth. xvi. 3. He could not stand 
 the test of that crook ; he could by no means sub- 
 mit his lot to God in that point, but behooved to 
 have it, at any rate, according to his own mind. 
 So he " went away grieved, for he had great pos- 
 sessions." He went away from Christ back to his 
 plentiful estate, and though with a pained and sor- 
 rowful heart, sat him down again on it a violent 
 possessor before the Lord, thwarting the divine 
 
EXCITATION TO DUTV. 39 
 
 orJor. Anil lln'ie is no appearance that ever this 
 order was revoked, or that ever he came to a bet- 
 ter 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 wilder- 
 ness, scorning to be turned, their foot hath slid in 
 due time ; and a crook being thereby made in their 
 lot, their mouth hath come wherein they have been 
 caught. Jer. ii. 2 1. Thus was the prodigal brought 
 to himself, and obliged to entertain thoughts of re- 
 turning 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, whensoever they lay down their head 
 where they would fain take rest in the creature, 
 and that they are obliged to lift it again, they are 
 brought to conclude, there 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 Chris- 
 tian to this life and world. 
 
40 CONVICTION OF SIX. 
 
 Thirdly, Conviction of sin. As when one walk- 
 ing heedlessly is suddenly taken ill of a lameness : 
 his going halting the rest of his way convinces 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 convince 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 recalled 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, men's sin finds them out to their conviction, 
 " as the thief is ashamed when he is found." Numb, 
 xxxii. 23. Jer. ii. 26. The which Joseph's brethren 
 do feelingly express, under the crook made in their 
 lot in Egypt, Gen. xlii. 11. " 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 cir- 
 cumstances, so naturally refer to the false step or 
 course, that it serves for a providential memorial 
 of it, bringino- the sin, tliouoh 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 unfair 
 dealing, palmed upon him for Rachel, how could 
 he miss of a stinging remembrance of the cheat he 
 had, seven years at least before, put on his own 
 father, pretending himself to be Esau ? Gen. xxvii. 
 19. How could it miss of galling him occasion- 
 ally afterwards during the course of the marriage ? 
 
CORRECTION FOR SIN. 41 
 
 He had imposed ou his father the younger brother 
 for the elder ; and Laban imposed on him the elder 
 sister for the younger. The dimness of Isaac's 
 eves favoured the former cheat ; and the darkness 
 of the evening did as much favour the latter. So 
 he behooved to say, as Adoni-bezek in another case, 
 Judges i. 7. " As I have done, so God hath re- 
 quited me." In like manner, Rachel dying in child- 
 birth, could hardly avoid a melancholy reflection 
 on her rash and passionate expression, mentioned 
 Gen. XXX. 1. " Give me children, or else I die." 
 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 makest me to possess the iniquities 
 of my youth." 
 
 Fourthly, Correction, or punishment for sin. la 
 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 re- 
 prove thee." God may, for a time, wink at one's 
 sin, which afterward he will set a brand of his in- 
 dignation upon, in 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 
 divine displeasure for it, set on the sinner 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 
 ^he sword of the Ammonites was soon over ; but 
 for that cause " the sword never departed from his 
 
 4* 
 
42 PRE\ENTING OF SIX. 
 
 house." 2 Sam. xii. 10. Gehazi quickly obtained 
 two bags of money 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 repent- 
 ed 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 Beloved, 
 who yet hath a particular badge of the divine dis- 
 pleasure, with his sin hung upon him in the crook 
 of his lot. Psal. xcix. 8. " Thou wast a God that 
 forgavest them, thouoh thou tookest vengeance on 
 their inventions." 
 
 Fifthly, Preventing of sin. Hos. ii. 6. " 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 readily 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 particu- 
 lar cast of temper in men : but by means of the 
 crook in the lot, the paint and varnish is worn off 
 the defihng object, whereby it loses its former tak- 
 ing appearance : thus, the edge of corrupt affec- 
 tions is blunted, temptation weakened, and ranch 
 sin prevented ; the sinner after " gadding about so 
 
DISCOVERY OF LATENT CORRUPTION. 43 
 
 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 keepeth back his 
 soul from the pit." Job xxxiii. 17, 18. Every one 
 knows what is most pleasant to him ; but God alone 
 knows what is most profitable. As all men are 
 liars, so all men are fools too : He is the only wise 
 God. Jude, ver. 25. Many are oblijred 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 makin<^ it, if they did but 
 calmly consider what would most likely 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 to bear its removal in a Christian manner. 
 Sixthly, Discovery of latent corruption, 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 
 rise 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 rise up, appear a-top, and run over ; so the crook 
 in the lot raises 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 
 discovered at the waters of strife, and for which 
 he was kept out of Canaan? Psal. cvi. 32, 33. 
 
44 THE EXERCISE OF GRACE. 
 
 Num. XX. 13. So much bitterness 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 tang of 
 atheism in Asaph, as to pronounce religion a vain 
 thing? Psalm Ixxiii. 13. But the crook in the 
 lot, bringing out these things, showed 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 necessary 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 de- 
 sign that God made the Ions-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. 
 
 Seventhly, The exercise of grace in the children 
 of God. Believers, through the remains of in- 
 dwelling corruption, are liable to fits of spiritual 
 laziness and inactivity, in which their graces lie 
 dormant for the time. Besides, there are some 
 graces, which of their own nature are but occa- 
 sional in their exercise ; as being exercised only 
 upon occasion of certain things which they have 
 a necessary relation to : such as patience and long- 
 suffering. Now, the crook in the lot serves to 
 rouse up a Christian to the exercise of the graces, 
 
THE EXERCISE OF GRACE. 45 
 
 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 dis- 
 play 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 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, however by carnal men despised as trifling, 
 are more precious in the sight of God than even 
 believers themselves are aware of, being acts of 
 immediate internal worsliip ; and will have a sur- 
 prising notice taken of them, and of the sum of 
 tiicm, at long run, howbeit the persons themselves 
 often can hardly think them worth their own no- 
 tice at all. 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 
 behig so in the sight of God, whose judgment, we 
 are sure, is according to truth. This the Psalmist 
 
^6 THE EXERCISE OF GRACE. 
 
 teacheth. Psal. cxlvii. 10,11. "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 indeed the exercise of the 
 graces of his Spirit in his people, is so very pre- 
 cious in his sight, that whatever grace any of them 
 excel in, they will readily get such a crook made 
 in their lot as will be a special trial of it, that will 
 make a proof of its full strength. Abraham ex- 
 celled in the grace of faith, in trusting God's bare 
 word of promise above the dictates 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 ado with all the strength 
 of his faith ; while he was obliged to leave his 
 country and kindred, and sojourn among the Ca- 
 naanites ; his wife continuing barren, 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, that Ishmael was now 
 expelled his family, and that it was declared. That 
 in Isaac only 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 intrusted with the conduct of 
 a most perverse and unmanageable 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 Iq 
 
THE DOCTRINE APPLIED. 47 
 
 a gift, but some time or other he will afford them 
 use for the whole compass of it. 
 
 Now, the use of this doctrine is threefold. (1.) 
 For reproof. (2.) For consolation. And (3.) For 
 exhortation. 
 
 Use 1. For reproof. And it meets with three 
 sorts of persons as reprovable. 
 
 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 
 observers ; and that challengcth an awful regard, 
 the neglect of which forbodes destruction, Psal. 
 xxviii. 5, " Because they regard not the works of 
 the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall 
 destroy them, and not build them up." And herein 
 they are deeply guilty, who, poring upon second 
 causes, and looking no further than the unhappy 
 instruments of the crOok in their lot, overlook the 
 first cause, as a dog snarls at the stone, but looks 
 not to the hand that casts it. This is, in effect, 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. " Or- 
 dained of him for judgment, established for cor- 
 rection." Hab. i. 12. O ! why should men termi- 
 nate 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, which for 
 their gratifying their own corrupt affections, in 
 
48 FOR REPROOF. 
 
 making the crook in the lot of others, returns on 
 their own head at length with a vengeance, as did 
 " the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu." Hos. 
 i. 4. And it is specially undesirable to be so em- 
 ployed 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. Moreover, the quarrel wdll be, 
 at length, taken up between God and his people ; 
 and then their scourgers will find they had but a 
 thankless office, Zech. i. 15. "I 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 doubted, they do more 
 impiously determine, saying, in effect, " It is not 
 his hand that smote us, it Avas a chance that hap- 
 pened to us." 1 Sam. vi. 9. And, finally, those 
 also are guilty, who, in the way of giving up them- 
 selves to carnal mirth and sensuality, set them- 
 selves 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 
 
FOR REPROOF. 49 
 
 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 abhorred 
 of all good men, Prov. iii. 11. "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 than the disease, 
 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 to mourning, and behold joy 
 and gladness, 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 and mur- 
 mur, and cannot be at rest under the crook in their 
 lot. This is a most sinful and dangerous course. 
 The apostle Jude, characterising some, " to whom 
 is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever," 
 ver. 13. saith of them, ver, 16. "These are mur- 
 murers, 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 
 
 5 
 
60 FOR REPROOF 
 
 them. Thus when the Israelites murmur against 
 Moses, Numb. xi\^, 2. God charges them with 
 murmuring against himself. " How long shall 1 
 bear with this evil congregation, which murmured 
 against me ?" ver. 27. Ah ! may not he who made 
 and fashioned us without our advice, 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 God's work, nor 
 bear what he hath done ? And how black and dan- 
 gerous is that temper of spirit ! How is it possible 
 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. 
 
 Thirdly, The careless and unfruitful, who do 
 not set themselves dutifully to comply with the 
 design of the crook in the 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, in- 
 deed, if one shut not his own eyes, but be willing 
 to understand, 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 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 sin- 
 ner, sunk in spiritual sloth and stupidity, is in no 
 
FOR CONSOLATION. 51 
 
 concern to discover the design of Providence in 
 the crook ; so he cannot fall in with it, but remains 
 uiilruiiful ; 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 pressure of the crook 
 itself, and weight of the hand of the instrument 
 thereof: "But none sailh, Where is God my 
 Maker ?" they look not, they turn not unto God for 
 all that, Job xxxv. 9, 10. 
 
 Use 2. For consolation. It speaks comfort to 
 the afflicted children of God. Whatever is the 
 crook in your lot, it is of God's making, and there- 
 fore you may look upon it kindly. Since it is 
 your Father has made it for you, question not but 
 there is a favourable design in it towards you. A 
 discreet child welcomes his father's rod, knowing 
 that being a father he seeks his benefit thereby ; 
 and shall not God's children welcome the crook 
 in their lot, as designed by their Father, who can- 
 not mistake his measures, to work for their good, 
 according to the promise ? The truth is, the crook 
 in the lot of a believer, how painful soever it 
 proves, is a part of the discipline of the covenant, 
 the nurture secured to Christ's children, by the 
 promise of the Father, Psal. Ixxxix. 30, 32. " If 
 his children forsake my law, and walk not in my 
 judgments, then will 1 visit their transgressions 
 with the rod." Furthermore, all who are disposed 
 to betake 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 
 
52 FOR EXHORTATION. 
 
 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." Psal. cxiii. 7 — 
 9. Say not that your crook hath been of so long 
 continuance, 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 your good, 
 that it should be mended, it shall be mended ; for 
 " no crood thincf will he withhold from them that 
 walk uprightly." Psal. Ixxxiv. 11. 
 
 Use last, For exhortation. Since the crook in 
 the lot is of God's making, then, eyeing the hand 
 of God in yours, be reconciled to it, and submit 
 under it whatever it is ; I say, eyeing 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 deserved no such treatment from." 
 
 Ans. From what hath been already said, it ap- 
 pears 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, 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 53 
 
 God himself is the principul party, whoever be 
 the less principal. And albeit thou hast not de- 
 served thy crook at the hand of the instrument 
 which he makes use of for thy correction, thou 
 certainly deservest it at his hand ; and he may 
 make use of what instrument he will in the mat- 
 ter, 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 instrument or instruments 
 thereof pleased ; only there is no dealing with 
 them, so as to convince them of their fault in 
 making it." 
 
 Ans. If it is so, be sure God's time is not as yet 
 come, that the crook should be made even ; for, if 
 it were come, though they stand now like an im- 
 pregnable fort, they would give way like a sandy 
 bank under one's feet : they should bow down to 
 thee with their lace towards the earth, and lick up 
 the dust of thy feet." Isa. xlix. 23. Meanwhile, 
 that state of the matter is so far from justifying 
 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 men 
 should be signally injurious and burdensome to 
 others, yet by no means susceptible of conviction. 
 This was the trial of the church from her adver- 
 saries, Jer. 1. 7. " All that found them have de- 
 voured them ; and their adversaries said. We of- 
 fend not : because they have sinned against the 
 Lord, the habitation of justice." They were very 
 abusive, and gave her barbarous usage ; yet would 
 
 5* 
 
54 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 they o\vn no fault in the matter. How could they 
 ward off the conviction ? Were they verily blame- 
 less in their devouring the Lord's stra}dng sheep ? 
 No, surely, they were not. Did they look upon 
 themselves as ministers of the divine 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 habitation of justice ? But the origi- 
 nal pointing of the text being retained, it appears, 
 that there is no ground at all for this question here, 
 and withal the whole matter 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 showing 
 how it came to pass that the adversaries 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 justice ; and as a just pun- 
 ishment hereof from his hand, they could have no 
 iustice at the hand of their adversaries. 
 
 Wherefore, laying aside these frivolous preten- 
 ces, 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. 
 
SUBMISSION ENFORCED. 55 
 
 1. It is a duty you owe to God, as your sover- 
 e'\fm Lord and Benefactor. His sovereignty chal- 
 lenges our submission ; and it can in no case be 
 meanness of spirit to submit to the crook which 
 his hand hath made in our lot, and to 2^0 quietly 
 under the yoke that he hath laid on ; but it is real- 
 ly madness for the potsherds of the earth, by their 
 turbulent and refractory carriage under it, to strive 
 with their Maker. And his beneficence to us, ill- 
 dcscrving creatures, may well stop our mouth from 
 complaining of his making a crook in our lot, who 
 would have 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 de- 
 signed for heaven, are in a special manner assured 
 of a crook in theirs, " that in the world thev 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 ibe ex- 
 empted from the common lot of mankind ? " Shall 
 the rock be removed out of his place for thee ?" 
 And since God makes the crooks in men's lot ac- 
 cording to the different exigence of their cases, 
 you may be sure that yours is necessary for you. 
 
 3. A crook in the lot, which one can by no 
 means submit to, makes a condition of all things 
 the likest to that in hell. For there a yoke, which 
 
56 SUBMISSION ENFORCED. 
 
 the wretched sufferers can neither bear nor shake 
 off, is wreathed about their necks ; there the Al- 
 mighty arm draws against them, and they against 
 it ; there they are ever suffering and ever sinning ; 
 still in the furnace, but their dross not consumed, 
 nor they purified. Even such is the case of those 
 who now cannot submit to the crook in their lot. 
 
 4. Great is the loss by not submitting to it. 
 The crook in the lot, rightly improved, has turned 
 to the best account, 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 teeth-wind for ImmanueFs 
 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 greatly increase thy guilt and aggravate thy 
 condemnation, while it shall for ever cut thee to 
 the heart, to think of the pains taken 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 ray heart despised reproof!" Prov. v. 10 — 12. 
 
 Prop. II. What God sees meet to mar^ we shall 
 not he able to mend in our lot. What crook God 
 makes in our lot, we shall not he able to even. — 
 We shall, 
 
god's hand to be acknowledged. 57 
 
 I. Show God's marring and making a crook in 
 one's lot, as he sees meet. 
 
 II. We shall consider men's attempting to mend 
 or even that crook in their lot. 
 
 III. In what sense it is to be understood, that 
 we shall not be able to mend, or even the crook ia 
 our lot. 
 
 IV. Render some reasons of the point. 
 
 I. As to the first head, namely, to show God's 
 marring and making a crook in one's lot, as he 
 sees meet. 
 
 First, God keeps the choice of every one's crook 
 to himself; and therein he exerts his sovereignty, 
 Math. 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. 
 " Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he, in 
 heaven and in earth," Sic. 
 
 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 ijreat possessions. He takes 
 notice what is that idol that in every one's case is 
 
58 OUR WILL OFTEN OPPOSED TO HIS WILL. 
 
 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 providence, or a 
 touch of his hand, he gives that part of one's lot a 
 bow the contrary way ; so that henceforth it lies 
 quite contrary 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 it. 
 
 Fourthly. He wills that crook in the lot to remain 
 while he sees meet, for a longer or shorter time, 
 just according to the 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. 
 
 11. We shall consider men's attempting to mend 
 or even that crook in their lot. This, in a word, 
 lies in their making efforts 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. "Thou hast chastised me, and I was chas- 
 tised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke ; turn 
 thou me, and I shall be turned," &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, Lara. iii. 27, that 
 being the way to make one at length as a weaned 
 child. 
 
BUCK OPPOSITION VAIN AND FRUITLESS. 59 
 
 Secondly. A strong desire to have the cross re- 
 moved, and to have matters in that part going ac- 
 cording to our inclinations. This is very natural, 
 nature desiring to be freed from every thing that is 
 burdensome or cross to it ; and if that desire be 
 kept in a due subordination to the will of God, and 
 It be not too peremptory, it is not sinful, Matt. xxvi. 
 39. " If it be possible, let this cup pass from me ; 
 nevertheless, not as I will," Sic. Hence so many 
 accepted prayers of the people of God, for the re- 
 moval of the crook, in their lot. 
 
 Thirdly. An earnest use of means for that end. 
 This naturally 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 re- 
 lied upon, but followed with an eye to God in them, 
 the attempt is not sinful, whether he succeed in 
 the use of them or not. 
 
 III. In what sense it is to be understood, that 
 we shall not be able to mend or even the crook in 
 our lot. 
 
 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. P^or there is no case so 
 desperate, 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 reme- 
 dies one has used for it, one is ready to lose hope 
 about it ; but many a crook, given over for hope- 
 less that would never mend, God has made per- 
 fectly straight, as in Job's case. 
 
60 SUCH OPPOSITION VAIN AND FRUITLESS. 
 
 But we shall never be able to mend it by our- 
 selves ; if the Lord himself take it not in hand to 
 remove it, it will stand before us immovable, 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 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 nothing 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 battle to the strong ; neither yet bread to the 
 wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding," &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 immovable, 
 as if it were kept by an invisible hand ; and at 
 another time it goes away with a touch, because 
 God's time is come for evening it. 
 
REASONS ASSIGNED FOR THIS. 61 
 
 IV. We shall now assign the reasons of the point. 
 
 1st. Because of the absohite dependence we have 
 upon God. Acts xvii. 28. As the light depends 
 on the sun, or the shadow on the body, so we de- 
 pend on God, and without him can do nothing, 
 great or small. And God will have us to fmd it so, 
 to teach us our dependence. 
 
 2dly. Because his will is irresistible, Isa. xlvi. 
 10. "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all 
 my pleasure." When God wills one thing, and the 
 creature the contrary, 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 to 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. 
 
 2. The evening of the crook in our lot, by maia 
 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 effectual way of getting the crook 
 evened, is to aj)ply to God for it. 
 
 Exhortation 1 . Let us then apply to God for re- 
 moving any crook in our lot, that in the settled or- 
 der 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 Gotl sees meet to mar, it is evident we 
 
 6 
 
62 MOTIVES TO INDUCE SUBMISSION. 
 
 are to apply to him that made it to amend it, and 
 not take the evening of it in our own hand. 
 
 Motive 1. All our attempts for its removal 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 worse. 
 Nothing is more ordinary, than for a proud spirit 
 striving with the crook, to make it more crooked, 
 Eccl. X. 8, 9. " Whoso breaketh a hedge, a ser- 
 pent shall bite him. Whoso removeth stones, shall 
 be hurt therewith," &c. This is evident in the 
 case of the murmurers in the wilderness. It na- 
 turally 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 perform that, concerning which there re- 
 mains no hope with us, Rom. iv. 17. " Who quick- 
 eneth the dead, and calleth those things which be 
 not as though they were ?" It is his prerogative 
 to do wonders ; to begin a work, where the whole 
 creation gives it over as hopeless, and carry it oil 
 to perfection. Gen. x^'iii. 14. 
 
 4. He loves to be employed in evening crooks, 
 
MOTIVES TO INDUCE SUBMISSION. G3 
 
 and calls us to employ him that way, Psal. 1. 15. 
 " Call upon me in the 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 errand, 
 and may manifest his power and goodness in even- 
 in(T of them. Hos. v. 15. The straits of the chil- 
 dren of men afford a large field for displaying his 
 glorious perfections, which otherwise would be 
 wanting. Exod. xv. 11. 
 
 5. A crook thus evened is a double mercy. 
 There are some crooks evened by a touch of the 
 hand of common providence, while people are either 
 not exercised about them, or when they fret for 
 their removal ; these are sapless mercies, and short- 
 lived. Psal. Ixxviii. 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 by a humble 
 application to, and waiting on the Lord ! It has the 
 image and superscription 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. 
 
 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 experiences 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 
 
64 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 crooks as they ? but which of them, on the other 
 hand, had such 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 thereby. 
 
 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 
 wheels in motion for evening the crook, which 
 without him will remain immovable. Hos. ii. 
 21, 22. 
 
 Object. 1. "But it is needless, for I see, that 
 though the crook in my lot may mend, yet it never 
 will mend. In its own nature it is capable of be- 
 ing removed, but it is plain it is not to be removed, 
 it is hopeless." 
 
 Ans. That is the language of unbelieving haste, 
 which faith and patience should correct. Psal. 
 cxvi. 11, 12. Abraham had as 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 agaia 
 and again for it, yet it is never mended." 
 
HOW TO GET THE CROOK REMOVED. 65 
 
 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 persevere will 
 certainly speed at length, Luke xviii. 7, 8. " And 
 shall not God avenge his own elect, which crv day 
 and night unto him, though he bear long with 
 them ? I tell you that he will avenge them speedi- 
 ly." Sometimes indeed folks grow pettish, in the 
 case of the crook in the lot, and let it drop out in 
 their prayers, in a course of despondency, while 
 yet it continues uneasy to ihem ; but, if God mind 
 to even it in mercy, he will oblige them to take it 
 in again, Ezek. xxxvi. 37. " I will yet, for this, be 
 inquired 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 olT our applying to God for the removal ; for 
 there are many prayers not to be answered till we 
 come to the other world, Rom. vii. 24, and there 
 all will be answered at once. 
 
 Directions for rightly managing the application for 
 removing the crook in the lot. 
 
 I. 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 you ; but without peradventure in 
 the life to come. Matt. xxi. 22. They will not be 
 disappointed that get the song of Moses and of the 
 Lamb. Rev. xv. iii. And, in some cases of that 
 
 6* 
 
66 HOW TO OBTAIN RELIEF UNDER IT. 
 
 nature, extraordinary prayer, with fasting, is very 
 expedient. 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," &lc. Justify 
 God, condemn 3''0urselves, kiss the rod, and go 
 quietly under it ; this is the most feasible way to 
 get rid of it, the end being obtained. James iv. 10. 
 " Thou wilt prepare their hearts, thou wilt cause 
 thine ear to hear. Psal. x. 17. 
 
 3. Wait on patiently till the hand that made it 
 mend it. Psal. xxvii. 14. Do not give up the 
 matter as hopeless, because you are not so soon 
 relieved as you would wish ; " But let patience 
 have her perfect work, that y-e may be perfect and 
 entire, wanting nothing." James i. 4. — Leave the 
 timing of the deliverance to the Lord ; his time 
 will at length, to conviction, appear the best, and 
 it will not go beyond it. Isa. Ix. 22. " I, the Lord, 
 will hasten it in his time ;" waiting on him, ye 
 will not be disappointed, " For they shall not be 
 ashamed that wait for me." Isa. xlix. 23. 
 
 Exhortation 2. What crook there is, which, in 
 the settled order of things, cannot be removed or 
 evened in this v/orld, let us apply to God for suita- 
 ble 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 such cases apply yourself. 
 
HOW TO OBTAIN RELIEF UNDER IT. 67 
 
 to God, for making up your losses another 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 instead of 
 that thing, the withholding or taking away of which 
 from you makes the crook in your lot. Psal. cxlii. 
 4, 5. There is never a crook which God makes 
 in our lot, but it is in etfect heaven's offer of a 
 blessed exchange to us; such as Mark x. 21. 
 ** Sell whatsoever thou hast, — and thou shalt have 
 treasure in heaven." In managing of which ex- 
 change, God first puts out his hand, and takes 
 away some earthly thing from us, and it is expect- 
 ed we put out our hand next, and take some hea- 
 venly thing from him in the stead of it, and parti- 
 cularly his Christ. Wherefore has God emptied 
 your left hand of such and such an earthly com- 
 fort? 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, Matt. xiii. 45, 46. " The 
 kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman 
 seeking goodly pearls : who, when he had found 
 one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that 
 he had and bought it." Do this, and you will be 
 more than even hands with the crook in your lot. 
 
 2. Look for the stream 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, con- 
 fidently to depend on God for that which is denied 
 us from the creature. " When my father and mo- 
 
68 HOW TO OBTAIN RELIEF UNDER IT. 
 
 ther forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." 
 Psal. xxvii. 10. This is a most rational expecta- 
 tion : for it is certain there is no good in the crea- 
 ture 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 foun- 
 tain. And it is a welcome plea, to come to God 
 and say, Now, Lord, thou hast taken away from 
 me such a creature-comfort, 1 must have as o-ood 
 from thyself. 
 
 3. Seek for the spiritual fruits of the crook in 
 the lot. Heb. xii. IL 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 
 ourselves 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 obtain more faith, 
 love, heavenly-mindedness, contempt of the world, 
 humility, self-denial, &c. 2 Cor. vi. 10. So while 
 we lose at one hand, we shall gain at another. 
 
 4. Grace to bear us up under the crook, 2 Cor. 
 xii. 8, 9. " For this thing I besought the Lord 
 thrice ;" and he said, " My grace is sufficient for 
 thee." Whether a man be faint, and have a light 
 burden, or be refreshed, and strengthened, and 
 have a heavy one, it is all the same ; the latter 
 can go as easy under his burden as the former un- 
 der his. Grace proportioned to the trial is what 
 we should aim at ; getting that, though the crook 
 be not evened, we are even hands with it. 
 
HOW TO BEAK IT W KLL. 69 
 
 5. The keeping in our eye the eternal rest and 
 Meight of glory in the other world, 2 Cor. iv. 17, 
 18. " For our li^ht allliction, wliich is but for a 
 moment, worketh for us a l':ir more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory ; while we look not at the 
 things which are seen, but at the things which 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 it ; but the 
 hope of eternal rest may bear up under all the toil 
 and trouble met with here. 
 
 Exhortation 3. Let us then set ourselves rightly 
 to bear 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 fuming and fretting, or 
 murmuring, James, v. 7. Psal. xxxvii. 7. Though 
 we lose our comfort in the creature, through 
 the crook in our lot, let us not lose the possession 
 of ourselves. Luke xxi. 19. The crook in our 
 lot makes us like one who has but a scanty fire to 
 warm at : but impatience under it scatters it, so as 
 to set the house on fire about us, and expose us to 
 danger. 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 un- 
 der discouragement — " nor faint when thou art re- 
 buked of him." Heb. xii. 5. Satan's work is by 
 
70 EXHORTATION TO THIS EFFECT. 
 
 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. Our happiness lies not in any earth- 
 ly comfort, nor will the want of any of them ren- 
 der us miserable. Heb. iii. 17, 18. So that we are 
 resolutely to hold on our way with a holy contempt, 
 and regardlessness of hardships. Job. xvii, 9. 
 " The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he 
 that hath clean hands shall be stronger and 
 stronger." 
 
 Quest. " When may any one be reckoned to fall 
 under sinking discouragement from the crook in 
 his lot?" 
 
 Ans. When it prevails so far as to unfit for the 
 duties, either of our particular or Christian calling. 
 We may be sure it has carried us beyond the 
 bounds of moderate grief, when it unfits us for ihe 
 common affairs of life, which the Lord calls us to 
 manage. 1 Cor. vii. 24. Or for the duties of re- 
 ligion, hindering them altogether. 1 Pet. iii. 7. 
 " That your prayers be not hindered," (Greek, cut 
 oflT, or cut up, like a tree from the roots,) or making 
 one quite hopeless in them. Mai. ii. 13. 
 
 3. Let us bear it profitably, so as we may gain 
 some advantage thereby. Psal. cxix. 71. "It is 
 good for me that I have been afflicted ; that I 
 might learn thy statutes." There is an advantage 
 to be made thereby, Rom. v. 3 — 5. And it is cer- 
 tainly an ill-managed crook in our lot, when we 
 get not some spiritual good of it. Heb. xii. 11. 
 
MOTIVES TO PRESS THIS EXHORTATION. 71 
 
 The crook is a kind of spiritual medicine ; and as 
 it is lost physic that purges away no ill humours, 
 in vain are its unpleasantness to the taste and its 
 <rripings endured ; so it is a lost crook, and ill is 
 (he biuerness of it borne if we are not bettered 
 by it. Isa. xxvii. 9. " By this, therefore, shall the 
 iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit, 
 to take away his sin." 
 
 Motives to press this exhortation. 
 Motive 1. There will be no evening of it while 
 God sees meet to continue it. Let us behave un- 
 der it as we will, and make what sallies we please 
 in the case, it will continue immoveable, as fixed 
 with bands of iron and brass. Job. xxiii. 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 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. 
 
 Motive 2. An awkward carriage under it notably 
 increases the pain of it. What makes the yoke 
 gall our necks, but that we struggle so much against 
 it, and cannot let it set at ease on us. Jer. xxxi. 18 
 ilow often are we, in that case, like men dashing 
 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 crook lays an over-weight on the burden, and 
 
72 QUESTION ANSWERED. 
 
 makes it heavier, while withal it weakens ns, and 
 makes us less able to bear it. 
 
 Motive 3. The crook in thy lot is the special 
 trial God has chosen 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 true and counterfeit Christians. 
 They may bear, and go through several trials, 
 whom the crook in the lot will discover to 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 brethren, and sisters, yea, 
 and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." 
 Perhaps you find you can submit to any thing but 
 that; but will not that hut mar all; Mark x. 21, 
 22, Did ever any hear of a sincere closing with 
 Christ with a reserve or exception of one thing, 
 wherein they behooved to be their own lords ? 
 
 Quest. " Is that disposition then a qualification 
 necessarily pre-required to our believing : and if 
 so, where must we have it ? Can we work it out of 
 our natural powers ?" 
 
 Ans. No, it is not so ; but it necessarily accora* 
 
DIFFICULTY SOLVED. 73 
 
 panics and goes alone with believincr, flowing from 
 the same saving illumination iii the knowledge of 
 Christ, whereby the soul is brought to believe on 
 him. Hereby the soul sees him an able Saviour, 
 and so trusts on him for salvation; the rightful 
 Lord and infinitely wise Ruler, and so submits the 
 lot to him. Matt. 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 
 receiving him, that causes us to quit other things 
 to and for him, as it is the light that dispels the 
 darkness. 
 
 Case. " Alas ! 1 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 to it, and when the new man of grace is 
 submitting to it, the old man will still be rebelling. 
 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 can- 
 not do the things that ye would ;" but are ye sin- 
 cerely desirous and habitually aiming to submit to 
 it? From 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 you cannot submit to it. 
 This is submitting of your lot, in the favourable 
 construction of the gospel. Rom. vii. 17 — 20 ; 2 
 Cor. viii. 12. If you had your choice, would you 
 rather have your heart brought to submit to the 
 
 7 
 
74 ADDITIONAL MOTIVES URGED. 
 
 crook, than the crook evened to your heart's de- 
 sire ? Rom. vii. 22, 23. And do you not sincere- 
 ly endeavour to submit, notwithstanding the reluc- 
 tancy of the flesh? Gal. v. 17. 
 
 Ans. 2. Where is the Christian self-denial, and 
 taking up the cross, without submitting to the 
 crook ? This is the first lesson Christ puts in the 
 hands of his disciples, Matt. 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 crav- 
 ings, and particularly that which God sees meet 
 especially tp be denied, we cannot bear the crook 
 in our lot, but fight against it in favour of self. 
 
 Ans. 3. Where is our conformity to Christ, 
 while we cannot submit to the crook ? We cannot 
 evidence ourselves Christians, without conformity 
 to Christ. " He that saith he abideth in him, ought 
 himself also so 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 hum- 
 bled himself, and became obedient unto death, 
 even the death of the cross." Rom. xv. 3. " For 
 even Christ pleased not himself," &c. And so 
 must we, if we will prove ourselves Christians in- 
 deed. Matt. xi. 29. ; 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12. 
 
 Ans. 4. How shall we prove ourselves the gen- 
 uine kindly children of God, if still warring with 
 the crook ? We cannot pray, Our Father — Thy 
 
ADDITIO\AL MOTIVES URGED. 75 
 
 will be done on earth, as, &c. Matt. vi. Nay, the 
 lanfjiiage 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 lon^. 1 Cor. vii. 29 — .31. What though the 
 work be sore, it may be the better comported with, 
 that it will not be longsome ; 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 not eased before, you will be eased of it 
 at death, come after it what will. A serious view 
 of death and eternity might make us set ourselves 
 to behave rightly under our crook while it lasts. 
 
 Motive 5. if you would, in a Christian manner, 
 set yourselves to bear the crook, you would find it 
 easier than you imagine. Matt. xi. 29, 30. " Take 
 my yoke upon you, and learn of me, and ye shall 
 find rest to your souls ; 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 im- 
 possible, 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 
 you will never be able to bear it. But the Lord 
 makes no crook in the lot of any, but what may 
 be borne of them acceptably, though not sinlessly 
 and perfectly. Matt. xi. 30. For there is strength 
 for that effect secured in the covenant, 2 Cor. iii. 
 5 ; Phil. iv. 13, and being by faith fetched, it will 
 certainly come, Psal. xxviii. 7. 
 
 Motive 6. If you behave Christianly under your 
 crook here, you will not lose your labour, but get 
 
76 ADDITIONAL MOTIVES URGED. 
 
 a full reward of grace in the other world, through 
 Christ. 2 Tim. ii. 12 ; 1 Cor. xv. 58. There is a 
 blessing pronounced on him that endureth on this 
 very ground, James i. 12. " Blessed is the man 
 that endureth 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 the approved, upon the trial of 
 the crook are received, Rev. vii. 14. "These are 
 they which came out of great tribulation, and have 
 washed their robes, and made them white in the 
 blood of the Lamb." When you come there, no 
 vestiges of it will be remaining in your lot, nor 
 will you have the least uneasy remembrance of it ; 
 but it will accent your praises, and increase your 
 
 joy. 
 
 Motive 7. If you do not behave Christianly un- 
 der it, you will lose your souls in the other world, 
 Jude 15, 16. Those who are at war with God in 
 their lot here, God will have war with them for 
 ever. If they 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 be loosed. Job ix. 4. Therefore 
 set yourselves to behave rightly under the crook 
 in your lot. 
 
 If you ask what way one may reach that ; for 
 direction we propose, 
 
 Prop. III. The considering the crook in the lot, as 
 the work of God, is a proper means to bring one 
 to behave righthj under it. 
 
THE CROOK, THE WORK OF GOD. 77 
 
 1. What it is to consider the crook as the work 
 of God. We take it up in these five things : 
 
 First, An inquiry into the spring whence it ri- 
 ses. Gen. XXV. 22. Reason and religion both 
 teach us, not only to notice the crook, which we 
 cannot avoid, but to consider and inquire into the 
 spring of it. Surely, it is not our choice, nor do 
 we designedly make it for ourselves : and to as- 
 cribe it to fortune is to ascribe it to nothing : it is 
 not sprung of itself, but sown by one hand or ano- 
 ther 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 creatures have therein, 
 we ought not to terminate our view in them, but 
 look above and beyond them to the supreme mana- 
 ger's agency. Job i. 21. Without this we shall 
 make a God of the creature that is instrumental 
 of the crook, looking on it as if it were the first 
 cause, which is peculiar to God, Rom. xi. 36, and 
 bring ourselves under that doom. Psalm xxviii. 5. 
 *' 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 as a work 
 of God, which he hath wrought against us for holy 
 and wise ends, becoming the divine perfections. 
 This is to take it by the right handle, to represent 
 it to ourselves, under a right notion, from whence 
 a right management under it may spring. It can 
 never be safe to overlook God in it, but very safe 
 
 7* 
 
78 ACCORDING TO THE COUNSEL OF HIS WILL, 
 
 %> ov^erlook 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 overlooked Shimei, and looked to God in 
 the matter of his cursing, as one fixing his eyes, 
 not on the axe, but on him that wielded it. Here 
 two things are to come into our consideration. 
 
 1st. The decree of God, purposing that crook 
 for us from eternity ; " for he worketh all things 
 after 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 valleys of 
 darkness, grief, and sorrow, we are carried through, 
 we are to look on them as made by the mountains 
 of brass, the immovable divine purposes, Zech.. 
 vi. 1. 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. 
 
 2dly. The providence of God bringing to pass 
 that crook for us in time. Amos iii. 6. There is 
 nothing can befall us without 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 ceas- 
 ing, they would all stop : though he is still infinite- 
 ly 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 
 
USE OF THIS CONSIDERATION. 79 
 
 such. It is not a simple glance of the eye, but JB 
 contemplating and leisurely viewing of it as his 
 work, that is the proper mean. We are to be, 
 
 1st. Habitually impressed with this considera- 
 tion : as the crook is some lasting grievance, so 
 the consideration of this as the remedy should be 
 habitually kept up. There are other considera- 
 tions besides this that we must entertain, so that 
 we cannot always have it expressly in our mind : 
 but we must lay it down for a rooted principle, ac- 
 cording to which we are to manage the crook, and 
 keep the heart in a disposition, whereby it may 
 expressly slip into our minds, as occasion calls. 
 
 2dly. We are to be occasionally exercised in it. 
 Whenever we begin to feel the smart of the crook, 
 we should fetch in this remedy ; when the yoke 
 begins to gall the neck, there should be an appli- 
 cation of this spiritual ointment. And however 
 often the former comes in on us, it will be our wis- 
 dom 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 end for which 
 it is proposed to us, namely, to bring us to a dutiful 
 carriage under it. Men's corruptions will cause 
 them to enter on the consideration of it : but as 
 the principle is, so the end and effect of it will 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 practical consideration for regu- 
 lating our conduct under the crook. 
 
 II. How it is to be understood to be a proper 
 
80 IXDISPENSABLE NECESSITY OF FAITH. 
 
 ^means to bring one to behave rightly under the 
 crook. 
 
 Not as if it were sufficient of itself, and as it 
 stands alone, to produce that eflect. But 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 a way to behave himself 
 rightly under it : but having believed in Jesus 
 Christ, and so taking God for his God, the consi- 
 dering of the crook as the work of God, his God, 
 is the proper means to bring him to that desirable 
 temper and behaviour. Many hearers mistake here. 
 When thev hear such and such lawful considera- 
 tions proposed for bringing them to duty, they pre- 
 sently 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 reason to make men Christians ; 
 the eyes of both being held, that they do not see 
 the corruption of men's nature, which is such as 
 sets the true cure above the force of reason : all 
 that they are sensible of, being some ill habits, 
 which they think may be shaken off by a vigorous 
 application 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 
 those that have limbs. Innocent Adam had a stock 
 of gracious abilities, whereby he might, by the force 
 
rNDISPENSABLE NECESSITY OF FAI^. 81 
 
 of moral considerations, have 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 power have they 
 to raise the dead, such as we are ? Eph. 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 the moral 
 considerations ye can use. How were the ten 
 commandments given on mount Sinai ? not as bare 
 exactions of duty, but fronted with the gospel, to 
 be believed in the first place ; " I am the Lord thy 
 God,*' (fee. And so Solomon, whom many regard 
 rather as a moral philosopher, than an inspired 
 writer leading to Christ, fronts his writings, in the 
 beginning of the Proverbs, with most express gos- 
 pel. And must we have it expressly repeated in 
 our Bibles with every moral precept, or else shut 
 our eyes and tako 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 believe 
 rightly under the crook in the lot ; what humilia- 
 tion 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 impossible for you to reach it with- 
 
82 IMPORTANCE OF DUE CONSIDERATION. 
 
 out that faith aforementioned. I know a Christian 
 may reach it without full assurance : but still, ac- 
 cording 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, far- 
 ther 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 them- 
 selves to a behaviour under the crook, externally 
 right, such as many pagans had ; but a Christian 
 disposition of spirit under it will never be reached, 
 without that faith in God. 
 
 Object. " Then it is saints only that are capable 
 of the improvement of that consideration." 
 
 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 
 ye may improve it, set yourselves to believe in the 
 first place. 
 
 III. I shall confirm that it is a proper mean to 
 bring one to behave rightly under it. This will 
 appear, if we consider these four things. 
 
 1. It is of great use to divert from the consider- 
 ing and dwelling on those things about the crook, 
 which serve to irritate our corruption. Such are 
 the balking of our will and wishes, the satisfac- 
 tion we should have in the matter's going accord- 
 ing to our mind, the instruments of the crook, how 
 
IMPORTANCE OF DUE CONSIDERATION. 83 
 
 injurious they are to us, how unreasonable, how 
 obstinate, <fec. The dwelling on these considera- 
 tions is but the blowing of the 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 expedient and necessary. 
 
 2. It has a moral aptitude for producing this 
 good effect. Though our cure is not compassed 
 by the mere force of reason ; yet it is carried on, 
 not by a brutal movement, but in a rational way. 
 Eph. V, 14. This consideration has a moral effi- 
 cacy on our reason, it is fit to awe us into a sub- 
 mission, and ministers a deal of argument for 
 behaving christianly under our crook. 
 
 3. It has a divine appointment for that end, 
 which is to be believed. Prov. iii. 6. So the text. 
 The creature in itself is an inefficacious and 
 moveless thing, a mere vanity. Acts. xvii. 28. 
 That which makes any thing a means fit for the 
 end, is a word of divine appointment. Matt, 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 dependence on God, ac- 
 cording to that word of appointment. 1 Tim. iv. 
 4, 5. And every thing is fit for the end for which 
 God has appointed it. This consideration is ap- 
 pointed 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, ii^iem that believe, and look 
 to him iuk, it, for as nipch as it is a mean of his 
 
 f 
 
84 IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 own appointment. Papists, legalists, and all su- 
 perstitious persons, devised various means of sanc- 
 tification, seeming to have, or really having, a 
 moral fitness for the same ; but they are quite in- 
 effectual, because, like Abanar and Pharpar, they 
 want a word of divine appointment for curing us 
 of our leprosy ; therefore the Spirit works not by 
 them, since they are not his instruments, but de- 
 vised of their own hearts. And since even the 
 means of divine appointment are ineffectual with- 
 out the Spirit, these can never be effectual. But 
 this consideration having a divine appointment, the 
 Spirit works by it. 
 
 Use. Then take this direction for your behaving 
 rightly under the crook in your lot. Inure your- 
 selves 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 gos- 
 pel-grace, aud so to make it tolerable. Psal. xxii. 
 1. The discerning 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, Psal. cxlii. 4, 5. (2) In 
 all your 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 wo|Jpf your God, the work 
 of your Father, elder Brother, Head,^Uusband, 
 
ADVANTAGE OF HUMILITY. 85 
 
 &c., who therefore, surely consults your good. 
 Consider his holiness and justice, showing he 
 wrongs you not ; his mercy and goodness, that it 
 is not worse ; his sovereignty, that may silence 
 you ; his infinite 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 remem- 
 brance ; a correcting work, to chastise you for 
 your follies ; a preventing work, to hedge you up 
 from courses of sin you 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 man- 
 ner, look upward for his Spirit, to render them ef- 
 fectual, 1 Cor. iii. 6. — Thus may ye behave chris- 
 tianly under it, till God make it even either here 
 or in heaven. 
 
 Prov. xvi. 19. 
 
 Better it is to be of an 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 bend to the crook in 
 their lot, than to force the crook to their mind, they 
 would be in a fair way to bring their matters to a 
 good account. Hear then the divine decision in 
 that case : " Better it is to be of an humble spirit 
 with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the 
 proud." In which words, 
 
 8 
 
86 THE LOWLY AND PROUD CONTRASTED. 
 
 First. There is a comparison instituted, and that 
 between two parties, and two points wherein they 
 vastly differ. 
 
 1st. The parties are the lowly and the proud, 
 who differ like heaven and earth : the proud are 
 climbing up and soaring aloft ; the lowly are con- 
 tent to creep on the ground, if that is the will of 
 God. Let us view them more particularly as the 
 text represents them. 
 
 On the one hand is the lowly. Here there is a 
 line-reading and a marginal, both from the Holy 
 Spirit, and they differ only in a letter. The former 
 is the afflicted or poor, that are low in their condi- 
 tion ; those that have a notable crook in their lot 
 through affliction laid on them, whereby their con- 
 dition 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. 
 
 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 pre-supposes a battle. 
 
 2nd. The points wherein these parties are sup- 
 posed to differ, viz : being of a humble spirit, and 
 dividing the spoil. 
 
 Afflicted and lowly ones may sometimes 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, 
 
PREFERENCE GIVEN TO THE LOWLY. 87 
 
 as Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, &c. But that is not 
 the question, Whether it is belter 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 humble 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 
 one against another, are these : 
 
 On the one hand, to be of a humble spirit with 
 afflicted lowly ones. (Heb.) To be low of spirit ; 
 for the word primarily denotes lowness in situation 
 or state : so the point here proposed is to be with, 
 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 con- 
 dition. 
 
 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, taking 
 themselves to be injured, tight it out with the ene- 
 my, overcome and divide the spoil according to 
 their will. 
 
 Secondly. The decision made, wherein the 
 former is preferred to the latter ; " Better is it to 
 be of an humble spirit with the lowly than to di- 
 vide the spoil with the proud." If these two par- 
 ties were set before us, it were better to take our 
 
88 THE LOWLY RARELY TO BE FOUND. 
 
 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 spirit, have their 
 lot brought up to their mind. A humble spirit is 
 better than a heightened condition. 
 
 DocT. There is a generation of lowly afflicted oneSy 
 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 low- 
 ly afflicted ones, having their spirit brought down 
 to their lot. And we shall. 
 
 First. Lay down some general considerations 
 about them. 
 
 1. There is such a generation in the world, bad 
 as the world is. The text expressly mentions 
 them, and the scripture elsewhere speaks of them ; 
 as Psal. ix. 12. and x. 12. Matth. v. 3. with Luke vi. 
 20. Where shall we seek them ? Not in heaven, 
 there are no afflicted ones there ; nor in hell, there 
 are no lowly and 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 whom they all copy after ; 
 " Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart." 
 Matt. xi. 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 fore- 
 
SOME MORE LOWLY THAN' OTHERS. 89 
 
 know he also did predestinate to be conformed to 
 the image of his Son." His image lies in these 
 two, siiU'ering and holiness, whereof lowliness is 
 a chief part. 
 
 3. Nevertheless, they are certainly very rare in 
 the world. Agur observes, that there is another 
 generation, (Prov. xxx. 13. "There eyes are lofty, 
 and their eye-lids lifted up,") quite opposite to 
 them, and this makes the greatest company by far. 
 The low and afflicted lot is not so very rare, but 
 the lowly disposition of spirit is rarely yoked with 
 it. Many a high spirit keeps up in spite of low- 
 ering circumstances. 
 
 4. They can be no more in number than the 
 truly godly ; for nothing less than the power of 
 dinne 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 of submission to a low and crossed lot, be- 
 cause 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 generation, 
 yet there are some of them to whom the character 
 more especially belongs. The way to heaven lies 
 through tribulation to all. Acts xiv. 22 ; and all 
 Christ's followers are reconciled to it notwithstand- 
 ing, Luke xvi. 26 ; Yet there are some of them 
 more remarkably disciplined than others, whose 
 spirit is hereby humbled and brought down to their 
 lot, Psal. cxxxi. 2. " Surely I have behaved and 
 quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his 
 
 8* 
 
90 SOME MORE LOWLY THAN OTHERS. Wll 
 
 mother ; my soul is even as a weaned child." Phil, 
 iv. 11, 12, "For I have learned, in whatsoever 
 state I am, therewith to be content. I know both ' 
 how to be abased, and I know how to abound : 
 every where, and in all things I am instructed, 
 both to be full and to be hungry, 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 favoura- 
 ble construction put upon it in heaven. Should 
 we look for a generation perfectly purged of pride 
 and rising of heart against their adverse lot at any 
 time, we should find none in this world ; but 
 those who are sincerly aiming and endeavouring 
 to reach it, and keep the way of contented sub- 
 mission, though sometimes blown aside, and re- 
 turning to it again, God accounts to be that lowly 
 generation. 2 Cor. vii. 10, 11. James, v. 11. 
 
 Secondly. We shall enter into particulars. There 
 are three things which together make up their cha- 
 racter. 
 
 1st. Affliction in their lot. That lowly genera- 
 tion, preferred to the proud and prosperous, is a 
 generation of afflicted ones, whom God keeps un- 
 der the discipline 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. Ixxiii. 14. God 
 is frequently visiting them as a master doth his 
 scholars, and a physician his patients ; whereas 
 others in a sort overlooked by him. Rev. iii. 19. 
 They are accustomed to the yoke, and that from 
 
CHARACTER OF THE LOWLY. 91 
 
 the time they enter into God's family. Psal. 
 cxxxix. 1 — 3. God sees it good for them. Lam. 
 iii. 27, 28. 
 
 2. There is a particular yoke of afiliction 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 exchanged, 
 but that is a weiirlit that still hanjjs about them, 
 bowinjj them down. 
 
 2dly. Lowliness in their disposition and tenour 
 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, 
 
 L They think soberly and meanly of them- 
 selves; what they are, 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10; what 
 they can do ; 2 Cor iii. 5 : what they are worth, 
 Gen. xxxii. 10, and what they deserve. Lam. iii. 
 22. Yiewinsf themselves in the glass of the di- 
 vine law and perfection, they see themselves as a 
 mass of imperfection and sinfulness. Job, 5, 6. 
 
 2. They think highly and honourably of God. 
 Psal. cxlv. 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 perfect. They look on him as the fountain of 
 happiness, a God in Christ, doing all things well ; 
 trusting his wisdom, goodness, and love, even 
 where they cannot see. Heb. xi. 6. 
 
 3. They think favourably of others, as far as in 
 
92 CHARACTER OF THE LOWLY. 
 
 justice, they may, Phil. ii. 3. Though they cannot, 
 hinder themselves from seeing their glaring faults, 
 yet they are ready withal to acknowledge their 
 excellencies, and esteem them so far. And be- 
 cause they see more into their own merits 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, circumstances 
 compared. 
 
 4. They are sunk down into a state of subordi- 
 nation 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 done 
 on earth, &c. — 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 dis- 
 posed to stoop to low things. Psal. cxxxi. 1. Low- 
 liness levels the towering imaginations, which 
 pride mounts up against heaven ; draws a veil 
 over all personal worth and excellences 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. xxxii. 10. Pride of heart overlooks 
 and vilifies mercies one is possessed of, and fixes 
 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. 
 
CHARACTKR OF THE LOWLY. 93 
 
 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 have pos- 
 sessed, or yet do. Job. ii. 10. 
 
 3dly. A spirit brought down to their lot. Their 
 lot is a low and afilicted one ; but their spirit is as 
 low, being, through grace, brouirht 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 hard- 
 ships in our condition, but we have procured them 
 to ourselves ; and ii is therefore just that we kiss 
 the rod, and be silent under it, and so lower our 
 spirits to our lot. If they complain, it is of them- 
 selves ; their hearts rise not up against the Lord, 
 far less do they open their mouth against the 
 heavens. They justify God and condemn them- 
 selves, reverencing his holiness and spotless 
 righteousness in his proceedings against them. 
 
 2. They go quietly under it as tolerable. Lam, 
 iii. 26 — 29. " It is ^ood 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 ; he putteth his 
 mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope." 
 While the unsubdued spirit rages under the yoke 
 as a bullock unaccustomed to it, the spirit brought to 
 the 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 
 
94 CHARACTER OF THE LOWLY. 
 
 overweights upon it that turbulent passions add 
 thereunto ; and so it becomes really more easy than 
 they thought it could have been, like a burden fit- 
 ted on the back. 
 
 3. They are satisfied in it, as drawing their com- 
 fort from another quarter than their outward condi- 
 tion, 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 vine, — 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." 
 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 men's 
 comforts to wax and wane, ebb and flow, accord- 
 ing to the various appearances of their lot in the 
 world. 
 
 4. They have a complacency in it, as that which 
 is fit and good for them. Isa. xxxix. 8. 2 Cor. xii. 
 10. Men have a sort of complacency in the work- 
 ing of physic, though it gripes them sore ; they ra- 
 tionally 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 complacency in their low 
 afflicted lot. 
 
 The lowly spirit extracts this sweet out of the 
 
CHARACTER OF THE PROUD. 95 
 
 bitterness in his lot, considering how the Lord, by 
 means of that afflicting lot, stops the provision for 
 unrulv lusts, that they may be starved : how he 
 cuts off the by-channcls, that the whole stream of 
 the soul's love may run towards himself; how he 
 pulls off, and holds off the man's burden and clog 
 of earthly comforts, that he may run the more ex- 
 peditiously in 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 brinsr them out with his good will. 
 Isa. xxviii. 16. Though an unsubdued spirit's time 
 for deliverance is always ready, a humble soul will 
 be afraid of being taken out of its afflicted lot too 
 soon. It will not be for movinor for a chanjTe, till 
 the heaven's moving bring it about; so this hinders 
 not prayer, and the use of appointed means, with 
 dependence on the Lord ; but requires faith, hope, 
 patience, and resignation. 2 2am. xv. 25, 26. 
 
 II. We shall consider the generation of 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 overruling provi- 
 dence, 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 
 got through the world, but men must meet wiih 
 what will ruffle them. Eccles. i. 14. Sin has 
 turned the world from a paradise into a thicket. 
 
96 CHARACTER OF THE PROUD. 
 
 there is no getting througli without being scratch- 
 ed. As midges in the summer 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 partic- 
 ularly 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 remain at the height in which the 
 corruption of nature placed 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. We 
 may view the case of the proud generation here 
 in three things. 
 
 1. They have an over-value for themselves ; and 
 so will not stoop to the yoke ; it is below them. 
 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 on the yoke, whether of Christ's precepts 
 or providence. The first error is in the understand- 
 
CHARACTER OF THE PROUD. 97 
 
 ing ; whence Solomon ordinarily calls a wicked 
 man a fool ; accordingly the first stroke in conver- 
 sion is there too, by conviction to humble. Men 
 are bigger in their own conceit, than they are in- 
 deed ; 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 themselves, and they will 
 not stoop. Exod. v. 2. The question betwixt 
 Heaven and us is, whether God's will or our own 
 must prevail ? Our will is corrupt, God's will is 
 holy ; they cannot agree in one. God says in his 
 providence, our will must yield to his ; but that it 
 will not do, till the iron sinew in it be broken. 
 Rom. viii. 7. Isa. xlviii. 4. 
 
 3. They have a crowd of unsubdued passions 
 taking part with 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 without the 
 man. James iv. 1. 
 
 A holy God crosses the self-will of proud crea- 
 tures by his providence, overruling and disposing 
 of things contrary 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 tlieir mind, as in the 
 case of Ahab to whom Nabotli refused his vine- 
 yard. 1 Kinp;s xxi. 4. 
 
 The proud heart and will, unable to submit to the 
 cross, or to bear to be controlled, rises up against 
 it, and fights for the mastery, with its whole force 
 of unmortified passions. The design is to remove 
 
 9 
 
98 CHARACTER OF THE PROUD. 
 
 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 makes an attack on 
 heaven itself, namely, discontent, impatience, mur- 
 muring, frettings, and the like. " The foolishness 
 of man perverteth his way ; and his heart fretteth 
 against the Lord." Prov. xix. 3. These fire the 
 breast, fall the countenance. Gen. iv. 6, let off 
 sometimes a volley of indecent and passionate 
 complaints, Jude, ver. 16, and sometimes of blas- 
 phemies, 2 Kings vi. 33. 
 
 (2.) There is another that marches forward, and 
 makes an attack on the instrument or instruments 
 of the cross, namely, anger, wrath, fury, revenge, 
 bitterness, &c. Prov. xxvii. 4. These carry the 
 man out of the possession of himself, Luke xxi. 
 19, fill the heart with a boiling 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, a most 
 heavy event, 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 immovable 
 for all they can do ; yea, and sometimes they them- 
 selves fall in the quarrel, it ends in their ruin. Exod. 
 XV. 9, 10. But that is not the case in the text. For 
 we are to consider them as. 
 
 Thirdly, Getting their will, and carrying all to 
 their mind. This speaks, 
 
Doctrine of the ti;xt confirmed. 99 
 
 1. Holy providence yielding to the man's un- 
 mortified 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 be at ; 
 " Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone." Hos. 
 iv. 17. 
 
 2. The lust remaining in its strength and vigour, 
 Psa. Ixxviii. 30. " They were not estranged from 
 their lust." God, in the method of his covenant 
 sometimes gives his people their will, and sets them 
 where they would be ; but then, in that case, the 
 lust for the thing is mortified, 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. Psal. 
 Ixxviii. 29. They could not think of bringing their 
 mind to their 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 in his having carried 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 deci- 
 sion of the text. That the case of the former is bet- 
 ter than that of the latter. It is better to be in a 
 
100 DOCTRIXE OF THE TEXT CONFIRMED. 
 
 low afflicted condition, with the spirit humble 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 accordmg to one's mind. This will ap- 
 pear from the following considerations. 
 
 1. Humility is so far preferable to pride, that in 
 no circumstances whatsoever its preferableness can 
 fail. Let all the afflictions in the world attend the 
 humble spirit, and all the prosperity in the world 
 attend pride, humility will still have the better : as 
 gold in a dunghill is more excellent than so much 
 lead in a cabinet, For, 
 
 (1.) Humility is a part 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 Father's person, and we shall behold him meek 
 and lowly in heart. Matt. xi. 2Q. None more 
 afflicted, yet his spirit perfectly brought down to 
 his lot, Isa. liii. 7. " He was oppressed, and he 
 was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth." That 
 is a shining part of the divine image : for though 
 God cannot be low in respect of his state and con- 
 dition, yet he is of infinite condescension, Isa. Ivii. 
 15. None bears as he, Rom. ii. 4, nor suffers 
 patiently so much contradiction to his will ; which 
 is proposed to us for our encouragement in afflic- 
 tion, as it shone in Christ. " For consider him 
 that endured such 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. Shall we value ourselves on 
 
DOCTRINE OF THE TEXT CONFIRMED. 101 
 
 the height of our 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, seeks rest in- 
 deed, but finds 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 it is to be of an humble spirit with the 
 lowly," &c. 
 
 (2.) Humility and lowliness of spirit qualify us 
 for friendly communion and intercourse with God 
 in Christ. Pride makes God our enemy. 1 Pet. 
 V. 5. Our happiness here and hereafter depends 
 on our friendly intercourse with Heaven. If we 
 have not that, nothing can make up our loss. Psal. 
 XXX. 5. If we have that, nothing 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 
 being 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 
 
 9* 
 
102 DOCTRINE OF THE TEXT CONFIRMED. 
 
 the kingdom of heaven." Matt. v. 3. He will look 
 to them, be their condition ever so low, while he 
 overlooks others. Isa. Ixvi. 2. He will have re- 
 spect 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. Isa. Ivii. 15. He will certainly exalt them 
 in due time, however low they lie now. Isa. 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, if they will 
 not fall down before him. But God will bring him 
 down. Isa. xl. 4. Psal. xviii. 27. 
 
 Now, is it not better to be qualified for commu- 
 nion 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. Isa. Ivii. 15 ; 1 Tim. iii. 6. 
 God requires us to be humble, especially under 
 affliction, " and be clothed with humility." 1 Pet. 
 V. 5, 6. That is our becoming garment. The hum- 
 ble publican was accepted, the proud pharisee re- 
 jected. We may say of the generation of the 
 proud, as 1 Thess. ii. 16. " Wrath is come upon 
 them to the uttermost." 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. 
 
DOCTRINE OF THE TEXT CONFIRMED. 103 
 
 2. 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, 
 
 Quiet of mind, and ease within, is a great bless- 
 ing, upon which the comfort of life depends. No- 
 thing 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 se- 
 cured in God, there is a defiance bid to all the 
 troubles of the world. Psal. xlvi. 2, 3, like the 
 child sailing in the midst of the rolling waves. 
 
 The spirit broughi down to the lot makes and 
 maintains this inward tranquillity. Our whole 
 trouble in our lot in this world rises from the dis- 
 agreement 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 disposition, 
 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, 
 
 What disquiet of mind the proud 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 kill, and 
 desire to have, and cannot obtain ; ye fight and 
 war, yet ye have not." What arrows of grief go 
 through their heart ! what torture of anxiety, 
 
104 DOCTRINE OF THE TEXT CONFIRMED. 
 
 fretting, and vexation, must they endure ! what 
 contrary passions fight within them ! and what sal- 
 lies of passions do they make ! what uneasiness 
 was Haman in, before he could carry the point of 
 revenge against Mordecai, obtaining the king's 
 decree ! 
 
 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. Ixxviii. 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 provi- 
 dence, ere it is ripe, will readily set the teeth on 
 edge. It proves like the manna kept over night. 
 Exod. xvi. 20. 
 
 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 them a 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 execution came, he was gone. 
 
 3. They that get their spirit brought down to 
 their afflicted lot, 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 in 
 anger, is better than the mighty ; and he that ruleth 
 
DOCTRINE OF THE TEXT CONFIRMED. 105 
 
 his spirit, than he that taketh a city." This will 
 appear, if you consider, 
 
 (1.) The latter makes but a better condition 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 
 preferable to what betters only his condition. Who 
 doubts but where two are sick, and the one gets 
 himself transported from a coarse bed to a fine 
 one, the sickness still remaining ; the other lies 
 still in the coarse bed, but the sickness is removed ; 
 that the case of the latter is preferable ? So 
 here, &c. 
 
 (2.) The subduing of our own passions is more 
 excellent than to have the whole world subdued to 
 our will : for then we are masters of ourselves, ac- 
 cording to that, Luke xxi. 19. Whereas, in the 
 other case, we are still slaves to the worst of mas- 
 ters, 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. W^e have to do with an om- 
 niscient God, in whose eyes every internal action 
 is a work, good or bad, to be reckoned for. Rom. 
 ii. 16. 
 
106 IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 An afflicted lot is painful, but, where it is well 
 managed, it is very fruitful ; it exercises the graces 
 of the Spirit in a christian, which otherwise would 
 lie dormant. But there is never an act of resig- 
 nation 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 rising 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 folks 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 vengeance, Psal. Ixxxi. 11, 12. "Israel 
 would none of me, so I gave them up to their own 
 heart's lust ; and they walked in their own coun- 
 sels." It may be most pleasant and grateful for 
 the time, but it is not the safest. Let not the peo- 
 ple pride themselves in their carrying things that 
 way then by a strong hand ; let them not triumph 
 in 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 clown to it. And 
 if he will see things in the light of God's unerring 
 word, he is in better case than if he had got all 
 
IMPROVEMENT 01' THE SUBJECT. 107 
 
 carried to his mind. In the one way the vessels 
 of wrath are fitted for destruction. Pisal. Ixxviii. 
 29 — 31. In the other, the vessels ot' mercy are 
 fitted for glory, and so God disciplines his own. 
 Lain. 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 interest. Taking that way, we 
 act most honourably ; 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 victory will be on Heaven's side 
 in the war, 1 Sam. ii. 9. " For, by strength shall 
 no man prevail." 
 
 4. It is of so much greater concern for us to 
 fret our spirits brought down than our outward con- 
 dition 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 desire 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 dependence on God ; but 
 only that you be more concerned to get your spirit 
 
108 IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 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, 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, 
 Matt. 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 irritation, yet the disease still remains. 
 
 3. Think with yourselves how dangerous 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 our- 
 selves, and so to be given over of our physician as 
 hopeless, Isa. 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 sin- 
 fulness ; so will you be humbled under the mighty 
 hand of God ; and, in due time, he will lift you up. 
 
introductory remarks. 109 
 
 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 
 presents 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 causes he recommends humility as the great 
 means to bring all to their respective duties. This 
 is enforced with an argument taken from the differ- 
 ent treatment the Lord gives to the proud and the 
 humble ; his opposing himself to the one, and 
 showing favour to the other. Our text is an ex- 
 hortation drawn from that consideration ; and in it 
 we have, 
 
 1st. The duty we are to study : " Humble your- 
 selves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that 
 he may exalt you in due time." And therein we 
 may notice, 
 
 (1.) The state of those to whom it is proposed, 
 those under the mighty hand of God, whom his 
 hand has humbled, or brought low in respect of 
 their circumstances in tlie world. And by these, 
 'I think, are meant, not only such as are under par- 
 ticular signal afflictions, which is the lot of some, 
 but also those who, by the providence of God, are, 
 in any kind of way lowered, which is the lot of all. 
 All being in a state of submission or dependence 
 on others God has made this life a state of trial ; 
 
 10 
 
110 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 and for that cause he has, by his mighty hand, 
 subjected men one to another, as wives, children, 
 servants, to husbands, parents, masters ; and these 
 again to their superiors ; among whom, again, even 
 the highest depend on those under them, as magis- 
 trates and ministers on the people, even the su- 
 preme magistrate. This state of the world God 
 has made for the trial of men in their several sta- 
 tions, and dependence on others ; and therefore, 
 when the time of trial is over, it also comes to an 
 end. " Then cometh the end — when he shall have 
 put down all rule and all 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, namely. Humiliation of our 
 spirits under the humbling circumstances the Lord 
 has placed us in. " Humble yourselves therefore 
 under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt 
 you in due time." Whether we are under partic- 
 ular afflictions, which have cast us down from the 
 heiffht we were sometime in, or whether we are 
 only inferiors in one or more relations ; or wheth- 
 er, 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, bow down under it, in the temper and dis- 
 position of our spirits, suiting our spirits to our lot, 
 and careful of performing the duty of our low 
 sphere. 
 
INTRODUCTORV REMARKS. Ill 
 
 (3.) A particular spring of this duty ; therefore 
 we must consider, that those who cannot quietly 
 keep the place assigned them of God in their af- 
 flictions 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. 
 
 2dly. The infallible issue of that course ; that 
 he may exalt you in due time. The particle that^ 
 is not always to be understood finally, as denoting 
 the end or design the agent proposes to himself, 
 but sometimes eventually only, as denoting the 
 event or issue of the action, John ix. 2,3.; 1 John 
 ii. 19. So here, the meaning is not, Humble your- 
 selves, 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 humiliation of 
 spirit secured, and that is exaltation or lifting up 
 on high, by the power of God, that he may exalt 
 you. Exalting will as surely follow on humilia- 
 tion of spirit, suitable to the low lot, as the morn- 
 ing follows the night, or the sun riseth after the 
 dawning. And these words are fitted to obviate 
 the objections that the world and our corrupt hearts 
 are apt to make against bringing down the spirit to 
 the low lot. 
 
112 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 Object, 1. If we let our spirit fall, we shall lie 
 always at folks' feet, and they will trample on us. 
 
 Ans. No ; pride of spirit unsubdued, will bring 
 men to lie at the feet of others for ever, Isa. Ixvi. 
 24. But humiliation of spirit will bring them un- 
 doubtedly out from under their feet, Mai. iv. 2, 3. 
 Thev that humble themselves 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 your- 
 selves ye shall not lie there. 
 
 Object. 2. If we do not raise ourselves, none 
 will raise us ; and therefore we must see to our- 
 selves, to do ourselves right. 
 
 Ans. That is wrong. Humble ye yourselves in 
 respect of your spirits, and God will raise you up 
 in respect of your lot, or low condition ; and they 
 that have God eno^aojed for raising them, have no 
 reason 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 surely we shall never rise high, 
 if we let our spirits fall. 
 
 Ans. That it is wrong too : God will not only 
 raise the 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 propor- 
 tion to the humiliation. 
 
DESIGN OF GOD IX AFFLICTING. 113 
 
 (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 
 instantly heave up our head, John. vii. 6. But So- 
 lomon obser\^es, There is a time for every thing 
 when it does best, and the wise will wait for it, 
 Eccl. iii. I — 8. There is a time too for exalting 
 them that humble themselves ; God has set it, and 
 it is the due time for the purpose, the time 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 humbling 
 circumstances, should lie towards a suitable humr 
 bling of spirit, as under God's mighty hand plac- 
 ing us in them. We shall consider, 
 
 1. What things are supposed in this. It suppo- 
 ses that 
 
 1. God brings men into humbling circumstances, 
 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 
 
 10* 
 
114 DESIGN OF GOD IN AFFLICTING. 
 
 God brings them into humbling circumstances for 
 that very end, Deut. viii. 2 . " The Lord thy God 
 led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to 
 humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was 
 in thine heart." 
 
 2. These circumstances prove pressing as a 
 weioht on the heart, tending to bear it down, Psal. 
 evii. 12. " Therefore he brought down their hearts 
 with labour." They strike at the grain of the 
 heart, and cross the natural inchnation : whence a 
 trial arises, whether, when God lays on his migh- 
 ty 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 
 ao-ainst 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 1" 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 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 to get up his head, to go calmly under his 
 burden than to get it off, to bow under the mighty 
 hand, than to put it off him. 
 
AFFLICTION'S DIVERSIFIED. 115 
 
 5. There must be a noticing of the hand of God 
 in humbhng circumstances ; " Hear ye the rod, 
 and him who hath appointed it." Mic. vi. 9. There 
 is an abjectness 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 command of God. This is 
 real meanness of spirit, whereby one lies quietly 
 to be trampled on by a fellow worm, from its ima- 
 ginary weight ; and none so readily fall into it as 
 the proud, at some times, to serve their own turn. 
 These are men-pleasers, Eph. vi, 6 ; Gal. i. 10. 
 
 II. What are those humbling circumstances the 
 mighty hand of God brings men into. Supposing 
 here what was before taught concerning the crook 
 in the lot being of God's making, these are cir- 
 cumstances, 
 
 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 imperfec- 
 tions about us : our bodies and our souls, in all 
 their faculties, are in a state of imperfection. 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 bcgger 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, 1 Cor. vii. 24. God 
 has for a trial of men's submission to himself. 
 
116 AFFLICTIONS DIVERSIFID. 
 
 subjected them to others whom he has set over 
 them, to discover what regard they will pay to his 
 authority and commands at second hand. Domin- 
 ion or superiority is a part of the divine image 
 shining in them, 1 Cor. xi. 7. And therefore 
 reverence of them, consisting in an awfyl regard 
 to that ray of the divine image shining in them, is 
 necessarily required, Eph. v. 23 ; Heb. xii. 9. 
 The same holds in all other relations and superi- 
 orities, namely, that they are so far in the place of 
 God to their relatives, Psal. Ixxxii. 6, and though 
 the parties be worthless in themselves, that looses 
 not from the debt due to them, Acts xxiii. 4, 5. 
 Rom. xiii. 7. The reason is, because it is not their 
 qualities, but their character, which is the ground 
 of that debt of reverence and subjection ; and the 
 trial God makes of us in that matter turns not on 
 the point of the former, but of the latter. 
 
 Now, God having placed us in these circum- 
 stances of inferiority, all refractoriness, in all 
 things not contrary to the command of God, is 
 rising up against his mighty hand, Rom. xiii. 2, 
 because it is mediately upon us for that effect, 
 though it is a man's hand that is immediately on 
 us. 
 
 3. Of contradiction, tending directly to balk us 
 of our will. This was a part of our Lord's state 
 of humiliation, and the apostle supposes it will be 
 apart of ours too, Heb. xii. 3. There is a perfect 
 harmony in heaven, no one to contradict another 
 there : for they are in their state of retribution and 
 
AFFLICTIONS DIVERSIFIED. 117 
 
 exaltation ; but we are here in our state of trial 
 and humiliation, and therefore cannot miss contra- 
 diction, be we placed ever so high. 
 
 Whether these contradictions be just or unjust, 
 God tries men with them to humble them, to break 
 them off from addictedness 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 recurring to this use God has for them. 
 
 4. Of affliction, Prov. xvi. 19. Prosperity pufTs 
 up sinners with pride ; for it is very 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 ofTthe creature, whereby it 
 appears more in its native deformity. There are 
 various kinds of affliction, some more, some less 
 humbling, but all of them are humbling. 
 
 Wherefore, not to lower the spirit under the afflic- 
 tion, is to attempt to rise up when God is casting 
 and holding us down ; and cannot fail, if continued 
 in, to provoke the Lord to break us in pieces, 
 Ezek. xxiv. 13. For the afflicting hand of God 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 
 
118 WHEREIN HUMILIATION CONSISTS. 
 
 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 
 humiliation, 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 sin- 
 ful departings from him, as lost to all sense of duty, 
 and void of shame. 
 
 III. What it is in humbling circumstances, to 
 humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. 
 This is the cn-eat thing to be aimed at in our hum- 
 bling circumstances. And we may take it up in 
 these eidit things. 
 
 1. Noticing God's mighty hand, as employed in 
 bringing about every thing that concerns us, either 
 in the way of efficacy or permission, " And he 
 said, It is the Lord ; let him do what seemeth him 
 good." 1 Sam. iii. 18. "And the king said, The 
 Lord hath said unto him, Curse David : who shall 
 then say, wherefore hast thou done so ?" 2 Sam. 
 xvi. 10. He is the fountain of all perfection, but 
 we must trace our imperfections to his sovereign 
 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 withersoever he pleaseth." 
 Prov. xxi. 1. He sends afflictions, and justly pun- 
 ishes one sin with another. Isa. vi. 10. 
 
 2. A sense of our own worthlessness and no- 
 
WHEREIX HUMILIATION CONSISTS. 119 
 
 thinsrness before him. Psal. cxliv. 3. Looking to 
 the infinite Majesty of the mighty hand dealing 
 with us, we should say, with Abraham, Gen. xviii. 
 27. " Behold, I am but dust and ashes ;" and say 
 amen to the cry. Isa. xli. 6. All flesh is grass, &;c. 
 The keeping up of thoughts of our own excellency, 
 under the pressure of God's 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 required. 
 
 3. A sense of our guilt and filthiness. Rom. iii. 
 10. Isa. Ixiv. 6. The mighty hand doth not press 
 us down, but as sinners ; it is meet then that under 
 it we see our sinfulness ; our guilt, whereby we 
 shall appear criminals justly caused to sufi'er ; our 
 filthiness, whereupon we may be brought to loath 
 ourselves ; and then we shall think nothing lays 
 us lower than we well deserve. It is the over- 
 looking 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 ?" And nothing but unsubdued pride 
 of spirit can allow us to answer again under his 
 sovereign hand. A view of his sovereignty hum- 
 bled and awed the Psalmist into submission, with 
 a profound silence, Psal. xxxix. 9. '* I was dumb, 
 I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it." — 
 Job. i. 21. "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath 
 
120 WHEREIN HUMILIATION CONSISTS. 
 
 taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord." — 
 And xl. 4, 5. "What shall 1 answer thee? I 
 will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I 
 spoken, but I will not answer ; 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 lain 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 unsearchable. Rom. xi. 
 33. Pride of heart 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 humiliation of 
 spirit disposes a man to think awfully and honour- 
 ably of those 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 imagi- 
 nary personal excellency and dignity, and, being 
 so inured to it before others, cannot forget it before 
 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 be- 
 fore the shining sun, and it lays the man, in his 
 
WHEREIN HUMILIATION CONSISTS. 121 
 
 o^vn eyes, lower than any, " Surely I am more 
 brutish than anv man, and have not the understaud- 
 iu(T 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 condescend or stoop to, measuring by 
 his own mind and will, not by the circumstances 
 God has placed him in. But humility measures 
 by the circumstances one is placed in, and readily 
 Calls in with what they require. Hereof our Sa- 
 viour gave us an example to be imitated, Phil. ii. 8. 
 " Being found in fashion as a man he humbled him- 
 self, and became obedient unto death." John xiii. 
 14. "If I then, your Lord and Master, have 
 washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one ano- 
 ther's feet." 
 
 Use. Of exhortation. Let the bent of your heart 
 then, in all your humbling circumstances, be to- 
 wards the humbling of your spirit, as under the 
 mighty hand of God. This lies in two things. 
 
 1. Carefully notice all your humbling circum- 
 stances, and overlook none of them. Observe 
 your imperfections ; inferiority in relations ; con- 
 tradictions you meet with ; your afflictions ; un- 
 certainty of all things about you ; and your sinful- 
 ness. — Look through them designedly, and con- 
 sider the steps of the conduct of Providence toward 
 you in these, that ye may know yourselves, and 
 may not be strangers at home, blind to your own 
 real state and case. 
 
 2. Observe what these circumstances require of 
 
 11 
 
122 MOTIVES FOR ATTAINING IT. 
 
 you, as suitable to them ; bend your endeavours 
 towards it, to bring your spirits into that 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 exer- 
 cise 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 our- 
 selves, aad that we may not receive humbling dis- 
 pensations 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 themselves, Phil. ii. 12, 
 13. God by his 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 humbling providences in 
 humbling yourselves, 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. 
 
MOTIVES FOR ATTAINING IT. 123 
 
 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 condition, which ye 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. Isa. xlv. 9. 
 
 (2.) The folly of it. How unequal is the match ! 
 How can the struggle end well? Job ix. 4. What 
 else can possibly be the issue of the potsherds of 
 the earth dashing against the Rock of Ages, but 
 that they be broken to pieces ? All men must cer- 
 tainly bow or break under the mighty hand of God. 
 Job xli. 8. 
 
 4. This is the time of humiliation, even the 
 time of this life. Every thing is beautiful in its 
 season ; and the bringing down of the spirit now 
 is 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 humility, chap. v. 5. The humbling of sinners 
 and bringing them down from their heights, where- 
 in the corruption of their nature has set them, is 
 the great end of his word, and of his providences. 
 
 Mli 
 
124 MOTIVES FOR ATTAINING IT. 
 
 (2.) It is no easy thing to humble men's spirits ; 
 it is not a little that will do it ; it is a work that is 
 not soon done. There is need of a digging deep 
 for a thorough humiliation in the work of conver- 
 sion, Luke Yi. 48. Many a stroke must be given 
 at the root of the tree of the natural pride of the 
 heart ere it fall ; ofttimes 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 hum- 
 bling work. 
 
 (3.) The whole time of this life is appointed for 
 humiliation. This was signified 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 silver that will not take it 
 on by any means, Rom. viii. 29. So that what- 
 ever lifting up men may now and then get in this 
 life, the habitual course of it will still be hum- 
 bling. 
 
 (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 
 proud will be broken in pieces, but not softened ; 
 their lot and condition will be brought to the lowest 
 pass, but the unhumbleness of their spirits will 
 still remain, whence they will be in eternal ago- 
 nies through the opposition betwixt their spirits 
 and lot, Rev. xvi. 21. 
 
MOTIVES FOR ATTAINING IT. 125 
 
 Wherefore, beware lest ye sit your time of hu- 
 miliation : 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 circum- 
 stances to a good account ; so that instead of being 
 losers ye would be gainers by them, Psal. cxix. 71. 
 " It is good for me that I have been afflicted." 
 Would ye gather grapes of these thorns and this- 
 tles, set yourselves to get your spirits humbled by 
 them. 
 
 Humiliation of spirit is a most valuable thing 
 in itself, Prov. xvi. 32. It cannot be bought too 
 dear. Whatever one is made to suffer, if his spirit 
 is thereby duly brought down, he has what is well 
 •worth bearing all the hardships for, 1 Pet. iii. 4. 
 
 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 — 29. It is 
 a sacrifice particularly acceptable to God, Psal. li. 
 17. The eye of God is particularly on such for 
 good, Isa. Ixvi. 2, " To this man will I look, even 
 to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and 
 trembleth at my word." Yea, he dwells with 
 them, Isa. Ivii. 15. And it carries a line of wis- 
 dom through one's whole conduct, Prov. xi. 2. 
 " With the lowly is wisdom." 
 
 11* 
 
126 DIRECTIONS FOR THIS PURPOSE. 
 
 6. 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 cannot stand before 
 it ; for it cannot miscarry in its designs, Isa. xlvi. 
 10. " My counsel shall stand." So fall before it 
 we must, either in the way of duty or judgment, 
 Psal. xlvi. 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 humilia- 
 tion under the mighty hand, be they ever so low, 
 the same hand will raise them up again, James 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 conduct of Providence 
 towards you, Micah vi. 9. Till once your heart 
 get a set that way, your humiliation is not to be 
 expected, Hosea xiv. 9. But nothing is more rea- 
 sonable, if we would act either like men or Chris- 
 tians, 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 
 another. 
 
DIRECTIONS FOR THIS PURPOSE. 127 
 
 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, and 
 while the creature dries up, you may go to the 
 Fountain : for it is impossible to reach due humili- 
 ation under his 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, Psal, xxviii. 7. Moses, smiting 
 the rock in faith of the promise, made water gush 
 out, which otherwise would not at all have appear- 
 ed. 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 vour God, for he is grracious and merci- 
 ful :" or they will never kindly break or fall in hu- 
 miliation. 
 
 II. Particular Directions. 
 
 1. Assure yourselves that there are no circum- 
 stances that you are in so humbling, but you may 
 get your heart acceptably brought down to them, 
 1 Cor. X. 13. " But God is faithful, who will not 
 Buffer 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. " My grace is sufficient for thee ; for 
 my strength is made perfect in weakness." And 
 you should be persuaded of it, with application to 
 yourselves, if ever you would reach the end. 
 
128 DIRECTIONS FOR THIS PURPOSE. 
 
 Phil. iv. 13. "I can do all things through Christ 
 which strengtheneth me." God allows you to be 
 persuaded of it, whatever is your weakness and 
 the difficulty of the task. " For our sakes this is 
 written, That he that ploweth should plow in hope ; 
 and he that thresheth in hope, should be partaker 
 of his hope." 1 Cor. ix. 10. And the belief there- 
 of 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 heartless, 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 hum- 
 bling circumstances, do you take God for your 
 party, and consider yourselves therein as under his 
 mighty hand, Micah vi. 9. Men in their humbling 
 circumstances overlook God ; so they find not 
 themselves called to humility under them ; they 
 fix their eyes on the creature instrument, and in- 
 stead 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, to 
 awe you into the deepest humiliation, Isa. vi. 3 — 
 5. Job met with many humbling providences in 
 his case, but he was never sufficiently humbled 
 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 thunder, Job 
 
DIRECTIONS FOR THIS PURPOSE. 3 29 
 
 xxxvii. 1, 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 farther humbled, chap. xlii. 5, 6. " Wherefore 
 1 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 unsearch- 
 able are his judgments, and his ways past finding 
 out !" That was the first word God said to Job, 
 xxxviii. 2. " Who is this that darkeneth counsel 
 by words without knowledge ?" It went to his 
 heart, stuck with him, and he comes over it again, 
 chap. xlii. 3, as that which particularly 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 beyond 
 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 sinful- 
 ness, Job xl. 4. " Behold I am vile, what shall I 
 answer thee ? I will lay mine hand upon my 
 mouth." It is 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 ; but when they are opened, it 
 falls. Wherefore, whenever God is dealing with 
 you in humbling dispensations, turn your eyes, up- 
 
130 DIRECTIONS FOR THIS PURPOSE. 
 
 on that occasion, on the sinfulness of your nature, 
 heart and life, and that will help forward your hu- 
 miliation. 
 
 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 through 
 manifold temptations." God brings no needless 
 trials upon us, afflicts none but as their need re- 
 quires, Lam. iii. 33. " For he doth not afflict wil- 
 lingly, 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 
 profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." 
 Look to the temper of your own hearts and nature, 
 how apt to be lifted up, to forget God, to be carried 
 away with the vanities of the world : what fool- 
 ishness is bound 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 no- 
 thing 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. " This 
 evil is of the Lord, what should I wait for the 
 Lord any longer ?" As long as the suspicion of an 
 ill design in them against us reigns, the creature 
 
ADDITIONAL MOTIVES URGED. 131 
 
 will, like the worm at the man*s feet, put itself in 
 the best posture of defence it can, and harden it- 
 self in sorrow : but the faith of a kind design will 
 cause it to open out itself in humility before him. 
 
 Case. " ! if 1 knew there were a kind desisrn 
 in it, I would willingly bear it, although there were 
 more of it ; but I fear a ruining design of Provi- 
 dence against me therein." 
 
 Ans. Now, what word of God, or discovery from 
 Heaven, have you to ground these fears upon ? 
 None at all but from hell, 1 Cor. x. 13. What 
 think you the design towards you in the gospel is ? 
 Can you believe no kind design in all the words 
 of grace there heaped up ? What is that, I pray, 
 but black unbelief in its hue of hell, flying in the 
 face of the truth of God, and making him a liar. 
 Isa. Iv. 1 ; 1 John v. 10, 11. The gospel is a breath- 
 ing of love and good-will to the world of mankind 
 sinners, Titus ii. 1 1 ; iii. 3, 4 ; 1 John iv, 11 ; John 
 iii. 17. But ye believe it not, in that case, more 
 than devils believe it. If he can believe a kind 
 design there, ye must believe it in your humbling 
 circumstances too ; for the design of Providence 
 cannot be contrary to the design of the gospel ; but 
 contrariwise, the latter is to help forward to the 
 other. 
 
 8, Think with yourselves, that this life is the 
 time of trial for heaven, James i. 12. " Blessed is 
 the man that endureth temptation ; for when he is 
 tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the 
 Lord hath promised to them that love him." And 
 therefore there should be a welcoming of humbling 
 
132 ADDITIONAL MOTIVES URGED. 
 
 circumstances in that view, ver. 2. " Count it all 
 joy when ye fall into clivers 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 circumstances, as the whole Bible 
 teacheth ; and shall men be so very loth to stoop 
 to them ? I would ask you. 
 
 (1.) Is it nothing to you to stand a candidate for 
 glory, to be put on trial for heaven ? Is there not 
 an honour in it, an honour which all the saints 
 have had? James v. 10, 11. "Behold we count 
 them happy that endure," &c. 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, that God should overlook you in 
 that case, as one whom it is needless ever to try 
 on that head ; that he should order you 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 future glory ? Your most hum- 
 bling circumstances, how light are they in com- 
 parison of the weight of it ! The longest con- 
 tinuance of them is but for a moment, compared 
 with that eternal 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. 
 
ADDITIONAL MOTIVES URGED. 133 
 
 (3.) What think ye of coming foul off in 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 uot 
 plucked away. Reprobate 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 ; aud 
 that therefore you must and shall be taken off them, 
 while yet no humbling appears. I think the aw- 
 fulness 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 hum- 
 bled, Isa. i. 5. Ezek. xxiv. 13. 
 
 9. Think with yourselves, how, by humbling cir- 
 cumstances, the Lord prepares us for heaven, " Giv- 
 ing thanks unto the Father, who hath made us 
 meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints 
 in light," Col. i. 12 ; 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 
 set up just 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 hon- 
 our for glory by humbling circumstances. I would 
 here say, 
 
 12 
 
134 ADDITIONAL MOTIVES URGED. ^ -t_^ 
 
 f (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 thetn 
 down ; and that is in the other world. But ye 
 must have it both here and there, or ye cannot di- 
 gest it. Why do you not quarrel too, that there 
 are not two summers in one year ; two days in the 
 twenty-four hours ? The order of the one heaven 
 is as firm as that of the years and days, and ye 
 cannot reverse it ; therefore, chose ye whether you 
 will take your night or your day first, your winter 
 or your summer, your heaven here or hereafter. 
 
 (2.) Without being humbled with humbling cir- 
 cumstances in this life, ye 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, 
 bic with hopes of a fool's paradise, wishing to cast 
 yourselves just out of Delilah's lap into Abraham's 
 bosom ; but except ye be humbled, ye are not 
 capable. 
 
 (3.) Of the Bible-heaven, that heaven described 
 in the Old and New Testaments. Is not that hea- 
 ven a lifting up in due time ? But, how shall ye be 
 Hfted up that are never well got down ? Where 
 will your tears be to be wiped away ? What place 
 will there be for your triumph, who will not fight 
 the good fight ? How can it be a rest to you, who 
 cannot submit to labour ? 
 
 (4.) Of the saints' heaven, Rev. vii. 14. "And . 
 
ADDITIONAL MOTIVES URGED. 135 
 
 he said unto me, These are ihey 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 about Abraham, Isaac 
 and Jacob, and all the saints with them there : they 
 were brought down to the dust by humbling cir- 
 cumstances, and out of these they came before the 
 throne. How can ye ever think to be lifted up 
 with them with whom ye cannot think to be brought 
 down ? 
 
 (5.) 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." ! consider how the 
 Forerunner made his way, Luke. xxiv. 26. " Ought 
 not Christ to have suffered these things, and to 
 enter into his glory ?" And lay your account with 
 it, that if ye get where he is, ye 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." 
 
 10. Give up at length with your towering hopes 
 from this world, and confine them to the world to 
 come. Be as pilgrims and strangers here, looking 
 for your rest in heaven, and not till you come there. 
 There is a prevailing evil, Isa. Ivii. 10. *' Thou 
 art wearied in the greatness of thy way : yet said- 
 est thou not, There is no hope." So the Babel- 
 building is still continued, 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 
 
136 ADDITIONAL DIRECTIONS GIVEN. 
 
 them into cedars." Isa. ix. 10. This makes hum- 
 bling work very longsome ; we are so hard to 
 quit hold of the creature, to fall off" from the breast 
 and be weaned : but fasten on the other world, and 
 let your hold of this go ; so shall ye " 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 
 circumstances here. 
 
 11. Make use of Christ in all his offices, for 
 your humiliation under your humbling circum- 
 stances. That only is kindly humiliation that 
 comes in this way, Zech. xii. 10. " And they 
 shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and 
 they shall mourn," &c. This you must do by 
 trusting 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 circum- 
 stances ; 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 sufll'ering, Heb. ix. 14. " How much more shall 
 the blood of Christ — purge your conscience from 
 dead works to serve the living God ?" 
 
 (2.) As your Prophet to 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. 
 
THE HUMBLE SHALL BE LIFTED UP. 137 
 
 Truly we need Christ, and the Ught of his word 
 and Spirit, to let us see our cross and trial as well 
 as our duty, Psal. xxv. 9, 10. 
 
 (3.) As your King. You have a stiff heart, loth 
 to bow, even in humbling circumstances : take a 
 lesson from Moses what to do in such a case, Exod. 
 xxxiv. 9. " And he saith. Let my Lord, I pray 
 thee, go amongst us, (for it is a stiff-necked people,) 
 and pardon our iniquity and our sin." Put it ia 
 his hand 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 : 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 
 it till death ; and humbling circumstances will at- 
 tend you, while you are in this lower world. A 
 change of them ye may get ; but a freedom from 
 them ye cannot, till ye come to heaven. So the 
 humbling circumstances of our imperfections, re- 
 lations, 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, 
 
 DocT. n. Tlicre is a due time^ ichcrcin those that 
 now humble themselves under the mighty hand of 
 God will certainly he lifted up. 
 
 1. Those who shall share of this lifting up, must 
 lay their account, in the first place, with a casting 
 
 12* 
 
138 HUMILIATION NECESSARY. 
 
 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 wilderness ; nor entering 
 into this exaltation, but through a strait gate. If 
 we cannot away with the casting down we shall 
 not taste 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 
 circumstances, by the providence of God, but the 
 coming down of our spirits under them, by the 
 grace of God, that brings us within the compass of 
 this promise. 
 
 3. Those who are never humbled in humbling 
 circumstances shall never be lifted up in the way 
 of this promise. Men may keep their spirits on 
 the high bend in their humbling circumstances, and 
 in that case may get a lifting up, Prov. xvi. 19 ; 
 but such a lifting up, as will end in a more grievous 
 fall. " Surely thou didst set them in slippery 
 places, thou castedst them down in a moment." 
 Psal, Ixxiii. 18. But they who will not humble 
 themselves in humbling circumstances, will find 
 that their obstinacy will keep their misery ever 
 fast on them without remedy. 
 
 4. Humility of spirit, in humbling circumstances, 
 ascertains a lifting up out of them some time, with 
 the good will and favour of heaven, Luke, xviii. 
 14. "I tell you this man went down to his house 
 
THERE MUST BE A WAIFINO TIME. 139 
 
 justified rather than than the other ; for every one 
 that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that 
 humblelh himself shall be exalted." Solomon 
 observes, Prov. xv. 1. that a soft answer turneth 
 away wrath ; but grievous words stir up anger." 
 And so it is, that while the proud, through their 
 obstinacy, do but wreathe the yoke faster about 
 their own necks, the humble ones, by their yield- 
 ing, make their relief sure, 1 Sam. ii. 8 — 10. " He 
 raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up 
 the befigar from the dunghill, to set them amonsf 
 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 can- 
 non will break down a stone wall, while yielding 
 packs of wool will take away its force. 
 
 5. There is an appointed time for the lifting up 
 of those that humble themselves in their humbling 
 circumstances, Hab. ii. 3. " For the vision is yet 
 for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak 
 and not lie : though it tarry, wait for it ; because 
 it will surely come, it will not tarry." To every 
 thing there is a time, as for humbling, so for lifting 
 up, Eccl. iii. 3. We know it not, but God knows 
 it, who hath appointed it. Let not the humble one 
 say, I shall never be lifted up. There is a time 
 fixed for it, as precisely as for the rising of the sun 
 after a long and dark night, or the return of the 
 spring after a long and sharp winter. 
 
 6. It is not to be expected, that immediately 
 
140 THERE MUST BE A WAITING TIME. 
 
 upon one's humbling himself, the lifting up is to 
 follow. No : one is not merely to lie down under 
 the mighty hand, but to lie still, waiting the due 
 time; humbling work is longsome work; the Is- 
 raelites had forty years of it in the wilderness, 
 God's people must be brought to put a blank in his 
 hand, as to the time ; and while they have a long 
 night of walking in darkness, must trust, Isa. 1. 10. 
 " Who is among you, that feareth the Lord, that 
 obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in 
 darkness and hath no light ? Let him trust in the 
 name of the Lord, and stay upon his God." 
 
 7. The appointed time for the lifting up is the 
 due time, the time fittest for it, wherein it will 
 come most seasonably. *' And let us not be weary 
 in well-doing ; for, in due season we shall reap, if 
 we faint not," Gal. vi. 9. For that is the time God 
 has chosen for it ; and be sure his choice, as the 
 choice of infinite wisdom, is the best ; and there- 
 fore faith sets to wait it, Lsa. xxviii, 16. " He ihat 
 believeth shall not make haste." Much of the 
 beauty of any thing depends on the timing of it, 
 and he has fixed that in all that he does, Eccl. iii. 
 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, it is running day and 
 night ; so the due time is fast coming, and when it 
 comes, it will bring the lifting up along with it. 
 Let the humbling circumstances be ever so Low, 
 
THKRE IS A TWO-FOLD LUTING UP. 141 
 
 ever so hopeless, it is impossible but the lifting up 
 from them must come in the due time. 
 
 A word, in the general, to the lifting up, abiding 
 those that humble themselves. There is a two- 
 fold lifting up. 
 
 1. A partial lifting up, competent to the humbled 
 in time, during this life, Psal. xxx. 1. " 1 will ex- 
 tol thee, O Lord, for thou hast lit^ted me up, and 
 hast not made my foes to rejoice over me." This 
 is a lifting up in part, and but in part, not wholly ; 
 and such liftings up the humbled may expect, 
 while in this world, but no more. — These give a 
 breathing to the weary, a change of burdens, but 
 do not set them at perfect ease. So Israel, in the 
 wilderness, in the midst of their many mourning 
 times, had some singing ones, Exod. xv. 1 . ; Num- 
 bers xxi. 17. 
 
 2. A total lifting up, competent to them at the 
 end of time, at death, Luke xvi. 22. " It came to 
 pass that the beggar died, and was carried, by the 
 angels, into Abraham's bosom." Then the Lord 
 deals with them no more by parcels, but carries 
 their relief to perfection, Heb. xii. 22, 23. Then 
 he takes off all their burdens, eases them of all 
 their weights, and lays no more on for ever. He 
 then lifts them up to a height they were never at 
 before ; no, not even at their highest, l^e sets 
 them quite above all that is low, and therein fixes 
 them, never to be brouoht down more. Now, 
 there is a due time for both these. 
 
 (1.) For the partial lifting up. Every time is 
 not fit for it : we are not always fit to receive com- 
 
142 THE ONE PARTIAL, THE OTHER TOTAL. 
 
 fort and ease, or a change of our burdens. God 
 sees there are times wherein it is needful for his 
 people to be " in heaviness," 1 Pet. i. 6, to have 
 their " hearts brought down with grief," Psal. cvii, 
 12. But then there is a time really appointed for 
 it in the divine wisdom, when he will think it as 
 needful to comfort them, as before to bring down, 
 2 Cor. ii. 7. " So that, contrariwise, 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 ap- 
 points the time the drawing plaster shall continue, 
 and when the healing plaster shall be applied, and 
 leaves it not to the patient. 
 
 (2.) For the total lifting up. When we are sore 
 oppressed with our burdens, we are ready to think, 
 Oh ! to be away, and set beyond them all, Job vii. 
 2, 3. " As a servant earnestly desirelh the shadow, 
 and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his 
 work ; so am I made to possess months of vanity, 
 and wearisome nights are appointed to me." But 
 it may be fitter, for all that, that we stay awhile, 
 and struggle with our burdens, Phil. i. 24, 25, 
 " Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more need- 
 ful for you. And having this confidence, I know 
 that I shall abide and continue with you all, for 
 your furtherance and joy of faith." A few days 
 might have taken Israel out of Egypt into Canaan ; 
 but they would have been too soon there, if they 
 had made all that speed ; so they behooved to 
 spend forty years in the wilderness, till their due 
 
THE LIFTING UP OF THE HUMBLE SURE. 143 
 
 time of entering Canaan should come. And be 
 sure the saints entering heaven will be convinced, 
 that tlie time of it is best chosen, and there will be 
 a beauty in that it was no sooner. And thus a 
 lifting up is secured for the humble. 
 
 If one should assure you, when reduced to po- 
 verty, that the time would certainly come yet, that 
 you should be rich ; when sore sick, that you 
 should not die of that disease, but certainly reco- 
 ver ; that would help you to bear your poverty and 
 sickness the better, and you would comfort your- 
 selves with that prospect. However, one may 
 continue poor, and never be rich, may be sick, and 
 die of his disease ; but wlioever humble them- 
 selves under their humbling circumstances, we can 
 assure them from the Lord's word they shall cer- 
 tainly, without all peradventure, be lifted up out of, 
 and relieved from, their humbling circumstances : 
 they shall certainly see the day of their ease and 
 relief, when they shall remember their burdens as 
 waters that fail. And you may be assured thereof, 
 from the following considerations. 
 
 The nature of God, duly considered, ensures it, 
 Psal. ciii. 8, 9. " The Lord is merciful and gra- 
 cious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He 
 will not always chide ; neither will he keep his 
 anger for ever." The humbled soul, looking to 
 God in Christ, may see three things, in his nature 
 jointly securing it. 
 
 1. Infinite power, that can do all things. No 
 circumstances are so low, but he can raise them ; 
 80 entangling and perplexing, but he can unravel 
 
144 FROM THE PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 
 
 them ; so hopeless, but he can remedy them, Gen. 
 xviii, 14. " Is any thing too hard for the Lord ?" 
 Be our case what it will, it is never past reach 
 with him to help it ; but then, it is the most proper 
 season for him to take it in hand, when all others 
 have given it over, Deut. xxxii. 36. " For the 
 Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself 
 for his servants ; when he seeth that their power 
 is gone, and there is none shut up, or left." 
 
 2. Infinite goodness inclining to help. He is 
 good and gracious in his nature, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. 
 And therefore his power is a spring of comfort to 
 them, Rom. xiv. 4. Men may he willing that are 
 not able, or able that are not willing ; but infinite 
 goodness, joining infinite power in God, may as- 
 certain the humbled of a lifting up in due time. 
 That is a word of inconceivable sweetness, 1 John 
 iv. 16. " And we have known and believed the love 
 that God hath unto us. God is love ; and he that 
 dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in 
 him." He has the bowels of a father towards the 
 humble, Psal. ciii. 13. " Like as a father pitieth his 
 children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." 
 Yea, bowels of mercy more tender than a mother 
 to a sucking child, Isa. xlix. 15. Wherefore, how- 
 beit his wisdom may see it necessary to put them 
 in humbling circumstances, and keep them there 
 for a time, it is not possible he can leave them 
 therein altogether. 
 
 3. Infinite wisdom, that doth nothing in vain, 
 and therefore will not needlessly keep one in hum- 
 bling circumstances, Lara. iii. 32, 33. " But though 
 
FROM THE REVOLUTIONS OF NATURE. 145 
 
 he cause grief, yet will he have compassion ac- 
 cording to the imiltitude of his mercies ; for he 
 doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children 
 of men." God sends alHictions for humblinjj, as 
 the end and design to be brought about by them 
 when that is obtained, and there is no more use 
 for them that way, we may assure ourselves they 
 will be taken off. 
 
 The providence of God, viewed in its stated 
 methods of procedure with its ohjecls, ensures it. 
 Turn your eyes which way you will on tlie divine 
 providence, you may conclude thence, that in due 
 time the humble will be lifted up. 
 
 Observe ihe providence of God, in the revolu- 
 tions of the whole course of nature, day succeed- 
 ing to the longest nighi, a summer to the winter, a 
 waxins to a wanins: of the moon, a flowingf to an 
 ebbing of the sea, &c. Let not the Lord's hum- 
 bled ones be idle spectators of these things ; they 
 are for our learning, Jer. xxxi. 35 — 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 divideth the sea, 
 when the waves thereof roar ; the Lord of hosts 
 is his name. If those ordinances depart from be- 
 fore me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israe 
 also 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 heavens, as 
 to bring a lifting up in them after a casting down, 
 and oidy forget his humbled ones? No, by no 
 means. 
 
 13 
 
146 HUMILIATION AND EXALTATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 Observe the providence of God, in the dispen- 
 sations 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 com-se 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 exalting him to the Father's right 
 hand in an eternity of glory ? 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 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 also 
 hath highly 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 ?" And he saw and be- 
 lieved it would follow, as the springing of the seed 
 doth the sowing it, John xii. 24. There is a near 
 concern the humbled in humbling circumstances 
 have herein. 
 
 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 fore- 
 know, he also did predestinate to be conformed to 
 the image of his Son, that he might be the first 
 born among many brethren." And who would not 
 
THE niSPEXSATIOXS OF PROVIDENCE. 117 
 
 be pleased to walk through the darkest valley 
 treading his steps ? 
 
 This is a sure pledge of your lifting up. Christ, 
 in his state of humiliation, was considered as a pub- 
 lic person and representative, and so is he in his 
 exaltation. So Christ's exaltation ensures your 
 exaltation out of your humbling circumstances, 
 " Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead 
 body shall they arise ; awake and sing, ye that 
 dwell in the dust," Isa. xxvi. 19. " 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." Hos. vi. 1,2. " And hath raised us up to- 
 gether, and made us sit together in heavenly places 
 in Christ Jesus." Eph. ii. 6. Yea, he is gone in- 
 to the state of glory for us as our forerunner. 
 " Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even 
 Jesus, made an high priest for ever." Heb. vi. 
 20. 
 
 His humiliation was the price of your exaltation 
 and his exaltation a testimony of the acceptance 
 of his payment to the full. There are no hum- 
 bling circumstances ye are in, but ye would have 
 perished in them, had not he purchased 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 lift- 
 ing up. 
 
 Observe the providence of God towards the 
 church in all ages. This has been the course the 
 
148 THE DISPEXSATIONS OF PROVIDENCE. 
 
 Lord has kept with her, Psal. cxxix. 1 — 4. Abei 
 was slain by wicked Cain, to the great grief of 
 Adam and Eve, and the rest of their pious chil- 
 dren ; but then there was another seed raised up 
 in Abel's room, Gen. iv. 25. Noah and his sons 
 were buried alive in the ark for more than a year : 
 but then they were brought out into a new world 
 and blessed. Abraham for many years went child- 
 less ; 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 footsteps of the flock ; and if 
 in humiliation, we shall surely follow them in ex- 
 altation too. 
 
 Observe the providence of God in the dispen- 
 sations of his grace towards his children. The 
 general rule is, 1. Pet. v. 5. " For God resisteth 
 the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." How 
 are they brought into a state of grace ? Is it not 
 by a sound work of humiliation going before ? 
 Luke. vi. 48. And ordinarily the greater the mea- 
 sure of grace designed for any, the deeper is 
 their humiliation before, as in Paul's case. If they 
 are to be recovered out of a backsliding case, the 
 same method is followed : so that the deepest hu- 
 miliation ordinarily makes way for the greatest 
 comfort, and the darkest hour goes before the ri- 
 sing of the Sun of righteousness upon them, Isa. 
 Ixvi. 5—13. 
 
 Observe the providence of God at length throw- 
 ing down wicked men, however long ihey stand and 
 prosper, Psal. xxxvii. 25, 36. " I have seen the 
 
THE DOCTRINES OF THE WORD. 149 
 
 wicked in great power, and spreading himself like 
 a green bay tree ; yet he passed away, and lo, he 
 was not; yea, I soiifrht him but he could not be 
 found." They are loiiij green before the sun, but 
 at length they are suddenly smitten with an east 
 wind, and wither away ; their lamp goes out with 
 a stench, and they are put out in ol)scure darkness. 
 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 peradven- 
 ture, which, from the beginning to the end, is the 
 humbled saint's security for a lifting up, Psal. cxix. 
 49, 50. " Remember the word unto thy servants, 
 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, 
 Psal. cxxxviii. 2. " For thou hast magnified thy 
 word above all thy name ;" and in all generations 
 hast been safely relied on, Psal. xii. 6. Consider, 
 
 1. The doctrines of the word, which teach faith 
 and hope for the time, and the happy issue which 
 the exercise of these graces will have. The whole 
 current of Scripture, to those in humbling circum- 
 stances, is, " not to cast away their confidence, 
 but to hope to the end ;" and that for this good rea- 
 son, that " it shall not be in vain." See Psal. xxvii. 
 14. " Wait on the Lord ; be of good courage, 
 and he shall strengthen thine heart ; wait, I say, 
 on the Lord." And compare Rom. ix. 33 ; Isa. 
 
 13* 
 
150 PROMISE AXD EXAMPLES OF THE WORD. 
 
 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, 
 " Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and 
 he shall lift you up," James iv. 10. " And he that 
 humbleth himself shall be exalted," Matt, xxiii. 12. 
 It may talm a time to prepare thom for lifting up, 
 but that being done, it is secured, " Lord, thou 
 hast heard the desire of the humble ; thou wilt 
 prepare their heart ; thou wilt cause thine ear to 
 hear," Psal. x. 17. They have his word for de- 
 liverance, Psal. 1. 15. And though they may seem 
 to be forgotten, they shall not be always so ; the 
 time of their deliverance will come. " For the 
 needy shall not always be forgotten : the expecta- 
 tion of the poor shall not perish for ever," Psal. 
 ix. 18. " He will regard the prayer of the desti- 
 tute, and not despise their prayer," Psal. cii. 17. 
 
 3. The examples of the word sufficiently con 
 firming the truth of the doctrines and promises, 
 Rom. XV. 4. " For whatsoever things were written 
 aforetime, were written for our learning ; that we 
 through patience and comfort of the scriptures 
 might have hope." In the doctrines and promises 
 the lifting up is proposed to our faith, to be reckon- 
 ed on the credit of God's word ; but, in the exam- 
 ples it is, in the case of others, set before our eyes 
 to be seen. James v. 11. " Behold we count them 
 happy wliich endure. Ye have heard of the pa- 
 
 ^«s, 
 
 % M 
 
THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST. 151 
 
 tience 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 Abniham, Job, 
 David, Paul, and other saints ; but above all, in the 
 case of the man Christ. 
 
 4. The intercession of Christ, joining the pray- 
 ers and cries of his humbled people, in their hum- 
 bling circumstances, ensures 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 
 certainly cry unto him, Psal. xlii. 7, 8. " Deep 
 callelh unto deep, at the noise of thy water spouts ; 
 all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. 
 Yet the Lord will command his loving-kindness 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 be outwearied, 
 and give it over altogether, surely believers will 
 not do so ; but though they may, in a tit of tempta- 
 tion, lay it by as hopeless, they will find them- 
 selves obliged to take it up again, Jer. xx. 9. 
 " Then I said, 1 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 forbearing, and I 
 could not stay." They will cry, night and day 
 unto him, Luke xviii. 7, knowing no time forgiving 
 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 intercessioa 
 
152 THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST. 
 
 being joined with these cries, there cannot fail to 
 be a hfting up. 
 
 Christ's intercession is certainly joined with the 
 cries and prayers of the humbled in their hum- 
 blinor circumstances. Rev. viii. 3. "And another 
 angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden 
 censer, and there was given unto him much in- 
 cense, 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 relief, Rom. viii. 26, and the prayers and 
 groans, which are through the Spirit, are certainly 
 to be made effectual by the intercession of the 
 Son, James v. 16. And ye may know they are by 
 the Spirit, if so be ye are helped to continue pray- 
 ing, 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. The Spi- 
 rit of prayer is the lasting spring, John iv. 14; 
 Psal. cxxxviii. 3. "In the day when I cried, thou 
 answeredst me ; and strengthenest me with strength 
 in my soul." Truly there is an intercession in 
 heaven, on account of the humbling circumstances 
 of the humble ones. " Then the angel of the 
 Lord answered and said, Lord of hosts, how 
 long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and 
 on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had 
 indignation these threescore and ten years?" Zech. 
 i. 12. How then can they miss of a lifting up in 
 due time ? 
 
 Christ is in deep earnest in his intercession for 
 
THE IN'TERCESSIOX OF CHRIST. 153 
 
 his people in their humbling circumstances. Some 
 will speak a gooil word in favour of the helpless, 
 that will be little concerned whether they speed or 
 not; but our Intercessor is in earnest in behalf of 
 his humbled ones : for he is touched with sympa- 
 thy in their case, Isa. Ixiii. 9. " In all their afflic- 
 tion he was afflicted." A most tender sympathy, 
 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 
 an exact account of the time of their humblinsr 
 circumstances, be it as long as it will, Zech. i. 12. 
 Moreover, it is his own business ; the lifting up 
 which thev are to have is a thin^ that is secured 
 to him in the promises made to him on the account 
 of his blood shed for them, Psal. Ixxxix. 33 — 36. 
 So not only are they looking on earth, but the man 
 Christ is in heaven looking for the accomplish- 
 ment of these promises, Heb. x. 12, 13. "But this 
 man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for 
 ever sat down on the right hand of God ; from 
 henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his 
 footstool." How is it possible, then, that he should 
 be balked ? Moreover, these humbling circum- 
 stances are his own sufferings still, though not in 
 his person, yet in his members. Col. i. 24. " Who 
 now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up 
 that which is behind of the afilictions 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. Again, 
 
154 THE PARTIAL LIFTING UP CONSIDERED. 
 
 His intercession is always effectual, 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. " We 
 have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ 
 the righteous." Moreover, he has all power in 
 heaven and earth lodged in him, Matt, xxviii. 18. 
 And, finally, he and his Father are one, and their 
 will one. So, both Christ and his Father do will 
 the lifting up of the humble ones, but yet only in 
 the due time. 
 
 I now proceed to a more particular view of the 
 point. And, 1. We will consider the lifting upas 
 brought about in nime, which is the partial lift- 
 ing up. 
 
 This lifting up does not take place in every 
 case of a child of God. One may be humbled 
 in humbling circumstances, from which he is not 
 to get a lifting up in time. We would not from 
 the promise presently conclude, that we being 
 humbled under our humbling circumstances, 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 imper- 
 fections, and sinfulness, and mortality, we can 
 by no means be rid of while in this world. And 
 there are particular humbling circumstances the 
 Lord may bring about one, and keep about him, 
 till he goes down to the grave, while, in the 
 mean time, he may lift up another from the same. 
 Heman was presssd down all along from his 
 
THE PARTIAL LIFTING UP. 155 
 
 youth, Psal. xxxviii. 15, others all their lifetime, 
 ileb. ii. 15. 
 
 Object. " If that be the case, what comes of the 
 promise of lifting up ? Where is the lifting up, if 
 one may go to the grave under the weight ?" 
 
 Ans. Were there no life after this, there would 
 be ground for 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." Heb. xi. 13. And that whatever accom- 
 plishment of the promise is here, it is not of the 
 nature of a stock, but of a sample or a pledge. 
 
 Quest. " But then, may we not give over pray- 
 ing 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 in our eyes, and 
 the eyes of others, in which God designs a lifting 
 up in time, as in Job's, chap. vi. 11, "What is 
 my strength that 1 should hope ; and what is mine 
 end that 1 should prolong my life ?" But, be it as 
 it will, we should never give over praying for the 
 lifting up, since it will certainly come to all who 
 pray in faith for it ; if not here, yet hereafter. The 
 promise is sure, and that is the commandment ; so 
 much praying cannot miss of a happy issue at 
 length, Psa. 1. 15. " Call upon me in the day of 
 trouble ; 1 will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify 
 
156 THE PARTIAL LIFTING UP. 
 
 me." The whole life of a Christian is a praying, 
 waiting life, to encourage whereunto all temporal 
 deliverances are given as pledges, Rom. viii. 23. 
 " And not only they, but ourselves also, which have 
 the first fruits of the Spirit ; even we ourselves 
 groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to 
 wit, the redemption of our body." And whoso ob- 
 serves that full lifting up at death to be at hand, 
 must certainly rise, if he has given over his case 
 as hopeless. 
 
 However, there are some cases wherein this 
 lifting up does take place. God gives his people 
 some notable liftings up, even in time raising them 
 out of remarkably humbling circumstances. The 
 storm is changed into a calm, and they remember 
 it as waters that fail, Psa. xl. 1 — 4. 
 
 Some may be in humbling circumstances very 
 long, and sore and hopeless, and yet a lifting up 
 may be abiding them, of a much longer continuance. 
 This is sometimes the case with the children 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 years 
 old 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. 
 
 Others may be in humbling circumstances long 
 and sore, and quite hopeless in the ordinary course 
 of providence, yet they may get a lifting up ere 
 they come to their journey's end. The life of 
 God's children is like a cloudy and rainy day, 
 
 JF 
 
THE PARTIAL LIFTING tJP. 157 
 
 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. G, 7. Such was the case of Ja- 
 cob in his old age, brought in honour and comfort 
 into Eg)'pt unto his son, and then died. 
 
 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 bur- 
 dened." The unmixed dispensation is reserved 
 for the other world ; but this will be a wilderness 
 unto the end, where there will be bowlings, with 
 the most joyful notes. 
 
 All the liftings up which the humbled meet with 
 now are pledges, and but pledges and samples of 
 the great lifting up, abiding them on the other side ; 
 and they should look on them so. Hos. ii. 15. " And 
 1 will give her her vineyards from thence, and the 
 valley of Achor for 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 is now leading his people through the 
 wilderness, and the manna and the water of the 
 rock are earnests of the milk and honey flowing in 
 the promised land. They are not yet come home 
 to their father's house, but they are travelling on 
 the road, and Christ their elder brother with them, 
 
 14 
 
158 OBJECTION ANSWERED. 
 
 who bears their expenses, takes them into inns by 
 the way, as it were, and refreshes them with par- 
 tial liftings up ; after which, they must get to the 
 road again. But that entertainment by the way is 
 a pledge of the full entertainment he will afford 
 them when they come home. 
 
 Object. " But people may get a lifting up in 
 time, that yet is no pledge of a lifting up on the 
 other side : How shall I know it then to be a 
 pledge r 
 
 Ans. That lifting up which comes by the pro- 
 mises, is certainly a pledge of the full lifting up in 
 the other world ; for, as the other life is the proper 
 time of the accomplishing of the promises, so we 
 may 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 con- 
 cerneth me," Psalm cxxxviii. 8. So we may say, 
 as Naomi to Ruth, upon her receiving the six mea- 
 sures 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 Sara. 
 V. 12. 
 
 Quest, " But how shall I know the lifting up to 
 come by the way of the promise ?" 
 
 Ans. That which comes by the way of the pro- 
 mise, comes in the low way of humiliation, the 
 high way of faith, or believing the promise, and 
 
BENEFITS OF THIS LIFTING UP. 159 
 
 the long way of waiting hope and patient continu- 
 ance, James v. 7. " Be patient therefore, brethren, 
 inito the coming of the Lord. Behold the husband- 
 man waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and 
 hath long patience for it until he receive the early 
 and latter rain." Humility prepares for the accom- 
 plishment of the promise, faith sucks the breast of 
 it, and patient wailing hangs by the breast till the 
 milk come abundantly. 
 
 But no liftings up of God's children 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 theirs here. Psalm xvii. 
 14. 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, this 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 be- 
 low the honour of their God to put them off with 
 it, Heb. xi. 16. " But now they desire a better 
 country, that is, an heavenly ; wherefore God is 
 not ashamed to be called their God ; for he hath 
 prepared for them a city." 
 
 We shall now consider what they will get by 
 this lifting up promised to the humbled. 
 
 They will get, 
 
 1. A removal of their humbling circumstances. 
 God having tried them awhile, and humbled thera, 
 
160 BENEFITS OF THIS LIFTING UP. 
 
 and brought down their hearts, will, at length, take 
 off their burden, remove the weight so long hung 
 on 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. 
 
 Either in kind, by a total removal of the burden. 
 Such a lifting Job got, when the Lord turned back 
 his captivity, 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 kingdom 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 hum- 
 bling circumstances. 
 
 Or in equivalent, or as good, removing 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 weakness. Most 
 gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infir- 
 mities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 
 Therefore, I take pleasure in 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, Psal. xxvii. 5, 6. 
 " For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in 
 his pavilion ; in the secret of his tabernacle shall 
 he hide me ; he shall set me upon a rock. And 
 now shall mine head be lifted up above mine ene- 
 mies round about me ; therefore will I offer in his 
 tabernacle sacrifices of joy ; I will sing, yea, I will 
 sing praises unto the Lord." Such had the three 
 
161 BENEFITS OF THIS LIFTING UP. 
 
 Hebrews iu the fiery furnace, the fire burnt, but it 
 couhl burn nothing of them but their bonds ; they 
 had the warmth and light of it, but nothing of the 
 scorching heat. 
 
 2. A comfortable sight of the acceptance of their 
 prayers, put up in their humbling circumstances. 
 While prayers are not answered, but trouble con- 
 tinued, they are apt to think they are not accepted 
 or regarded in heaven, because there is no altera- 
 tion in their case. Job ix. 16, 17. " If I had call- 
 ed, and he had answered me, yet would I not be- 
 lieve that he had hearkened unto my voice, for he 
 breaketh me with a tempest." But that is a mis- 
 take ; they are accepted immediately, though not 
 answered, 1 John v. 14. "And this is the confi- 
 dence 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 com- 
 ing thick from his son abroad, reads them one by 
 one with pleasure, and carefully lays them up to 
 be answered at his convenience. And when the 
 answer comes, the son will know how acceptable 
 they were to his father. Malt. xv. 28. 
 
 3. A heart-satisfying answer of their prayers, 
 so that 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 miscarry of an answer at length, 
 Psalm ix, 18. The time will come when God 
 "will tell out to them, according to the promise, that 
 
 11* 
 
162 BENEFITS OF THIS LIFTING UP. 
 
 they shall change their note, and say, Psalm cxvi. 
 1. "I love the Lord, because he hath heard my 
 voice, and my supplication :" looking on their lif- 
 ting up as bearing the signature of the hand of a 
 prayer hearing God. 
 
 4. Full satisfaction, as to the conduct of Provi- 
 dence, in all the steps of the humbling circum- 
 stances, and the delay of the lifting up, however 
 perplexing these were before. Revelation 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." Those 
 things which are bitter to Christians in the pass- 
 ing through, are very sweet in the reflection on 
 them ; so is Samson's riddle verified in their expe- 
 rience. 
 
 5. They get the lifting up, together with the in- 
 terest for the time they lay out of it. When God 
 pays his bonds of promises, he pays both principal 
 and interest together ; the mercy is increased ac- 
 cording to the time they waited, and the expenses 
 and hardships sustained, during the dependance of 
 the process. The fruits of common providence 
 are soon ripe, soon rotten ; but the fruit of the 
 promise is often long a ripening, bat then it is du- 
 rable : and the longer it is a ripening, it is the 
 more valuable when it comes. Abraham and 
 Sarah waited for the promise about ten years, at 
 length they thought on a way to hasten it. Gen. 
 xvi. That soon took, in the birth of Ishmael, but 
 he was not the promised son. They were com- 
 ing into extreme old age ere the promise brought 
 
THE DUE TIME OF THIS LIFTIXG UP. 163 
 
 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, name- 
 ly, the promise of Christ, that was four thousand 
 years. 
 
 6. The spiritual enemies, that flew thick about 
 them in the time of the darkness of the humbling 
 circumstances, will be scattered at this lifting up 
 in the promise, 1 Sam. ii. 1, 5. "And Hannah 
 prayed and said. My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, 
 my mouth is enlarged over my enemies. They 
 that were full have hired out themselves for bread, 
 and they that were hungry ceased." Formidable 
 was Pharaoh's host behind the Israelites, while 
 they had the Red Sea before 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 cir- 
 cumstances get of their spiritual enemies, when 
 the time comes for their lifting up. 
 
 We come now to the due time of this lifting up. 
 That is a natural question of those who are in 
 humbling circumstances, " Watchman, what of the 
 night?" Isa. xxi. 11, 12. And we cannot answer 
 it to the humbled soul, but in the general. 
 
 The lifting up of the humbled will not be long- 
 some, 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 
 
164 THE DUE TIME OF LIFTING UP. 
 
 does not ripen so soon as some garden-seeds, but 
 you wait three months or so, you do not think the 
 harvest long a coming, considering the value of the 
 crop. This view the apostle takes of the lifting 
 up in humbling circumstances, 2 Cor. iv. 17. 
 " For our light affliction, which is but for a mo- 
 ment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory." So that a believer, look- 
 ing on the promise with an eye of faith, and per- 
 ceiving its accomplishment, and the vvorth of it 
 when accomplished, may wonder it is come so 
 shortly. Therefore, it is determined to be a 
 time that comes soon, Luke xviii. 7, 8 ; soon in 
 respect of its weight and worth. 
 
 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 wisdom lies in discerning it, 
 and doinff thinors in this season thereof. And we 
 may be sure infinite Wisdom cannot miss the sea- 
 son, 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 examination, in that, as all other points, 
 Eccles. iii. 14. " I know that whatsoever God 
 doth, it shall be for ever ; 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 
 appear to us as the due time for lifting up, which 
 yet really is not so, because there are some circum- 
 stances hid from us, v/hich render that season unlit 
 for the thing, — Hence, John vii. 6. " My time is 
 not yet come, but your time is always ready." But 
 
THE DUE TIME OF LIFTIXG UP. 1G5 
 
 when all the circumstances, always foreknown of 
 God, shall come to be opened out, and laid toge- 
 ther before us, we shall then see the lifting up is 
 come in the time most for the honour of God and 
 our £ood, and that it would not have done so well 
 sooner. 
 
 When the time comes that is really the due 
 time, the proper time for the lifting up a child of 
 God from his humbling circumstances, it will not 
 be put off one moment longer, Hab. ii. 3, " At the 
 end it shall speak, it will surely come, it will not 
 tarry." Though it tarry, it will not linger, nor be 
 put oiT to another time. what rest of heart would 
 the firm faith of this afford us ! there is not a child 
 of God but would, with the utmost earnestness, pro- 
 test against a lifting up before the due time, as 
 against an unripe fruit cast to him by an angry 
 father which would set his teeth on edge. Since 
 it is so then, could we firmly believe this point, 
 that it will undoubtedly come in the due time, with- 
 out losing of a minute, it would afford a sound rest. 
 It must be so, because God has said it ; were the 
 case ever so hopeless, were mountains of difficul- 
 ties lying in the way of it, at the appointed lime it 
 will blow. (Hebrew) Hab. ii. 3. A metaphor 
 from the wind rising :u a moment after a dead 
 calm. 
 
 The humbling circumstances are ordinarily car- 
 ried 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 
 
166 THE DUE TIME OF LIFTING UP. 
 
 trouble wliich came to us in Asia, that we were 
 pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch 
 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 seem 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 time of lifting up. But generally God 
 carries his people's humbling circumstances down- 
 ward, still downward, till they come to that point. 
 
 Herein God is holding the same course which he 
 held in the case of the man Christ, the beloved pat- 
 tern copied after, in all the dispensations of Provi- 
 dence towards the church, and every particular be- 
 liever, 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 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 most remarkable 
 liftings up that his people get, are fashioned after 
 this grand pattern. 
 
 Another end which Providence aims at, is to 
 carry the believer clean off his own, and all 
 created foundations, to fix 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." 
 
PREPARATION OF HEART NECESSARY. 167 
 
 The life of a Christian here is designed to be a life 
 of faith ; and though faith may act more easily 
 when it has some help from sense, yet it certainly 
 acts most nobly when it acts in opposition to sense. 
 Then is it 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 consi- 
 dered not his own body now dead — neither yet the 
 deadness of Sarah's womb. He stajjsered 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. 
 
 Again, due preparation of the heart, for the lift- 
 ing up out of the humbling circumstances, goes be- 
 fore the due time of that lifting up, according to 
 the promise. It is not so in every lifting up ; the 
 liftings up of common providences are not so criti- 
 cally managed ; men will have them, will wait for 
 them no longer, and God flings them in anger, ere 
 they are prepared for them, Hos. xiii. 11. "I 
 gave 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 'humilia- 
 tion, Psa. X. 17. And it often takes much work to 
 bring about this, wliich 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 : 
 
168 PREPARATION OF HEART NECESSARY. 
 
 yet, after all that 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 humbled, and perhaps he thought so 
 too. But God saw a further degree of humiliation 
 necessary, and therefore begins again to speak for 
 his humiliation, which at length laid him in the 
 dust, chap. xlii. 5, 6. And when he was thus pre- 
 pared for lifting up, he got it. 
 
 There are six things, I conceive, belong to this 
 humiliation, preparatory to lifting up. 
 
 1. A deep sense of sinfulness and un worthiness 
 of being lifted up at all. Job xl. 4. " Behold I am 
 vile, what shall I answer thee ? I will lay mine 
 hand upon my mouth." People may be long in 
 humbling circumstances, ere they be brought this 
 length ; even good men are much prejudiced in 
 their own behalf, and may so far forget themselves 
 as to think God deals his favours unequally, and is 
 mighty severe on them more than others. Elihu 
 marketh this fault in Job, under his humbling cir- 
 cumstances. Job xxxiii. 8 — 12. And I believe it 
 will be found, there is readily a greater keenness 
 to vindicate our own 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 
 suiferers were surely the greatest sinners, Luke 
 
RESIGNATION TO THE WILL OF GOD. 169 
 
 xiii. 4, gives a handle for this bias of the corrupt 
 nature. — But God is a jealous God, and when he 
 appears sufficiently to humble, he will cause the 
 matter of our honour to give way 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 till 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 rash conclusion 
 from it that fails, Psal. cxvi. 11. "I said in my 
 haste, all men are liars." Several of the saints 
 have suffered much 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 Abra- 
 ham, after about ten years' waiting. Gen. xvi. 
 
 If this be the case of any child of God, let them 
 not be discouraged upon it, thinking they were 
 over-rash in applying the promise to themselves : 
 they were only so in applying the time to the 
 promise; a mist ike 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 like- 
 wise, leaving the time entirely to the Lord. 
 
 3. An entire resignation as to the way and man- 
 ner of bringing it about. We are ready to do, as 
 to the way of accomplishing the promise, just as 
 
 15 
 
170 RESIGNATION TO THE WILL OF GOD. 
 
 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 will 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 broken off from that too, 
 that they shall prescribe no way to him, but leave 
 it to him entirely, as in that case, ver. 14. " He 
 went down and dipped himself seven times in Jor- 
 dan, according to the saying of the 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, oftentimes we cannot see another , 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 disap- 
 pointments from those quarters 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 how- 
 ever hasty they have sometimes been, that they 
 behooved to be so soon lifted, 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 prescribing how 
 much, 2 Sam. xv. 25, 26. " If 1 shall find favour 
 
PATIENT WAITING 0.\ GOD. 171 
 
 in the eves of the Lord, he will brinsj me again — 
 But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee ; be- 
 hold, here am I, let him do as seemeth good unto 
 him." 
 
 5. The continuing of praying and waiting on 
 the Lord in the case, Eph. vi. 18. " Praying al- 
 ways with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, 
 and watching thereunto with all perseverance." 
 It is pride of heart, and unsubduedness of spirit, 
 that makes people give over praying and wailing, 
 because their humbling circumstances are length- 
 ened out time after time, 2 Kings, vi. 33. But due 
 humility, going before the lifting up, brings men 
 into the temper, to pray, wait, and hang on reso- 
 lutely, setting no time for the giving it over till the 
 lifting up come, whether in time or in eternity, 
 Lam. iii. 49, 50. 
 
 6. Mourning under mismanagements in the trial. 
 Job xlii. 3. " Therefore have 1 uttered that I un- 
 derstood not, things too wonderful for me, which I 
 knew not." The proud heart dwells and expatiates 
 on the man's sutferings 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 humble, in order to lifting up, 
 he will cause the man to pass, in a sort, the suf- 
 fering side of the trial, and turn his eyes on his 
 own conduct in it, ransack it, judge himself im- 
 partially, and condemn himself, so that his mouth 
 will be stopt. This is that humility that goeth be- 
 fore the lifting up in time in the way of the pro- 
 mise. 
 
172 THE FINAL LIFTING UP. 
 
 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 circumstan- 
 ces. 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 may, they will with- 
 out 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, an house not made 
 with hands eternal in the heavens." Though 
 God's humble children may both breakfast 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 them easy 
 under it. 
 
 2. It will be a perfect lifting up, Heb. xii. 22. 
 They will be perfectly delivered out of their par- 
 ticular trials and special furnace, be it what it will, 
 that made them weary many a day. Lazarus was 
 then delivered from his poverty and sores, and ly- 
 ing at the rich man's gate, Luke xvi. 22, and ful- 
 ly delivered. Yea, they will get a lifting up from 
 all their humbling circumstances together. All 
 imperfections will then be at an end, inferiority in 
 relations, contradictions, afflictions, uncertainty, 
 and sin. If it was long in coming, there will be 
 a blessed moment when they shall get altogether. 
 
THE FINAL LIFTING UP. 173 
 
 3. They will not only he raisfd out of their low 
 condition, but they will be set up on high, as Jo- 
 seph ; not only brought out of prison, but made 
 ruler over the land of Egypt. And they will be 
 lifted up 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 but in 
 a low place, upon this earth ; there they will be 
 seated in the highest heavens, Phil. i. 23, with 
 Eph. iv. 10. Often in their humbling circumstan- 
 ces 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." Though they 
 now cleave to the earth, and men say, Bow down 
 that we may pass over you, they will then be set- 
 tled in the heavenly mansions, above the sun, 
 moon, and stars. They will also be lifted up into 
 a high state and condition, a state of perfection. 
 Out of all their troubles and uneasiness, they will 
 be set in a state of rest ; from their mean and in- 
 glorious condition, they will be advanced into a 
 state of glory ; their burdened and sorrowful life 
 will be succeeded with a fulness of joy ; and, for 
 their humbling circumstances, they will be clothed 
 with eternal glory and honour. 
 
 4. It will be a linal 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 conclu- 
 sions, and the cloud returns, Psal. xxx. G, 7. " la 
 
 15* 
 
174 THE FINAL LIFTING UP. 
 
 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 remaining uneasi- 
 ness from the humbling circumstances, 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 circum- 
 stances they were under here below. Did the 
 rich man in hell remember his having five breth- 
 ren 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 ! 
 Rev. vi. 10. But then they will remember them as 
 waters that fail ; as the man recovered to health 
 remembers his tossings on the sick bed ; and that 
 is a way of remembering that sweetens the pre- 
 sent 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. And 
 the humbling circumstances of saints on the earth 
 will be of the same use to them in heaven, Rev. 
 XV. 3. 
 
 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 ap 
 
THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE WHOLE. 175 
 
 pointed to every one his task, fight, trial, and 
 work ; and, till that is done, we are in a sort im- 
 mortal, John ix. 4, and xi. 9. That work is, 
 
 Doing work ; work set to us, by the great Mas- 
 ter, to be done for the honour of God and the good 
 of our fellow-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 lifting up, till we are at the end 
 of that work and so have served our generation. 
 And it is, 
 
 Suffering work. There is a certain portion of 
 suffering that is allotted for the mystical body ; the 
 head has divided to the several members their pro- 
 portions thereof; and it is not the due time for that 
 lifting up, till we have exhausted 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 or later ; for though heaven 
 is always better than earth and that it would be 
 better for us, absolutely speaking, to be in heaven 
 than on earth, yet certainly there is a time where- 
 in it is better, for the honour of God, and his ser- 
 vice, that we be on the earth than in heaven, Phil, 
 i. 24. " Nevertheless, to abide in the tlesh is more 
 needful for you." And it will be no grief of heart 
 to them when there, that they were so long in their 
 humbling circumstances, and were not brought 
 sooner. 
 
 Use 1. Let not then the humble cast away their 
 
176 THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE WHOLE. 
 
 confidence, whatever their humbling 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, Psal. ix. 18. " The needy shall not always be 
 forgotten." If the night were ever so long, the 
 morninff will come at length. 
 
 2. Let patience have her perfect work. The 
 husbandman waits for the return of his seed, the 
 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 ap- 
 pointed for his lifting up 1 
 
 Ye have heard much of the Crook in the Lot ; 
 the excellency of humbleness of spirit in a low lot, 
 beyond pride of spirit, though joined with a high 
 one : — Ye have been called to humble yourselves 
 in your humbling circumstances, and have been" 
 assured in that case of a lifting up. To conclude : 
 we may assure ourselves, God will at length break 
 in pieces the proud, be they ever so high ; and he 
 will triumphantly lift up the humble, be they ever 
 so low. 
 
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