XV. 5. " Without me," that is, separate from mtf,

** ye can do nothing ;" no not, with all the moral considerations ye can use. How were the ten commandments given on Mount Sinai ? not bare exactions of duty, but fronted with the gospel, to be believed in the first place. " I am the Lord thy ^' God," &c. And so Solomon, whom many do re- gard rather as a moral philosopher, than an inspi- red writer leading to Christ, fronts his writingSi in the beginning of the Proverbs, with most ex- press gospel. And we must have it expressly re- peated in our Bibles with every moral precept, or else shut our eyes, and take these precepts without it ; that is the effect of jpur natural enmity to Christ. If we loved him more, we would set him more in every page, and in txtry command, re- ceiving the law at his mouth.
Thirdly^ Do but consider what it is to carry Tightly 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 glo- ry must influence it as the chief end thereof; and try and see if it is not impossible for you to reac^
The Crook in the Lot. 77
it without that faith afore-mentioned. I know a Christian may reach it without full assurance : but still, according to the measure of their persuasion that God is their God, so will their attainments in it be ; these keep equal pace. O what kind of hearts do they imagine themselves to have, that think they can for a moment empty them of the creature, farther than they can fill them with a God, as their God, in its room and stead ! No doubt men may, from the force of moral consider- ations, work themselves 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 improvement of that consideration.'
Ans, Yea, indeed it is so, as to that and all o- ther moral considerations, for true Christian ends : and that amounts to no more, than that directions for walking uprightly 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.