V. 14. This consideration has a moral efficacy on

our reason, is fit to awe us into a submission, and
•ministers a deal of argument for carrying Chriati- anly under our crook.
3. It hath a divine appointment on it for that end, which is to be believed, Prov. iii. 6. So the text. The creature in itself is an inefficacious and moveless thing, a mere vanity, Acts xvii. 28. What 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 raake a God of the creature ; therefore it is to be Ubed in a dependence on God, according to that word of appointment, 1 Tim. iv. 4, 5. And every thing is hi for the end for which God has appoint- ed it. This consideration is appointed for that end ; and therefore is a fit means for it.
4. The Spirit may be expected to work by it, and does work by it in them that believe, and look to him for it, forasmuch as it is a mean of his own appointment. Papists, Legalists, and all super- stitious persons, devise rarious means of sanctifi- cation, seeming to have, or really having a moral fitness for the same ; but they are quite ineffectu- al, because, like Abana and Pharphar, they want a word of divine appointment for curing us of our leprosy ; therefore the Spirit works not by them
The Crook in the Lot. f 9
since they are none of his own tools, but devised of their hearts. And since the means of divine ap- pointment are ineffectual without 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 carrying- right 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 ef- fectual, I offer these advices :
1. Consider it as the xcork of your God in Christ. This is the way to sprinkle it with gospel grace, and so make it tolerable, Psalm xxii. 1, 2, 3. 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 necessa- ry, (1.) Solemnly to take God for your God under your crook. Psalm cxlii. 4, 5. (2.) In all your en- counters with it, resolutely to believe, and claim your interest in him, 1 Sam. xxx. 6.
2. Enlarge the consideration with a view of the divine relations to you, and the divine attributes. Consider it, being the work of your God, the work of your Father, elder Brother, Head, Husband, &c. who therefore surely consults your good. Consider his holiness and justice, shewing he wrongs you not; his mercy and goodness, that it is not worse ; his sovereignty, that mav silence you ; his infinite wisdom and love, that may satis- fy 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, ye vrould otherwise be apt to
^ r/ie Crook 2/1 the Lot.
run into , a tning work, to discover your state, your graces, and corruptions ; a weaning work> to wean you from the world, and fit you for hea- ven.
4. In all your consideratiors of it, in this man- ner look upward for his Spirit, to render them ef- fectual, 1 Cor. iii. 6. — Thus may ye carry Chris- tianly under it, till God even it either here or in heaven.
PROV. XVI. 19.
Better it is to be of an humble spirit 7uith the low* hjy than to divide the spoil with the proud,
C^ Ol^LD men once be brought to believe, that > it is better to have their minds brought to ply withji^'trook in their lot, than to force even the c^Cf^K to their mind, they would then be in a fairSray to bring their matters, in that case, to a good account, fiear 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 prou^." In which worcls,
Firsty There is a comparison instituted, and that bttween two parties, and two points wherein they vastly differ.
l.^Y, The parties are the lowly and the proud, who differ like heaven and the centre of the earth : the proud are ay climbing up and soaring aloft : the lowly are content to creep on the ground, if that is the will of God. Let us view them mort the text represents themr
The Crook in the Lot, 81
(1.) 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 th« afflicted or poor, that are low in their condition : those that have a notable crook in their \ lot through affliction laid on them, whereby their condition is lowered in the world. The other is the lowly or meek humble ones, who are low in their spirit, as well as their condition, and so have their minds brought down to their lot. Both to- gether making the character of this lowly party.
(2.) On the other hand is the proud, the gay, and high-minded ones. It is supposed here that tkey are crost too, and have crooks in their lot j for, dividing the spoil is the consequent of a vic- tory, and a victory presupposes a battle.
2cliy^ 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 Hanna, Job, &c. The proud may sometimes be thrown down and crush- ed, as Pharoah, Nebuchadnezzar, &c. But that is not the question. Whether it is better to be rai- sed up with the lowly, or thrown down with the proud ? There would be no difficulty in determi- ning that. But the question is. Whether it is better to be of a low and humble spirit, in low cir- cumstances, with afflicted humble ones : or to di- vide 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 eompared and set one agaipst another, are these :
82 The Crook in the Loi»
(1.) On the one hand, to be of a humble spirit with afflicted lowlr ones, (Heb.) to be low of spi- rit, for the word primarily denotes lowness in sit- uation or state ; so the point here proposed is to be with or in the state of afflicted lowly ones, ha- ving the spirit brought down to that low lot; the lowness of the spirit balancing the lowness of one''^ condition.
(2.) On the other hand, to divide the spoil with the proud. The point here proposed is, to be with or in the state of the proud, having their lot by main force brought to their mind ; as those who, taking themselves to be injured, fight it out with the enemy, overcome and divide the spoil accord- ing to their will.
Secondly^ The decision made, wherein the for mer is preferred to the latter ; " Better it is to be "of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to di- " vide the spoil with the proud," &c. If these two parties were set before us, it were better to take our lot with those of a low condition, who have their spirits brought as low as their lot, than with those, who, being of a proud and high-bended spi- rit, have their lot brought up to their mind. A humble spirit is better than a heightened coftdi ■ tion.
DocT. There is a generation of hxvly afflicted ones^ having" their spirit loXvered ana brought down to their lot, ivhose case, in that respecty is better than that of the proud gettitig their w 11^ and carrying all to their mind.