I. That Mas at length evened to her mind; but

ihen she got anotli-^r in its stead, liLrd labour in uavailing to bring forth, chop. xxxv> 16. Tiiiii v.orld is a v/ilderness, in v.hich we may indeed get our station changed : but the remove may be one part of the lot is evened, readily some other T)art thereof w 111 be crooked-
JNIore parti cuiurlys^//^ t'/'v.;/' -• St
four things of the nature of that which is crooked.
(1.) Disa((rceablcnefis. A crooked thing is wayvrard; and being laid to a rule ansvrers it not, but declines from it. There is not, in any body's lot, any such thing as a crook, in respect of the iVill :\\vl pnrposg oi Ciod. Take the most harsU and dismal drspensation in one's lot, and lay it tc the eternal decree, made in the depth of infinite* v*'isdom, before the world began, and it will an- swer i- tfiwactly, without the least deviation, all thhif;'s behiq- 7vrcii^ht after the counsel ef his ivill, Kph. 1. 11. Lay it to the providential will of God, ia the government of the world, aiid tliere is :i j.-erfcct harmony. — If Paul is to be bound at Je- lusaleui, and '•dcliv;;red into the hands of the '' G'jiitilcr:,-' it is '*the will of the Lord'' it should be so, Acts xxi. 11 — 14. Wherefore, tlie gre^t- cat crook of the lot, on earth, is straight in hea- ven : there is no disagreeableness in it there. Bi.t in every person's lot tliere is a crook in res; their mirul :\w'\ natural inclination. The a dispensation ii':*^ cross to that rule, end will hy ik menn'i an^'v-c- it. nor harmonize witii it. "^^'hv^
TheCroof.lnthe Ut. 9A
divine providence lays the one to the other, there is a manifest disagreeableness : the man's vrill goes one wav, and the dispensation another -vray : tho ■will bends upward, and the cross events press down : so they are contrar}'. And there, and only there lies the crook. It is this disagreeableness which makes the crook in the lot fit matter of trial and exercise to us, in this our state of probation ,* in the which, if thou wouldest approve thyself to God, walking by faith, not b3/ sight, thou must quiet thyself, in the will and purpose of God, and not insist that it should he according to tfirj mhidy Job xxxiv. 33. .-i;^,
(2.) UnsightUncss, Crooked things are un- pleasant to the eye : and no crook in the lot seem- eth to bejoifous^ but g-rievous^ making up an un- sightly apTiearance, Heb. xii. It. 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 vievr. David shews a hurtful expe- rience of his, in that kind, Psai. 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 Benoniy the son of my sorrow; by thifi means providing, that the crook in his lot should not be set afresh in his view, on every occasion of mentioning the name of his son. Indeed, a christian may safely take a steady and leisurely view of the crook of his lot in the light of the holy word, which represents it as the discipline of the covenant. So faith will discover a hidden sightliness in it, under a YGvy unsightly outward appearance ; perceiving the suitableness thereof to the infinite goodness, love, and wisdom of God, and to the real and most valuable interest of the party by which means one comes to take pleasure, and that a most refin-
22 The Crooh in the Lou
^d pleasuri^iii distress, 2 Gor. xii.»10. But what v\ or the crook in the lot be to the eye of fstith, ' not at a]^ plwisant to the eye of scnae.
(3.) XJnfinu'ss for motion, Solomon observe' the cause of the uneasy and ungraceful walking of the lame. Prov. rxvi. 7. '^ The le^s of the lame *' ars not equak" This uneasiness they find, wh. : spirit and a low adverse lot, makes great di$iculr la the Christian walk. There is nothing that givt temptation more easy access, than the crook in th lot; nothing mere apt to occasion out-of-the-way i^teps. 'I'hv'iefoi • saith the apostle, Heb. xii. 13. *' Make straij;ht the paths for your feet, lest tlia* '■' v/hich is lame be turned out of the way." 1 hey are to be pitied, then who arc labouring under it and not to be rigidly censured ; tho' they are rar'- persoi)^ who learn this lesson, till taught by their own experience. It is long since Job made an observe in this ca:se which holds good imto this day, Job xii. 5. *'He that is ready to slip with his "feet, is as 11 lamp despised in the tho'jght of Kim " that is at ease." ;, .
(4.) " Aptness to catch iiold and cii-aiii^ , ;■ " hooks, fish-hooks," Amos iv. 2. The crook in the lot doth so readily make imj^ession, to the ruf- fling, and fretting one's spirit, irritating corruption, that Satan fails not to make diligent use of it to these dangerous purposes : the which point once gained hy the tempter, the tempted, ere he is a- ^vare, tind* himself entangled as in a thicket, ou* of which he knows not how to extricate himself In that temptation it often proves like a crooked stick, troubling a standing pool, the which not onl} raisetli up the mud all over, but brings up fron. the bottom some ver\'ugly thing. Thus it h:*ought ■ ■aspheray and adieisv '^ iph'tJ
I hd Crook hi the Lot, '-kc
case, Fsal. iMxiii. 14. " Verily I have cleansed my *' heart in vain, and .washed my hands in innc- '■'"ccnce:" As if he had said, there is nothing at all in religion, it is a vain and empty thing that ;-.rolitetli nothing; I was a fool to have been in • -are ttbout purity and holiness, -whether of heart or life. Ah ! is this the pious Asaph ! Hovr is he urn^d so quite unlike himself ! but the crook in the lot is til 3 handle, whereby the tempter makes surprising discoveries ot latent coiTuption even in he best.
This is the :iatiu-c of the crook in the lot ; let us :\ow observ^e \\\\z.ipayt ofihehi it falls in. Three onclusions may be establisr.od upon this head.
\st. It may fall in amj part of the lot ; there is "O exempted onv; in the case : for^ sin being found ■T every p:^rt, the crook may take place in anv paix. 3eing '^ all as an irnclean thing, we may all fade ' as a leaf," Isa. Ixiv. 6. The main stream nf sin, vhicirthe crook readily follows, runs in very differ- ■?X ciiannels, in the case oi" diifercnt persons. And :. regard of the various disposition-j of the m»indtf ■i men, that will prove a sinking weight unto one, vhicli another would go very lightly u^uler.
2r////', It may at once fall in viahij part.:, of the ■jt, the Lord calling, as in a solemn dav, one':^ • rrors round about, Lam. ii. 22. Sv;metiines God .vr;kc5 one notablti crook in a malt's lot'; but its . ..me may be Gad, being but the forerunner of » \iop v.'hicii cometh, — Then the crooks are miS- "•plied, so that the party is made to halt on each, •de. While one stream^^lct in from one quarter, •. running full against hiiii, another is let in on .:m from another quarter, ti^^ *ri t%- — r] tb.- '—a- •Ts brer.> in -^n everv h^t-pd.
2 !• The Crook in the L
t^illiji It often fall$ in the tender part ; I mcaa, that part of the lot wherein one is least able to beai it, or, at least thinks he is so. Psalm 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 £;uide, and mine acquaintance.*' ^i there is any one part of the lot, which of ail o- thers, one is disposed to nestle in, the thorn will readily be laid there, t specially if he belongs to God ; in that thin^ wlicrein he is least of all ablij to be touched, he will be sure to be pressed. Ther;; the trial w ill be taken of him ; for there is a grand competition w ith Christ. " I take from them the *• desires of their eyes, and that whereupon the}' ** set their minds.'* Ezek. xxiv. 25. Since the crook in the lot is the special trial appointed lor every cne, it is altogether reasonable, and becom- ing the wisdom of God, that it fall on that which cf all tiungs doth most rival him.
But more particularly, the crooh may be obscr/- ea to fall in these four parts of the lot. . Firsts In th. natural pan, affecting perso;.:. z:.v.- sidcrcd as of the make allotted for them by tfte great God that formed all things. The parents of niankiiid, Adam and Eve, wei^ formed altogother sound and entire, without the least blemish, whe- ther in soul or body: but in the formation of their posterity, there oiV^^n appears a notable variation from tile original. Eodil)' defects, superfluities, deformities, infirmities, natural or accidental, make the c-ook in the lot of some : they have some- thing unsightly or grievous about them. Crooks of this kind, more or less observable, are ver} comm.on and ordinary, the best not exempted from them; and it is purely owing to sovereign plea- sure they are not more numerous. Tender eyes rnade xh,^ crook in the lot of Leah, Gen» xxix. 17c
The Crcok in the Lot. 25
KachePs beauty was balanced with barenness, the crook in her lot, chap- xxx. 1. Paul, the great a- postle of the Gentiles, was, it should seem, no personable man, but of a mean outward appearance, for which fools were apt to contemn him, 2 Cor.