X. 19. And to move you hereunto, consider,

1. It is a duty you owe to God, as your sove- reign Lord and Benefactor. His sovereignty challengeth our submission ; and it can in no case be meanness of spirit to submit unto the crook which his hand hath made in our lot, and to go quietly under the yoke that he hath laid on ; but it is really madness for the potsherds of the earth, by their turbulent and refractory carriage under it, to strive with their Maker. And his beneficence to us, ill'deserving creatures, may well stop our mouths from omr complaining of his making a crook in our lot, who had done us no wrong had he made the whole of it crooked : '•* Shall we re- *' ceive good at the hand of God, and shall we not ** receive eviH" Job ii- 10.
2. It is an unalterable statute, for the time of this life, that no body shall zuant a crook in their lot : for " man is bom unto trouble as the sparks ** By upward," Job v. 7. And those who are de- signed for heaven, are in a special manner assured of a crook in their's, that '' in the world they shall **have tribulation," John xvi. 33 ; for by means thereof the Lord makes them meet for heavcnv And how can you imagine that you shall be 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, according to th« different exigence of their cases, you may be sure that your's is necessary for you.
3. A crook in the lot, which one can by no means submit to, makes a condition of all things the likest to that in hei/. For there a yoke, which the wretched sufferers can neither bare nor shake off, is wrcaUicd about their necks ; tliere the al»
Th€ Crook in the Let. 5o
Tuighty 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 under the crook in their lot.
4. Great is the loss by not submitting under it. The crook in the lot, rightly improven, hath turn- ed 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 experitmce testifies, Psalm cxix. 67". " Before I was afflicted I went astray ; '^ but now have I kept thy word.'* There are ma- y\y now in heaven, w ho are blessing God for the thing must it then be to lose this teeth-wi»?d for Immanuel's land ? But if the crook in thy lot do thee no good, be sure it will not miss of doing thee great damage ; it will hugely increase guilt, and aggravate thy condemnation, while it shall for ever cut to the heart, to think of the pains taken on thee, by means of the crook in the lot, to wean thee from the world, and bring thee to God, but all in vain. Take heed, therefore, how you ma- nage it, " Lest^-thou mourn at the last and ** say. How have I hated instruction, and my *' heart despised reproof:" Prov. v. 10, 11, 12..
DocT. II. IVkat Ggci sees meet to 77iar^ we tvill not be able to mend in our lot. What crook God makes hi our lot, we will not be able to even' — We shall,