Proposition II: What God Sees Meet to Mar, We Shall Not Be Able to Mend in Our Lot
Prop. II. What God sees meet to mm-, 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 in 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,” &c.
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 consequently 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 great possessions. He takes notice what is that idol that in every one’s case is 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.
TI. 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 chastised, 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. Lam. iii. 27, that being the way to make one at length as a ^yeaned child.
Secondly. A strong desire to have the cross removed, and to have matters in that part going according 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,” &c. Hence so many accepted prayers of the people of God, for the removal 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 relied 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 sese 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. For 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 remedies one has used for it, one is ready to lose hope about it; but many a crook, given over for hopeless that would never mend, God has made perfectly straight, as in Job’s case.
But we shall never be able to mend it by ourselves; 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 exxvii. 1, 2.
2. The use of all allowable means for it, will bo 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.
IV. We shall now assign the reasons of the point.
1st. Because of the absolute dependence we have upon God. Acts xvii. 28. As the light depends on the sun, or the shadow on the body, so we depend on God, and without him can do nothing, great or small. And God will have us to find 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 main 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 apply to God for it.
Exhortation 1. Let us then apply to God for renoving any crook in our lot, that in the settled orler of things may be removed. Men cannot cease
0 desire the removal of a crook, more than that of
1 thorn in the flesh: but, since we are not able to .nend what God sees meet to mar, it is evident we t)2 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, oe 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 wdth the crook, to make it more crooked, Eccl. X. 8, 9, “Whoso breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him. Whoso removeth stones, shall oe hurt therewith,” &c. This is evident in the case of the murmurers in the wilderness. It naturally 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 remains no hope with us, Rom. iv. 17. “Who quickeneth 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 on to perfection. Gen. xviii. 14.
4. He loves to be em.ployed in evening crooksv 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 evening of them. Hos. v. 15. The straits of the children 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. lxxviii. 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 experienti-es 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 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 being 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. II, 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 again and again for it, yet it is never mended.”
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 cry Jay and night unto him, though he bear long with ihem? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.” 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 them; 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 ofT 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.
1. Pray for it, Ezek. xxxvi. 37. and pray in faith, believing that, for the sake of Jesus, yon 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 L-^nih Rev. XV. iii. And, in some cases of that 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,” &c. Justify God, condemn yourselves, 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 ic 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 ye 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 world, let us apply to God for suitable 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 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 j-ou 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 effect heaven’s ofi’er 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 exchange, God first puts out his hand, and takes away some earthly thing from us, and it is expected we put out our hand next, and take some heavenly thing from him in the stead of it, and particularly his Christ. Wherefore has God emptied your left hand of such and such an earthly comfort? 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, confidently to depend on God for that which is denied us from ‘he creature. *’ When my father and mo-
68 BOW TO OBTAIxX liELIEF UNDER IT.
ther forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.’’ Psal. xxvii. 10. This is a most rational expectation: for it is certaia there is no good in the creature but what is from God; therefore there is no good to be fomid in the creature, the stream, but what may be got immediately from God,, the fountain. 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 good rom thyself.
3. Seek for the spiritual fruits of the crook in the lot. Heb. xii. 11. 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 attainmsnts. 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 hord thrice;” and he said, “My grace is s’dfficient 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 under his. Grace proportioned to the trial is what we should aim at; getting that, though the crook be not evened, we are even hand.s with it.
5. The keeping in our eye the eternal rest and weight of glory in the other world, 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. “For our light affliction, which is bu for a moment, worketh for us a far 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 iot, 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 ou 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 under discouragement — “nor faint when thou art re-Vuked of him.” Hek xiL 5. Satan’s work is by 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 earthly comXort nor will the want of any of them render 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 fars to unfit for the duties, either of our particular or*Ghrfstian calling. We may be sure it has carried us beyond llie bounds of moderate grief, when it unfits us for the common affairs of life, which the Lord calls us to manage. 1 Cor. vii. 24. Or for the duties of religion, hindering them altogether. 1 Pet. iii. 7. “That your prayers be not hindered,” (Greek, cut off, 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 far me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” There is an advantage to be nmde thereby, Rom. v. 3 — 5. And it is certainly an ill-managed crook in our lot, when we get not some spiritual good of it. Heb. xii. II,
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 gripings endured; so it is a lost crook, and ill is the bitterness 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 under 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 wisdom 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 flow 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 makes it heavier, while withal it weakens us, 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 1 Can we work it out of our natural powers?”
Ans. No, it is not so; but it necessarily accompanies and goes alone with believing, flowing from the same saving illumination in the knowledge of Christ, vihereby 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! I 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 cannot do the things that ye would;” but are ye sincerely 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 crook, than the crook evened to your heart’s desire? Rom. vii. 22, 23. And do you not sincerely endeavour to submit, notwithstanding the reluctancy 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 cravings, and particularly that which God sees meet especially to 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 humbled 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 indeed. Matt. xi. 29.; 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12.
Ans. 4. How shall we prove ourselves the genuine kindly children of God, if still warring with the crook? We cannot pray, Our Father — Thy will be done on earth, as, &c. Matt. vi. Nay, the language 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 long. 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 impossible, that ever their minds should ply with the crook; that it is a burden to them, altogether insupportable; 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 tha 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 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 under 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 Bet yourselves to behave rightly under the crook in your lot.
If you ask what way one may reach that; for direction we propose,