tl1e Review ofSln~ 353 nature, that' might have b~en fatal to us, ere we had gone further : Behold, how in that period ' thou haft fpoken and done,evil things as thou couldfi.' 'Tis likely, .that n3any of thefe things are forgotten: but yet you may fiill fearch but as many o.f them, as may be matter of deep humiliation unto you before the ·Lord. There ~ay be fins of childhood, that will m::tke a bleeding wound in a gracious heart, on every 1·emembran~e thereof, even unto the dying day. Third!y,Then take a view ofthe fins ofyour youth. Job got a moving view of his, when h,e was ·come· to a good age, Job xiii. 26. ' Thou writefr bitter things againfi me, and rpakefi: me . to poffefs the iniquities of my youth.' David's heart bleeds acthe remembrance of his, crying unro God, ., Remember ' hot the fins of my youth,' Pfal. xxv. 7· Youth is vain, -rafh, ~md inconfiderate ; and therefore a dangerous period of life, precipitating fome into fuch fieps as· make them to halt all their life after, proving fatal to many, ana laying up· matter of repentance to all. And if the follies of it be not timely repented of and mourned ov~r, by the finner, they ' !hall ly down 1 with him in the dufi,' Job xx. n. and prefent them– ff;;lves again in £ull tale, when ' for all thefe God will bring him into judgment,' Ecc~ef. xi. 9· Therefore do you take a mournful view of them, and judge yo~rfelve,s, in time. , Fourt h!y, If you are come to middle age, proceed to the fearching out of the fins of that period of your life. In it you cannot mifs of naatter of deep humi- ·' lbtion ; fG>r ' man at his befi efiate is altogether va– hity,' Pfal. xxxix. 5.' Every pe~iod of life is attended with its proper (lures and temptations. And he who, right or wrong, hath made his way thro' thef~ of youth,doth bur enter into a new throng of temptations of anothd kind, while he enters on t'he next il:age of life : in the which men often, ere they are aware, tierer; themfelves thro' with many Arrows, lpfe them• Z z ftlve~
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