5 33 Chap. is. AnExpofitibn upon the Bookof JOB. .Veri. 2.6. Eli, God reckoned with him for his childrens fns; Eli pofeff the fins ofhis youth, of tris relational youth, ofhis Eonswhom he did not refrain (as he had power to do ) when they were not only vicious but fcandalous. Sin is an inheritance which af- cends as well as defcends : as many children polfefs or are pu_ nilhed for the lins of theirold age, that is, of their fathers ( they imitating their fathers fins) fo many fathers poffefs, or are pu- nilhed for the fins of theiryouth, that is, of their children, they having not fuffïciently reproved their childrens fins : whilepa- rents neglel their duty to their children, they feel fmart for their children; and the father of fpirits laies thofe rods upon their backs, which their foolifh indulgence would not fuffer them to lay upon the backs of the children of their flesh. But I pafs this interpretation as over- reaching the fcopeof this text, though it contain a general truth.' Secondly, Others interpret thefe words asa proof of gods . ,idamexhec eminent and exemplary piety and holinefs, all the time of his u loco colligunr elder and more confirmed years : as if God could find little or eximiam viri nothing to charge him with as fnful, after he came to be aman antgiJJimi and was mafterof himfelf. 'ris faid by the reporter ofCardinal f'anbiicatem qui Bellarmine in his life and death, that when the Prieft (according an &ateion to the Romilh cuftom) came to abfolve him, he could not re- sonfirmaca dr member anyparticular confefs, fin to till he went back in his matura nihil , fibs íonfcivit. thoughts as far as his youth. If it were fo, I muff fay, that how 5an&. great a fcholar foever this Cardinal was in books he was but a mean fcholar in his ownheart and life,in which the befi Chrillians feefin enough to confefs and bewail in the bef times, yea, the better any one is,the more he fees his own finfulnefs. Theolder and fincerel} of Saints in this lire, needs not go a day back,mnch lefs back to the beginning of his knowing daies, his youth, to find matter of çonfefilon, feeinÿ he fins every day, yea, every hour. Yet thus they report of Bellarmine to advance his piety, that, if he had not confer the fins of his youth, he could not tell what to confefs. In this fence, the prefent expoliirion snakes fol' fpeak to God, Thou makefl me to pa jetsthefins of my yyouth, as if all the feEtions and parts of his life had been unblamable. But this favours not the fpirit offob,who,as he was very confident of the fincerity of his heart, fo he was well acquaintedwith the finfulnefs of his nature, and faw himfelf not only a fìnner, but much fin, all his lifeover. Thirdly
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