534 Chap. r 3. AnExpofitionupon theBook ofJoB. Vert'. 26. flies inour faces, and our fears that they are not pardoned, return upon our fpirits : In this fenfe alto (poffibly) God made fob pof. fefs the fins of his youth. He was as much ( or more ) exercifed with inward terrour, as with outward trouble ; and when God hid his face from him, he law his fins withopenface. Hence obferve , Firff, Tooth is eafaly overtakenwith fin. Young men are leaf} able to forefee the miles, to retiff the temptations, or keep out of the waits of fin. The Prophet de- fcribes the childhood of Chrilf, our Emanuel, under the. notion of childehoòd in general, which knows not how to refrafe the evil aidchufe the good (Ifa. 7. x i.) Paul faith of himfelf ( Coe.. 13, Ir.) When I was achilde, l fpahe as a child, Iunder Hood as a childe, 1 thought as a childe : all in him, or done by him, was childifh, when he was a childe. 'Tis but a little better ( ordina.. rily) and foatletimes it is much worfe in thenext itep of mans life, which is youth. He that is a youth, thinks as a youth, (peaks as a youth, as as a youth; all in him anddone by him is youth- ful, that is, impede& and immature, fubje&f to mifcrrriages and miltakes. David puts, and anfwers the quelfìon ( Ffal.119. 9. Wherewithal! (hall ayoung mancleanfe his way ? Young wet] are apt to go foul waies, or to defile their waies, and therefore need inffruetionhow to cleanfe them. And David praies in fpecial, that God wouldpardon the errors which he found in that pa- ragraph of his life, Pfal. 25.7. Remember not thefins ofmyyouth. And betides, theobnoxioufnefs of youth to fin in general, Tooth bath its proper fins. The Apoflle writing to Timothy, an holy Fariofusjuve.. man, yet a young man, exhorts him (2 Tam. 2. 2.2.) Flyyouth- Gibus.Plac.lihaful lulls, look to that, there are lulls which hang upon youth,aud dog that feafon of life more than any other, there are certain z. de Leg. fins to which we are peculiarly endangered in each divifion of our lives: As every calling, every place, every relation bath its fpecial fins and temptations, fo bath every age of life. Old men are paflìonate andcovetous, men of middle age are revenge- ful and malicious, young men are precipitate and voluptuous. TheHebrews call a young man Nagnar, which fprings from a root, fignifying to fliake off, or tobe toffed to and fro, implying that fuch are unconffant to their own refolutions,and apt to }hake off the graveft counfels. Hence the Apoflle cautions not only Timothy but Titus, Let no Man defpi fe thy youth : as if he had laid.
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