John Trapp on Job 13:26

Verſe 26. For thou writeſt bitter things againſt me] As it were by a judicial reſcript thou decreeſt my doom; and accordingly thou inflicteſt hard and heavy things upon me,Humanitùs dictum ex uſu forenſi. Jun. as is moſt elegantly deſcribed in the following verſes by metaphors fetcht from the courſe of Courts. Sin is an evil, and a bitter thing, Jer. 2.19. Heb. 12.15. Acts 8.23, and hath bitter effects, Ruth. 1.20. Exod. 1.14. This made that holy man Mr. Paul Baine, ſay: the ſweet wayes of my youth did breed ſuch worms in my ſoul, Bains letters. as that my heavenly Father will have me yet a little while continue my bitter worm-ſeed, becauſe they cannot otherwiſe be throughly killed. I thank God (ſaith he in another place) ſuſtentation I have, but ſuavities ſpiritual I taſte not any.Mr. Clark in his life. It is reported of this good man, that when he came firſt to Cambridg, his converſation was ſo irregular, that his father being grieved at it, before his death left with a friend forty pounds by the year, deſiring that his ſon might have it if he amended his manners, elſe not: he afterwards had it, as he well deſerved, as proving a notable inſtrument of much good to many, and particularly to that Reverend Dr. Sibbs whom he converted; Howbeit in his laſt ſickneſſe he had many fears and doubts, and God letting Satan looſe upon him, he went out of this world with far leſs comfort then many weaker Chriſtians enjoy; his caſe being not unlike his, who ſaith in the next words,

And makeſt me to poſſeſſe (or to inherit) the iniquities of my youth] Which I took for pard oned long ſince (and ſo no doubt but they were); but Jobs affliction renewed the remembrance of them to his conſcience (as it is the beſt art of memory.) Satan alſo made him believe, that now he was puniſhed for the new and the old, as we ſay, and that God meant to make him anſwer for all the ſins of his life at once, having watched a time to be revenged on him for all together. Youth is a ſlippery age, and ſoon ſlips into ſin. There is great cauſe that a young man ſhould cleanſe his wayes, Pſalm 119.9. where the word Nagnar (ſignifying a lad, or ſtripling) comes from a root ſignifying to ſhake off, or to be toſſed to and fre. And the other word rendred cleanſe, ſignifieth to be clean as glaſſe, which will ſoon gather a new duſtineſſe. Such muſt cleanſe their wayes by cleaving to the word: or otherwiſe, they may one day groan as much under the ſins then committed, as many do under the blows and bruiſes then received. See the former Note.