Chap. 38. in Expofitienupon the BookofJ o a. Verf. z. 27 laugheth at the trial of the tnnccent ? Did he not darken counfel when he Paid, God dealt with him as an enemy, o-, as with an enemy ? Surely he did not well attend the counfel of God in af- flidling him, while he made fuc4i conflruolions of his affli&lion. The things which yob fpake were true, yet job delivered himfelf fodarkly that his friends mif-underflood- him ; they underflood him,as if he meant that God dealt in his providences with the righteous as with the wicked, and were to the wicked as he is to the righteous,that is, as if hehad nomore regard to any godly t tan,than to a wicked man in aff3ieling him. In there ( and tome other things ) job did not fufiiciently explaine himfelf and he exceedingly {tumbled or offended his friends and hearers, and fo might be Paid to darken the counfel of God, that is the purpore of God, or what God bath in his counfels concerning his people, whenunder his affli ing hand. All fuch likepaf ages fal- ling from job, the Lord might call a darkening of his counfel, or the cafling of a cloud uponhis righteous dealings, and at leafl an / intimation that God had done himwrong. Words of fuch a te- nour and tendency are jufily charged to be words Without knowledge. Not that job fpake altogether ignorantly, underflandin neither what he faid, nor whereof he affirmed, as the Apoftle charged fome, whodefired to be teachers of the Law (r 7im.1. 7.) the Text cannot be fo taken; but hiswords and affirmations were fuch as did not hold out a clear light of knowledge, either in his own underflanding, or at leafl not to the underflanding'ofhis hearers. Thus Eau charged job (Chap. 35.16. ) He openeth his mouth invain,he multipliethwords without knowledge. To (peakone word without knowledge is toomany; what is it then to multiply words without knowledge ? He multipliethwords without k.newledge,that is,hebath not givenhis fenfe and meaning in many things clearly , ashe might and fhould.Here the Lord Teems to takeup the fame charge againfl job ; who is this that darkeneth coon felby words without knowledge? God contents with Elihu, as to the matter of his reproof ; elihu telling hi-m, that he badmultiplied words with- cut knowledge; and God telling him, that he baddarkenedcoin- felby words without knowledge. Words ought togive light to the things we fpeak of or about ; what we fpeak fhould be for the E y clear-
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