Chap. 5. An Expoftrim rspen the Book of J QB. veil., 27. riences and examples, and this is the refult, the fum of äl1, Loe thus it ir. A queflion arifes here,how Eliphaz can fay,we have feartcht it, when as Chap. 4. he faith, A thing was fecretly brought to me ? It feems thefe wear matters attained and beaten out by Rudy, not fent in by divine Revelation ; and fo are rather the opinions of nnen,than the Oracles ofGod. Men infpired by the Holy Ghoft, fpeak another language ; As, Thusfaith the Lord, or this we have received, not this we havefearched. Scripture is given by infpira- tion from God, not by the difquititions of men. Some have hence concluded this fpeech of ElipbazApocryphal, Ea quo ineetU. as being rather matter of humane invention,than divine infpirati- ginur hanc E on : or the work of mans wit, rather than of Gods Spirit. drtr- But I anfwer. Firfi,TheApoftle Faut bath fuffl,:iently attelled 7,4 t'fu ll, fQ3 the Divine Authorityof this difcourfe, by alledging a proof out 01,4 nee od of it, I Car. 3, 19. Dei revetsntu Secondly, That which was fecretly brought to Eliphaz, was Yer,onfa, fed ad that one fpecial Oracle, Chap. 4. 17. Shall mortal man be more h.`ra'rnitnenij u than God? all a man be more pure than his Maker ? inrventd peri- 1 If íh P k The Here. Janfoa. other part ofhis difcourfe, to which thefe words (Loe this we have in loc. fearched) refer, were grounded upon the experiences which him- felf and his friends had obferved in, and about the providence of God in all his dealings both with the godly and the wicked, all agreeable to that grandprinciple received by immediate E.evelati- on. And therefore as he told Job before, that the general póGri- on was brought him in a vifion, fo all ages and the records, kept of them (in all which he had made a diligent enquiry) came up fully to the proof of it ; as if he had Paid, The Lord told me fo; and all he hath done in the world proclaimes that it is fo, His word is enough to affert his own juflice, but his works witnefs with it. Loe, this, we bave fearched, fa it ir. We brae fearched. He fpeaks in the plural number;he begun his fpeech in the fourth Chapter, and he concludes it here in the plu- ral number. Yet we are not to think, that, this wasa difcourfe penn'd by them altogether ; or debated fiat in private conference, and agreed on, that thus Eliphaz fhould fpeak,becaufe he faith, we bave fearched it. But the meaning is only this, I fuppofe I have fpoken the fcnfeof my two friends, who (land by, and I believe they are ready to fubfcribe to, or vote every word I have now uttered, therefore beholdwe have fearched and thus it te. Hear 349
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