To the Reader. taken , as ifthey hadknowinglyfpoken any thing which wa, falfe,or as if theyhadfpokenat+any timepurpofely to enfnare him : hisfriendsfuppofed andwere confident that theyfpak truth not only in itPelf (as indeed theydid) . batal lo tohis pee , and their aim was to inflru5 or reclaimhim, not to enfnare or entangle him by what they hadfpoken. Laflly , Theyfpake no doFlrinaluntruths though force of their applications were (la to his cafe) untrue.. And tharseven the 4poflles themfelves didfailfometimes For as Jobsfriends applied their doctrine toa Saint , as ifhe had been anhypocrite,fo did they in their Rpiflolicalwritings apply their doctrines toforce hypocrites as iftheyhad been Saints. But loth not God himfelfin the conclufon and determ;na- tion ofthis difpute fay exprefytoEliphaz theTemarite,My wrath iskindled againfl: thee and against thy two friends, for yehave not fpoken ofmethe thing that is right as my fervantJobhath (chap.4z.7 )Iftheydidnotfpeak?right of God,how thenwere they taught ofGod what tof peak -Tani wen, Firfl, Some expoundthofe words(as the letter al 'ofeems to carryit) comparatively, not as iftheyhad notfpoken right of God, but notfo right asJobhad: Secondly, That which they fpake of God in his na.ture,pro_ perties and works wasall right,o, y thryihad root fpoken right ofGad,abkut the intendment ofhis works and di penfations to wards Job : They did not hit the meaningofGod in thatfo clearly as Job did; Though (I conceive) Job hiruf ell^ was much in the darkabout thatpoint too ; as Elihu laboured to convince him. It may be again objec1ed , That Jos andhis threefriends Opole leach other , and maintain d f rent opinions , how then can all be true? !Waft not one fidebe out, he or tby ? 1 Ianfwer. Fire, Job and his friends did agree inmany points(aswas (hewedin the Preface to thefecondpart .ixpofations)4ndall thofeprinciples wherein they agreedare the
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