224 Ghap.i6. 1in'Expofition upon the Bookof J OE. Verf3. this fcnfe, the provocations which Job gave his friends , were notto be reckoned as provocations ; and he might well fay to Eliphaz, What provoketh thee to anfrner? If I (in the cafe I am in ) have fpoken paflionately , wilt thou be provoked by it ? Thou fhouldefi not. Thou'oughtefi topafs it byand co- ver it with the garment of charity. Yet further, we may take the words as a total denial ofany provocation givenon his part: Whence Note'.. Some millfpeakharfhlr to, and ofthofe who neverprovoked, ar gave them caufe- Water runs cleartill 'tis troubled and furred by fome out- ward violence : But the fpirits of Come men are muddy, though nothing fromwithout flits them. The Prophet cow. pares all wicked men to the troubled Sea , when it cannot reff, whofe waters cafes upmire aitddirt(Ifa. 57..20. ) TheS>a is not always troubled, when the winds are quiet, that is quiet, we often fee a fmooth:Sea, as fmooth as Glafs A.wicked man is like the Sea when'tis enraged, he is {arch a Sea as knows no calm.; - he is like the,Sea, not only when it is troubled ,. but when it cannot ref. Though no breath of winde from abtoad offend him, yet he forms he hath lufisin his own bowels, which provoke himwhen nothing elfe doth ; yea , thofe lulls within provoke him,, when all without labour to . pacific him. So David complains (Pfalmrr 20.5,7..) Wo it me that 1 fo- journ in Mefech,.that 1 dwell in the tents of Kedar ; that is, With the Sonsor defccndantsoglfhmael, whohave learned of their father to mock and perfectite ; I dwell in the Tents of Kedar : But what caufed them to mock and perfecute ? Was it any provocation that Davidlrad given them?Nofor he faith in the next words, 1 am for peace (I would livequietly with all my heart ) but when I speak , they are for war. A mo- tion for Peace, becomes a provocation to war ? It is finful to fpeak rathly, or harthly, though we are provoked ; what is it then to (peak fo when we are not provoked ? They an- gred Mofes at the waters of fir fe, they provoked hisfpirit ; yet it went ill withMrfes for their f akes,when he fpákeunadvifedly with biolipr ( Pfaim, 106.32 ,33.) But what was this unadvifed fpeeçh. Mofes reports his own infirmity ( Numb.2o.io,a 11í'd
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