Chap. r7. An Expofition upon the Bookof JOB. Verf..t o 49.5 ther by not giving them their due, or by accu ling them un- duely. We muff not be afhamed ofreturning to them, by fubmitting to the truth, from whomwe have departed by following or holding anyerrour. Thus lobmay be concei- vedcounfelling and calling his friends to a return in thefe three fenfes given : Fir(t, to themfelves Secondly,to God: Thirdly, to him, whom they had Colons oppofed. But though all three maybe included, yet the trope and delgne of Job feems ;. to intend the third : Return, and come now that is, Return to me,let not truth fare theworfe for my fake donot you raft it off, becaufe I hold it. It is not enough to turn from any evil, whether ofopinion or praó}ife, and return to the obedience of God, but we muff alfo return to the love ofgood men, and unite with them, in the truth. But whymuff they return ? lob give the reafon exprefly . in the latterpart of the Verfe. For 1 cannotfind one wife man amongyou. All the wayes offin and errourare wayes offolly ; they Ramp a man for a foule andunwife, whofoever walks in them; I cannot find one wif man amongyou : when he faith, Icannot finde, It (hews that he had endeavoured to find, he had been feeking for a wife man among them, but he found none; The Lord( faith David Pf.14.2 .)lookeddown from heaven upon the childrenofmen,to fee if there were any that did uuderffandand feekafter God(but he found none)Tbey are all gone afide(v.3) job feemes to have been upon fuch an inquiry:He had looked over his friends,and weighed them one by one, but he found not one wife man among them. The Preaeher (Ecclef.7.27, 2S.. ) counting one by oneto find out theaccount , foundbut . one man; that is,one wife or good man)among a thoufand : no marvel then if yob found not one among three,yet confider- ing what three thefe were,men numbred among theWorthies, . poffibly the firft three of thatage and place, it may juflly be marvelled whyjob fhould (peak at fo low a rate,or fo fleighr ly of them :_ was he not too cenforiousand rigid, too bold and adventerous, to fpeak thus concerning men of Eachgra- vity, authority, and reputation, for wifdom, and learn- ing, yea, and for holinefs too, as thefe three were ? Shall we fay that this =fare proceeded from yob's wifdom , or from
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