They fail in mstaking Job's condition, [by] judging of his state firm his infirmities and in the height of his passion, as if grace could not stand with such expressions. And mistaking the disease, they misapply the cure. Therefore (2) looking to the extraordinary stroke which was befallen him, they fall upon the hypothesis going from the thesis itself, stretching the justice of God beyond, and drawing conclusions from the premises which they will not bear; from a temporary judgment, concluding eternal cutting off. (3) They misapply the most clear visions and sound truths to obtain their point, to have Job down and taking with it [agreeing] that he was a hypocrite, that he might be humbled and lay a new foundation. (4) They carry on this with rough and uncharitable expressions towards Job, who should have been more tenderly dealeth with.
Question: "What should be the reason they sat so long silen?
Answer 1. God having in mind to complete Job's trial, he will let him get comfort from none; yea, they shall rather be matter of stumbling him. 2. they could not conceive his sorrow half so great they came; and the good thoughts they had of Job before, as if a holy man, wearies out upon the beholding of his stroke, and they know not what to say to him. Yea, in as far as they let the temptation work in begetting a prejudice at him, they are wrong and prove hurtful to him. [James Durham]
<< Home