A35535:1981
An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty second, the thirty third, and…An exposition with practicall observations continued upon the thirty second, the thirty third, and…
An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty second, the thirty third, and the thirty fourth chapters of the book of Job being the substance of forty-nine lectures / delivered at Magnus near the Bridge, London, by Joseph Caryl ...An exposition with practicall observations continued upon the thirty second, the thirty third, and the thirty fourth chapters of the booke of Job being the substance of forty-nine lectures / delivered at Magnus neare the Bridge, London, by Joseph Caryl ...
London: printed by M. Simmons, 1661
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Hence note.
'Tis but equal to give him leave to speak for himself, with whom we are unsatisfied.
'Tis but equall to give him leave to speake for himselfe, with whom we are unsatisfied.
How else can we either get satisfaction, or give an account why we remain unsatisfied? We must not condemn any man in hast, nor judge him till we have heard him. Necessary stops are no delays. They may procure not only a better but a speedier issue of our business, especially in matters of controversy. Politicians have a rule, Take time and you may do any thing. To make hast slowly is the surest way of making hast. Many a journeying man had rid more miles in a day, if he had not rid too fast. They who will do all at once, or in a breath, often loose their breath, but seldom do any thing, that's worth the doing. And as hastiness hinders us in doing, so it altogether unfits us for censuring. Time brings forth truth; a sentence deferred, may afterwards be given, but when it is once given, it cannot be recalled; therefore it is good before we censure, to hear every man out; If this moderation and well-tempered ingenuity were exercised in all our controversies with others, it would be a great help to the ending of controversies. And we should either see no reason to condemn many, or condemn them with more reason, had we patience to hear them. But when first, we will not hear an answer, or when secondly, we suppress our opposites with power and violence, whom we cannot answer or convince by ⟨p. 484⟩argument; or thirdly, when we interpret what they say in answer to the worst sense; or fourthly, when we are glad to find any weakness or insufficiency in their answers, and are so hasty to condemn, that we will not give them leave to recollect their thoughts, or think better on't to mend their answers, and explain their meaning, either by speech or writing; it is impossible breaches should be healed, & differences reconciled, or that ever we should come to a clear & full understanding of one another. This offer made by Elihu to Job is a good pattern, and shows us how to deal with brethren in all such cases: and that which followeth showeth the best and noblest ground of such amicable condescensions, even a willingness not only to agree with but to embrace those from whom we differ. That's the general sense of what Elihu assureth Job, and would have him confident of in the next words.