John Trapp on Job 15:17

Verſe 17. I will ſhew thee, hear me.] Here Eliphaz uſeth a ſhort but a lofty preface, calling hard for attention, and raiſing in Job an expectation of no mean matters. But Quid dignum tanto feret hic promiſſor hiatu.Horat.

This is his Argument:

That is to be held for true which experience evinceth, and wiſe men teach us, as themſelves have learned of their religious Anceſtors.

But, both continued experience, and conſent of men teach us, that wicked men have terrors within, and troubles without.

Therefore this is to be taken for a truth. Therefore alſo by conſequence, that is falſe which thou haſt ſpoken concerning the proſperity of wicked men, chap. 12.6. Neither canſt thou avoid the charge of wickedneſſe who doſt ſuffer the puniſhments of the wicked. Now what is all this more then Eliphaz had ſaid in a former diſcourſe? (ſo that Job might have cried out, Apage coccyſmum) only there he groundeth his Argument upon a night-viſion; here upon the teſtimony and conſent of certain wiſe men, commended by their power and juſtice. Some think he meaneth Noah and his pious poſterity.

That which I have ſeen, I will declare] Wilt thou not believe in eye-witneſſe? What can be more ſure then ſight? 1 John 1.1. Surely, if we were well read in the Story of our own lives, and had laid up our experiences, we might have a divinity of our own. The 119 Pſalm is made up of experiments; and David oft telleth us what he had ſeen and obſerved.