John Trapp on Job 29:16

Verſe 16. I was a father to the poor] Ab lacbionim, an elegant agnomination, as Mercer here noteth. Job was not only a friend to the poor as aforeſaid, but a father providing for their neceſſitites,Sue[illegible: 1 letter]. and protecting them from injuries. So Auguſtus. Caeſar delighted to be called, Pater Patriae, the Father of his Country. And our Queen Elizabeth would many times ſay that ſhe could believe nothing of her people,Cambden. Eliz. that parents would not believe of their children.

And the cauſe which I knew not I ſought out] Sifting it to the bran, and not pronouncing ſentence till I had fully underſtood each circumſtance of the controverſie. Judge not according to the appearance, but judge a righteous judgement, John 7.24. Thucydides well ſaith, That there are two things moſt oppoſite to right proceedings, [non-Latin text not transcribed], Haſte and Anger; A Juſticer muſt do nothing raſhly, but with greateſt deliberation and induſtry, to come to a right underſtanding of matters, in capital cauſes eſpecially, leſt he repent it too late: as that Sir James Pawlet did, who out of humour and for revenge, laid by the heels Thomas Wolſey, Negotiat. of Card. Wolſey. then a Country Miniſter (afterwards a Cardinal, and Lord Chancellour of England,) for the which he ſuffered long impriſonment. And as that Judge mentioned by Forteſcue, who having condemned a Gentlewoman to death for the murder of her husband, upon the bare accuſation of her man, which afterwards was found falſe, ſaepius ipſe mihi falſus eſt. He afterwards confeſſed unto me, ſaith the Authour, that he ſhould never during his life be able to clear his conſcience of that Fact. We know what paines Solomon took in the caſe of the two harlots that ſtrove before him. And we have read of a Judge, who to find out a Murther, cauſed thoſe that were accuſed to open their boſomes, and felt the beating of their hearts. And when he found one of their hearts to beat extraordinarily, Tu, inquit, feciſti; Thou art the Murtherer certainly, ſaid he. The man preſently confeſſed the fact,Job. Manl. loc. com.pag. 290 and was executed for it.