TRUE EXPLANATIONS

OF THE

BIBLE.

PART THE SECOND.

CONCERNING JOB.

Sunday Afternoon, Sept. 30, 1804, JOANNA has been reading through Job; as she is to read her Bible through, and draw her own obser. “ vations, and her own judgment from what she reads. But as she wished, if it was the will of the Lord, to answer Mr. Maudesley's letter, she desired it to be read again, to see if the Lord would be pleased to answer it.-“ Now, Joanna, I shall answer this letter after thou hast drawn thy judgment upon the Book of Job: and when thou hast drawn thy judgruent, I shall ans ver thee again.” Now Joanna's judgment upon the Book of Job is very different to what it ever was before. · When we come to weigh the 1st chapter, and the 8th verse- The Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered iny servant Job, that .. there is none like him in the earth, a PERFECT and U PŘIGHT man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil? Here the Lord justifieth Job's conduct, as . being an upright and good man; but Salan goes on to condemn hinı; and the Lord gave Satan leave every way to try him; and when Job's trial was pur to the utmosi, and his wife condemned him, in, chap. ij. 9; but Job rcproves her in verse 10 -Thou speakest as one of the foolish women : shall we re-,

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S. Rousseau, Printer, Wood Siree', Spa Fields

ceive good at the hand of God, and shall we notreceive evil? In chap. i. 21. he saith-The Lord. gave, and the Lord taketh away ; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this JOB sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Yet, in chap. iii, we hear Joß complaining, and wishing the day to be dark, wherein he had been born. After his complaining his friends reproved him. But no man, without experience, can be a judge of Job in this case. Consider the affliction he lay in, when his grief seemned more than he could bear. He might hayo this sorrow of heart without murmuring againsa God. This is my judgment drawn from experience ; for though I had never Job's afflictions in a manner like him; yet a similar case was mine in 1792, when I judged myself visited by the Lord, and the powers of darkness broke in upon me, and every friend was entirely against me. This made me miserable and unhappy, fearing I might do wrong, and not knowing how to do right; having the threatenings of the LORD on the one hand, if I did not obey; and Men and Devils tormenting me on the other hand, of the fatal destruction I should meet with, if I did obey. This has often made me wish, with Job, that I had died in my cradle; or that I had been drowned, when an infant that I fell into the river *; and yet at the same time, Heaven is my witness, I had not one thought to murmur against God; and only thought I was a short-sighted creature, fearing I might act wrong; therefore, I wished sooner never to see life, than to live to offend the LORD ; which in that confusion and difficulty I was afraid I might offend him. And this appears to me the case of Job; but when I come to Job's friends, it appeareth to me, Satan worked strongly in them, to try to persuade Job to acknowledge he had been a very wicked man, which Job refused to do. This appeareth to me to be the arts of the Devil, to make + See the Answer to the Disputes with the Powers of Darkness, p.70.

conceRNING JOB.
dovė JOR

... 90 God the linr, when the LORD had justified JOB : and by Job's words he affirms the TRUTH of what the LORD had said concerning him. Hear what Job says, chap. xxix. to chap. xxxii. But hear what answer Elihu made him ; and how he goes on to chap. xxxvii. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. In the last chap. 7th verse, the anger of the Lord was kindled against his friends : for he said, “ They have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.” Now, though Job's friends were, as he said, cruel tormentors and miserable comforters; yet they did not speak against GOD: yet by their judgment they denied the LORD, like the Devil, that when the LORD justified JOB, Satan condemned hine; and when Job justified himself; his friends condemned him; they told lies to him; and wanted JOB to affirm they were true. See chap. XX. 19. what they upbraid Job with; and how false was their accusation; therefore, though they justified God, and condemned Job for justifying himself, yet they did not justify the truth of the words of the Lord, that he had spoken of Job, as Job by justifying himself did. This is my judgment in reading the Book of Job. Wherein I err I trust the Lord will forgive me, as I am ordered to draw my own judgment, and cannot deceive the Lord with the thoughts of my heart.

THE ANSWER OF THE LORD. "Now I will answer thy thoughts of Job. I shall not blame thy judgment that thou hast drawn : for though I bid thee draw thy own judgment, yet thy ideas come from me, and it is I that work them in thee. And now I tell thee of Job's friends : Satan worked strong in them to make Job confess himself guilty of crimes he had never committed ; then Satan might accuse Me,'out of Job's own mouth, Therefore Job contended with men as I con

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tended with the Devil ; and Job justified himself, as I justified him.-So

Here's a mystery deep of Job,

That I shall now explain.
I did with Satan first dispute,

And he did then mainiain
That JOB was not what I had spoke,

And so he tried the man ;
And on his friends he strong did work

To bring the likeness on;
That Job with man might so contend,

Himself to justify;
And like thy judginent, in the end,

Satan might give the lie,
I say, to mi, if words from he

Were spoken like the rest.
This is a mystery none did see, .

Till I had filld thy breast,
For to discern how I do warn,

From shadows plac'd before;
This is the way, I now do say,

Thy thoughts do so appear.
So now let men the same begin

To copy after thee;
Then, I do tell them, in the end

Aright they all will see.
And now to clear the End that's nears.

From Job I shall begin ;
And from thyself I will appear,

As thou hast form'd the thing:
For with thyself thou him compar'd,

And so I li place the line;
For men like them have greatly err'd,

That every soul will find.
Just like Job's friends have thine gone on,

And like them still they be;
But to the purpose I shall come,

And let men answer ME,
If they can clear their sarings here,

W bat they against thee spoke?
I tell them, no: they all must know,

Like Job's, they wrong have wrote;
And so their tongues have all been wrongs ,

But thee I'll justify.
When to the purpose all do come,

Will they their God deny,
That lies all through, they'll prove it so,

And lies from me appear,
Because thy life I've justified ?

Then let Men answer here,
If they can come and prove it wrong?

But let the truth be spoke ;

CONCERNING JOB, .
Would they wish thee for to condemn,

Thy God in all to mock?
Had Jos denied, then I must lie,

And provid his God uojust.
Now I'll explain what I do mean,

The way he ne might cast :
His friends see clear, they did appear

Against him strong to burst;
And they condemn i bis every hand,
• In guilt he must be found.
If Job the same himself had blam'de

Then Satan must be crown'd,
To say that he, more just than NE

Did sure condemn the Man.
The crimes that they did lay on he

I tell you all discerii,
No Justice there they then did clear,

That in the Man was found;
But his accusers he did hear,

And by his conscience crown'a,
The words of me were spoke for he,

To prove it in the end.
So Men and Devils both you see

Must to MY SCEPTRE bend.
But had the Man himself condemo'da

He must condemo his God,
To justify him from on high,

The paths that he had trod.
So, if that he had done like they.

The truth denied all there :
And said in sin his life had beca ;

And his accusers were
More just than he, then I must lie !!!

Now see the mystery plain;
Because the truth he inust deny;

Could I his cause maintain
From first to last, if Job had burst,

Just like his friends appear,
And say in sin his life had been,

As they condemn'd him there?
Then they might swell with arts from helle

The man I could not fiec;
He must be cast, if he had burst

In lies spoken like ther. . Could I appear the man to clear,

That was such sinner great, When i had boldly said before

lo him was no deceit?
No, no : to man I thus shall come,

And answer so for thee;
I've plac'd thy life throughout the land,

That men thy life might see;
How every way men would betray,

And Satan work'd ebe sams.