How should we treat those believers who suffer greatly in this life? Calvin takes the view that the comforters were good men using bad arguments, or rather, that they were using good arguments but misapplying them in Job’s case. In commenting on their failure he says, ‘If we see any man afflicted, we must not immediately conclude that he is dealt with in this way for sowing some iniquity, or for sowing trouble and putting impediments in the way of others, for we do not know the reason why God visits him in this way. It is true that if we have known someone to have been a wicked person, then we can say that this is God’s judgement, made visible in him. If a man has been a despiser of God, or someone who leads a lawless life to the offence of others, we cannot help judging as the Scripture tells us to. But if we judge hastily, without knowing any more about that individual than that we see him scourged, and therefore say he is cursed, then this is rash and presumptuous judgement of a sort that God finds fault with. Therefore we must have a restraint on ourselves and proceed with mildness and advise on this.