Heaven upon earth, or, The best friend in the worst of times. Delivered in…

Now the great inquiry will be, what Remedy there is for this our woeful condition; is there any way whereby we may be delivered from this misery? if there be, what way is it? These words which I have chosen to speak to, do contain the Answer to this Inquiry.

Now the great inquiry will be, what Remedy there is for this our woful condition; is there any way whereby we may be delivered from this misery? if there be, what way is it? These words which I have chosen to speak to, do contain the Answer to this Inquiry.

Acquaint now thy self with him, and be at peace, thereby good shall come unto thee. This is the counsel of one of Job's three friends to him in the time of his great affliction. You have heard of the affliction of Job, and how his three friends came to relieve him with their Counsel; but the Devil who had a Commission from God to try his utmost with Job, yet sparing his life, made use of his friends, who are to be a comfort in the hour ⟨p. 4⟩of adversity, to be a great means of his disquiet, so that he cries out of them, Aliserable comforters are ye all, Chap 16.2. And the great way of their troubling him was, by mis-applying, by making false application of true principles. In their Discourses there are many excellent Truths; yet by their hard construing, & ungrounded condemning of him, they by God are reproved, as not having spoken the thing that was right, Chap. 41.7. yet in many things their counsel was suitable, and seasonable, of which sort, the words in the Text may be accounted. In this Chapter Eliphaz had been inquiring into the cause of Job's great affliction, and holding this for an undeniable Principle, that the righteous God, being the great disposer of affliction, did bring this evil upon him because of his sin; he measured the greatness of his sins, by the greatness of his afflictions; he made account, because Gods hand was gone forth in an extraordinary manner against Job, therefore there was some extraordinary guilt upon him, vers. 5. & 13. And thou sayest, How doth God judge through the dark clouds? Thus we have his apprehension of Job, as one under great affliction, because of his great sins; and the Text is Eliphaz his counsel to Job, under this character; and so is suitable advice to those that are under sickness, or great afflictions, and that are under the guilt of great sin.