“The power of the spirit judging thus (according to the sentence of death against the flesh) the state of unfaithfulness which was thought to be hidden from the true husband of the people, makes the sin manifest and brings down the chastening and the curse upon the unfaithful one, and that evidently by the just judgment of God. Drinking death according to the power of the Spirit is life to the soul. 'By these things,' says Hezekiah, 'men live, and in all these things is the life of the Spirit,' even when they are the effect of chastening, which is not always necessarily the case. But if any of the accursed things be hidden, if there be unfaithfulness towards Jesus, undetected, it may be by man, and God puts it to the test; if we have allowed ourselves to be enticed by him who has the power of death, and the holy power of God is occupied with death, and comes to deal with this power of the enemy; the concealed evil is laid bare, the flesh is reached, its rottenness and its powerlessness are made manifest, however fair its appearances may be. But if we be free from unfaithfulness, the result of the trial is only negative; it shows that the spirit of holiness finds nothing to judge, when he applies death according to the holiness of God.”