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u late w ealth th rough m iserliness, bu t he cannot be said to prosper if his life becomes narrowed and his h e a rt con tracted by his gains. On th e other hand, a man m ight be considered to be prosperous, though his bank account dim inished daily, if he was increasing in the esteem of all righ t-th ink ing men, in in tellectual productiveness and in th e rich v ariety of sp iritu al experience. “The liberal soul shall be made fa t and he th a t w aters others shall be watered also him self.” IV. In iqu ity and adversity a re d i vinely un ited and involved in th e very n atu re of things. J u st as surely as prosperity follows righteousness adver sity follows wickedness. Nations as well as individuals are strong or weak in proportion to th e ir morality. The word “ ought” outweighs everything in th e universe. When we obey th e be hests of duty, we experience a joy th a t is a fo retaste o f ' Heaven. When we consciously violate obligation, we are restless and unhappy, and th is is a foreboding of hell. Death includes all these pains and penalties which come from tran sg ressing th e laws df God. Such is th e depravity of the human h e a rt' th a t it requires a d eterren t from wrong-doing. The A lm ighty governs th e universe in accordance w ith law. Law m ust be enforced by sanctions, otherw ise it is nothing b u t advice. Any attem p t to remove these penalties by removing th e producing cause, is an interference w ith the Divine a rra n g e ment, a pu tting asunder w hat God has joined together. V. Justification an d sanctification should n o t be separated in the experi ence of the child of God. A fter being justified by faith , why should we w ait for sorrow or death to'accomplish w hat th e Holy Spirit stands ready to do at any tim e? If th e two experiences are no t theologically coincident, a t least one should succeed th e o th er so closely th a t no appreciable in terval of tim e should elapse between them . God has joined
them intim ately tog eth er and they ought not to be so far divorced th a t one is obtained by faith and th e o th er by pu rg ato rial fires hereafter. The same Divine Power th a t secures th e one is adequate to achieve th e other, since the precious blood of Christ is the only ground of both. We can n eith er increase the efficiency nor add to the beau ty of anything th a t God has made. Indeed, man touches God’s work only to m u tilate and mar. God makes no m istakes. He who would criticise or stigm atize the Divine handiwork eith er has asinine stupidity or devilish malignity. As we see the w arning “Hands Off” displayed above some beautiful fabric in an exposition, let us recognize a sim ilar prohibition in the sp iritu al world above th e arran g e ments and ad ju stm en ts of Divine wis dom, and never soil or spoil by unhal lowed touch th e ir exquisite propriety and beauty. “W hat God h ath joined together let no t man p u t asunder.” “W hat God h ath pu t asunder let no man join togeth er.” This injunction is v irtu ally if not verbally in Scripture. A proposition of logic declares th a t th e converse of every proposition is tru e. If we are no t to p u t asunder w hat God has joined to gether, then of course, we are not to join together w hat God has p u t asun der. Most of th e confusion and per plexity in th e in terp retation of th e Scriptures arises from a failu re to observe and obey one or th e o ther of these injunctions. P au l exhorts the Philippians (Chap. 1:10, m argin) to discrim inate between things th a t differ. Someone once asked Daniel W ebster how he obtained his rem arkably clear ideas. “By attend ing to d efin ition s/’ he replied. I. God has draw n a line of separa tion between p n rity and m atu rity . Qne is th e resu lt of faith, the other of works. One is the product of sanctification, th e other of grow th in grace. One is
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