HOLY
SPIRIT: NEGLECT OF; PASTORAL MINISTRY: NEED FOR SPIRITUAL REALITY

“It is one thing,” said Henry Suso, “to hear for oneself a sweet lute, sweetly played, and quite another thing merely to hear about it.”

And it is one thing, we may add, to hear truth inwardly for one’s very self, and quite another thing merely to hear about it.…

We are turning out from the Bible schools of this country year after year young men and women who know the theory of the Spirit-filled life but do not enjoy the experience. These go out into the churches to create in turn a generation of Christians who have never felt the power of the Spirit and who know nothing personally about the inner fire. The next generation will drop even the theory. That is actually the course some groups have taken over the past years.

One word from the lips of the man who has actually heard the lute play will have more effect than a score of sermons by the man who has only heard that it was played. Acquaintance is always better than hearsay.

Luke 24:32; Ephesians 5:18–19; Colossians 3:16–18; 2 Timothy 3:13–17

The Root of the Righteous, 99, 100.