Let us search and try our hearts with honest self-examination, and seek to find out whether there is any real work of the Holy Spirit in our inward man. Far be it from me to encourage the slightest approach to hypocrisy, self-conceit, and fanaticism.
Nor do I want any one to look for that angelic perfection in himself on earth, which will only be found in heaven. All I say is, let us never be content with the “outward and visible signs” of Christianity, unless we also know something of “inward and spiritual grace.” All I ask, and I think I have a right to ask, is that we should often take the First Epistle of John in our hands, and try to find out by its light whether we are “born of God.”
Nor do I want any one to look for that angelic perfection in himself on earth, which will only be found in heaven. All I say is, let us never be content with the “outward and visible signs” of Christianity, unless we also know something of “inward and spiritual grace.” All I ask, and I think I have a right to ask, is that we should often take the First Epistle of John in our hands, and try to find out by its light whether we are “born of God.”
The Upper Room, “Victory”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1970], 139, 140.
