Spiritual Blessing--Its Truest Measure

D. E. Hoste was one of the Cambridge Seven who left England as a young man to win souls to Christ in inland China.  Later, Hudson Taylor appointed him to the position of Acting General Director of the China Inland Mission, thus becoming his successor.

The following wise words are an extract from one of his articles that he contributed to China's Millions that is included in the biography by Phyllis Thompson, D. E. Hoste:  "A Prince With God.".

"We do well to bear in mind that it is in the maintenance of right relationships with our fellow-Christians that the depth and reality of such spiritual blessing as we may have received will be most truly measured and manifested.  If we fail here, then we may be sure that there is something seriously defective in the blessing which we think we possess.

"It is sadly possible, as we are reminded in the thirteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, to display much real zeal and capacity in the service of God, which, in His sight, are largely of no account, because we are not living and dealing with our fellows in a right spirit.

"We need the fulness and the renewing of the Holy Spirit in order to walk in love and forbearance towards our brethren, and it is the one who humbles himself as a little child who is really greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and who will be used to accomplish most in the extension of that kingdom.

"It may seem a paradox to say that the need of the graces just referred to is especially great in times of spiritual power and progress.  It seems inevitable that at such periods there are always those who tend to cling unduly to the well-tried and hallowed usages of the past; whilst another section is apt to be too hasty and become impatient with what appears to them the unreasonable and groundless conservatism of their brethren.

"In this way, the unity of Christians, and also the continuity of the work of the Holy Spirit in and through them, are both endangered.  Times of transition, therefore, call for the utmost prayerfulness, and a full measure of the spirit of mutual consideration and patient regard for each other's views and feelings, on the part of the Lord's servants."