426 The Spiritual Man
compared to a pond of sand and mud: as long as no one disturbs the
water the pond looks clear and clean; but let it be agitated a moment
and its true muddy character appears.
Inspiration and EmotionMany saints cannot distinguish inspiration from emotion. Actually
these two can be defined readily. Emotion always enters from man’s
outside, whereas inspiration originates with the Holy Spirit in man’s
spirit. When a believer surveys the beauty of nature, he naturally
senses a kind of feeling welling up within him. As he admires the
fascinating landscape he is moved with pleasure. This is emotion. Or
when he meets his loved one there surges through him an
unspeakable feeling as though some sort of power is attracting him.
This too is emotion. Both the beautiful scenery and the beloved one
are outside the man—hence the stirrings aroused by these external
elements belong to emotion. Inspiration, on the other hand, is quite
the reverse. It is exclusively effected by the Holy Spirit within man.
God’s Spirit alone inspires; since He dwells in the human spirit,
inspiration must come from within. Inspiration may be imparted in
the coldest and most tranquil environment; it does not require the
encouragement of scenic wonder or of dear ones. Emotion is just the
opposite: it withers the instant outside help is removed. And so an
emotional person thrives wholly in accordance with the particular
environment of the given moment: with stimulation he can press on,
without it he folds up. But inspiration needs no such outside aid; on
the contrary, it becomes confused should emotion be unduly
influenced by external environment.
The Lord’s people should be cautious, however, lest they view
coldness and absence of constraint to be barometers of spirituality.
Such an assumption is far from the truth. Know we not that the mark
of emotion is dejection as well as excitation? Know we not that
emotion cools as well as stirs? When emotion arouses a man he is