John Flavel on Personal Pastoral Sincerity
“We, of all men, are most in danger to be deceived by hypocrisy: for our employment lying in, and about spiritual things, we are, on that account, called spiritual men. But it is plain, from Hosea 9:7, that a man may be objectively a spiritual man, and all the while subjectively a carnal man. Believe it, brethren, it is easier to declaim, like an orator, against a thousand sins of others, than it is to mortify one sin, like Christians, in ourselves; to be more industrious in our pulpits, than in our closets; to preach twenty sermons to our people, than one to our own hearts; believe it, sirs, all our reading, studying, and preaching, is but trifling hypocrisy, till the things read, studied, and preached, be felt in some degree upon our own hearts.”
-The Character of an Evangelical Pastor, Banner of Truth, vol. 6, pg. 568
