The Voice of One Crying Out in the Wilderness

by Bishop Bennett D. D. Burke
Published in 1994

Bishop Burke is the bishop of the Diocese of Arizona.

MATTHEW 3:3

Look at these words of William James in The Varieties of Religious Experience:

"A genuine first-hand religious experience...is bound to be a heterodoxy to its witnesses, the prophet appearing as a mere lonely madman. If his doctrine prove contagious enough to spread to any others, it becomes a definite and labeled heresy. But if it then still prove contagious enough to triumph over persecution, it becomes itself an orthodoxy; and when a religion has become an orthodoxy, its day of inwardness is over: the spring is dry; the faithful live at second hand exclusively and stone the prophets in their turn. The new church, in spite of whatever human goodness it may foster, can be henceforth counted on as a staunch ally in every attempt to stifle the spontaneous religious spirit, and to stop all later bubblings of the fountain from which in purer days it drew its own supply of inspiration."

Mystical Christianity has ever faced the challenges thus described, since by its very nature it resists institutional forms. Adherents should, therefore, prepare themselves for such condemnation, consoling themselves with the knowledge that for those who continue to remain open to the mystery, the spring of inspiration will never go dry. Those devoted to the inner life of the Spirit need never rely only upon mere descriptions of water which no longer flows, but can always drink for themselves from the fountain of life.

This document is part of The Global Library,
from the The Southern Province USA of the North American Old Catholic Church.

Additional funding provided by The Wynn and Rick Wagner Foundation.