William Seymour: Fruit Before Tongues
Drawn from the teaching of Professor Gary S. Maxey · 2 min read
Professor Gary Maxey quotes William Seymour as a witness against a common mistake. Seymour led the Azusa Street Revival, and after months of watching it, he said the Spirit-filled life is measured by fruit.
A hard beginning
William Joseph Seymour was born on 2 May 1870 in Centerville, Louisiana. His parents, Simon and Phyllis, had been enslaved. He moved to Indianapolis in 1895, was born again and met the holiness movement. In 1903 he moved to Houston, where he joined Charles Parham's Bible school. Because of the segregation laws in Texas, he sat outside the classroom door to listen.
Los Angeles, 1906
Seymour arrived in Los Angeles on 22 February 1906 to lead a small holiness mission. The mission's leaders locked him out after he taught that speaking in tongues was the evidence of Spirit baptism. He began leading a prayer group at a private home. In April 1906, the group's meetings grew, and they moved to a former church building at 312 Azusa Street. Crowds reached about 1,500. Meetings ran from mid-morning to midnight.
A mixed congregation
Black and white worshipers knelt at the same altar, which was unusual in that age. Seymour published a newspaper, The Apostolic Faith, beginning in September 1906. Its circulation reached 40,000 within a year.
Trouble and a quiet end
Leaders around him quarreled. In 1908, two former helpers took his mailing list and started a rival paper. Parham turned against the revival. By 1914, the congregation had shrunk to a local church. Seymour remained its pastor until his death on 28 September 1922.
His words on the baptism
Professor Maxey quotes Seymour from The Apostolic Faith of 1907. Seymour wrote that the life must be measured with the fruit of the Spirit. If you get angry, or speak evil, or backbite, he said, you have not the baptism of the Holy Spirit, however many tongues you have.
What to take
The man who led the loudest revival of his time said that character matters more than display. Write the three words from Galatians 5:22 you most need. Ask God to grow them.
Drawn from the teaching of Professor Gary S. Maxey and public biographical sources. Sources: Wikipedia, "William J. Seymour."
