Did Judas, one of the twelve, do so [betray Christ]? Learn thence, That a drop of grace, is better than a sea of gifts. Gifts have some excellency in them, but the way of grace is the more excellent way, 1 Cor 12:31. Gifts, as one saith, are dead graces, but graces are living gifts. There is many a learned head in hell. These are not the things that accompany salvation. Gifts are the gold that beautifies the temple; but grace is as the temple which sanctifies the gold. One tear, one groan, one breathing of an upright heart, is more than the tongues of angels.
Poor Christian, thou art troubled that thou canst not speak and pray so neatly, so handsomely, as some others can? but canst thou go into a corner, and there pour out thy soul affectionately, though not rhetorically, to thy Father? Trouble not thyself. It is better for thee to feel one divine impression from God upon thy heart, than to have ten thousand fine notions floating in thy head. Judas was a man of parts; but what good did they do him?
John Flavel, the English Puritan, Works, Vol 1, p 294