If men would teach religion, they must, in the opinion of the
Quakers, be first taught of God. They must go first to the school of
Christ; must come under his discipline in their hearts; must mortify the
deeds of the body; must crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts
thereof; must put off the old man which is corrupt; must put on the new
man, "which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness;"
must be in fact, "Ministers of the sanctuary and true tabernacle, which
the Lord hath pitched, and not man." And whether those who come forward
as ministers are really acted upon by this Spirit, or by their own
imagination only, so that they mistake the one for the other, the
Quakers consider it to be essentially necessary, that they should
experience such a call in their own feelings, and that purification of
heart, which they can only judge of by their outward lives, should be
perceived by themselves, before they presume to enter upon such an
office.
The Quakers believe that men, qualified in this manner, are really fit
for the ministry, and are likely to be useful instruments in it. For
first, it becomes men to be changed themselves, before they can change
others. Those again, who have been thus changed, have the advantage of
being able to state from living experience what God has done for them;
[114] "what they have seen with their eyes; what they have looked upon;
and what their hands have handled of the word of life.
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