Examination for the Ministry
Men should not be encouraged to go into the field as ministers
without unmistakable evidence that God has called them. The Lord
will not entrust the burden for His flock to unqualified individuals.
Those whom God calls must be men of deep experience, tried and
proved, men of sound judgment, men who will dare to reprove sin
in the spirit of meekness, men who understand how to feed the flock.
God knows the heart, and He knows whom to select.—
Testimonies
for the Church 1:209
.
* * * * *
[437]
There has been too little done in examining ministers; and for this
very reason churches have had the labors of unconverted, inefficient
men, who have lulled the members to sleep, instead of awakening
them to greater zeal and earnestness in the cause of God. There are
ministers who come to the prayer-meeting, and pray the same old,
lifeless prayers over and over; they preach the same dry discourses
from week to week and from month to month. They have nothing new
and inspiring to present to their congregations, and this is evidence
that they are not partakers of the divine nature. Christ is not abiding in
the heart by faith.
Those who claim to keep and teach the holy law of God, and yet
are continually transgressing that law, are stumbling-blocks both to
sinners and to believers in the truth. The loose, lax way in which
many regard the law of Jehovah and the gift of His Son, is an insult
[438]
to God. The only way in which we can correct this wide-spread evil,
is to examine closely every one who would become a teacher of the
Word. Those upon whom this responsibility rests, should acquaint
themselves with his history since he professed to believe the truth. His
Christian experience and his knowledge of the Scriptures, the way in
which he holds present truth, should all be understood. No one should
be accepted as a laborer in the cause of God, until he makes it manifest
that he has a real, living experience in the things of God.
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