An unconverted minister is utterly unfit for his office

An unconverted minister is utterly unfit for his office. How can he speak experientially of that grace which he has never tasted himself? How can he commend that Savior to his people whom he himself only knows by name? How can he urge on souls the need of that conversion and new birth which he himself has not experienced? Miserably mistaken are those parents who persuade their sons to become clergymen in order to obtain a good living or follow a respectable profession! What is it but persuading them to say what is not true and to take the Lord’s name in vain! None do such injury to the cause of Christianity as unconverted, worldly ministers. They are a support to the infidel, a joy to the devil, and an offense to God.

—J.C. Ryle