The first test [of a Leading] is the most important--one is called to do something that is entirely consistent with fundamental principles of our belief. What we are doing must have "Certain Evidence of Divine Truth." The led person and the Meeting must be clear that the Leading is consistent with the Light. In the presence of revealed truth we must be, as Woolman describes, humble and sinking "into resignation." A Leading that is consistent with the Light is associated with humility. The first test is restated in one of my father's favourite scriptures: "What does the Lord require of thee but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk boldly with thy God" [Micah, chapter 6, verse 8].
The second test of a leading is that it is associated with an unnerving persistence which Woolman called "that tempest in which I had been sorely exercised." A true Leading does not go away; it disrupts and continues to give turmoil and unrest until it is resolved.
The third test of a Leading is that it resolves to a feeling of profound clarity and sense of "rightness." Woolman writes that he experienced "calmness of mind."
Finally, the fourth test of a Leading is that it has a transforming, enabling and unifying power. Woolman "went forward" now able to do what previously he had felt was socially impossible.
Jerilynn Prior, 1992.
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