Charlotte Bronte on The Call

I came across a beautiful description of the call to the ministry, in a most unexpected place. In Charlotte Bronte's classic Jane Eyre there is a moment when a parish priest, St. John Rivers, is expressing his passion for missionary work to Jane:

"A year ago, I was myself intensely miserable, because I thought I had made a mistake in entering the ministry: its uniform duties wearied me to death. I burnt for the more active life of the world-for the more exciting toils of a literary career-for the destiny of an artist, author, orator; anything rather than that or a priest: yes, the heart of a politician, of a soldier, of a votary of glory, a lover of renown, a luster after power, beat under my curate’s surplice. I considered: my life was so wretched, it must be changed, or I must die. After a season of darkness and struggling, light broke and relief fell: my cramped existence all at once spread out to a plain without bounds-my powers heard a call from heaven to rise, gather their full strength, spread their wings, and mount beyond ken. God had an errand for me; to bear which afar, to deliver it well, skill and strength, courage and eloquence, the best qualifications of soldier, statesman, and orator, were all needed: for these all centre in the good missionary.
A missionary I resolved to be. From that moment my state of mind changed; the fetters dissolved and dropped from every faculty, leaving nothing of bondage but its galling soreness-which time only can heal."

Been there.