)Pu  Or. r. )iMilW'o  ~rmau
BEFORE THE
AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS
FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS,
PREACHED AT PORTLAND, MAINE, SEPTEMBER 9, 1851.
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arInnh nf unfthurt in fnrrign vissinui.
A
SERMON,
PREACHED AT PORTLAND, MAINE, SEPTEMBER 9, 1851,
BEFORE THE
AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS
FOR
FOREIGN MISSIONS,
AT THEIR
FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL MEETING.
BY DAVID H. RIDDLE, D. D.,
OF PITTSBURGH, PENN.
BOSTON'
PRESS OF T. R. MARVIN, 42 CONGRESS STREET,
185 1.








SERMON.
ISAIAH XLI. 14, 15.
FEAR NOT, THOU WORM JACOB, AND YE MEN OF ISRAEL; I WILL KEEP TH-F,
SAITH THE LORD AND THY REDEEMER, THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL. BEHOLD,
I WILL MAKE THEE A NEW SHARP THRESHING INSTRUMENT, HAVING TEETH.
THOU SHALT THRESH THE MOUNTAINS, AND BEAT THEM SMALL, AND MAKE
THE HILLS LIKE CHAFF.
THESE words illustrate " the wisdom of God in a
mystery," as distinguished from " the wisdom of this
world," that cometh to nought.  In the estimate of
this world, power is the great object of desire and
idol of admiration. The philosophy of human enterprises is, that success is rationally to be expected,
as the instrumental agency is adequately proportioned in power to the result to be accomplished. Is
a great work to be done; a railway, for example, to
be constructed? Physical power, and the pecuniary
means of obtaining it, must be provided, in proportion to the obstructions to be overcome, the mountains to be leveled, the valleys to be elevated, and
the rivers and ravines to be spanned. Is a locomotive to be propelled along the highway, or a vessel
along our rivers or across the ocean in a definite
time? The propelling power or momentum must
be proportioned to the speed desired, or resistance




to be overcome. Again, is a community or nation
to be moved and moulded anew, in political principles or social customs? Power, of a different kind,
must be employed, proportioned to the amount of
existing error, prejudice, force of habit, or indisposition to change, - mental power, reasoning, persuasion, eloquence, and the enginery for bringing this
power into contact with the mind and heart.
Such is the wisdom of the world, and such is its
philosophy of success. In carrying on his great
plan, " according to the good pleasure of his will,"
God seems resolved to demonstrate another and
deeper philosophy of power. It seems good in his
sight so to accomplish results by instrumentalities,
that in every case'" the excellency of the power,"
the superadded element which alone philosophically
explains the result, " may be of God," and not of the
instrument employed. " God hath spoken once;
twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto
God."
Look at the case presented by the text. A great
result is to be accomplished. Mighty resistance is
to be overcome, mountains are to be threshed and
beaten small, and hills made like chaff. And what
is the agency employed? "Thou worm  Jacob,
and ye men of Israel; "  few men," according to
one interpretation, "dead men " in another; powerless and inadequate on either or any interpretation.
Where is the proportion which human philosophy
demands as indispensable? On its principles, what
prospect is there of success? Yet the voice of God
says, " Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of
Israel." The philosophy of success here is the help




5
of the Almighty, supplying the obvious inadequacy
of the instrumental agency.  " I will help thee,"
divine efficiency, working through human weakness.,
" I will make thee," or cause thee to become, " a
new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth; and
thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them
small, and make the hills like chaff." The beautiful principle contained in this passage may be thus
expressed:-  Want of proportion between instrumentality and results is no ground of discouragement in enterprises to be conducted by faith in God..
This principle, illustrating the divine philosophy
which governs God's great administration, would
allow of a great variety of applications. We purpose on this occasion to apply it to the great enterprise in which we are engaged, and are here assembled to promote, the work of foreign missions; an
application which all will grant is admissible, and by
the divine blessing may be profitable.
I. Guided by the drapery of this passage, let us first
contemplate the inadequacy of the agency, or want
of proportion between the instrumentality employed
and the result to be accomplished. For this purpose place in juxtaposition these two elements, a
worm and the everlasting hills and mountains.
What a contrast! What a sense of disproportion is
at once produced! According to ordinary calculations, can a worm ever thresh these mountains, and
beat them small, and make these hills like chaff?
The reply of philosophy and experience is, No!  It
is impossible.  To expect it is the acme of absurd.
ity. Again, think of Israel as a people, in comparison




with the colossal empires and organized structures
of power and opposition by which they are surrounded. What disproportion, estimated by human
standards!  Can these "few men," destitute of all
elements of influence, inferior in science and wealth,
wrestle successfully with the countless numbers and
almost limitless resources of the rest of the world?
Anterior to the event, who would venture to say that
this nation, in the principles it embodied and was
designed to perpetuate, would exist, and be wielding
power when the whirlwind of ages had swept away
these mighty empires, leaving only dust on the history and memory of their former greatness?  Sense
and human philosophy have here but one reply.
" It cannot be."
Such is the contrast, figuratively presented, between the resources of the church, and the results to
be accomplished in the enterprise of foreign missions. On the one hand are "' mountains," whose
massive and gigantic proportions it is difficult, with
all our increased appliances of information, fully to
realize, - mountains of error and iniquity, idolatry,
superstition and false religion. " The strength of the
hills  is here also " girded with power."  Mighty
systems, the growth of ages, the work of Satan and
his auxiliaries, reared by the rulers of the darkness
of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places,
exerting their powers of construction, in many instances without any counteraction for ages, like coral
workers in the depths of the sea, systems interwoven
with the philosophy and science, associations and
social customs of different nations, with the memory
of the ancestral dead, venerable for antiquity, proud




in conscious power, strong-holds where prejudices
and passions are entrenched! Yes, brethren, great
mountains! The hand that reared these emblems
of strength and endurance, over the geography of
the earth, has selected them as best adapted to convey the reality. Verily, even the Himmalayas and
the Caucasus are only " figures of the true." Let
any man carefully analyze the component elements
of any one of these systems, Buddhism, Brahminism, Fetishism, Mohammedanism, or, worst of all,
corrupted Christianity, " the mystery of iniquity,"
which began to work in apostolic times, and is coming to its grand climacteric in these last ages; let him
try to unravel the manifold complications of caste,
entangling in its web every grade and class of society, presenting at every point a fresh antagonism to
the truth; and he will see the appropriateness of
this figure to express the facts that meet us all over
the field which " is the world," and be better able to
measure the magnitude of the result to be accomplished. These great mountains we may not wisely,
and cannot truthfully despise or depreciate.
And what, on the other side, have we of instrumental agency?  "Worm  Jacob, and few men,"
the very emblems of weakness and inadequacy.
These words figuratively, but forcibly and fairly,
represent the agency employed.
1. It is so intrinsically. The infinite Jehovah, who
" sitteth on the circle of the earth," in thus designating Jacob, uses a figure indeed, but only thereby
more impressively conveys the fact. By this selected phraseology he testifies the truth in the case, not
only of ancient Israel, but of his people, the "true




8
Israel " of God, in all ages. They are wormlike in
weakness, " few men," in themselves utterly destitute of resources adequate to the result described.
2. It is and should always be regarded so in their
own estimation. The great model and representative of God's Israel, in his incarnate relations said,
" I am a worm, and no man." This conveys the
true sentiment of every Christian, in regard to his
own independent resources. This is the right feeling of the church of God, when she recognizes her
instrumental relations to the great work she is
appointed to do.  Her energies, irrespectively of
almighty aid, are as disproportioned to the resistance,
as a worm to the everlasting mountains. This is a
sober estimate of human agency, without exaggerated
diminution or affected humility, the very sentiment
which God's word, in its great revealed principles and its record of his past operations, would lead
us habitually to cherish. He would have us always
know and feel the truth, just as it is; not think of
ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but
soberly, as he has given us the measure of believing.
" If a man," - and the same is applicable to any
portion of the church, - "' think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."
Let us allow no illusions to unsettle our proper conceptions of ourselves as God's instruments. "' Thou
worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel." Even the
most cursory comparison of our weakness with
the magnitude of the work produces this feeling.
But this sense of inadequacy comes over us more
overwhelmingly, as we measure the mountains to be
threshed and beaten small more definitely and com



9
prehensively.  At the base of some gigantic pile
of granite, upheaved by ancient convulsions, frowning upon us, and rearing itself as if in very mockery
around us, what a sense have we of insignificance,
of worm-like weakness, not so much as a deduction
as an instinct! What is man before Mont Blanc?
How does he feel amidst the awful immensities and
everlasting solitudes of Himmalaya? Judging from
analogous but inferior circumstances of grandeur, in
his own estimation he is less than nothing and vanity. Could the arm of all flesh concentrated into
one, and with all its enginery, remove these mountains? So when we contemplate, either in general
or in detail, the granitic formations over the field of
effort, the instinctive and irrepressible feeling, the
feeling God would have us cherish, is one of withering insignificance and incompetency. We are worm
Jacobs, even when called to " thresh the mountains;"  "earthen vessels," even when filled with
"the excellency of the power."  Shall the axe
boast itself against him that smiteth therewith," or
"' the thing formed" for a mere instrument say,
" Why hast thou made me thus? "  The besom that
sweeps the nations, is but a besom still.
3. This agency is so esteemed by others, especially the antagonist forces.  "Weak things of the
world,"' or in the world's estimation, " things which
are despised," yea, "things which are not," have
no existence amongst their elements of power or
means of success. We may conceive how weak and
contemptible were " Jacob " and the " men of Israel," in the estimation of contemporaneous empires,
Assyria, for example, or Babylon and her proud




10
monarch, Egypt and her immense resources of
learning and enginery of power; especially at this
period, when apparently on the verge of annihilation, internally divided, and externally encircled by
enemies, and just about to go into captivity. We
can fancy them, as the best expression of scorn,
using the language of God himself, " Worm Jacob,
and ye men of Israel! " "What do these feeble
Jews? " said one who represented the opposition in
all ages. " Even that which they build, if a fox
go up, he shall even break down their stone wall."
Such too is the estimate of the world, even of its
princes, at all times and even in our day, who judge
of the probability of results by the standard of
worldly calculation. " What do these feeble Christians? " How chimerical and wild, to the merely
intellectual man, is the very conception of the missionary enterprise! Even when sincerity is awarded,
it is the sincerity of enthusiasm, the very place for
the most pertinent application of the epithet "; romantic." How can men of reason and common sense,
capable of estimating in other enterprises the elements of power and success, be seriously engaged
in a work so visionary, or anticipate results so baseless. "The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is
mad."
Nor are such conclusions unwarrantable, on their
principles. If we consider the world numerically,
what an emphasis is there in the expression "1 few
men," as applied to the instruments of its subjugation? The materials of this contrast are now
almost universally accessible and available. The
contrast itself is familiar to all intelligent friends of




11
missions. What is Christendom, the whole of nominal Christendom, compared with paganism? On a
map of the globe, marked according to its moral
characteristics, what proportion does light bear to
darkness, the portions where Christianity has penetrated and prevails, in any sense and form, to those
under the unbroken dominion of heathenism or the
lurid glare of Mohammedanism? How few the followers of the Lamb, compared with those of the
Beast and the False Prophet?
What proportion, again, does evangelical Christendom bear to that which is nominal merely? And
still further, what proportion of hopefully evangelical Christians are alive to the responsibilities and
glory of this work? How few make the conversion
of the world their paramount object, and every
thing else subservient? How few know experimentally, as a living principle, "the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ," or enter into the fellowship of
his vicarious sufferings for the good of others, while
acknowledging that *' one died for all," thus placing
all under equally tender obligations not to live unto
themselves.
Considering missionaries as exponents of the faith
and strength of Christendom, how " few men " are
in the missionary field, though the number, thanks
to God, in later years has swelled so greatly?
How few lights yet twinkle, where thick darkness
covers the people? How few proclaim God's covenant in "' the dark places of the earth,"'4 full of
the habitations of cruelty? " Amidst this tempesttossed ocean, few vessels indeed are freighted with
the treasures of eternal life. Walking by sense,




12
and not by faith, and looking at the nations around
them, the paucity of their numbers, often lessened
by death, our stinted sympathy and tardy assistance,
is it any wonder that they sometimes say, "What
are these among so many? We are but as a drop
in the bucket, or the small dust in the balance."
Hear what Dr. Duff says: - "I speak the plain
truth. Looking around over all these immense
multitudes, comparing them with the smallness and
utter inadequacy of the agency brought to bear upon
them, it seems like the attempt, by means of a few
twinkling tapers, to turn the darkness of the cloudy
night into the meridian brightness of unclouded day;
or with a few spades to go and at once level the
Appenines and the Alps; or with a few buckets to
go and drain the German and Atlantic oceans; or
with a few pocket-knives go and cut down the Hungarian forests; or with a few squibs and crackers
to go and assail the fortress of Gibraltar; or with
a web of gossamer to go and capture the crocodile
of the Nile or the whale of the ocean. It looks
almost like idiocy run mad, like absurdity in hysterics, like illusion dancing in the maddest frenzy,
like the unsubstantial dream or vision of the dreamer,
who dreams that he has been dreaming." When
one goes out, under the impulse of mere romance
or personal affection, and romance gives place to
stern reality, and personal affection conflicts with
disease and lassitude and untold abominations, is it
strange that they seem like grasshoppers, and the
heathen like Anakim, and say, " They are too
mighty for us, and we cannot subdue them! 
These "few  men," amidst countless masses of




13
immortal minds, each " dead in tresspasses and sins,"
and most of them linked by ties apparently indissoluble to existing systems of superstition or social
abomination, must feel like Jonah, as he trod alone
the streets of that great city, Nineveh. Judged by
human philosophy, contrasting simply the instrumental agency and the results to be accomplished in
a single case or in the whole combined, what an
infinite absurdity to expect success! As well might
a worm overturn mountains, as these " few men "
transform these millions.
It seems to be a part of God's settled plan to produce and perpetuate this sense of inadequacy. He
chooses "weak things" to confound the mighty,
and " things which are not to bring to nought things
that are." The instruments of God's selection, to
be properly qualified, must not only acknowledge,
but be willing to glory in this arrangement. He
that purposes to stain the pride of all human glory,
says, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, or
maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart," in its expectation of success, " departeth from the Lord," by
transferring its confidence any where else. Intellectual resources, pecuniary means, and strong
organizations may become arms of flesh, and serve
to engage the carnal confidences of half-believing
Christians on wrong reliances, so that they have
sometimes to be removed, crippled or destroyed.
When Gideon was to be made " the sword of the
Lord " against Midian, his host was reduced to
"few  men," that no might or glory should be
ascribed  to the instrument.  When the brazen
serpent, once the instrument of salvation, was




14
perverted to an amulet, it was ground to powder and
called "Nehushtan."  When the ark of God was
prostituted to mere magical purposes, in the spirit of
fetishism, as the cross is often now, it fell into the
hands of the Philistines. Yea, when he who was " in
the form of God," and " thought it not robbery to be
equal with God," came to achieve the great victory, "he humbled himself," " took upon him the
form of a servant," and was found in the fashion
and feeling and infirmity of a man, that this
great principle might even here be preserved intact,
and by this illustrious exemplification be made intelligible, as the governing idea of all God's operations
through his selected instrumentalities.  "Worm
Jacob, and ye men of Israel! "
Such, brethren, is the inadequacy of the agency,
or the want of proportion between the instrumentality employed and the results to be accomplished,
in the great enterprise in which we are engaged.
Let us ever cherish the right spirit in regard to this
point. Ever let us realize the inadequacy of the
instrumental agency, even if ever so much increased.
From the extraordinary influx of wealth and intellectual resources into the church in these last days,
the natural result of Christian activity, we may be
approximating the critical period in the development
of this great enterprise, the hour and power of
temptation to fleshly confidences, and to forgetfulness of the great truth, that it is " not by might nor
by power " that the work is to be done. In the reign
of Solomon gold was as silver, and silver as brass in
the streets of Jerusalem; and it became necessary,
to prevent wrong conclusions and false confidences,




15
that four-fifths of the whole numerical strength of
the nation should be severed from it, that Judah
should boast only in the Lord. When primitive
Christianity was embodied in "few men," opposed
and persecuted, her power was resistless, her life
perpetuated, and her limits enlarged, amidst all the
bloody scenes through which she passed. It might
have seemed that when installed in the court of the
Cesars, and invested with imperial power, the
remaining conflict would have been short and glorious. But, as you are all aware, it was not so.
So when the reformers relied on God and the sword
of the Spirit, their victories astonished even themselves, and made their antagonists tremble for
existence. But when, frightened at their own successes and the excesses which seem almost necessarily incident to the human factor in the elements of
progress, they allied themselves to power and patronage, the onward and outward work ceased; and
all their resources were needed to conserve what
had been gained, and oppose the reactionary tendency which succeeded.
Just so at any period when special agencies, eminently blessed and honored, come to be considered
the great power of God and exclusive channels of
his victorious might, they are allowed to shrivel
into insignificance, to become a stench in the nostrils of the pious, like Herod, who gave not God the
glory, and was eaten of worms, weak and chattering
mementoes of fatuity, withered arms of flesh, on
which it would be the acme of folly any longer to lean.
The perils of the experimental period of any great
enterprise are many and peculiar, but not comparable




16
with those which environ the period of prosperity,
when the worm in his own estimation or that of
others becomes a giant, and forgets where his
strength is found.  If the Christian or the church is
ever disposed to say aloud, or in the secrecy of pride,
"Is not this great Babylon that I have built," God
will find ways and means of expelling the proud
spirit, though it should require, as in the case of
Nebuchadnezzar, the passing over of seven times
amongst the beasts of the field. We are, and God
knows it, and he has said it, and we should feel it,
" worm Jacob " and " men of Israel," and nothing
else, in our best estate altogether vanity, utterly,
utterly weak and inadequate!
II. But in the second place, notwithstanding this
confessed and entire inadequacy of instrumental
agency, there is no ground of discouragement, provided we view aright, and make available byfaith, the
infinite resources promised to render the instrumentality efficacious. "Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye
men of Israel." Why? Because "I will help thee,
saith the Lord and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel." " I will make thee a new sharp threshing
instrument, having teeth." Here a new element
enters into the explanation of the result, a factor in
the moral calculus which makes an infinite difference.
He who is "infinite, eternal and unchangeable in
his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth," says, " I will help thee."  This is
the pledge of Almighty assistance. Thou art, indeed, in thine own estimation and the judgment of
others, a worm, utterly incompetent to this work.




17
But 6 "I will help thee!   Alone, and of thyself and
by thyself, thou canst do nothing; but I will cause
thee to become an instrument, that can do all things.
"' Thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them
small, and make the hills like chaff."  Almighty
power can energize the weakest instrumentality for
any conceivable purpose. With God working in us
and by us, we can work out all "' the good pleasure
of his goodness."
This is a right view of the infinite resources
promised.  We grant that promise was primarily
to his ancient people. But is it not the word of
Him who is "' the same yesterday, to-day, and forever," himself, " without variableness or shadow of
turning," in every age and dispensation? It is the
"' Ancient of Days," ever uttering afresh the oracle,
as from the throne, to his people. The Lord our
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, is Jesus Jehovah, " over all, God blessed forever," who has
power over all flesh," yea, 1" all power in heaven
and earth," "head over all things to the church, which
is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all,"
he by whom and for whom all things were created
at first, and by whom they consist, are kept in
being, beauty and harmony, upholding all things by
the word of his power, and " able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." It is he who,
at a later period, when he had been made flesh, and
by himself had purged our sins, and was about to
ascend to the glory he had with the Father before
the world was, said, " Lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world."  He who was, and
3




18
is, and is to come, the Almighty, promises, "I will
help thee." What human or angelic conception
can fully grasp what is conveyed in this promise?
It is the voice of a King, yea, of "the King of
kings and Lord of lords," who speaks, and it is
done, who commands, and it stands fast. It is not
poetic fancy, but a glorious fact, poetically expressed. "The voice that rolls the stars along," declares
that "all the promises in him are yea, and in him
amen, to the glory of God."  The element of
power here conveyed, on every rational principle, is
adequate to any conceivable result, even through
the weakest instrumentality he chooses to select, and
is more illustrious in proportion to the acknowledged
inadequacy of the agency employed. We glory in
infirmity, that this power may have its true place.
Here then is the philosophy of success, the rational
basis of hope in attempting what he has commanded, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the
gospel to every creature," discipling them "in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost."
But this infinite power is made available only by
faith. " All things " that are to be done, " are possible to him that believeth.>" Nothing is too hard
for God, or for us, if we have the faith of God,
" who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things
that be not, as though they were." He could not,
consistently with his plan, do " many mighty works
there," and in many places and periods since, " because of their unbelief."  "If ye have faith as a grain
of mustard-seed, ye shall say to this mountain remove
hence to yonder place; and it shall remove." This




19
was, indeed, the faith of miracles; but Christ says,
" Greater works than these shall he do, because I
go unto my Father." Moral miracles, the miracles
of faith, are greater, and bring greater glory to God,
than those that are merely physical. Hence he
says again, "It is expedient for you that I go
away," that this new spiritual dispensation of power,
which is to last to the end of the world and of the
mystery of God, may be inaugurated. Faith of the
right quality, reposing on the promise and power
of God, and calmly going forth to the appointed
work, though but as a grain of mustard-seed in
quantity, would remove these mountains, whose
growth and gigantic greatness cause us to stagger
and faint, as certainly, and on the same principle,
as in apostolic times it availed to raise the dead
and cast out devils. It is but the same almighty
power, working through an appointed channel to
the promised result. The faith that eminently gives
glory to God in every age, is that which staggers
not at improbabilities or impossibilities suggested
by sense when a promise and command are given,
but is " fully persuaded " that whatsoever he has
promised he is able also to perform, and by the
precise instrumentality he is pleased to select
and make efficient by his superadded excellency of
power.
What we want most of all, more than money or
men, intellectual resources or an overflowing treasury, or wisdom and prudence in their management,
is such faith as will bring the infinite and pledged
resources of our almighty Head, the living Jesus
at the right hand of the Father, to the aid of our




20
instrumentality. Along with a deepening sense of
our inadequacy, we want a more vivid, living,
abiding apprehension of his actual position as our
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, of the vastness
of his power, the amplitude of his promise and his
infinite veracity and trustworthiness. Here we find
the life and power of all Christian enterprises, especially of this in which we are engaged. With this
faith, victory is sure. This is the victory over the
world and all forms of opposition.
We talk of power, physical or mechanical power,
intellectual power, the power of money, of numbers,
of nations. Men seek after power in these forms,
and sometimes sacrifice peace, and hazard salvation
for its possession, and the privilege of wielding it
temporarily for the astonishment and admiration of
worms like themselves. We do not disparage such
power or its results, or envy the poor immortality it
secures.  But what is it to the power of faith,
which makes us " partakers of the divine nature? "
What has it done, or rather what has it not done?
"By it the elders obtained a good report."  "It
has wrought righteousness," " subdued kingdoms,"' stopped the mouths of lions," " quenched the violence of fire." And why should such things be
thought incredible, if faith links the creature with
one who fainteth not, neither is weary? If it is
the medium along which strength is poured to the
extent of recipiency, a capacity enlarging till filled
with all the fullness of God, why should any
bounds be placed to its possible achievements?
Faith can make a worm a giant, yea, can invest the
feeblest instrument with more than a giant's power,




21
even " the power of God."  " Fear not," " worm
Jacob."
If we had this faith, how could we fear? It is
only for lack of this that we ever stagger, when we
look at the greatness of the work or the feebleness
and fewness of the instrumentalities. " Oh! Lord
God, we have no might against this great company,"
" neither know we what to do; but our eyes are
upon thee."  "What art thou, O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel, thou shalt become a plain." As
" perfect love casteth out fear," in regard to our
personal salvation, so perfect faith, grasping the fullness of the promise and power, casts out all fear of
failure. The nature of the human mind forbids the
contemporaneous prevalence of two such antagonist principles as faith and fear. A blessed philosophy, endorsed by the Savior! " Oh thou of little
faith, wherefore didst thou doubt." " Let not your
heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also
in me."  When these two factors exist, infinite
power and living faith to make it available, the product is equal to every thing which accords with the
will and purpose of God, and in doing which he is
pleased to use human instrumentality.
II1. Let us see, in the last place, whether
this is not true of the enterprise in which we are
engaged.
1. Is not this thing to be done? Are not these
mountains to be threshed and beaten small, and these
hills to be made like chaff? Is He not to reign, till he
has put down all authority and rule? Are not " all
principalities and powers" of opposition to be made




22
subject to him?  "We see not yet all things put
under him," though so many centuries have passed
by; but is that blessed One, who by the grace of
God tasted death for every man, and is now
" crowned with glory and honor " at the Father's
side, and "expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool," and this earth the place of his dominion,-is he to be disappointed of his covenanted
prerogatives? Are not the heathen given to him
for an inheritance?  Are not the uttermost parts
of the earth his purchased possession? Shall not
every knee bow, and every tongue confess that he
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, whether of
things in heaven, or earth, or under the earth?
When we sing,
" Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journies run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,'Till suns shall rise and set no more,"
do we not believe it?  Was he not manifested
to destroy these works of the devil, these great
mountains, the mountains of his power and pride?
Was not this "the intent" for which the universe
was created by him, and is kept in being for him,
" according to the eternal purpose," " the mystery
of his will," "hid from ages and from generations,"
but made known in these last times by the apostles
and prophets through the Spirit? Is it not a part of
our privilege, in preaching "among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ," " to make all men
see " and enjoy with us " the fellowship of the mystery," and to co-operate with us in the sublime
glory of its accomplishment? Is not this the grand




23
intention of " the only wise God," resolved on in
one eternity, steadily prosecuted through the whole
intervening episode of time, and which another and
succeeding eternity shall see gloriously consummated, in ignorance or unbelief of which all philosophy is at fault, and the whole scheme is inexpressibly and distressingly mysterious? If this is not to
be done, is the word of God true; or has he any
final purpose in this scene of things, stretching
"' from everlasting to everlasting? " Yea, verily, it
is to be done. The time is coming when he will
say, " It is done; the mystery of God is finished."
" The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." Thus the
mouth of the Lord has spoken.
2. And is not this to be done also by human
instrumentality?  Yes! "Fear not, thou worm
Jacob, thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat
them small, and make the hills like chaff."  We
must distinguish, where God has distinguished,
but not separate what he has united, almighty
efficiency and human instrumentality. God created
all things "to the intent that now," as the
period, and here as the theatre, and " through the
church," as the instrumentality, "might be known"
"' to principalities and powers in heavenly places "
his " manifold wisdom," "according to the eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord." Yes, God in Christ is the great executive
of the everlasting purpose; angels, principalities and
powers in heavenly places are the august spectators, which things they desire to look into beyond
all other spectacles; but we, worm Jacobs, are the




24
instruments! "The world to come," of which the
glowing language of prophets is full, he does not
bring into subjection by angelic instrumentality,
"the times of restitution of all things which God
hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets
since the world began." No. They might possibly,
they do covet our privileges in this strife with " the
rulers of the darkness of this world," " spiritual
wickedness in high places." They may be, and
possibly are astonished at our lethargy and want of
appreciation; but they know that we, and not they,
are "workers together with God," the instrumentality he is pleased to select, to whom they are but
ministering spirits, and of whose successes they
are enraptured witnesses, and possibly privileged
heralds to the rest of creation.
Brethren, our faith, if intelligent and available,
must embrace clearly these two great principles, that
the work is to be done, for he has so purposed, and
we are to do it; that "the excellency of the
power " is of God, and the glory of the instrumentality is of us, worm Jacobs and men of Israel,
weak, inadequate in ourselves, but mighty through
God, and relying on his almighty and promised
resources.
With this faith, expulsive of fear, and grasping the infinite resources promised, we need not be
discouraged, however deeply we realize our own
weakness, and however clearly we comprehend the
immense magnitude of the work. The voice that
commands us to do the work, says " Fear not, for I
am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee;




25
yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my
righteousness."  Thine enemies " shall be ashamed
and confounded; they shall be as nothing. "Thou
shalt seek them, and shall not find them."  "I will
plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittalh tree
and the myrtle, and the oil tree. I will set in the
desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree
together. I have a long time holden my peace; I
have been still"  " Now I will destroy and devour
at once."  "I will make waste mountains and
hills," "make  darkness light," and "crooked
places straight." C" These things will I do, and not
forsake them," that all " may see and know, and
consider and understand together, that the hand of
the Lord hath done this."  These are the words of
Him that weighs the mountains in scales and the
hills in a balance, who measures the waters in the
hollow of his hand, and comprehends the dust of the
earth in a measure, to whom all " the nations are as
a drop of a bucket " and " the small dust of the balance," yea, less than nothing and vanity. Why
then should we fear?  Or why shall we not go up
and take the land? We are able to do it.
Fathers and brethren, we are gathered here as the
representatives of the churches, at this annual " feast,of tabernacles," to survey the field, and calculate our
resources, and project anew our plans of operation
for the future. We are assembled too, in the providence of God, in a place hallowed by many sweet
associations, a place where faith had once a beautiful and living exemplification, where Payson lived
aand labored, whence, in the days of his flesh, the
4




prayers of Payson went np to heaver  with strong
crying and tears, where the spirit of Payson and
of the patriarchs of this enteprinse ame present! Oh!
could -we here and now have a "pentecostal baptism
-of the Spirit, vivifying our faith, giving us a sight of
Jesus on the throne, and.enabling us to grasp and'appropriate the whole comprehensiveness of his
promised aid, imparting to us all the spirit -of
"' power and of love and of a sound mind," what
would be the style of our projects and the extent of
our expectations'?  What wonders might we not
achieve? These worm Jcobs and Amn of Israel,
made to feel aright. themselves, would have' power
to go back and wake up all our churches to the. true
feeling, and demolish mountains of unbelief, lethargy,
and worldliness in our-own land. One man, strong'in
the Lord, properly alive to this great idea like Paul, a
living temple of an indwelling divinity, living, as he
did, a life of faith upon the. Son of God, could in, a
single year make the energies of a comparatively slumbering chmrch -tell mightily on the, removal of the
mountains of error and sin in other lands. He could
make this cause appear to all, as it is in truth, the
grandest ever contemplated by the mind, or challenging the co-operation of man, as infinitely above
the ordinary projects of our fellow men as -mind
is above matter. He might open closed coffers,
whence millions of superfluous wealth, owned by
professing Christians, now mesting or prostituted to
ignoble purposes of personal vanity and pride, might
flow forth, accompanied by the prayer of faith, to
bless a world lying in wickedness! What might we'not witness, if all these fathers and brethren andc




27
mothers and sisters would carry forthlfrom this sweet
and solemn convocation the faith that makes a worm
a giant, mighty through, God to the pulling down of
strong-holds! Instramentality enough is hexe aggregated tonight to shake the powers. of darkness, did
our faith fully realize who says, " I will help thee."
We may go on, making our hundreds thousands, and
thousands millions, gather up men by thousands, all
intellectually qualified too; but what are they, after
all? Worm Jacobs!  If too many and too confident, the reliance of Christians may be transferred to them; and half believers or unbeilievers,
judging of success from adequacy of means, may
be, induced to make investments, and hope, for
dividends, till God is offended, and shows that in his:
plan the strength and wisdom of men are weakness,
and folly. Faith in God our Redeemer is what we
want above all things; and probably this is the,
blessing yet in reserve for us, in floods.of which the
showers of Pentecost were: but earnests. This- may
be the form of Christ's coming in great power and
glory, to bring the whole energies of omnipotence to
the problem of threshing the mountains, along the
channel of the church's faith? Then the glorious
period would come, when the light of the moon
would be as the sun, and the light of the sun' seven
fold; when the weak of the flock would be as
David, and David as the Angel of the Lord;
when one would chase a thousand, and two put ten
thousand to flight, as " the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken," and angels and principalities are yet to
witness.
And if so, if this new era of faith and power and




triumph is to be, when and where shall the blessing
begin, if not now and here? How many hearts
look forward to these periods, from distant continents, with interest and expectation? What deep
affections and desires cluster and concentrate at
this point, at this time, from earth, possibly from
heaven also; from churches and closets and missionary stations, and why not also from " the cloud of
witnesses" now at home!
Here are sojourning dwellers in almost every part
of the world, from our own land and foreign lands,
from the Green and White mountains, from the rockbound coasts of New England, from the great valley
and the mighty West. Here are representatives of
other climes, whose homes are on the other side of
the globe. Yet are all here "with one accord in
one place." Here, we look back over a half century
closed, filled with wonders that God has wrought.
We look forward to another now begun, which may
exceed in glory. Here, at a period when all hearts
are full of expectancy of some new manifestation of
power, why should we not expect "the promise of
the Father," and be endowed with power from on
high. Is the Spirit of the Lord straightened? Have
his greatest and last effusions yet been enjoyed?
Will not the wonders of the last days, yet in reserve,
the triumphs of the spiritual when the divine philosophy of power is clearly grasped, equal and transcend the wonders of the physical and the mental
in the departments of science and art? Is there
not a period when, in a nobler sense than ever before, the church is to arise and shine, her light
being come, and the glory of the Lord risen upon




'29
her, and when the glorious things spoken of Zion
are to be fulfilled?  On the soberest interpretations
of prophecy, without assuming to be wise above
what is written, or that we comprehend all the symbols and figures of the word of the Eternal in their
full extent, are not the final scenes of the mighty
plan to excel all that precedes in glory? Are not
these shakings of heaven and earth preparatory and
premonitory?  Are we not warranted to anticipate, at some period, an interposition that will actualize the high and glorious images of some yet
unfulfilled portions of the sacred word? Is there not
to be an end or fulfillment, as well as an expectation awakened from age to age in the heart of the
men of Israel by the word in which he has caused
us to hope? Have we followed cunningly devised
fables, in reference to the future coming and power of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory that is to follow his
sufferings? Does not the heart of every true Christian
desire a revelation to his soul and in his heart of that
glory that shone around the traveler to Damascus,
above the brightness of the mid-day sun, even
though it should dazzle his eyes to temporary blindness to all earthly things, and entrance his heart
away from all earthly ambition? And with such a
manifestation, would not each one say, " Henceforth
let no man" or earthly desire or unbelieving fear
"trouble me; for I bear in my body the marks of
the Lord Jesus'? " And would not each one afterwards, in a sweeter sense of its glory than ever, be
able to say, " The life which I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave himself for me  " —" I amn
4*




crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not 1,
but Christ liveth in mne.,'   Would not this be the
beginning of the end'?  If so, we ask any one,
when and where might we expect the beginning of
this new era, if not now and here?  Not, indeed,
with a rushing mighty wind, to shake the place
where we are sitting together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, or visible tongues iof fire disparted to
each of us here assembled; not in the earthquake
or whirlwind, but in "the still small voice;" speaking to the secrecy of every spirit from the seat of
power.  " Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men
of Israel; I will help th-ee.'"  Oh! Lord God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, ascended, exalted,.
almighty Redeemer! speak, for we thy servants
wait to hear. -Our eyes and ears are unto thee.
We stand still to see the salvation of God!
"fA rill, a stream, a torrent flows,
But pour a mighty flood;
Oh! sweep the nations, shake the earth,
Till all proclaim thee Godt!"
And what better blessing could we desire for all our
brethren in heathen and nominally Christian lands,
than such a baptism as we have described as desirable for ourselves. To make them strong and successful, they need faith in the infinite resources here
pledged for our assistance in the great work in
which we are all engaged; we at home, and they
as our organs and representatives abroad; faith in
the living, personal, constant presence and power of
Him who says, "I will help thee." We do not
mean to say that our brethren do not believe, that




S1
they have no faithh. Ah, their faith,'shown by their
works and sacrifices, is enough to shame us who
profess to honor and serve the same Master! But
-they need, as well as we, more vivid realizations
of these -exceeding great and precious promises, and
fuller appropriations of the infinite fullness of his
power. They need the faith that lived in the apostles, and made radiant with glory the ancient martyrs; that strengthened Luther to stand almost
single-handed, a conscious worm, against his mighty
and mountain-like antagonists; the faith of Enoch
and Noah and Abraham and Moses of old. They
need a faith that would enable them to see, as did
Isaiah, the Lord high and lifted up, and his train
filling the temple, and heaven and earth full of his
glory; or as Stephen, the Son of Man our Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel, at the right hand of power;
or as John in his exile, alone and isolated, a Lamb
as it had been slain from the foundation of the
world, in the midst of the throne and the four living
creatures and the four-and-twenty elders and the
innumerable company of angels. They need a faith
that would open to their view the armies of heaven
on white horses, and Him who leads them, having
on his vesture and on his thigh, that vesture dipt.in
blood, "K King of kings and Lord of lords," his eyes as
a flame of fire, and on his head many crowns, to compensate them for the songs they have forsaken for the
love of Jesus, and cause them to hear the heavenly
harpings and seven-fold hallelujahs within the veil
and on the sea of glass, and that great voice, saying, Now is come salvation and strength and the
kingdom of our God, even the power of the




32
Anointed One.  If simultaneously one and all,
wherever scattered through the field, in distant continents, and surrounded by different mountains, they
were enabled to exercise such a faith, would they
not with a new spirit go forth to thresh the mountains, till in the name of the Master they had
set judgment in the earth, and gained glory to
God?
Could this place be constituted by God at this
moment a centre of electric communication, whence
in an inappreciable lapse of time our wishes and
feelings could be transmitted to every station under
heaven, what better message could we dispatch
than that which, from the seat of power, sealed by
the signature of the Holy Ghost, we have received
and been considering to-night!  Well! there is a
centre of spiritual influence, the right hand of God
where Christ sitteth, where with more than electric
rapidity we may send our wishes and prayers, and
whence he can distribute them with equal speed all
around the globe. O Lord, Holy One of Israel, our
Redeemer! say to all our brethren, with almighty
energy, " Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men
of Israel." Creator of the ends of the earth, who
faintest not, neither art weary! say to all who
are in sight of the great mountains, " I will help
thee. Ye are worms, indeed, a few men surrounded
by mountains of error and prejudice and power; but
ye shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small,
and make the hills like chaff; and the whirlwind
shall carry them away; and thou shalt rejoice in the
Lord, and glory in the Holy One of Israel."




33
In the light of these assurances we would say to
our brethren, in the gladness of anticipated triumph,
Go out once more, and survey the mountains.
Take again, with your best instruments, their altitude, dimensions and strength. Realize fully their
immensity. Then look again at your weakness and
paucity of numbers; and when sense and reason
would quail and stagger, hear the voice, like many
waters, saying, " Fear not," " I will help thee." It
is the voice of the Lord God of Elijah, yea, the
Lord God omnipotent.
And we would say, further, while you go up to
the work, we will'get ourselves up also to the high
mountains of communion with God. Like Aaron
and Hur, while Israel and Amalek were engaged in
battle, we will try to pray that your faith fail not,
and that your success may be proportioned to the
greatness of the promise. Here, in the sight of God,
we pledge ourselves that we will help you to the
extent of our ability, as the Lord gives to every one.
We will work together with you in our prayers and
sympathies! These ministers will remember you
in the pulpit and the closet. These Lydias and
Marys, mothers and sisters left behind, these Abrahams who have willingly offered their Isaacs and
lovelier idols on the altar, will not forget you. The
friends who loved and prayed and wept together, at
the academy, the college and the seminary, now
separated from you by oceans and continents, still one
in an affection which laughs at intervening obstructions, one in faith and aim and purpose, we will not
forget you, we will bow our knees to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the




wholeo faily in heaaen and earth is >amed. and will
nake: mention of you im our $upplicationsi without
ceasing to Hi,, who, is a~eessible alike from Asian,
Africa, ]Europe- a:ndmleriea. A imated by these gloe
rious prowisesb we will aH try- to do our part,, whethe-o
we be eyes- ox feet, or ears or- hands, whether we
have the word of wisdom, or knowledge: or faith in
this glorioes enterprise, an enterprise which God
approves and has appointed, which angels are watahl
ing, and which, brethren, as. the Lord livets and. our
souls live, is to succeed. Is he a man.that he should
lie, or the son of man that he should repent?  Hath
he said it?              He will do it.  Hath he spoken?  It
will come to pass, Heaven and earth may pass
away; but not one jot or tittle that he hath spoken,
shall fail to be fulfilled. 0 Lord,, we would believe;
help thou our unbelief.  Increase our faith, our
love, our zeal, till by our instrumentality or that of
others better taught and trained the: work is done,.
and heaven and earth; shall echo,', Hallelujah! for
the Lord God omnipotent reigwth.."  AMEN!