Page:Worm Jacob threshing the mountains (2).pdf/2

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A SERMON,

Preached on a SACRAMENTAL OCCASION,

From Isaiah, chap. xli. ver. 14, 15.

Fear not, thou Worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee 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 shall make the hills as chaff.

RELIGION is a mystery, and the truly religious are a mystery too.—They are a mystery to the world, John iii. 1. The world knoweth us not; yet (to themselves) ver. 2. it doth not yet appear what we shall be, that is a matter not of sight and feeling, but faith. There are many odd connexions, and which people would think contradictions and impossibilities in the character.—See a cluster of them, 2 Cor. vi. 10. As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.—That is a strange connexion, an old man and a new man in one man; but not more strange and surprising than this in the text,—a worm threshing the mountains,—and that not ridiculously without effect, but most efficaciously beating them small.———In these words we have two things.

I. What the church and people of God are.—They are named by him (who misnames none) worm Jacob: their name from his nature is a worm;—they are poor, weak, despised creatures, ready to be crushed by the foot of every passenger:—yet worm Jacob, believing, praying, and ⟨wrestling⟩ worm as he is:——

II. What they shall certainly and infallibly do, thresh the mountains and beat them small, &c.

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