Fear not, thou worm Jacob.
James Dodson
No. II
“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 shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.”—Isaiah 41:14–16.[1]
MOUNTAINS and the greatest powers in the world (beloved in our Lord), they will not be able to bide [endure] God when He is angry, when the Lord kindles a fire in His anger, as it is spoken by Himself, Deut. 32:22, He burns up the foundations of the mountains, the mountains they become valleys before the Lord when He is angry; the sea it becomes as dry land. Then all the powers in the world, how great soever they be, they maun [must] bow to Him. Who was there ever that drew a sword against Him and prospered? Who was there that ever exalted himself against Him, and was not laid low in the dust? We have here as weak a party mentioned as you could speak of: “Worm Jacob.” And here, on the other hand, there is as strong a party as any can be—the mountains of the world; and yet, for [notwithstanding they be so] as strong as they are, and for [notwithstanding they be so] as weak as the Kirk is, here they are brought to confusion before the Kirk of God. And the Lord He does this; for it is borrowed strength from God that does the Kirk’s turn, and no strength of her own. “Behold, I will make you a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; and thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat the hills as caff [chaff].” And who shall get the Psalm and song of victory for doing this? “Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.” It is not thy own arm, and thy own strength, and the multitude of thy own men whom thou shalt thank for this; but thou shalt thank the Lord for it, and rejoice and glory in Him.
Will there be any poor and needy ones within the Kirk at this time? Let it be so, yet, “when the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will help them. I shall make fountains and rivers for them in the wilderness,” when they are thirsty. And they shall want nothing that may do them good.
Is this like the Lord’s Kirk and the estate thereof to be in such a case as is here spoken of, who are cumbered this day with the Papists about the falling away of the true Kirk, and what are the marks whereby to discern the true Kirk from the false Kirk? They put this in a question. If Christ shall have a true Kirk to the end of the world? And that is but a foolish question for any to propose, “If Christ shall have a Kirk?” for the Kirk of Christ shall never fall away totally, for albeit there be few of the Kirk, and they be silly like [feeble] to look unto, yet they shall never fail. Many shall be hungry before they die for hunger, for Christ has His Kirk written upon His loof [palm of his hand], and upon the palms of His hands. And let hell and devils and all contrary powers rise against them to destroy them; yet they are builded upon the rock, and who can put them off that rock? Well’s [It is good for] them who take part with them who are upon Christ’s side of it, for all the mountains in the world shall not be able to overcome them and to bear them down.
A second question that may be proposed is this: looks this like the meek saints of God to thresh the mountains and ding [drive down, break down] the hills to caff [chaff], and to winnow them? Are Christ and His Kirk fighting folks. Where fra [Whence from] comes this that Christ, He will make His Kirk a new sharp threshing instrument against their enemies to beat them all to dust? Indeed, the cause of this is not in Christ nor in His Kirk, for they love peace best of anything else. Christ says, “I came to make peace in the world and not for war.” And how comes it, then, that Christ and His Kirk, they have aye [always] commonly the fighters’ part of it; and His Kirk maun [must] be made a flail to thresh the world, and a wind to winnow them away as caff [chaff]? Christ and His Kirk, they would live in peace, but the wicked in the world would not let them live in peace and ease, since that day that war was pronounced in Paradise between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent; they have never been at peace yet to this day. Neither will they ever be at peace so long as the world lasts. The Kirk of Christ maun [must] still be pursued till they be up in heaven with their Father and Lord; except the devil be dead, and so his instruments cease. Christ maun [must] evermore fight so long as He is here and has a Kirk. The mountains and powers of the world they dow [can] not endure Christ. Is this for any wrong that Christ does to them that they dow [can] not endure Him? What is the controversy that is this day between Christ’s Kirk and the powers of the world? Nothing else is the controversy but because He is seeking His own from the powers of the world, because we are seeking to have the gospel established, and to have it established in purity and with peace. We are seeking no more, and that makes the pley [action at law], and this pley [action at law] it will last as long as the world stands, and as long as Christ has any followers to follow Him. It is a pley [action at law] that has evermore been, and a pley [action at law] that will evermore be; so that it is no new thing to see Christ in the camp. Christ is as oft to be found in the camp as He is to be found in His royal palace. And who are these who are against Christ? The mountains and the great powers in the world. Those have evermore been cold friends to Christ and of His Kirk, and yet for all that they are left by the Lord in this world to be tutors and defenders of Christ, and of His Kirk, for they ought to be mountains to hold the stormy winds off the kirk, that they do her no harm, and to keep the rains of afflictions off her, and, Isa. 49:23, it is said, kings they should be nursing fathers, and queens they ought to be nursing mothers to the Kirk of Christ; and yet, albeit they should be so for the most part, they dow [can] not endure Christ. When Herod hears that Christ is born, he says, “He is come to take my kingdom from me, and therefore I will have Him slain now when He is young, that so I may keep my kingdom.” Fool! Christ came not to take crowns off the heads of kings in the world. No; by the contrary, there are no such friends for kings, and none so meikle [much] for keeping their crowns upon their heads as Christ is; for, Prov. 8:16, the wisdom of God even Christ says: “By Me kings reign and princes decree justice.” If kings would become Christ’s tenants, they might be more blessed under Him than under any other master.
Who are these who are called mountains? Even the great powers of the world who rise against Christ and against His Kirk. And the mountains and these great ones who rise against Christ’s Kirk, they agree very well in thir [these] particulars.
First. You know there is no difference between the mountains and the rest of the earth. There are valleys, but only that they are some higher than the rest of the earth is, and by that means the sun when it rises, it shines upon them first, and it shines last upon them at night. Even so the great powers of the world they are flesh and blood as other men are, only they have a glance of glory beyond others when they come into the world, and it may be when they go out of it again; as one when he is born he may be born a king, and he gets a glance of glory then and another glance of glory at his burial—that is all the difference. They are called gods indeed, but they are only clay gods, for they maun [must] die as well as others. Death and judgment miskens [make no account of them, overlook them] them. No; but it searches upon them as well as it does upon the poorest in the world.
Second. Another difference between the mountains and the valleys is: their uses to come spates of rain [great falls of rain] off the mountains to the valleys, that do the valleys meikle [much] harm. Even so there has come meikle [much] harm to the Kirk of Christ from the mountains of the world since the beginning: There is a destroying mountain spoken of, Jer. 51:25; the Lord says He will stretch out His hand upon it, and will roll it down from the rocks, and make it a burnt mountain.
Third. Mountains, they are impediments to a servant when they are going a hasty errand of their masters, being in their way. Even so the mountains of the world, they are ofttimes a stone in Christ’s gate [way], when He has ought ado, and yet (Isa. 40:4) it is said every mountain shall be made low which stands in Christ’s gate [way], when He has ought ado. When will these mountains go out of Christ’s gate [way]? As soon as He begins to reprove them, Zech. 4:7: “Who art thou, O mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.” When Christ is angry at them He can school [shovel, remove] the mountains into the sea. What have these mountains for them to boast themselves against Christ our Lord and against His Kirk, for those of them who are torn away out of the gate [way], even kings themselves, they are now lying in as little bounds as the poorest bodies that lived with them, and yet those who are behind they will boast also. But the Lord He takes some of them away that all the mountains of the world may know against whom they come, when they come against Christ and against His Kirk, He will make them low valleys.
Here is a lesson to Scotland and a lesson to us this day. Our dear Lord has been letting us see that the mountains in the world they are not able to bide [to endure] Christ when He is angry. Poor Scotland! that is the outcast of all the nations of the world, the Lord has done this for it when the mountains of the world could not abide it. And there were fourteen great mountains in this land[2], and there were enew [enough] who builded their nests under these mountains, doctors and deans and archdeans, and all these who looked to be prelates; but the Lord He has casten down all these mountains and all the nests also that were bigged [built] under these mountains. And we trust that we may say of them that that shall be upon them which David says of the mountains of Gilboa, “Let never rain nor dew fall upon them, nor any grass grow upon them.” So we trust in God shall it be with them. They shall never rise that rain may fall upon them or that anything may grow upon them. The Lord will make them as it is spoken of the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4), to cleave in the midst toward the East and toward the West, and they who bigged [built] their nests under them shall flee to the valleys for safety. The Lord will make these mountains to cleave in the midst who rise up against Him and against His Kirk. Alas! they have ever far the worst part of it who come against the Lord and His covenanted people; but happy are they who are upon the Lord’s side of it, for they shall prevail.
What sort of instrument makes the Lord His Kirk to be? “A new sharp threshing instrument having teeth.” Is not [this] against the meekness of the Kirk? for if any want teeth, should not the Kirk and children of God want teeth, for who was more toothless-like nor [than] our Lord Jesus was? When they were putting Him away out of the world, were scourging Him, mocking Him, and doing all the ill that they could to Him, He says, “Father, forgive them: they know not what they do;” “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Should the Kirk of Christ then have teeth, seeing Christ Himself had none? Yes; the Lord’s Word tells us of three teeth that the Kirk has, and come into their chafts [jaws] who will, the Lord has given them teeth to bite them so that they shall never do well again (Psa. 58:9–11).
The tooth of revenge is given unto them. “The righteous shall rejoice, when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.” Why, but we may be glad if so be that we insult not over men’s persons, but only for their wicked courses, to see our righteous Lord kything [showing, manifesting] Himself to be righteous in revenging Himself upon His and our wicked enemies; and if we sacrifice not the praise of the doing thereof to our own net, we may justly say, “Blessed be God for it,” when we see Rome and Spain and Antichrist, and the mountains of the world that are against Christ and His Kirk and people, fall to the ground.
Second. There is a tooth of justice also which is given unto the Kirk of God. What sort of a direction is that which is given to Saul against Amalek? (1 Sam. 15:3)—to slay Amalek and all that was within his land, both men and women, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass, and to spare none. There is a sword sometimes put in the Kirk’s hand to destroy her enemies, and this proves our Lord Jesus to be a victorious Lord over His enemies. These are not the special weapons of our Lord’s warfare, for they are not carnal but spiritual for dinging down [casting down] of strongholds, even prayer, fasting, &c. And (Psa. 137:9) there is a direction given there to take Babylon’s young ones off their knees and to dash their heads against the stones, and they are pronounced to be blessed who do so.
Third. There is a tooth of the power of the Mediator Christ put into the Kirk’s head. Christ and His people are brought in, coming so sonsy-like [thriving, prosperous-like], Isa. 63:1, and all His garments dyed with blood: “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength? I, says the Lord, that speaks righteousness, mighty to save.” The Lord and His Kirk have a tooth to eat up all the mountains that come against them, prophesied by that false prophet Balaam, whether he would or not—Num. 24:8: “He shall eat up the nations His enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with His arrows.” Who will, who will no [not], the Lord will have the Kirk to have teeth to bite her enemies, so that the enemies they shall stoop and fall under the sword of the Lord and of His Kirk. And the Lord is likely to make it to be so at this time. Who knows but this great work which is begun in Scotland now when it is going into England, and it has tane [taken] some footing there, but the Lord He will make it to go over sea? Who knows but the Lord will make Scotland, who is a worm indeed in comparison of other nations, to be a sharp threshing instrument, to thresh the mountains and to beat the hills to pieces? Who knows but He will make them a sharp threshing instrument to beat Rome and the Pope and Antichrist to pieces, and make all her merchants to cry, “Babylon, Babylon, that great city, is fallen”? O! for to see that great stumbling-block that stands into the way of Christian religion tane [taken] out of the way, and then to see the people of the Jews brought in again to Christ, their old Husband, and married upon Him, and the fulness of the Gentiles! O! to see our Redeemer Christ have one fair day of it in the world; to see Jew and Gentile married on Christ, and to see His dominions going from the East to the West and from sea to sea, and to see the whole earth in one sheepfold, obeying the voice of one Shepherd! That is the blessedest day that ever we saw if it were come, and we should pray to the Lord to hasten it that so that may be fulfilled which the Lord promises.
“Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them;” the enemies they shall be as chaff before the wind. That is a mark of the false Kirk that when Christ and His Kirk rise against them they have no more standing, but they are blown away. Cast the wicked in a furnace of affliction and trial, they will not win out of it again. But cast the godly in a furnace when ye will, they will win out of it unburnt. Cast dross in a hot fire, it will never be seen again. But cast pure gold in a fire, it will come out as good as it was put in. Cast the wicked under the stroke of an angry God, they dow [cannot endure him] not bide Him, but they are consumed, Isa. 50:9: “They shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up;” Isa. 51:8: “The moth shall eat them like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool.” When God is angry at a wicked man, and He begins to strike him, there is no more strength in him to stand against Him than in an old moth-eaten clout that falls out all in holes when any hand touches it; the hearts of the enemies of God’s people fail them like water when the Lord grows angry at them. That is a nation that is void of grace that are not able to stand before the Lord when He begins to blow at them. That great and strong city of Jericho, the people heard but news of the great and valiant acts that Joshua and the people of God had done, and incontinent [forthwith] there remained no more spirit in them. There is news of death and of the wrath of God told unto that wicked man Nabal, and incontinent [forthwith] he tynes [loses] all his courage. Wherefra [Wherefrom] is it that all this comes? Will temporal afflictions take away faith, or will it deprive a man of the common gifts of God—as of reason, of sense, of joy? No. No more will any outward trouble take away faith, or take any of these common gifts of God where they are, nor [than] a fire will burn the devil, and that is impossible. But whenever God sets Himself against wicked men, there is another thing backing crosses and troubles nor [than] we see, even the wrath of an angry God backing the judgment, whether it be sword, or famine, or death; and that is the thing that blows away their faith and all their natural parts, and makes them to tyne [lose] their strength and courage. Who is the man that will be able to bide a battle, and to stand out when the ill day comes? Only the man who is in Christ and has true faith. Hell shall not fear [shall not put such a man in fear] such a man, nor anything he can be threatened with. Once get saving grace and be in Christ, then thou may be sure thou shalt not be caff [chaff] before the wind in the day of God’s anger. I know if the Lord would kythe [appear] in His might and in His power against the strongest in the world, He would make their blaw [ostentation] to fall. But the Lord never tries the strength of His omnipotence upon His own Kirk. But there is vengeance poured out upon His enemies, and upon the enemies of His Kirk, that which the Lord says to Eli by the mouth of Samuel, “When I begin to punish I will make a full end.” That is true concerning the wicked. But, by the contrary, the Kirk of God and His children, notwithstanding of all the enemies that be against them, be they never so strong or never so many, they shall be made as caff [chaff] before the whirlwind. But for the children of God, who are His own Kirk, He says of them (Isa. 43:2), “When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” And these are the two most merciless enemies that can be—fire and water; and yet He will preserve His own from both. But here is a terrible destruction threatened to come upon wicked men. Have they no more courage nor caff [chaff] before the wind when God is angry with them? No; no more. There is a terrible destruction told to come upon the wicked—Job 18:6: “The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.” Woe to that man whose candle God puts out! “The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down. For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare. The girn [gin] shall take him by the heels,” &c. It is cursed ground that he gangs [goes] upon. What more terrible thing can be spoken of the wicked man nor [than] is spoken of here? Look again, Job 20:6: “Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. The eye which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him. His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods,” &c. He shall be like a ghost in the night that folks think they see, and, incontinent [forthwith] it passeth out of their sight. They are like a dream that a man cares not for. The Lord shall pull the wicked man out of his sheets, and He shall make him to perish as his own dung from the earth. He shall not swallow down the riches that he gets, or if he swallow them down, they shall be like gravel between his teeth. And (Job 21:17–19) among all other judgments prepared for the wicked, the wrath of God is prepared for his children and posterity. The fools of the world, they will not take a lesson of this, for as meikle [much] as God has spoken against them and against their seed. Woe would the hearts of wicked men be, I am sure, if they kent [knew] this! I am sure a wicked man would never laugh if he kent [knew] this. The fear of hell is a very rare thing. There are few who think upon that what the mystery of hell is. Would ye think upon thir [these] two, ye would think it a very ill thing to go on with the wicked. 1. To think that there is an eternity, and an eternity of wrath, abiding them. 2. To think upon the anger of God, and that it is an anger which will never be quenched. What a terrible oath is that which the Lord swears (Amos 8:7) against them who sell the poor for a pair of shoes; who wished the Sabbath to be gone that they may sell the refuse of the wheat; who would have the ephah small and the shekel great. By God Himself, “I shall never forget their ill-doing as long as I am God.” Woe’s ye that have such an oath sworn against you for thy wickedness. Remember what a terrible word is spoken against the house of Eli—1 Sam. 3:14: “I have sworn unto Eli’s house, that the iniquity of the house of Eli shall never be put away by sacrifice nor burnt-offering for ever.” And there is no greater oath the Lord can swear by nor [than] by Himself, as the apostle says. That is a sore word that there are some whose sins the Lord God has them written with the point of a diamond that they shall never be forgotten. That is a fearful imprecation that is put up against Babylon (Isa. 13–14), and against Saul and those who were the enemies of David and of the Kirk at that time (Psa. 109). Woe unto the wicked, and to them who have tane [taken] up a banner against God! Meikle [Much] misery and woe abide them. Pre-suppose that a man had a sea of poison to drink, and aye [always] as he drank it filled again, it would be thought a very hard matter. And that sea of wrath that the Lord is brewing for His enemies they shall drink thereof and be mad, and shall fall and never rise again; and yet they fear it not, albeit that be the lot there is appointed for them.
Now whom shall the Kirk thank for all this? “And thou shalt rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.” God will not have the glory of the victory to go by Himself, and we have more reason to fear this nor [than] any other thing. And God grant that Scotland put not her trust in so many thousands of men and so many gallant spirits. Lord, save us from the sin of idolatry in taking away the thing from God which is His own due. There is an excellent word spoken in Psa. 115—when the Kirk had gotten many victories at that time they say, “Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but to Thy name be the praise.” Not unto Scotland be the praise of victory, albeit we had thousand thousands of men moe nor [more than] we have, but unto the name of the Lord be the glory of all. Lord, save us in anyways from meddling with the Lord’s glory. It becomes us rather to humble ourselves in the presence of God, and to acknowledge Him in what He is doing. Now the praise of all our works, both in us and for us, be ascribed to Christ’s Father and our Father, and to His Son Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.—Amen.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] In MS., “On the Sabbath afternoon,” i.e., evidently of the same day, August 22, 1640.
[2] The fourteen bishops deposed “after the serious discussing of the several processes on many sessions” in the Assembly of Glasgow, Sess. 20, December 13, 1638.