Deuteronomy 9:1

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"... to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself." Deu 9:1

This would seem to be an inversion of the doctrine of proportion. We forget, however, that there is a proportion of quality as well as a proportion of quantity. Force is not to be measured by bulk. The helm is very small compared to the whole ship, yet it turns the vessel's course. The man is very small physically in relation to the mountain which is thousands of feet high, yet the man is master of the mountain. The rider is small in strength compared with the horse he rides, yet the steed obeys the touch of his hand. We constantly see how apparently little things rule obviously great bulks and quantities. The true sovereignty is in the spirit. This is the seat of the highest miracles that are wrought; such miracles simply illustrate the sovereign influence of mind over matter. How little is man as to mere arithmetical measurement compared with the great globe; yet God has put all things under the hands of man: "All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." Let us reason upwards towards moral power: the power of ideas, impulses, sympathies, convictions. The time will come when moral forces will be regarded as the true sovereignties. Towards this consummation Christ has been working from the beginning. The sword shall be beaten into a ploughshare, and all violence shall be deposed by the quietness of power. Carry this a step higher into the religious region, and draw from the whole reasoning the inference that the religious nature is the most influential of all. Truth shall take captive all the superstitions, idolatries, misconceptions, and false worships of the world. We must admit what may be called even the smallest truth; let it have free course, and it will overturn the most ancient thrones and dominions which have been claimed by the powers of darkness. Even the light of a candle will break up the darkness which fills the largest building. In the strength of these thoughts and hopes every Christian should toil gladly, delighting himself with the pleasures of expectancy, knowing that the whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God.