Good Effects by Weak Means

I

Unbelief the soul dismays,
What objections will it raise!
But true faith securely leans
On the promise, in the means.

II

If to faith it once be known,
God has said, “It shall be done,
And in this appointed way,”
Faith has then no more to say.

III

Moses road, by faith uprear’d,
Through the sea a path prepared;
Jericho’s devoted wall
At the trumpet’s sound must fall.

IV

With a pitcher and a lamp
Gideon overthrew a camp:
And a stone, well aim’d by faith,
Proved the arm’d Philistine’s death.

V

Thus the Lord is pleased to try
Those who on his help rely;
By the means he makes it known
That the power is all his own.

VI

Yet the means are not in vain,
If the end we would obtain;
Though the breath of pray’r be weak,
None shall find but they who seek.

VII

God alone the heart can reach,
Yet the ministers must preach:
’Tis their part the seed to sow,
And ’tis his to make it grow.