In contrasting the faith of the our Lord Jesus, the Lord of Glory, with the faith many profess to have, Rev. Dr. Sawtell, chaplain to British and American seaman (circa 1860) says this after visiting for several days the work and ministry of George Muller:
"So is it with that class of believers who do little else than to nurse and sing a kind of lullaby over their puny faith; it must never venture out of sight, or upon a stormy sea in a dark night, or, in other words, never trust God. O, what a misnomer to call this faith! and what is it worth, even if it can be called faith? So far as the wants of this perishing world are concerned, it is as worthless as the one talent bured in the earth, and if sufficient to save the soul, it can be saved 'only as by fire.' Let us not fail here to mark well the difference between these two grains of faith, both small and weak at the beginning, but one by daily vigorous exercise increases and grows into such might strength 'that as a prince it hath power with God,' while the other, for want of exercise, sinks into imbecility, and becomes powerless for good." (Spiritual Secrets of George Muller, OMF Books, pg. 80-81).
"So is it with that class of believers who do little else than to nurse and sing a kind of lullaby over their puny faith; it must never venture out of sight, or upon a stormy sea in a dark night, or, in other words, never trust God. O, what a misnomer to call this faith! and what is it worth, even if it can be called faith? So far as the wants of this perishing world are concerned, it is as worthless as the one talent bured in the earth, and if sufficient to save the soul, it can be saved 'only as by fire.' Let us not fail here to mark well the difference between these two grains of faith, both small and weak at the beginning, but one by daily vigorous exercise increases and grows into such might strength 'that as a prince it hath power with God,' while the other, for want of exercise, sinks into imbecility, and becomes powerless for good." (Spiritual Secrets of George Muller, OMF Books, pg. 80-81).