Revelation: Christ and the Churches

Jedediah Strong Smith-Mountain Man

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: New Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2019-09-29

Synopsis: John Weaver uses the life of mountain man Jedediah Strong Smith as an example of godly, masculine Christianity in the harshest of environments. Drawing from Joshua 14 and the account of Caleb, Weaver highlights Smith's unwavering faith, courage, and consistency despite dangers from grizzly bears, hostile Indians, and rough company. The sermon challenges believers to hold fast to their profession of faith regardless of circumstances, and to learn from Smith's devotion to Scripture, prayer, and worship even in the wilderness.

[John Weaver] Let's open our Bibles today to the book of Joshua Chapter 14. Joshua Chapter 14. And we're going to read verses 6 through 13. Joshua Chapter 14, beginning there with verse 6. I will tell you about the title of the message in just a moment. Look, if you would please, in Joshua Chapter 14, beginning with verse 6. A passage I'm sure that everyone is familiar with. Joshua 14, verse six, then the children of Judah came into Joshua and Gilgal and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kinezite, said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of God concerning me and thee and Kadesh Barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses, a servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land.

[John Weaver] And I brought word again as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy foot hath trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever, because I as wholly followed the Lord my God. And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty-five years. Even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old, and yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me, as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out and to come in. Now therefore, give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day, and thou heardest in the day how the Anacoms were there and that the cities were great and fenced.

[John Weaver] If so, be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, Hebron for an inheritance. One of the. Places that I preached in this last series of meetings out West was on a Christian history conference. And I was asked to deal with two particular messages, one of which I'm going to bring today, another I will be bringing sometime in the future. I've got about a dozen messages ready that I want to preach, and I also have five or six more that I'm working on at the present time. So today I'm going to be bringing a message which is entitled Jedediah Strong Smith Mountain Man. Now, you've probably never heard of Jedediah Strong Smith, but let me just mention something about history. First of all, you must understand that history is nothing less than God's eternal decree coming to pass in time. If you and I want to really understand God and we want to understand his decree, we have to study history and we have to know what happened in time.

[John Weaver] because nothing comes to pass except that which God has ordained. And secondly, may I point out, we're living today in a day and time when there are so few real men and so few real examples of godly, masculine Christianity. In fact, the truth of the matter today is everything is against the man, everything against white man, and everything is against a white Christian man, and everything is against a white Southern Christian man, particularly. And so you and I need some examples and we need someone to emulate.

[John Weaver] So Jedediah Strong Smith was like Caleb. He wanted a mountain and he became one of the best mounted men that ever lived. He said, and I'm quoting, I started into the mountains with the determination of becoming a first-rate hunter, of making myself thoroughly acquainted with the character and habits of the Indians, of tracing out the sources of the Columbia River, and following it to its mouth, and making the whole profitable unto me, and I have perfectly succeeded. Jedediah Strong Smith is unique in many ways. First, he was born January the 6th, 1799 in Bainbridge, New York.

[John Weaver] However, he was raised in Pennsylvania and in Ohio. It's almost inconceivable that such a man as I'm going to describe today could have been born in the East.

[John Weaver] Secondly, this man achieved in eight short years absolute greatness. He did more in eight short years than most people have done in a lifetime. For instance, during those eight years, he, with Thomas Fitzpatrick, discovered the South Pass, the gateway to the continent. He was the first white man to cross the Sierra Nevada. He was the first to walk into California from the American frontier. He was the first to taste the bitter waters of the Great Salt Lake. He was the first to accomplish the whole of the Great Basin. He was the first to enter into Oregon, walking up from California. And he was also the first to officiate a public Christian worship service in what is now the state of South Dakota. In his lifetime, Jedediah Strong-Smith would travel more extensively in unknown territory than any other mounted man. It was California historian James J. Rawls that asserts that Jedediah Strong-Smith is the explorer that is truly worthy of the title the Pathfinder rather than the self-promoting John C. Fremont. So he is saying Jedediah Strong-Smith actually deserves the title, the Pathfinder.

[John Weaver] And thirdly, as you probably already surmised, Jedediah Strong Smith was a Christian and not just simply a professor of Christianity. He lived and he practiced his Christianity in a day, in an atmosphere, in an environment where most men were irreligious. They could care less about God in the Bible. Mountain men were known as drinkers, and gamblers and fornicators. They were a rough, uneducated bunch, and they were often very uncomfortable in what you and I would call civilized society. But this was not the case with Jedediah Smith. He was also called Daya for short, but Jedediah was educated. He was modest. He was temperate.

[John Weaver] No profanity came out of his mouth. His honesty and his morals were unquestionable. At the end of a long day of hiking in the mountains, he would light a fire, he would cook his food and eat, and then he would spend the evening reading his Bible and singing hymns. His fellow mountain men thought his religion strange, but his genuineness certainly won them over. Furthermore, none could question his talents as a scout, or his endurance on the trail.

[John Weaver] Jedediah Strong Smith was tall, silent, and he never used tobacco. He never used profanity and he never boasted. He was reared a Wesleyan, a Wesleyan Methodist in those days when the holy fire of Westlandism engulfed the West. A Smith was a devout Christian who always remained a gentleman, even in the wildest frontier company. He was cool under pressure with strength and leadership that was grounded in his faith.

[John Weaver] In the annals of his fellow mountain men and the more civilized contemporaries that knew him, the record is clear concerning his consistent and unmatched leadership. His exceptional courage and his unblemished Christian character, his closest compatriots said he made religion an active principle from the duties of which nothing could seduce him. Nothing could draw him away from his Christianity. One author put it like this. He took his religion with him into the wilderness and let nothing corrode it. The author then continues, he said, that would have made him merely curious, except that he took with him also indifference, deprivation, and personal suffering. Endurance beyond the point where other men died. Courage and coolness under fire. Intelligence that impressed everyone. Leadership of a high order and energy and drive enough for three men.

[John Weaver] So here is a man that is outstanding. Here is a man that seemingly is unequaled. Here is a man that can do things that obviously most men cannot do. Another author stated Smith did not fit the stereotype of the typical mountain man. He never drank. He never used tobacco. He never boasted and was rarely humorous. But that which stands out in his life is his stringent faith. He prayed. He studied his Bible. He meditated.

[John Weaver] He worshipped the God of heaven and earth. Jedediah Smith never married. His closest companions were his Bible and his rifle. Wherever Jedediah Smith went, he carried three books. He carried his Bible. He carried his journal, and he carried an original 1814 first copy of Lewis and Clark's journals. According to the information that I read, only 1,417 of those journals were ever sold to the public. And he had one of those. So Jedediah Smith is an individual then who practices faith on a daily basis.

[John Weaver] He's not someone who would just simply worship on Sunday and forget it the rest of the week. No, no, no. He was someone who was absolutely, totally consistent. Here's one of the entries in his journal. He said, then let us come forward with faith, nothing doubting, and he that is God will unquestionably hear us. Let us come forth in faith. When fellow trapper John Gardner died, Jedediah Smith gave the eulogy.

[John Weaver] And it was recorded by another member of that expedition, Hugh Glass. Hugh Glass said, Mr. Smith, A young man of our company made a powerful prayer which moved us greatly. And I am persuaded that John died in peace." Notice if you would, he said, Mr. Smith, a young man of our company, made a powerful prayer and all were moved greatly. And I am persuaded that John died in peace. Please remember this. This statement was made by a fellow member of the expedition whose name was Hugh Glass. I'm going to mention Hugh Glass just shortly in reference to another episode.

[John Weaver] Jedediah knew most of the mounted men. He worked with them, he traded with them, and he ministered to them as he was able. Jedediah Smith survived what you and I would call frigid winters scorching summers, ravages of timber wolves, grizzly bears, and two horrific massacres and a bloody melee with the Indians. Jedediah Smith began when he was at the age of 22 when he answered an ad in the Missouri Gazette placed by Missouri's Lieutenant Governor William H. Ashley. Here was the ad. Ashley was seeking for enterprising young men to ascend the River Missouri to its source to be employed for three years. So here was an ad actually asking men to come and work for three years in the wilderness. He made his way to Missouri in 1822, determined to become a trapper. And so he's working now with the Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, William Henry Ashley. And they not only traveled up the Missouri River, they also went to the mouth of Yellowstone River.

[John Weaver] There he remained with a man by the name of Andrew Henry until the following spring. After that, he went downriver to where Ashley had wintered. Ashley and Smith and the other fur trappers soon encountered hostilities with the Arikara Indians. It was in this battle that ensued on June the 1st, 1823, that Smith was supposedly to have distinguished himself with bravery and coolness and courage. Jedediah Smith, as I mentioned earlier, is credited with conducting the first Christian worship service in the current state of South Dakota.

[John Weaver] In performing this, he was in actuality working out as a missionary as well. Let me give you the context of this worship service. It was on May the 31st, 1823, when Smith and his men were brutally attacked in their encampment outside the Twin Villages by the Reindians. The Reindians, of course, were from South Dakota. Thirteen crappers died in that massacre. and 11 were wounded. At an impromptu funeral service, Jedediah Smith stepped forward to pray to God, whose judgment had fallen upon them that day, and whose love and mercy they sorely needed. And he stepped forward and conducted not only this funeral, but also a worship service known to be the very first one in the state of South Dakota. They then buried these men who had died and merely placed a log over their graves for fear that the Indians would come along and discover the graves and dig them up as well. So these men were trappers, they were hunters. To show you how successful they were, Jedediah Smith, along with William Henry Ashley and his party, brought nearly 9,000 pounds of beaver pelts to St. Louis in 1825.

[John Weaver] Can you think about that? 9,000 pounds of beaver pelts. That's a lot of beaver. Smith became a partner in what became known as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. In 1826, Smith, along with David E. Jackson and William and Milton Sublett, bought the company from William Ashley. Jedediah Smith was indeed a fur trapper, and since he now bought this business with these men, it was now referred to as Smith, Jackson, and Sublett. And Sublett, of course, those two brothers were great trappers and mountain men as well. And they sold furs at a rendezvous in the Great Salt Lake in 1827. Now, mountain men usually face three great dangers. They face, number one, the Indians, number two, the weather, and number three, grizzly bears. Either one of these could provide very great suffering and death. In a letter that Jedediah Smith wrote to his brother Ralph on December the 24th, 1829, Smith said this. Many hostile tribes of Indians inhabit this space. In August 1827, ten men who were in company with me lost their lives by the Ambushas Indians.

[John Weaver] In July 1828, fifteen men who were in company with me lost their lives by the Umpqua Indians. Many others have lost their lives in different places. Then he says, my brother, I have need of your prayers to bear me up before the throne of grace. So here's a man facing Indians almost daily and saying, look, I need your prayers to hold me up before the throne of grace now. On the second expedition in 1824, I want you to listen and find out what kind of a Christian man Jedediah Smith really was. Because on this second expedition in 1824, Jedediah Smith was attacked by a grizzly bear. Now, Jim Clyman was one of the men in the expedition. Jim Clyman was there. He was an eyewitness. And here's what he wrote.

[John Weaver] The grizzly did not hesitate a moment, but sprang on the cap the captain, taking him by the head, first pitching, sprawling on the earth, breaking several of his ribs and cutting his head badly. The bear had taken nearly all his head in his capacious mouth, close to the left eye on the one side and close to the right ear on the other side, and laid the skull bare to near the crown of the head. One of his ears was torn from the head out to the outer rim. The bear would not quit.

[John Weaver] He would not give up. The grizzly's great grip snapped the captain's knife and several of his ribs at the same time. Climbing had his gun handy by then, and he was afraid that captain was already done for. But climbing put a bullet in the bear's big stomach that pulled the beast off the captain. But that didn't stop its rage. Ed Rose fired a slug into its head and it went down.

[John Weaver] Then a few more of the men shot it again. Then they wrote, You can't trust a grizzly to die until you hit it four or five times. And then you better not turn your back either too soon. But listen to what Climon wrote. But the captain just lay there looking up as calm as he could be. No moaning. No cursing, no rage as would have come from the rest of his men if their heads nearly bitten off by a mountain bear.

[John Weaver] Boys, Smith said as he caught his breath, you got to fix me up. Take hold of the captain, said Clyman to Thomas Fitzpatrick, who was bending over the wounded man, and we'll carry him to water. But nobody wanted to move him. He was hurt so badly. So they asked him what was best. Go for water, Smith said. And if you've got a needle and thread, get it out and sort my wounds.

[John Weaver] Listen, his head was bleeding like a river runs and none of the party knew anything about surgical matters, but they had to do something. So Kleiman got out a pair of scissors, cut off Smith's hair and began his first job of dressing wounds. The bear had jawed down close to Smith's left eye on the one side and close to his right ear on the other and had laid the skull bare nearly to the crown of the head. One of the ears was torn from his head and barely hanging on. And there was James Clyman of Virginia with one big old needle and some black thread. Clyman stitched him up as best he could while the captain gave directions himself.

[John Weaver] So here's Jedediah Smith telling the man who's sewing him up what to do. The ear was last of all. I can't do it, Jed, Clyman protested. It's too torn up. Oh, you must try to stitch it up in one way, the other, Smith said. And so Clyman put the needle in and stitched that ear through and through, laying the last braided parts together as nice as he could.

[John Weaver] When it was done, the captain was able to get up and mount his horse. They rode about a mile from there to the water they had found and pitched their tent. With only one tent, Smith was made as comfortable as circumstances would permit. This day gave them a lesson of the character of the grizzly bear that they did not forget, and it taught them even more about the kind of man who was leading them through the wilderness. Listen, after two weeks of rest, Smith resumed leading the expedition. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine a man being torn up by a grizzly bear and remaining so calm that he's giving directions to the man who's sewing him up? And after he gets sewed up, he's able to balance horse and ride a mile to an encampment. And then after two weeks of rest, he resumes the expedition. Not everyone that had a run in with a grizzly bear was as blessed as Jedediah Smith.

[John Weaver] You remember I mentioned a man by the name of Hugh Glass a little bit earlier? Hugh Glass also had a run-in with a grizzly bear. Hugh Glass was only mauled by a grizzly bear. He was left for dead by his companions. And he stumbled over 250 miles to Fort Kiowa to get help. It's the same group of trappers because it happened in August or early September of 1823 because Henry and the remaining of his party of 15 men were well up the Grand River and Hugh Glass had been hired as a hunter to provide meat for the men. And Hugh Glass was the head of the expedition searching for game in the river bottom. When out came a Sal Grizzly with two cubs. And she rushed upon Hugh Glass and attacked him so quickly, Hugh could do nothing but scream. The other members of the party heard him screaming and hurried as quickly as they could to Hugh. And when they got there, they finally killed the bear. But his wounds were so severe Mr. Henry said that old glass would not live until morning.

[John Weaver] But however, the next day, few glass was still alive. Well, you remember now they're in Indian territory, and so. Mr. Ashley determines the best thing to do is to keep moving. We can't stay still. And so they fix a litter. And they put glass in the litter and men are carrying him. Remember now, he's just there. After two days of this, they're going so slowly and they're in danger of the Indians. And there's another party that they're trying to join up with. And until they can join together and have a sufficient force to fight any renegade Indians, both parties are still in danger.

[John Weaver] So Henry then makes a proposition. He asked for two men to volunteer to stay behind and bury old glass when he dies. And then make their way to the fort. And if they would stay behind, he would give them a bonus of $80 extra each. Well. One of the men. That agreed to stay behind was a man by the name of James Fitzgerald. You see, Henry not only wanted to save the rest of his men, but he also wanted to fulfill his Christian duty to give Old Glass a decent burial. So John Fitzgerald and a younger man agreed to stay behind. The younger man, it was his first venture into the wilderness. It was the first expedition he was going to be on. The information I'm going to give you, let me tell you where it comes from.

[John Weaver] The original account was written by James Hall and published in 1825. But Hall did not give the names of these two men. Later on, another article by Edmund Flagg in 1838 gave the name of John Fitzgerald and he also gave the name of a younger man that stayed with Fitzgerald as the name of Bridges. There was a man by the name of Hiram M. Chittenden who wrote a comprehensive history of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and all of that era. And he got his information and he named the younger man as Jim Bridger, James Bridger. So here is John Fitzgerald. And I'll tell you about Jim Bridger shortly. Here is John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger who have agreed to stay behind now until Old Glass dies and bury him and then make their way to the fort.

[John Weaver] The only visible motions in Hugh Glass were his breathing and his eye movement. That was all. He could move his eyes and he could breathe. But nothing else. Five days later, after the party left and John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger were there with Old Glass, five days later, Old Glass was still alive. However, John Fitzgerald, the older man, recognized the danger that they were in. And he knew the Indians were on the move and it was just the two of them. So he thought, well, we've already stayed longer than Mr. Henry's asked us to because Henry thought Old Glass was going to go under and we thought he was going to die. So what we better do is just leave him to die on his own and get ourselves to safety and join up with the other company. So they took Hugh Glass on a litter and put him by the water and then took his rifle, his knife, his tomahawk, and his fire making equipment, things that a dead man's not going to need anyhow, and left him.

[John Weaver] Hugh Glass was still alive. When he realized that he had been deserted by his friends, he determined that he was going to live. He began to crawl toward the Missouri River. As he was crawling, he had a real desire not only to survive, but to revenge himself against those two cowardly caretakers. And he was motivated and he was pushed to survive. Due to his injuries, his travel was exceedingly slow. Here was a man crawling. And the only nourishment that he could find as he crawled was from insects and snakes and grass. or whatever he could grasp. A week into his painful trek, while he was crawling, he came across some wolves who were killing a buffalo calf. And so he stopped and he watched the wolves. And after they had eaten all they wanted, Old Glass crawled and got half the carcass of that buffalo calf Went to a safe place and laid himself up for two weeks until he'd eaten all of that buffalo meat. After two weeks of rest and that nourishment, he was able to walk a little bit and stumble.

[John Weaver] He then walked and stumbled until he got to the Missouri River and he found some Lakota Sioux Indians who were friendly and from them, He got a high boat and drifted then down the river and then stumbled into Fort Kiowa on October 1823. He had crawled, walked, stumbled, and drifted 250 miles. Can you imagine that? 250 miles. And although his wounds were dressed and although he got everything that he needed to revenge himself, he was unable to do so because John Fitzgerald had joined the army and he was out of reach. And when he found out who the young man was, Jim Bridger, and noticed that he was young and it was his first expedition, he forgave him. Jim Bridger, It's known for Bridger's Pass, for Fort Bridger. James Bridger died on a Missouri farm in 1881 at the age of 77, and he was one of the last living mountain men. It seems as if the lives of all these mountain men were interwoven, and they had to be because they lived together, they worked together, they fought together.

[John Weaver] But not all of them had the same motivations. Jedediah Smith was someone who was quite different from the other mountain men. It was not simply money that Jedediah Smith wanted or fame that he desired. He really wanted to serve the Lord. He wrote to his brother Ralph, he said this. It is that I may be able to help those who stand in need that I face every danger.

[John Weaver] It is for this that I traverse the mountains covered with eternal snow. It is for this that I pass over the sandy plains in the heat of the summer, thirsty for water. It is for this that I go for days without eating and am pretty much satisfied if I can gather a few roots, a few snails, or much better, a piece of horse flesh or a fine roasted dog, let it be the greatest pleasure that we can enjoy to smooth the pillow of our parents' age as much as in us lies and take from them all causes of trouble.

[John Weaver] I want you to notice what he said. He said, I'm doing all this to help others mainly. And he said, finally, I want to smooth the lives of my parents in their old age. Jedediah was concerned for his elderly parents. He wanted to make their last days as comfortable as possible. He therefore, listen carefully, he therefore inserted some money into his letter to help support his elderly parents, and the amount of money he inserted was $2,200, which was not pocket change back in those days. $2,200. Wow. On December 24, 1829, from the Wind River on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, Jedediah Smith wrote his parents, who were in Ohio, and he said this, It is a long time since I left home, and many times I have been ready to bring my business to a close and endeavor to come home, but have been hitherto hindered. However, I will endeavor by the assistance of divine providence to come home as soon as possible.

[John Weaver] But whether I shall ever be allowed the privilege, God only knows. I feel the need of the watch and care of a Christian church. You may well suppose that our society is the roughest kind. Men of good morals seldom enter into this business of this kind. I hope that you will remember me before the throne of grace. May God, in his infinite mercy, allow me to soon join my parents is the prayer of your undutiful son, Jedediah Smith.

[John Weaver] In 1830, Jedediah's mother died and it rattled him. He was convicted over the neglect of his family. And he decided he had enough of mountain life. So he purchased a farm and a townhouse complete with servants in St. Louis, Missouri. However, he had to make one last trip into the mountains. Because when Smith sold his shares in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, the year before he had agreed to help procure supplies for the subsequent owners.

[John Weaver] He left in the spring of 1831 and while looking for water on the Santa Fe Trail, He was killed by Comanche warriors. Now, according to Dale Morgan, who was Jedediah Smith's biographer, he said, and I'm quoting, Jedediah was looking for water for the 1831 expedition when he came upon an estimated 15 to 20 Comanches. There was a brief face-to-face standoff until the Comanches scared his horse and shot Smith in the left shoulder. After gasping from the injury, Jedediah wheeled his horse around and with one rifle shot was able to kill the chief. The Comanches then rushed on Jedediah, who did not have time to use his pistols, and stabbed him to death with their lances. Austin Smith, Jedediah's brother, was able to retrieve Jedediah's rifle and pistols that the Indians had taken and sold to Mexican trailers. As a mountain man, Jedediah Smith was aware that he was involved both in trailblazing in the wilderness and in what you and I would call basic Christian missionary work. Jedediah Smith saw the West differently than a lot of people.

[John Weaver] He saw the West as being the creation of God, the great creator, to be there for the use of his people. Here's what he wrote. He spoke. of divine providence that guided and protected him against the dangers on the trail. In a letter addressed to his brother on January 26, 1831, Jedediah Smith says this. He's writing about the motivation for his life. He said that he exists and works and is driven by the idea that in God we live and move and have our being and that on bended knee we ought to offer up the grateful acknowledgement of his dear son, knowing that for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So Smith then saw himself as the agent, as the spokesman for God, as a tool to be used from God and to draw others to faith in Jesus Christ. Of Jedediah Smith, it was stated, Jedediah Smith, the Bible-carrying mountain man fur trader, and Trapper explored and mapped most of the Far West in the 1820s from Colorado and Wyoming to Utah to California and Oregon.

[John Weaver] Remember, he did all this in eight years. In an 1832 eulogy in the Illinois Monthly, they called Jedediah Smith a man whom none could approach without respect and whom none could know without esteem. And as a mountain man, explorer and trapper, Jedediah Smith was doubtless the greatest pathfinder of them all.

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you a question. What does Jedediah Smith's testimony in life have to do with us today? You see, it's not just a man's life and to know that a man lived. And to know the dates that he lived. And to know what he did. We must know. How that is to affect us. You know, I've used this verse so many times I've quoted it so many times. And Matthew 21 verse 32.

[John Weaver] Jesus Christ looked at those Pharisees. And he said. Concerning John the Baptist. He said you believe him not. But the publicans and the harlots believed him. Listen to what he said now. And you, when you had seen it, repented of afterwards that you might believe. In other words, what our Lord is saying, that these people were responsible to learn from the work of God in the lives of others. So that means you and I are responsible to learn from the life of Jedediah Smith and the work that God did in his life. So what are we to learn?

[John Weaver] Let me give you several things. The first one is this. Listen carefully. The truth is that one can live a godly, obedient Christian life regardless of one's environment, companions, and circumstances. If Jedediah Smith could be a godly man in the roughest company, in the roughest country, in the roughest environment, If he could be obedient and live according to the Word of God in his day and time, is it not possible for you and I to do the same, even though we are in a much better environment and a much better company?

[John Weaver] You know, we are encouraged in the Bible to hold fast. I want you to stop and think about this. fast. Jedediah Smith, in the worst environment, in the worst company, held fast that which he believed. I'm going to give you some passages. And each one of these passages that I'm going to quote is from the Greek word krateo, which literally means to have power, to be powerful, to seize and to hold on to and to not let go. Here's what the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 21. Prove all things, hold fast that which is good. Hold fast that which is good. You hold on to it.

[John Weaver] You do not let it go. You do not let it slip. You prove all things, hold fast that which is good. Listen to Hebrews 4 and verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Do you realize that Jesus Christ witnessed a good profession before Pontius Pilate? And Paul told Timothy to hold fast that profession that he had made as well. And here Jedediah Smith is holding fast his profession of faith before all of these wicked mountain men.

[John Weaver] It did not matter about his company. Did not matter about his environment. He was holding fast his profession of faith. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 10 in verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful who promised. So let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. And even our Lord admonished his church in Revelation 2 in verse 25, but that which you have hold fast. till I come. Hold fast. So if a man like Jedediah Smith could hold fast the Christian faith in the environment and in the company in which he lived, we should not have much difficulty to do that today. The second is this.

[John Weaver] Smith saw the work of God in the physical creation of a wild American West. Most of us have never, ever really seen the West. We know we have not. Most of us stay in the South all of our lives. I'm thankful that God has allowed. Me to travel and preach a good bit. But you would be absolutely astounded at God's creation in Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, California, Oregon, and Smith, when he saw these places. He worshiped the God who created all of this.

[John Weaver] He celebrated his faith daily with Bible reading and prayer. He sang hymns as he traveled in the mountains. When he was in a civilized area, he cleaned up and he went to church. One biographer said this, it was said of Jedidiah that he made the lone wilderness his place of meditation, the mountaintop his altar, and that he made religion an active, practical principle From the duties of which nothing could seduce or dissuade him.

[John Weaver] Here's the fact that I think you and I must face. Smith worshipped and served God in a most uncomfortable setting. I am thankful I have never faced a grizzly bear. I'm thankful I've never faced wild Indians. I'm thankful I've never faced freezing to death. But I've got news for you. If Smith could worship and serve God in the face of such difficulties, what is wrong with us when we have all the comforts of heat and air conditioning and soft chairs and pews and electrical lighting and so much more. And still we will not worship as we should. We will not be thankful.

[John Weaver] We will not be appreciative. You should hear some of the excuses that I receive as a pastor is why people will not come to church. Well, we had company show up. I have company that shows up, too. I give them the opportunity. You may either go with us or stay here or we get back. Well, I woke up this morning and my big toe was hurting. I have a headache. Isn't it amazing?

[John Weaver] I'm just trying to point out the fact that here Smith was worshipping God in the worst of conditions, and here we are in the best of conditions, and we make every excuse to stay out of the house of God, away from the preaching of the Word of God, and most of the time, we cannot even get away from the TV set long enough to read a chapter out of the Bible. Do you understand what I'm saying?

[John Weaver] I want you to turn to a passage. I want you to look in your Bibles to Luke chapter 11. I want you to see what our Lord said. Look in Luke chapter 11. Look in Luke chapter 11. Let's begin reading in verse 31. Luke 11, verse 31. Look what our Lord says. Luke 11, verse 31. The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them.

[John Weaver] For she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it. For they repented at the preaching of Jonah. Behold, a greater than Jonah is here. Now, why? is the Queen of the South. Why is the Queen of Sheba going to rise up, our Lord says, and judge this generation? She's going to rise up and testify against that generation. Here's why. He said, because she came from the utmost parts of the earth. She traveled a great distance just to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And he said, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. What about the men of Nineveh? How are they going to condemn the generation? Because Jonah went through preaching, yet forty days and none of us shall be overthrown.

[John Weaver] He didn't have three points in a poem. He just said one thing. Yet forty days and none of us shall be overthrown. And these people repented at the very first hearing of Jonah's preaching. And men hear truth over and over and over and over and reject it. The Queen of Sheba traveled great distances. just to hear truth. And today, most people will not walk across the street to hear a message from the Word of God. And when they do hear, they reject it. They refuse it.

[John Weaver] I've got news for you. I had rather be a Jedidiah Strong Smith In the mountains. In the worst environment. With the worst companions. Holding fast the faith of Jesus Christ. That to be in the midst of a lukewarm. Ignorant and apathetic group of Christians. We need to learn. To hold fast. To stand for truth. And not let circumstances, situations, environments, companions, people hinder us from that which we know is right. And we need to make every effort. To learn the word of God and apply it to our lives. My prayer would be. That God would give us more men. Like Jedediah Smith. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we vow thee this day, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. We thank you, Father, for godly men in time and history from whom we can learn biblical principles.

[John Weaver] And from whom, Lord, we can emulate their manly virtues. And their Christian graces. Help us, Lord, to be holy, to be godly, and to stand, and having done all, to stand. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

Jedediah Strong Smith-Mountain Man

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	127201455218077
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Revelation: Christ and the Churches
Genre	Sermon
Date	2019-09-29
Dictation Name
Book	Book 139: Revelation: Christ and the Churches — Chapter 11
Source Timed Segments	58

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: Caleb and the Mountain

Weaver reads Joshua 14:6-13, introducing Caleb's request for a mountain as a parallel to Jedediah Smith's life.

Let's open our Bibles today to the book of Joshua chapter 14. Joshua chapter 14. And we're going to read verses 6 through 13. Joshua chapter 14, beginning there with verse 6. I will tell you about the title of the message in just a moment. Look, if you would please, in Joshua chapter 14, beginning with verse 6. A passage I'm sure that everyone is familiar with. Joshua 14, verse 6:

Scripture Reading — Joshua 14:6-13

"Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh Barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land." "And I brought word again as it was in my heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy foot hath trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God. And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty-five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. And yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out and to come in. Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced." "If so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance."

One of the places that I preached in this last series of meetings out West was at a Christian history conference. And I was asked to deal with two particular messages, one of which I'm going to bring today, another I will be bringing sometime in the future. I've got about a dozen messages ready that I want to preach, and I also have five or six more that I'm working on at the present time. So today I'm going to be bringing a message which is entitled "Jedediah Strong Smith: Mountain Man." Now, you've probably never heard of Jedediah Strong Smith, but let me just mention something about history. First of all, you must understand that history is nothing less than God's eternal decree coming to pass in time. If you and I want to really understand God and we want to understand His decree, we have to study history and we have to know what happened in time.

History as God's Decree and the Need for Godly Examples

Weaver explains that history reveals God's eternal decree and laments the lack of godly masculine examples today.

Because nothing comes to pass except that which God has ordained. And secondly, may I point out, we're living today in a day and time when there are so few real men and so few real examples of godly, masculine Christianity. In fact, the truth of the matter today is everything is against the man, everything against white man, and everything is against a white Christian man, and everything is against a white Southern Christian man, particularly. And so you and I need some examples and we need someone to emulate.

So Jedediah Strong Smith was like Caleb. He wanted a mountain and he became one of the best mountain men that ever lived. He said, and I'm quoting, "I started into the mountains with the determination of becoming a first-rate hunter, of making myself thoroughly acquainted with the character and habits of the Indians, of tracing out the sources of the Columbia River, and following it to its mouth, and making the whole profitable unto me, and I have perfectly succeeded." Jedediah Strong Smith is unique in many ways. First, he was born January the 6th, 1799 in Bainbridge, New York.

Jedediah Smith's Background and Achievements

Smith's birth, his determination to become a first-rate hunter, and his remarkable eight-year accomplishments are detailed.

However, he was raised in Pennsylvania and in Ohio. It's almost inconceivable that such a man as I'm going to describe today could have been born in the East. Secondly, this man achieved in eight short years absolute greatness. He did more in eight short years than most people have done in a lifetime. For instance, during those eight years, he, with Thomas Fitzpatrick, discovered the South Pass, the gateway to the continent. He was the first white man to cross the Sierra Nevada. He was the first to walk into California from the American frontier. He was the first to taste the bitter waters of the Great Salt Lake. He was the first to accomplish the whole of the Great Basin. He was the first to enter into Oregon, walking up from California. And he was also the first to officiate a public Christian worship service in what is now the state of South Dakota. In his lifetime, Jedediah Strong Smith would travel more extensively in unknown territory than any other mountain man. It was California historian James J. Rawls that asserts that Jedediah Strong Smith is the explorer that is truly worthy of the title "the Pathfinder" rather than the self-promoting John C. Frémont. So he is saying Jedediah Strong Smith actually deserves the title, "the Pathfinder."

And thirdly, as you probably already surmised, Jedediah Strong Smith was a Christian and not just simply a professor of Christianity. He lived and he practiced his Christianity in a day, in an atmosphere, in an environment where most men were irreligious. They could care less about God and the Bible. Mountain men were known as drinkers, and gamblers, and fornicators. They were a rough, uneducated bunch, and they were often very uncomfortable in what you and I would call civilized society. But this was not the case with Jedediah Smith. He was also called "Diah" for short, but Jedediah was educated. He was modest. He was temperate.

Smith's Christian Character

Smith's temperance, honesty, Bible reading, hymn singing, and consistent Christian witness among rough mountain men are emphasized.

No profanity came out of his mouth. His honesty and his morals were unquestionable. At the end of a long day of hiking in the mountains, he would light a fire, he would cook his food and eat, and then he would spend the evening reading his Bible and singing hymns. His fellow mountain men thought his religion strange, but his genuineness certainly won them over. Furthermore, none could question his talents as a scout, or his endurance on the trail. Jedediah Strong Smith was tall, silent, and he never used tobacco. He never used profanity and he never boasted. He was reared a Wesleyan Methodist in those days when the holy fire of Wesleyanism engulfed the West. Smith was a devout Christian who always remained a gentleman, even in the wildest frontier company. He was cool under pressure with strength and leadership that was grounded in his faith.

In the annals of his fellow mountain men and the more civilized contemporaries that knew him, the record is clear concerning his consistent and unmatched leadership, his exceptional courage, and his unblemished Christian character. His closest compatriots said he made religion an active principle from the duties of which nothing could seduce him. Nothing could draw him away from his Christianity. One author put it like this: "He took his religion with him into the wilderness and let nothing corrode it." The author then continues, he said, "That would have made him merely curious, except that he took with him also indifference, deprivation, and personal suffering. Endurance beyond the point where other men died. Courage and coolness under fire. Intelligence that impressed everyone. Leadership of a high order and energy and drive enough for three men."

So here is a man that is outstanding. Here is a man that seemingly is unequaled. Here is a man that can do things that obviously most men cannot do. Another author stated, "Smith did not fit the stereotype of the typical mountain man. He never drank. He never used tobacco. He never boasted and was rarely humorous. But that which stands out in his life is his stringent faith. He prayed. He studied his Bible. He meditated."

Smith's Faith in Action: Worship and Prayer

Smith's journal entries, his eulogy for John Gardner, and his practice of carrying a Bible, journal, and Lewis and Clark's journals are highlighted.

He worshipped the God of heaven and earth. Jedediah Smith never married. His closest companions were his Bible and his rifle. Wherever Jedediah Smith went, he carried three books. He carried his Bible. He carried his journal, and he carried an original 1814 first copy of Lewis and Clark's journals. According to the information that I read, only 1,417 of those journals were ever sold to the public. And he had one of those. So Jedediah Smith is an individual then who practices faith on a daily basis.

He's not someone who would just simply worship on Sunday and forget it the rest of the week. No, no, no. He was someone who was absolutely, totally consistent. Here's one of the entries in his journal. He said, "Then let us come forward with faith, nothing doubting, and He that is God will unquestionably hear us." Let us come forth in faith. When fellow trapper John Gardner died, Jedediah Smith gave the eulogy. And it was recorded by another member of that expedition, Hugh Glass. Hugh Glass said, "Mr. Smith, a young man of our company made a powerful prayer which moved us greatly. And I am persuaded that John died in peace." Notice if you would, he said, "Mr. Smith, a young man of our company, made a powerful prayer and all were moved greatly. And I am persuaded that John died in peace." Please remember this. This statement was made by a fellow member of the expedition whose name was Hugh Glass. I'm going to mention Hugh Glass just shortly in reference to another episode.

Dangers Faced: Indians, Weather, and Grizzly Bears

Weaver recounts Smith's encounters with hostile Indians, the Arikara massacre, and the horrific grizzly bear attack where Smith remained calm and directed his own wound treatment.

Jedediah knew most of the mountain men. He worked with them, he traded with them, and he ministered to them as he was able. Jedediah Smith survived what you and I would call frigid winters, scorching summers, ravages of timber wolves, grizzly bears, and two horrific massacres and a bloody melee with the Indians. Jedediah Smith began when he was at the age of 22 when he answered an ad in the Missouri Gazette placed by Missouri's Lieutenant Governor William H. Ashley. Here was the ad. Ashley was seeking for "enterprising young men to ascend the River Missouri to its source to be employed for three years." So here was an ad actually asking men to come and work for three years in the wilderness. He made his way to Missouri in 1822, determined to become a trapper. And so he's working now with the Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, William Henry Ashley. And they not only traveled up the Missouri River, they also went to the mouth of Yellowstone River.

There he remained with a man by the name of Andrew Henry until the following spring. After that, he went downriver to where Ashley had wintered. Ashley and Smith and the other fur trappers soon encountered hostilities with the Arikara Indians. It was in this battle that ensued on June the 1st, 1823, that Smith was supposedly to have distinguished himself with bravery and coolness and courage. Jedediah Smith, as I mentioned earlier, is credited with conducting the first Christian worship service in the current state of South Dakota. In performing this, he was in actuality working out as a missionary as well. Let me give you the context of this worship service. It was on May the 31st, 1823, when Smith and his men were brutally attacked in their encampment outside the Twin Villages by the Arikara Indians. The Arikara Indians, of course, were from South Dakota. Thirteen trappers died in that massacre, and eleven were wounded. At an impromptu funeral service, Jedediah Smith stepped forward to pray to God, whose judgment had fallen upon them that day, and whose love and mercy they sorely needed. And he stepped forward and conducted not only this funeral, but also a worship service known to be the very first one in the state of South Dakota. They then buried these men who had died and merely placed a log over their graves for fear that the Indians would come along and discover the graves and dig them up as well. So these men were trappers, they were hunters. To show you how successful they were, Jedediah Smith, along with William Henry Ashley and his party, brought nearly 9,000 pounds of beaver pelts to St. Louis in 1825.

Can you think about that? 9,000 pounds of beaver pelts. That's a lot of beaver. Smith became a partner in what became known as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. In 1826, Smith, along with David E. Jackson and William and Milton Sublette, bought the company from William Ashley. Jedediah Smith was indeed a fur trapper, and since he now bought this business with these men, it was now referred to as Smith, Jackson, and Sublette. And Sublette, of course, those two brothers were great trappers and mountain men as well. And they sold furs at a rendezvous in the Great Salt Lake in 1827. Now, mountain men usually face three great dangers. They face, number one, the Indians, number two, the weather, and number three, grizzly bears. Either one of these could provide very great suffering and death. In a letter that Jedediah Smith wrote to his brother Ralph on December the 24th, 1829, Smith said this: "Many hostile tribes of Indians inhabit this space. In August 1827, ten men who were in company with me lost their lives by the Amuchabas Indians."

"In July 1828, fifteen men who were in company with me lost their lives by the Umpqua Indians. Many others have lost their lives in different places." Then he says, "My brother, I have need of your prayers to bear me up before the throne of grace." So here's a man facing Indians almost daily and saying, "Look, I need your prayers to hold me up before the throne of grace." Now, on the second expedition in 1824, I want you to listen and find out what kind of a Christian man Jedediah Smith really was. Because on this second expedition in 1824, Jedediah Smith was attacked by a grizzly bear. Now, Jim Clyman was one of the men in the expedition. Jim Clyman was there. He was an eyewitness. And here's what he wrote.

"The grizzly did not hesitate a moment, but sprang on the captain, taking him by the head, first pitching, sprawling on the earth, breaking several of his ribs and cutting his head badly. The bear had taken nearly all his head in his capacious mouth, close to the left eye on the one side and close to the right ear on the other side, and laid the skull bare to near the crown of the head. One of his ears was torn from the head out to the outer rim. The bear would not quit." He would not give up. "The grizzly's great grip snapped the captain's knife and several of his ribs at the same time. Clyman had his gun handy by then, and he was afraid that captain was already done for. But Clyman put a bullet in the bear's big stomach that pulled the beast off the captain. But that didn't stop its rage. Ed Rose fired a slug into its head and it went down."

"Then a few more of the men shot it again. Then they wrote, 'You can't trust a grizzly to die until you hit it four or five times. And then you better not turn your back either too soon.' But listen to what Clyman wrote: 'But the captain just lay there looking up as calm as he could be. No moaning. No cursing, no rage as would have come from the rest of his men if their heads nearly bitten off by a mountain bear.'" "Boys," Smith said as he caught his breath, "you got to fix me up. Take hold of the captain," said Clyman to Thomas Fitzpatrick, who was bending over the wounded man, "and we'll carry him to water." But nobody wanted to move him. He was hurt so badly. So they asked him what was best. "Go for water," Smith said. "And if you've got a needle and thread, get it out and sort my wounds."

Listen, his head was bleeding like a river runs and none of the party knew anything about surgical matters, but they had to do something. So Clyman got out a pair of scissors, cut off Smith's hair and began his first job of dressing wounds. The bear had jawed down close to Smith's left eye on the one side and close to his right ear on the other and had laid the skull bare nearly to the crown of the head. One of the ears was torn from his head and barely hanging on. And there was James Clyman of Virginia with one big old needle and some black thread. Clyman stitched him up as best he could while the captain gave directions himself.

So here's Jedediah Smith telling the man who's sewing him up what to do. "The ear was last of all. 'I can't do it, Jed,' Clyman protested. 'It's too torn up.' 'Oh, you must try to stitch it up in one way or the other,' Smith said. And so Clyman put the needle in and stitched that ear through and through, laying the last braided parts together as nice as he could."

When it was done, the captain was able to get up and mount his horse. They rode about a mile from there to the water they had found and pitched their tent. With only one tent, Smith was made as comfortable as circumstances would permit. This day gave them a lesson of the character of the grizzly bear that they did not forget, and it taught them even more about the kind of man who was leading them through the wilderness. Listen, after two weeks of rest, Smith resumed leading the expedition. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine a man being torn up by a grizzly bear and remaining so calm that he's giving directions to the man who's sewing him up? And after he gets sewed up, he's able to balance horse and ride a mile to an encampment. And then after two weeks of rest, he resumes the expedition. Not everyone that had a run-in with a grizzly bear was as blessed as Jedediah Smith.

Contrast with Hugh Glass and Other Mountain Men

The story of Hugh Glass's abandonment and survival is told to contrast motivations and highlight Smith's unique Christian character.

You remember I mentioned a man by the name of Hugh Glass a little bit earlier? Hugh Glass also had a run-in with a grizzly bear. Hugh Glass was only mauled by a grizzly bear. He was left for dead by his companions. And he stumbled over 250 miles to Fort Kiowa to get help. It's the same group of trappers because it happened in August or early September of 1823 because Henry and the remaining of his party of 15 men were well up the Grand River and Hugh Glass had been hired as a hunter to provide meat for the men. And Hugh Glass was the head of the expedition searching for game in the river bottom. When out came a she-grizzly with two cubs. And she rushed upon Hugh Glass and attacked him so quickly, Hugh could do nothing but scream. The other members of the party heard him screaming and hurried as quickly as they could to Hugh. And when they got there, they finally killed the bear. But his wounds were so severe Mr. Henry said that old Glass would not live until morning.

But however, the next day, Hugh Glass was still alive. Well, you remember now they're in Indian territory, and so Mr. Ashley determines the best thing to do is to keep moving. We can't stay still. And so they fix a litter. And they put Glass in the litter and men are carrying him. Remember now, he's just there. After two days of this, they're going so slowly and they're in danger of the Indians. And there's another party that they're trying to join up with. And until they can join together and have a sufficient force to fight any renegade Indians, both parties are still in danger.

So Henry then makes a proposition. He asked for two men to volunteer to stay behind and bury old Glass when he dies. And then make their way to the fort. And if they would stay behind, he would give them a bonus of $80 extra each. Well, one of the men that agreed to stay behind was a man by the name of John Fitzgerald. You see, Henry not only wanted to save the rest of his men, but he also wanted to fulfill his Christian duty to give old Glass a decent burial. So John Fitzgerald and a younger man agreed to stay behind. The younger man, it was his first venture into the wilderness. It was the first expedition he was going to be on. The information I'm going to give you, let me tell you where it comes from.

The original account was written by James Hall and published in 1825. But Hall did not give the names of these two men. Later on, another article by Edmund Flagg in 1838 gave the name of John Fitzgerald and he also gave the name of a younger man that stayed with Fitzgerald as the name of Bridges. There was a man by the name of Hiram M. Chittenden who wrote a comprehensive history of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and all of that era. And he got his information and he named the younger man as Jim Bridger, James Bridger. So here is John Fitzgerald. And I'll tell you about Jim Bridger shortly. Here is John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger who have agreed to stay behind now until old Glass dies and bury him and then make their way to the fort.

The only visible motions in Hugh Glass were his breathing and his eye movement. That was all. He could move his eyes and he could breathe. But nothing else. Five days later, after the party left and John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger were there with old Glass, five days later, old Glass was still alive. However, John Fitzgerald, the older man, recognized the danger that they were in. And he knew the Indians were on the move and it was just the two of them. So he thought, well, we've already stayed longer than Mr. Henry's asked us to because Henry thought old Glass was going to go under and we thought he was going to die. So what we better do is just leave him to die on his own and get ourselves to safety and join up with the other company. So they took Hugh Glass on a litter and put him by the water and then took his rifle, his knife, his tomahawk, and his fire making equipment, things that a dead man's not going to need anyhow, and left him.

Hugh Glass was still alive. When he realized that he had been deserted by his friends, he determined that he was going to live. He began to crawl toward the Missouri River. As he was crawling, he had a real desire not only to survive, but to revenge himself against those two cowardly caretakers. And he was motivated and he was pushed to survive. Due to his injuries, his travel was exceedingly slow. Here was a man crawling. And the only nourishment that he could find as he crawled was from insects and snakes and grass, or whatever he could grasp. A week into his painful trek, while he was crawling, he came across some wolves who were killing a buffalo calf. And so he stopped and he watched the wolves. And after they had eaten all they wanted, old Glass crawled and got half the carcass of that buffalo calf. Went to a safe place and laid himself up for two weeks until he'd eaten all of that buffalo meat. After two weeks of rest and that nourishment, he was able to walk a little bit and stumble.

He then walked and stumbled until he got to the Missouri River and he found some Lakota Sioux Indians who were friendly and from them, he got a hide boat and drifted then down the river and then stumbled into Fort Kiowa on October 1823. He had crawled, walked, stumbled, and drifted 250 miles. Can you imagine that? 250 miles. And although his wounds were dressed and although he got everything that he needed to revenge himself, he was unable to do so because John Fitzgerald had joined the army and he was out of reach. And when he found out who the young man was, Jim Bridger, and noticed that he was young and it was his first expedition, he forgave him. Jim Bridger, it's known for Bridger's Pass, for Fort Bridger. James Bridger died on a Missouri farm in 1881 at the age of 77, and he was one of the last living mountain men. It seems as if the lives of all these mountain men were interwoven, and they had to be because they lived together, they worked together, they fought together.

But not all of them had the same motivations. Jedediah Smith was someone who was quite different from the other mountain men. It was not simply money that Jedediah Smith wanted or fame that he desired. He really wanted to serve the Lord. He wrote to his brother Ralph, he said this: "It is that I may be able to help those who stand in need that I face every danger."

Smith's Motivation: Service and Family

Smith's letters reveal his desire to help others and support his aging parents, including sending $2,200 home.

"It is for this that I traverse the mountains covered with eternal snow. It is for this that I pass over the sandy plains in the heat of the summer, thirsty for water. It is for this that I go for days without eating and am pretty much satisfied if I can gather a few roots, a few snails, or much better, a piece of horse flesh or a fine roasted dog, let it be the greatest pleasure that we can enjoy to smooth the pillow of our parents' age as much as in us lies and take from them all causes of trouble." I want you to notice what he said. He said, "I'm doing all this to help others mainly." And he said, "Finally, I want to smooth the lives of my parents in their old age." Jedediah was concerned for his elderly parents. He wanted to make their last days as comfortable as possible. He therefore, listen carefully, he therefore inserted some money into his letter to help support his elderly parents, and the amount of money he inserted was $2,200, which was not pocket change back in those days. $2,200. Wow. On December 24, 1829, from the Wind River on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, Jedediah Smith wrote his parents, who were in Ohio, and he said this: "It is a long time since I left home, and many times I have been ready to bring my business to a close and endeavor to come home, but have been hitherto hindered. However, I will endeavor by the assistance of divine providence to come home as soon as possible."

"But whether I shall ever be allowed the privilege, God only knows. I feel the need of the watch and care of a Christian church. You may well suppose that our society is the roughest kind. Men of good morals seldom enter into this business of this kind. I hope that you will remember me before the throne of grace. May God, in his infinite mercy, allow me to soon join my parents is the prayer of your undutiful son, Jedediah Smith." In 1830, Jedediah's mother died and it rattled him. He was convicted over the neglect of his family. And he decided he had enough of mountain life. So he purchased a farm and a townhouse complete with servants in St. Louis, Missouri. However, he had to make one last trip into the mountains. Because when Smith sold his shares in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, the year before he had agreed to help procure supplies for the subsequent owners.

Smith's Death and Legacy

Smith's death at the hands of Comanche warriors in 1831 and his lasting reputation as a pathfinder and Christian are recounted.

He left in the spring of 1831 and while looking for water on the Santa Fe Trail, he was killed by Comanche warriors. Now, according to Dale Morgan, who was Jedediah Smith's biographer, he said, and I'm quoting, "Jedediah was looking for water for the 1831 expedition when he came upon an estimated 15 to 20 Comanches. There was a brief face-to-face standoff until the Comanches scared his horse and shot Smith in the left shoulder. After gasping from the injury, Jedediah wheeled his horse around and with one rifle shot was able to kill the chief. The Comanches then rushed on Jedediah, who did not have time to use his pistols, and stabbed him to death with their lances." Austin Smith, Jedediah's brother, was able to retrieve Jedediah's rifle and pistols that the Indians had taken and sold to Mexican traders. As a mountain man, Jedediah Smith was aware that he was involved both in trailblazing in the wilderness and in what you and I would call basic Christian missionary work. Jedediah Smith saw the West differently than a lot of people.

He saw the West as being the creation of God, the great Creator, to be there for the use of His people. Here's what he wrote. He spoke of divine providence that guided and protected him against the dangers on the trail. In a letter addressed to his brother on January 26, 1831, Jedediah Smith says this. He's writing about the motivation for his life. He said that he exists and works and is driven by the idea that "in God we live and move and have our being" and that "on bended knee we ought to offer up the grateful acknowledgement of His dear Son, knowing that for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." So Smith then saw himself as the agent, as the spokesman for God, as a tool to be used from God and to draw others to faith in Jesus Christ. Of Jedediah Smith, it was stated, "Jedediah Smith, the Bible-carrying mountain man fur trader, and trapper explored and mapped most of the Far West in the 1820s from Colorado and Wyoming to Utah to California and Oregon."

Remember, he did all this in eight years. In an 1832 eulogy in the Illinois Monthly, they called Jedediah Smith "a man whom none could approach without respect and whom none could know without esteem." And as a mountain man, explorer and trapper, Jedediah Smith was doubtless the greatest pathfinder of them all. Now, let me ask you a question. What does Jedediah Smith's testimony in life have to do with us today? You see, it's not just a man's life and to know that a man lived. And to know the dates that he lived. And to know what he did. We must know how that is to affect us. You know, I've used this verse so many times I've quoted it so many times. And Matthew 21 verse 32.

Application: Holding Fast in Any Environment

Weaver applies Smith's example by urging believers to hold fast to their faith regardless of environment, using Matthew 21:32 and several 'hold fast' passages.

Now, let me ask you a question. What does Jedediah Smith's testimony in life have to do with us today? You see, it's not just a man's life and to know that a man lived. And to know the dates that he lived. And to know what he did. We must know how that is to affect us. You know, I've used this verse so many times I've quoted it so many times. And Matthew 21 verse 32.

Jesus Christ looked at those Pharisees. And He said concerning John the Baptist, He said, "You believe him not. But the publicans and the harlots believed him." Listen to what He said now. "And you, when you had seen it, repented not afterwards that you might believe." In other words, what our Lord is saying, that these people were responsible to learn from the work of God in the lives of others. So that means you and I are responsible to learn from the life of Jedediah Smith and the work that God did in his life. So what are we to learn? Let me give you several things. The first one is this. Listen carefully. The truth is that one can live a godly, obedient Christian life regardless of one's environment, companions, and circumstances. If Jedediah Smith could be a godly man in the roughest company, in the roughest country, in the roughest environment, if he could be obedient and live according to the Word of God in his day and time, is it not possible for you and I to do the same, even though we are in a much better environment and a much better company?

You know, we are encouraged in the Bible to hold fast. I want you to stop and think about this. Hold fast. Jedediah Smith, in the worst environment, in the worst company, held fast that which he believed. I'm going to give you some passages. And each one of these passages that I'm going to quote is from the Greek word krateo, which literally means to have power, to be powerful, to seize and to hold on to and to not let go. Here's what the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 21: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." Hold fast that which is good. You hold on to it.

You do not let it go. You do not let it slip. You prove all things, hold fast that which is good. Listen to Hebrews 4 and verse 14:

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 4:14

"Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession."

Do you realize that Jesus Christ witnessed a good profession before Pontius Pilate? And Paul told Timothy to hold fast that profession that he had made as well. And here Jedediah Smith is holding fast his profession of faith before all of these wicked mountain men. It did not matter about his company. Did not matter about his environment. He was holding fast his profession of faith. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 10 in verse 23,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 4:14

"Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised)."

So let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. And even our Lord admonished His church in Revelation 2 in verse 25, "But that which ye have already hold fast till I come." Hold fast. So if a man like Jedediah Smith could hold fast the Christian faith in the environment and in the company in which he lived, we should not have much difficulty to do that today. The second is this.

Application: Worship in Uncomfortable Settings

Weaver contrasts Smith's worship in harsh conditions with modern excuses for neglecting church and Bible reading, citing Luke 11:31-32.

Smith saw the work of God in the physical creation of a wild American West. Most of us have never, ever really seen the West. We know we have not. Most of us stay in the South all of our lives. I'm thankful that God has allowed me to travel and preach a good bit. But you would be absolutely astounded at God's creation in Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, California, Oregon, and Smith, when he saw these places, he worshiped the God who created all of this. He celebrated his faith daily with Bible reading and prayer. He sang hymns as he traveled in the mountains. When he was in a civilized area, he cleaned up and he went to church. One biographer said this, it was said of Jedediah that he made the lone wilderness his place of meditation, the mountaintop his altar, and that he made religion an active, practical principle from the duties of which nothing could seduce or dissuade him.

Here's the fact that I think you and I must face. Smith worshipped and served God in a most uncomfortable setting. I am thankful I have never faced a grizzly bear. I'm thankful I've never faced wild Indians. I'm thankful I've never faced freezing to death. But I've got news for you. If Smith could worship and serve God in the face of such difficulties, what is wrong with us when we have all the comforts of heat and air conditioning and soft chairs and pews and electrical lighting and so much more. And still we will not worship as we should. We will not be thankful.

We will not be appreciative. You should hear some of the excuses that I receive as a pastor as to why people will not come to church. "Well, we had company show up." I have company that shows up, too. I give them the opportunity. You may either go with us or stay here until we get back. "Well, I woke up this morning and my big toe was hurting." "I have a headache." Isn't it amazing? I'm just trying to point out the fact that here Smith was worshipping God in the worst of conditions, and here we are in the best of conditions, and we make every excuse to stay out of the house of God, away from the preaching of the Word of God, and most of the time, we cannot even get away from the TV set long enough to read a chapter out of the Bible. Do you understand what I'm saying?

I want you to turn to a passage. I want you to look in your Bibles to Luke chapter 11. I want you to see what our Lord said. Look in Luke chapter 11. Look in Luke chapter 11. Let's begin reading in verse 31. Luke 11, verse 31. Look what our Lord says. Luke 11, verse 31: "The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them."

"For she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here." Now, why is the queen of the south? Why is the queen of Sheba going to rise up, our Lord says, and judge this generation? She's going to rise up and testify against that generation. Here's why. He said, because she came from the utmost parts of the earth. She traveled a great distance just to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And he said, "Behold, a greater than Solomon is here." What about the men of Nineveh? How are they going to condemn the generation? Because Jonah went through preaching, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."

He didn't have three points and a poem. He just said one thing. "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." And these people repented at the very first hearing of Jonah's preaching. And men hear truth over and over and over and over and reject it. The queen of Sheba traveled great distances just to hear truth. And today, most people will not walk across the street to hear a message from the Word of God. And when they do hear, they reject it. They refuse it.

Conclusion and Prayer

Weaver concludes with a call to emulate Smith's virtues and a prayer for God to raise up more such men.

I've got news for you. I had rather be a Jedediah Strong Smith in the mountains, in the worst environment, with the worst companions, holding fast the faith of Jesus Christ, than to be in the midst of a lukewarm, ignorant, and apathetic group of Christians. We need to learn to hold fast, to stand for truth, and not let circumstances, situations, environments, companions, people hinder us from that which we know is right. And we need to make every effort to learn the Word of God and apply it to our lives. My prayer would be that God would give us more men like Jedediah Smith. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You, Father, for godly men in time and history from whom we can learn biblical principles.

And from whom, Lord, we can emulate their manly virtues and their Christian graces. Help us, Lord, to be holy, to be godly, and to stand, and having done all, to stand. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Godly Masculine Christianity

Summary: Weaver presents Jedediah Smith as a rare example of masculine, godly Christianity in an era hostile to such ideals.

Evidence: We're living today in a day and time when there are so few real men and so few real examples of godly, masculine Christianity... everything is against a white Christian man... So you and I need some examples and we need someone to emulate.

Consistent Christian Living in a Hostile Environment

Summary: Smith maintained his faith, morals, and practices despite being surrounded by irreligious and rough mountain men.

Evidence: Jedediah Strong Smith was a Christian and not just simply a professor of Christianity. He lived and he practiced his Christianity in a day, in an atmosphere, in an environment where most men were irreligious.

Holding Fast to Faith

Summary: Believers are exhorted to hold fast to their profession of faith without wavering, as Smith did.

Evidence: Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised).

Worship and Devotion in All Circumstances

Summary: Smith worshipped God through Bible reading, prayer, and hymn singing even in the wilderness, challenging modern complacency.

Evidence: At the end of a long day of hiking in the mountains, he would light a fire, he would cook his food and eat, and then he would spend the evening reading his Bible and singing hymns.

Learning from Historical Examples

Summary: Weaver argues that Christians are responsible to learn from God's work in the lives of others, using Matthew 21:32.

Evidence: Jesus Christ looked at those Pharisees. And He said concerning John the Baptist... 'And you, when you had seen it, repented not afterwards that you might believe.' In other words, what our Lord is saying, that these people were responsible to learn from the work of God in the lives of others.

God's Providence in History

Summary: History is presented as the unfolding of God's eternal decree, making the study of history essential for understanding God.

Evidence: History is nothing less than God's eternal decree coming to pass in time. If you and I want to really understand God and we want to understand His decree, we have to study history.

Key Arguments

Environment does not determine godliness

Summary: Smith's life proves that one can live a godly, obedient Christian life regardless of environment, companions, or circumstances.

Evidence: If Jedediah Smith could be a godly man in the roughest company, in the roughest country, in the roughest environment... is it not possible for you and I to do the same, even though we are in a much better environment?

Modern Christians make excuses while Smith worshipped in hardship

Summary: Weaver contrasts Smith's faithful worship in extreme danger and discomfort with modern believers' trivial excuses for missing church.

Evidence: If Smith could worship and serve God in the face of such difficulties, what is wrong with us when we have all the comforts... And still we will not worship as we should.

The Queen of Sheba and Ninevites will condemn this generation

Summary: Using Luke 11:31-32, Weaver argues that those who traveled far or repented at little preaching will judge those who reject greater light.

Evidence: The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them. For she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Smith's motivation was service, not selfish gain

Summary: Unlike other mountain men, Smith endured dangers to help others and support his parents, not for money or fame.

Evidence: It is that I may be able to help those who stand in need that I face every danger... I want to smooth the lives of my parents in their old age.

Scripture References

Joshua 14:6-13

Context: Read at the opening as the parallel to Jedediah Smith's desire for a mountain and his wholehearted following of God.

Matthew 21:32

Context: Used to show that people are responsible to learn from God's work in others' lives.

1 Thessalonians 5:21

Context: Quoted to exhort believers to hold fast that which is good.

Hebrews 4:14

Context: Quoted to encourage holding fast our profession of faith.

Hebrews 10:23

Context: Quoted to urge holding fast the profession of faith without wavering.

Revelation 2:25

Context: Quoted as Christ's admonition to hold fast until He comes.

Luke 11:31-32

Context: Read to show that the Queen of Sheba and men of Nineveh will condemn those who reject greater light.

Historical References

Jedediah Strong Smith (1799-1831)

Context: The central figure of the sermon, a mountain man, explorer, and devout Christian.

William H. Ashley

Context: Lieutenant Governor of Missouri who placed the ad that recruited Smith into the fur trade.

Arikara Indian attack (June 1, 1823)

Context: Battle where Smith distinguished himself with bravery; led to the first Christian worship service in South Dakota.

Hugh Glass

Context: Fellow mountain man mauled by a grizzly bear, left for dead, and crawled 250 miles to safety.

Jim Bridger

Context: Young mountain man who abandoned Hugh Glass but was later forgiven; became a famous frontiersman.

Rocky Mountain Fur Company

Context: Company Smith became a partner in, later known as Smith, Jackson, and Sublette.

Lewis and Clark's journals (1814 edition)

Context: One of the three books Smith always carried; only 1,417 copies were sold to the public.

Comanche attack (1831)

Context: Smith was killed by Comanche warriors while looking for water on the Santa Fe Trail.

Important Quotes

I started into the mountains with the determination of becoming a first-rate hunter, of making myself thoroughly acquainted with the character and habits of the Indians, of tracing out the sources of the Columbia River, and following it to its mouth, and making the whole profitable unto me, and I have perfectly succeeded.

Significance: Shows Smith's clear goals and determination, which he fulfilled in eight years.

Mr. Smith, a young man of our company made a powerful prayer which moved us greatly. And I am persuaded that John died in peace.

Significance: Demonstrates Smith's spiritual impact on rough mountain men, recorded by Hugh Glass.

Then let us come forward with faith, nothing doubting, and He that is God will unquestionably hear us.

Significance: A journal entry revealing Smith's active faith and prayer life.

My brother, I have need of your prayers to bear me up before the throne of grace.

Significance: Shows Smith's dependence on prayer amidst constant danger.

He made religion an active principle from the duties of which nothing could seduce him.

Significance: A biographer's summary of Smith's unwavering Christian commitment.

Discussion Questions

How does Jedediah Smith's life challenge the idea that our environment determines our ability to live a godly life?

Context: Weaver argues that Smith proved one can live obediently in the roughest company and conditions.

What modern 'excuses' do we make that prevent us from worshipping and serving God as faithfully as Smith did?

Context: Weaver contrasts Smith's worship in hardship with trivial reasons people give for missing church.

In what ways can we 'hold fast' our profession of faith in our current cultural setting?

Context: Multiple 'hold fast' passages are cited as direct application from Smith's example.

How does the account of the Queen of Sheba and the Ninevites in Luke 11:31-32 apply to our generation's response to the gospel?

Context: Weaver uses this passage to warn that those with less light will condemn those who reject greater truth.

What can we learn from Smith's motivation to help others and support his parents, and how should that shape our own priorities?

Context: Smith's letters reveal his desire to serve others and care for his family, not pursue selfish gain.

Applications

Hold fast to your faith regardless of environment

Summary: Believers must hold fast to their profession of faith without wavering, no matter how hostile or ungodly their surroundings.

Evidence: If Jedediah Smith could be a godly man in the roughest company... is it not possible for you and I to do the same?

Prioritize worship and Scripture despite comfort or inconvenience

Summary: Modern Christians should not let comfort or minor inconveniences keep them from church, Bible reading, and prayer.

Evidence: If Smith could worship and serve God in the face of such difficulties, what is wrong with us when we have all the comforts... And still we will not worship as we should.

Learn from historical examples of godliness

Summary: Christians are responsible to learn from God's work in the lives of others, as Jesus taught in Matthew 21:32.

Evidence: These people were responsible to learn from the work of God in the lives of others. So that means you and I are responsible to learn from the life of Jedediah Smith.

Serve others and honor parents as a motivation for work

Summary: Like Smith, believers should be motivated by a desire to help those in need and care for aging parents.

Evidence: It is that I may be able to help those who stand in need that I face every danger... I want to smooth the lives of my parents in their old age.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T12:24:38Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-05T20:29:57Z

Clean Transcript

Jedediah Strong Smith-Mountain Man

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Let's open our Bibles today to the book of Joshua chapter 14. Joshua chapter 14. And we're going to read verses 6 through 13. Joshua chapter 14, beginning there with verse 6. I will tell you about the title of the message in just a moment. Look, if you would please, in Joshua chapter 14, beginning with verse 6. A passage I'm sure that everyone is familiar with. Joshua 14, verse 6: "Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh Barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land."
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"And I brought word again as it was in my heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy foot hath trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God. And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty-five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. And yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out and to come in. Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced."
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"If so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance." One of the places that I preached in this last series of meetings out West was at a Christian history conference. And I was asked to deal with two particular messages, one of which I'm going to bring today, another I will be bringing sometime in the future. I've got about a dozen messages ready that I want to preach, and I also have five or six more that I'm working on at the present time. So today I'm going to be bringing a message which is entitled "Jedediah Strong Smith: Mountain Man." Now, you've probably never heard of Jedediah Strong Smith, but let me just mention something about history. First of all, you must understand that history is nothing less than God's eternal decree coming to pass in time. If you and I want to really understand God and we want to understand His decree, we have to study history and we have to know what happened in time.
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Because nothing comes to pass except that which God has ordained. And secondly, may I point out, we're living today in a day and time when there are so few real men and so few real examples of godly, masculine Christianity. In fact, the truth of the matter today is everything is against the man, everything against white man, and everything is against a white Christian man, and everything is against a white Southern Christian man, particularly. And so you and I need some examples and we need someone to emulate.
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So Jedediah Strong Smith was like Caleb. He wanted a mountain and he became one of the best mountain men that ever lived. He said, and I'm quoting, "I started into the mountains with the determination of becoming a first-rate hunter, of making myself thoroughly acquainted with the character and habits of the Indians, of tracing out the sources of the Columbia River, and following it to its mouth, and making the whole profitable unto me, and I have perfectly succeeded." Jedediah Strong Smith is unique in many ways. First, he was born January the 6th, 1799 in Bainbridge, New York.
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However, he was raised in Pennsylvania and in Ohio. It's almost inconceivable that such a man as I'm going to describe today could have been born in the East.
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Secondly, this man achieved in eight short years absolute greatness. He did more in eight short years than most people have done in a lifetime. For instance, during those eight years, he, with Thomas Fitzpatrick, discovered the South Pass, the gateway to the continent. He was the first white man to cross the Sierra Nevada. He was the first to walk into California from the American frontier. He was the first to taste the bitter waters of the Great Salt Lake. He was the first to accomplish the whole of the Great Basin. He was the first to enter into Oregon, walking up from California. And he was also the first to officiate a public Christian worship service in what is now the state of South Dakota. In his lifetime, Jedediah Strong Smith would travel more extensively in unknown territory than any other mountain man. It was California historian James J. Rawls that asserts that Jedediah Strong Smith is the explorer that is truly worthy of the title "the Pathfinder" rather than the self-promoting John C. Frémont. So he is saying Jedediah Strong Smith actually deserves the title, "the Pathfinder."
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And thirdly, as you probably already surmised, Jedediah Strong Smith was a Christian and not just simply a professor of Christianity. He lived and he practiced his Christianity in a day, in an atmosphere, in an environment where most men were irreligious. They could care less about God and the Bible. Mountain men were known as drinkers, and gamblers, and fornicators. They were a rough, uneducated bunch, and they were often very uncomfortable in what you and I would call civilized society. But this was not the case with Jedediah Smith. He was also called "Diah" for short, but Jedediah was educated. He was modest. He was temperate.
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No profanity came out of his mouth. His honesty and his morals were unquestionable. At the end of a long day of hiking in the mountains, he would light a fire, he would cook his food and eat, and then he would spend the evening reading his Bible and singing hymns. His fellow mountain men thought his religion strange, but his genuineness certainly won them over. Furthermore, none could question his talents as a scout, or his endurance on the trail.
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Jedediah Strong Smith was tall, silent, and he never used tobacco. He never used profanity and he never boasted. He was reared a Wesleyan Methodist in those days when the holy fire of Wesleyanism engulfed the West. Smith was a devout Christian who always remained a gentleman, even in the wildest frontier company. He was cool under pressure with strength and leadership that was grounded in his faith.
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In the annals of his fellow mountain men and the more civilized contemporaries that knew him, the record is clear concerning his consistent and unmatched leadership, his exceptional courage, and his unblemished Christian character. His closest compatriots said he made religion an active principle from the duties of which nothing could seduce him. Nothing could draw him away from his Christianity. One author put it like this: "He took his religion with him into the wilderness and let nothing corrode it." The author then continues, he said, "That would have made him merely curious, except that he took with him also indifference, deprivation, and personal suffering. Endurance beyond the point where other men died. Courage and coolness under fire. Intelligence that impressed everyone. Leadership of a high order and energy and drive enough for three men."
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So here is a man that is outstanding. Here is a man that seemingly is unequaled. Here is a man that can do things that obviously most men cannot do. Another author stated, "Smith did not fit the stereotype of the typical mountain man. He never drank. He never used tobacco. He never boasted and was rarely humorous. But that which stands out in his life is his stringent faith. He prayed. He studied his Bible. He meditated."
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He worshipped the God of heaven and earth. Jedediah Smith never married. His closest companions were his Bible and his rifle. Wherever Jedediah Smith went, he carried three books. He carried his Bible. He carried his journal, and he carried an original 1814 first copy of Lewis and Clark's journals. According to the information that I read, only 1,417 of those journals were ever sold to the public. And he had one of those. So Jedediah Smith is an individual then who practices faith on a daily basis.
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He's not someone who would just simply worship on Sunday and forget it the rest of the week. No, no, no. He was someone who was absolutely, totally consistent. Here's one of the entries in his journal. He said, "Then let us come forward with faith, nothing doubting, and He that is God will unquestionably hear us." Let us come forth in faith. When fellow trapper John Gardner died, Jedediah Smith gave the eulogy.
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And it was recorded by another member of that expedition, Hugh Glass. Hugh Glass said, "Mr. Smith, a young man of our company made a powerful prayer which moved us greatly. And I am persuaded that John died in peace." Notice if you would, he said, "Mr. Smith, a young man of our company, made a powerful prayer and all were moved greatly. And I am persuaded that John died in peace." Please remember this. This statement was made by a fellow member of the expedition whose name was Hugh Glass. I'm going to mention Hugh Glass just shortly in reference to another episode.
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Jedediah knew most of the mountain men. He worked with them, he traded with them, and he ministered to them as he was able. Jedediah Smith survived what you and I would call frigid winters, scorching summers, ravages of timber wolves, grizzly bears, and two horrific massacres and a bloody melee with the Indians. Jedediah Smith began when he was at the age of 22 when he answered an ad in the Missouri Gazette placed by Missouri's Lieutenant Governor William H. Ashley. Here was the ad. Ashley was seeking for "enterprising young men to ascend the River Missouri to its source to be employed for three years." So here was an ad actually asking men to come and work for three years in the wilderness. He made his way to Missouri in 1822, determined to become a trapper. And so he's working now with the Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, William Henry Ashley. And they not only traveled up the Missouri River, they also went to the mouth of Yellowstone River.
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There he remained with a man by the name of Andrew Henry until the following spring. After that, he went downriver to where Ashley had wintered. Ashley and Smith and the other fur trappers soon encountered hostilities with the Arikara Indians. It was in this battle that ensued on June the 1st, 1823, that Smith was supposedly to have distinguished himself with bravery and coolness and courage. Jedediah Smith, as I mentioned earlier, is credited with conducting the first Christian worship service in the current state of South Dakota.
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In performing this, he was in actuality working out as a missionary as well. Let me give you the context of this worship service. It was on May the 31st, 1823, when Smith and his men were brutally attacked in their encampment outside the Twin Villages by the Arikara Indians. The Arikara Indians, of course, were from South Dakota. Thirteen trappers died in that massacre, and eleven were wounded. At an impromptu funeral service, Jedediah Smith stepped forward to pray to God, whose judgment had fallen upon them that day, and whose love and mercy they sorely needed. And he stepped forward and conducted not only this funeral, but also a worship service known to be the very first one in the state of South Dakota. They then buried these men who had died and merely placed a log over their graves for fear that the Indians would come along and discover the graves and dig them up as well. So these men were trappers, they were hunters. To show you how successful they were, Jedediah Smith, along with William Henry Ashley and his party, brought nearly 9,000 pounds of beaver pelts to St. Louis in 1825.
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Can you think about that? 9,000 pounds of beaver pelts. That's a lot of beaver. Smith became a partner in what became known as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. In 1826, Smith, along with David E. Jackson and William and Milton Sublette, bought the company from William Ashley. Jedediah Smith was indeed a fur trapper, and since he now bought this business with these men, it was now referred to as Smith, Jackson, and Sublette. And Sublette, of course, those two brothers were great trappers and mountain men as well. And they sold furs at a rendezvous in the Great Salt Lake in 1827. Now, mountain men usually face three great dangers. They face, number one, the Indians, number two, the weather, and number three, grizzly bears. Either one of these could provide very great suffering and death. In a letter that Jedediah Smith wrote to his brother Ralph on December the 24th, 1829, Smith said this: "Many hostile tribes of Indians inhabit this space. In August 1827, ten men who were in company with me lost their lives by the Amuchabas Indians."
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"In July 1828, fifteen men who were in company with me lost their lives by the Umpqua Indians. Many others have lost their lives in different places." Then he says, "My brother, I have need of your prayers to bear me up before the throne of grace." So here's a man facing Indians almost daily and saying, "Look, I need your prayers to hold me up before the throne of grace." Now, on the second expedition in 1824, I want you to listen and find out what kind of a Christian man Jedediah Smith really was. Because on this second expedition in 1824, Jedediah Smith was attacked by a grizzly bear. Now, Jim Clyman was one of the men in the expedition. Jim Clyman was there. He was an eyewitness. And here's what he wrote.
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"The grizzly did not hesitate a moment, but sprang on the captain, taking him by the head, first pitching, sprawling on the earth, breaking several of his ribs and cutting his head badly. The bear had taken nearly all his head in his capacious mouth, close to the left eye on the one side and close to the right ear on the other side, and laid the skull bare to near the crown of the head. One of his ears was torn from the head out to the outer rim. The bear would not quit."
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He would not give up. "The grizzly's great grip snapped the captain's knife and several of his ribs at the same time. Clyman had his gun handy by then, and he was afraid that captain was already done for. But Clyman put a bullet in the bear's big stomach that pulled the beast off the captain. But that didn't stop its rage. Ed Rose fired a slug into its head and it went down."
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"Then a few more of the men shot it again. Then they wrote, 'You can't trust a grizzly to die until you hit it four or five times. And then you better not turn your back either too soon.' But listen to what Clyman wrote: 'But the captain just lay there looking up as calm as he could be. No moaning. No cursing, no rage as would have come from the rest of his men if their heads nearly bitten off by a mountain bear.'"
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"Boys," Smith said as he caught his breath, "you got to fix me up. Take hold of the captain," said Clyman to Thomas Fitzpatrick, who was bending over the wounded man, "and we'll carry him to water." But nobody wanted to move him. He was hurt so badly. So they asked him what was best. "Go for water," Smith said. "And if you've got a needle and thread, get it out and sort my wounds."
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Listen, his head was bleeding like a river runs and none of the party knew anything about surgical matters, but they had to do something. So Clyman got out a pair of scissors, cut off Smith's hair and began his first job of dressing wounds. The bear had jawed down close to Smith's left eye on the one side and close to his right ear on the other and had laid the skull bare nearly to the crown of the head. One of the ears was torn from his head and barely hanging on. And there was James Clyman of Virginia with one big old needle and some black thread. Clyman stitched him up as best he could while the captain gave directions himself.
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So here's Jedediah Smith telling the man who's sewing him up what to do. "The ear was last of all. 'I can't do it, Jed,' Clyman protested. 'It's too torn up.' 'Oh, you must try to stitch it up in one way or the other,' Smith said. And so Clyman put the needle in and stitched that ear through and through, laying the last braided parts together as nice as he could."
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When it was done, the captain was able to get up and mount his horse. They rode about a mile from there to the water they had found and pitched their tent. With only one tent, Smith was made as comfortable as circumstances would permit. This day gave them a lesson of the character of the grizzly bear that they did not forget, and it taught them even more about the kind of man who was leading them through the wilderness. Listen, after two weeks of rest, Smith resumed leading the expedition. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine a man being torn up by a grizzly bear and remaining so calm that he's giving directions to the man who's sewing him up? And after he gets sewed up, he's able to balance horse and ride a mile to an encampment. And then after two weeks of rest, he resumes the expedition. Not everyone that had a run-in with a grizzly bear was as blessed as Jedediah Smith.
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You remember I mentioned a man by the name of Hugh Glass a little bit earlier? Hugh Glass also had a run-in with a grizzly bear. Hugh Glass was only mauled by a grizzly bear. He was left for dead by his companions. And he stumbled over 250 miles to Fort Kiowa to get help. It's the same group of trappers because it happened in August or early September of 1823 because Henry and the remaining of his party of 15 men were well up the Grand River and Hugh Glass had been hired as a hunter to provide meat for the men. And Hugh Glass was the head of the expedition searching for game in the river bottom. When out came a she-grizzly with two cubs. And she rushed upon Hugh Glass and attacked him so quickly, Hugh could do nothing but scream. The other members of the party heard him screaming and hurried as quickly as they could to Hugh. And when they got there, they finally killed the bear. But his wounds were so severe Mr. Henry said that old Glass would not live until morning.
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But however, the next day, Hugh Glass was still alive. Well, you remember now they're in Indian territory, and so Mr. Ashley determines the best thing to do is to keep moving. We can't stay still. And so they fix a litter. And they put Glass in the litter and men are carrying him. Remember now, he's just there. After two days of this, they're going so slowly and they're in danger of the Indians. And there's another party that they're trying to join up with. And until they can join together and have a sufficient force to fight any renegade Indians, both parties are still in danger.
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So Henry then makes a proposition. He asked for two men to volunteer to stay behind and bury old Glass when he dies. And then make their way to the fort. And if they would stay behind, he would give them a bonus of $80 extra each. Well, one of the men that agreed to stay behind was a man by the name of John Fitzgerald. You see, Henry not only wanted to save the rest of his men, but he also wanted to fulfill his Christian duty to give old Glass a decent burial. So John Fitzgerald and a younger man agreed to stay behind. The younger man, it was his first venture into the wilderness. It was the first expedition he was going to be on. The information I'm going to give you, let me tell you where it comes from.
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The original account was written by James Hall and published in 1825. But Hall did not give the names of these two men. Later on, another article by Edmund Flagg in 1838 gave the name of John Fitzgerald and he also gave the name of a younger man that stayed with Fitzgerald as the name of Bridges. There was a man by the name of Hiram M. Chittenden who wrote a comprehensive history of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and all of that era. And he got his information and he named the younger man as Jim Bridger, James Bridger. So here is John Fitzgerald. And I'll tell you about Jim Bridger shortly. Here is John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger who have agreed to stay behind now until old Glass dies and bury him and then make their way to the fort.
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The only visible motions in Hugh Glass were his breathing and his eye movement. That was all. He could move his eyes and he could breathe. But nothing else. Five days later, after the party left and John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger were there with old Glass, five days later, old Glass was still alive. However, John Fitzgerald, the older man, recognized the danger that they were in. And he knew the Indians were on the move and it was just the two of them. So he thought, well, we've already stayed longer than Mr. Henry's asked us to because Henry thought old Glass was going to go under and we thought he was going to die. So what we better do is just leave him to die on his own and get ourselves to safety and join up with the other company. So they took Hugh Glass on a litter and put him by the water and then took his rifle, his knife, his tomahawk, and his fire making equipment, things that a dead man's not going to need anyhow, and left him.
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Hugh Glass was still alive. When he realized that he had been deserted by his friends, he determined that he was going to live. He began to crawl toward the Missouri River. As he was crawling, he had a real desire not only to survive, but to revenge himself against those two cowardly caretakers. And he was motivated and he was pushed to survive. Due to his injuries, his travel was exceedingly slow. Here was a man crawling. And the only nourishment that he could find as he crawled was from insects and snakes and grass, or whatever he could grasp. A week into his painful trek, while he was crawling, he came across some wolves who were killing a buffalo calf. And so he stopped and he watched the wolves. And after they had eaten all they wanted, old Glass crawled and got half the carcass of that buffalo calf. Went to a safe place and laid himself up for two weeks until he'd eaten all of that buffalo meat. After two weeks of rest and that nourishment, he was able to walk a little bit and stumble.
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He then walked and stumbled until he got to the Missouri River and he found some Lakota Sioux Indians who were friendly and from them, he got a hide boat and drifted then down the river and then stumbled into Fort Kiowa on October 1823. He had crawled, walked, stumbled, and drifted 250 miles. Can you imagine that? 250 miles. And although his wounds were dressed and although he got everything that he needed to revenge himself, he was unable to do so because John Fitzgerald had joined the army and he was out of reach. And when he found out who the young man was, Jim Bridger, and noticed that he was young and it was his first expedition, he forgave him. Jim Bridger, it's known for Bridger's Pass, for Fort Bridger. James Bridger died on a Missouri farm in 1881 at the age of 77, and he was one of the last living mountain men. It seems as if the lives of all these mountain men were interwoven, and they had to be because they lived together, they worked together, they fought together.
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But not all of them had the same motivations. Jedediah Smith was someone who was quite different from the other mountain men. It was not simply money that Jedediah Smith wanted or fame that he desired. He really wanted to serve the Lord. He wrote to his brother Ralph, he said this: "It is that I may be able to help those who stand in need that I face every danger."
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"It is for this that I traverse the mountains covered with eternal snow. It is for this that I pass over the sandy plains in the heat of the summer, thirsty for water. It is for this that I go for days without eating and am pretty much satisfied if I can gather a few roots, a few snails, or much better, a piece of horse flesh or a fine roasted dog, let it be the greatest pleasure that we can enjoy to smooth the pillow of our parents' age as much as in us lies and take from them all causes of trouble."
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I want you to notice what he said. He said, "I'm doing all this to help others mainly." And he said, "Finally, I want to smooth the lives of my parents in their old age." Jedediah was concerned for his elderly parents. He wanted to make their last days as comfortable as possible. He therefore, listen carefully, he therefore inserted some money into his letter to help support his elderly parents, and the amount of money he inserted was $2,200, which was not pocket change back in those days. $2,200. Wow. On December 24, 1829, from the Wind River on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, Jedediah Smith wrote his parents, who were in Ohio, and he said this: "It is a long time since I left home, and many times I have been ready to bring my business to a close and endeavor to come home, but have been hitherto hindered. However, I will endeavor by the assistance of divine providence to come home as soon as possible."
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"But whether I shall ever be allowed the privilege, God only knows. I feel the need of the watch and care of a Christian church. You may well suppose that our society is the roughest kind. Men of good morals seldom enter into this business of this kind. I hope that you will remember me before the throne of grace. May God, in his infinite mercy, allow me to soon join my parents is the prayer of your undutiful son, Jedediah Smith."
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In 1830, Jedediah's mother died and it rattled him. He was convicted over the neglect of his family. And he decided he had enough of mountain life. So he purchased a farm and a townhouse complete with servants in St. Louis, Missouri. However, he had to make one last trip into the mountains. Because when Smith sold his shares in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, the year before he had agreed to help procure supplies for the subsequent owners.
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He left in the spring of 1831 and while looking for water on the Santa Fe Trail, he was killed by Comanche warriors. Now, according to Dale Morgan, who was Jedediah Smith's biographer, he said, and I'm quoting, "Jedediah was looking for water for the 1831 expedition when he came upon an estimated 15 to 20 Comanches. There was a brief face-to-face standoff until the Comanches scared his horse and shot Smith in the left shoulder. After gasping from the injury, Jedediah wheeled his horse around and with one rifle shot was able to kill the chief. The Comanches then rushed on Jedediah, who did not have time to use his pistols, and stabbed him to death with their lances." Austin Smith, Jedediah's brother, was able to retrieve Jedediah's rifle and pistols that the Indians had taken and sold to Mexican traders. As a mountain man, Jedediah Smith was aware that he was involved both in trailblazing in the wilderness and in what you and I would call basic Christian missionary work. Jedediah Smith saw the West differently than a lot of people.
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He saw the West as being the creation of God, the great Creator, to be there for the use of His people. Here's what he wrote. He spoke of divine providence that guided and protected him against the dangers on the trail. In a letter addressed to his brother on January 26, 1831, Jedediah Smith says this. He's writing about the motivation for his life. He said that he exists and works and is driven by the idea that "in God we live and move and have our being" and that "on bended knee we ought to offer up the grateful acknowledgement of His dear Son, knowing that for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." So Smith then saw himself as the agent, as the spokesman for God, as a tool to be used from God and to draw others to faith in Jesus Christ. Of Jedediah Smith, it was stated, "Jedediah Smith, the Bible-carrying mountain man fur trader, and trapper explored and mapped most of the Far West in the 1820s from Colorado and Wyoming to Utah to California and Oregon."
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Remember, he did all this in eight years. In an 1832 eulogy in the Illinois Monthly, they called Jedediah Smith "a man whom none could approach without respect and whom none could know without esteem." And as a mountain man, explorer and trapper, Jedediah Smith was doubtless the greatest pathfinder of them all.
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Now, let me ask you a question. What does Jedediah Smith's testimony in life have to do with us today? You see, it's not just a man's life and to know that a man lived. And to know the dates that he lived. And to know what he did. We must know how that is to affect us. You know, I've used this verse so many times I've quoted it so many times. And Matthew 21 verse 32.
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Jesus Christ looked at those Pharisees. And He said concerning John the Baptist, He said, "You believe him not. But the publicans and the harlots believed him." Listen to what He said now. "And you, when you had seen it, repented not afterwards that you might believe." In other words, what our Lord is saying, that these people were responsible to learn from the work of God in the lives of others. So that means you and I are responsible to learn from the life of Jedediah Smith and the work that God did in his life. So what are we to learn?
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Let me give you several things. The first one is this. Listen carefully. The truth is that one can live a godly, obedient Christian life regardless of one's environment, companions, and circumstances. If Jedediah Smith could be a godly man in the roughest company, in the roughest country, in the roughest environment, if he could be obedient and live according to the Word of God in his day and time, is it not possible for you and I to do the same, even though we are in a much better environment and a much better company?
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You know, we are encouraged in the Bible to hold fast. I want you to stop and think about this. Hold fast. Jedediah Smith, in the worst environment, in the worst company, held fast that which he believed. I'm going to give you some passages. And each one of these passages that I'm going to quote is from the Greek word krateo, which literally means to have power, to be powerful, to seize and to hold on to and to not let go. Here's what the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 21: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." Hold fast that which is good. You hold on to it.
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You do not let it go. You do not let it slip. You prove all things, hold fast that which is good. Listen to Hebrews 4 and verse 14: "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession." Do you realize that Jesus Christ witnessed a good profession before Pontius Pilate? And Paul told Timothy to hold fast that profession that he had made as well. And here Jedediah Smith is holding fast his profession of faith before all of these wicked mountain men.
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It did not matter about his company. Did not matter about his environment. He was holding fast his profession of faith. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 10 in verse 23, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised)." So let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. And even our Lord admonished His church in Revelation 2 in verse 25, "But that which ye have already hold fast till I come." Hold fast. So if a man like Jedediah Smith could hold fast the Christian faith in the environment and in the company in which he lived, we should not have much difficulty to do that today. The second is this.
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Smith saw the work of God in the physical creation of a wild American West. Most of us have never, ever really seen the West. We know we have not. Most of us stay in the South all of our lives. I'm thankful that God has allowed me to travel and preach a good bit. But you would be absolutely astounded at God's creation in Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, California, Oregon, and Smith, when he saw these places, he worshiped the God who created all of this.
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He celebrated his faith daily with Bible reading and prayer. He sang hymns as he traveled in the mountains. When he was in a civilized area, he cleaned up and he went to church. One biographer said this, it was said of Jedediah that he made the lone wilderness his place of meditation, the mountaintop his altar, and that he made religion an active, practical principle from the duties of which nothing could seduce or dissuade him.
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Here's the fact that I think you and I must face. Smith worshipped and served God in a most uncomfortable setting. I am thankful I have never faced a grizzly bear. I'm thankful I've never faced wild Indians. I'm thankful I've never faced freezing to death. But I've got news for you. If Smith could worship and serve God in the face of such difficulties, what is wrong with us when we have all the comforts of heat and air conditioning and soft chairs and pews and electrical lighting and so much more. And still we will not worship as we should. We will not be thankful.
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We will not be appreciative. You should hear some of the excuses that I receive as a pastor as to why people will not come to church. "Well, we had company show up." I have company that shows up, too. I give them the opportunity. You may either go with us or stay here until we get back. "Well, I woke up this morning and my big toe was hurting." "I have a headache." Isn't it amazing?
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I'm just trying to point out the fact that here Smith was worshipping God in the worst of conditions, and here we are in the best of conditions, and we make every excuse to stay out of the house of God, away from the preaching of the Word of God, and most of the time, we cannot even get away from the TV set long enough to read a chapter out of the Bible. Do you understand what I'm saying?
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I want you to turn to a passage. I want you to look in your Bibles to Luke chapter 11. I want you to see what our Lord said. Look in Luke chapter 11. Look in Luke chapter 11. Let's begin reading in verse 31. Luke 11, verse 31. Look what our Lord says. Luke 11, verse 31: "The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them."
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"For she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here." Now, why is the queen of the south? Why is the queen of Sheba going to rise up, our Lord says, and judge this generation? She's going to rise up and testify against that generation. Here's why. He said, because she came from the utmost parts of the earth. She traveled a great distance just to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And he said, "Behold, a greater than Solomon is here." What about the men of Nineveh? How are they going to condemn the generation? Because Jonah went through preaching, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."
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He didn't have three points and a poem. He just said one thing. "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." And these people repented at the very first hearing of Jonah's preaching. And men hear truth over and over and over and over and reject it. The queen of Sheba traveled great distances just to hear truth. And today, most people will not walk across the street to hear a message from the Word of God. And when they do hear, they reject it. They refuse it.
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I've got news for you. I had rather be a Jedediah Strong Smith in the mountains, in the worst environment, with the worst companions, holding fast the faith of Jesus Christ, than to be in the midst of a lukewarm, ignorant, and apathetic group of Christians. We need to learn to hold fast, to stand for truth, and not let circumstances, situations, environments, companions, people hinder us from that which we know is right. And we need to make every effort to learn the Word of God and apply it to our lives. My prayer would be that God would give us more men like Jedediah Smith. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You, Father, for godly men in time and history from whom we can learn biblical principles.
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And from whom, Lord, we can emulate their manly virtues and their Christian graces. Help us, Lord, to be holy, to be godly, and to stand, and having done all, to stand. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T12:24:38Z

Jedediah Strong Smith-Mountain Man

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver uses the life of mountain man Jedediah Strong Smith as an example of godly, masculine Christianity in the harshest of environments. Drawing from Joshua 14 and the account of Caleb, Weaver highlights Smith's unwavering faith, courage, and consistency despite dangers from grizzly bears, hostile Indians, and rough company. The sermon challenges believers to hold fast to their profession of faith regardless of circumstances, and to learn from Smith's devotion to Scripture, prayer, and worship even in the wilderness.

Introduction: Caleb and the Mountain

Weaver reads Joshua 14:6-13, introducing Caleb's request for a mountain as a parallel to Jedediah Smith's life.

Scripture Reading — Joshua 14:6-13

"Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh Barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land." "And I brought word again as it was in my heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy foot hath trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children's forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God. And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty-five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. And yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out and to come in. Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced." "If so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance."

History as God's Decree and the Need for Godly Examples

Weaver explains that history reveals God's eternal decree and laments the lack of godly masculine examples today.

Jedediah Smith's Background and Achievements

Smith's birth, his determination to become a first-rate hunter, and his remarkable eight-year accomplishments are detailed.

Smith's Christian Character

Smith's temperance, honesty, Bible reading, hymn singing, and consistent Christian witness among rough mountain men are emphasized.

Smith's Faith in Action: Worship and Prayer

Smith's journal entries, his eulogy for John Gardner, and his practice of carrying a Bible, journal, and Lewis and Clark's journals are highlighted.

Dangers Faced: Indians, Weather, and Grizzly Bears

Weaver recounts Smith's encounters with hostile Indians, the Arikara massacre, and the horrific grizzly bear attack where Smith remained calm and directed his own wound treatment.

Contrast with Hugh Glass and Other Mountain Men

The story of Hugh Glass's abandonment and survival is told to contrast motivations and highlight Smith's unique Christian character.

Smith's Motivation: Service and Family

Smith's letters reveal his desire to help others and support his aging parents, including sending $2,200 home.

Smith's Death and Legacy

Smith's death at the hands of Comanche warriors in 1831 and his lasting reputation as a pathfinder and Christian are recounted.

Application: Holding Fast in Any Environment

Weaver applies Smith's example by urging believers to hold fast to their faith regardless of environment, using Matthew 21:32 and several 'hold fast' passages.

You do not let it go. You do not let it slip. You prove all things, hold fast that which is good. Listen to Hebrews 4 and verse 14:

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 4:14

"Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession."

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 4:14

"Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised)."

Application: Worship in Uncomfortable Settings

Weaver contrasts Smith's worship in harsh conditions with modern excuses for neglecting church and Bible reading, citing Luke 11:31-32.

Conclusion and Prayer

Weaver concludes with a call to emulate Smith's virtues and a prayer for God to raise up more such men.

Jedediah Strong Smith-Mountain Man

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	127201455218077
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Revelation: Christ and the Churches
Genre	Sermon
Date	2019-09-29
Dictation Name
Book	Book 139: Revelation: Christ and the Churches — Chapter 11
Source Timed Segments	58

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: Caleb and the Mountain: Weaver reads Joshua 14:6-13, introducing Caleb's request for a mountain as a parallel to Jedediah Smith's life.
History as God's Decree and the Need for Godly Examples: Weaver explains that history reveals God's eternal decree and laments the lack of godly masculine examples today.
Jedediah Smith's Background and Achievements: Smith's birth, his determination to become a first-rate hunter, and his remarkable eight-year accomplishments are detailed.
Smith's Christian Character: Smith's temperance, honesty, Bible reading, hymn singing, and consistent Christian witness among rough mountain men are emphasized.
Smith's Faith in Action: Worship and Prayer: Smith's journal entries, his eulogy for John Gardner, and his practice of carrying a Bible, journal, and Lewis and Clark's journals are highlighted.
Dangers Faced: Indians, Weather, and Grizzly Bears: Weaver recounts Smith's encounters with hostile Indians, the Arikara massacre, and the horrific grizzly bear attack where Smith remained calm and directed his own wound treatment.
Contrast with Hugh Glass and Other Mountain Men: The story of Hugh Glass's abandonment and survival is told to contrast motivations and highlight Smith's unique Christian character.
Smith's Motivation: Service and Family: Smith's letters reveal his desire to help others and support his aging parents, including sending $2,200 home.
Smith's Death and Legacy: Smith's death at the hands of Comanche warriors in 1831 and his lasting reputation as a pathfinder and Christian are recounted.
Application: Holding Fast in Any Environment: Weaver applies Smith's example by urging believers to hold fast to their faith regardless of environment, using Matthew 21:32 and several 'hold fast' passages.
Application: Worship in Uncomfortable Settings: Weaver contrasts Smith's worship in harsh conditions with modern excuses for neglecting church and Bible reading, citing Luke 11:31-32.
Conclusion and Prayer: Weaver concludes with a call to emulate Smith's virtues and a prayer for God to raise up more such men.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Environment does not determine godliness

Smith's life proves that one can live a godly, obedient Christian life regardless of environment, companions, or circumstances.

If Jedediah Smith could be a godly man in the roughest company, in the roughest country, in the roughest environment... is it not possible for you and I to do the same, even though we are in a much better environment?

Modern Christians make excuses while Smith worshipped in hardship

Weaver contrasts Smith's faithful worship in extreme danger and discomfort with modern believers' trivial excuses for missing church.

If Smith could worship and serve God in the face of such difficulties, what is wrong with us when we have all the comforts... And still we will not worship as we should.

The Queen of Sheba and Ninevites will condemn this generation

Using Luke 11:31-32, Weaver argues that those who traveled far or repented at little preaching will judge those who reject greater light.

The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them. For she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Smith's motivation was service, not selfish gain

Unlike other mountain men, Smith endured dangers to help others and support his parents, not for money or fame.

It is that I may be able to help those who stand in need that I face every danger... I want to smooth the lives of my parents in their old age.

Scripture References

Joshua 14:6-13: Read at the opening as the parallel to Jedediah Smith's desire for a mountain and his wholehearted following of God.
Matthew 21:32: Used to show that people are responsible to learn from God's work in others' lives.
1 Thessalonians 5:21: Quoted to exhort believers to hold fast that which is good.
Hebrews 4:14: Quoted to encourage holding fast our profession of faith.
Hebrews 10:23: Quoted to urge holding fast the profession of faith without wavering.
Revelation 2:25: Quoted as Christ's admonition to hold fast until He comes.
Luke 11:31-32: Read to show that the Queen of Sheba and men of Nineveh will condemn those who reject greater light.

Historical References

Jedediah Strong Smith (1799-1831): The central figure of the sermon, a mountain man, explorer, and devout Christian.
William H. Ashley: Lieutenant Governor of Missouri who placed the ad that recruited Smith into the fur trade.
Arikara Indian attack (June 1, 1823): Battle where Smith distinguished himself with bravery; led to the first Christian worship service in South Dakota.
Hugh Glass: Fellow mountain man mauled by a grizzly bear, left for dead, and crawled 250 miles to safety.
Jim Bridger: Young mountain man who abandoned Hugh Glass but was later forgiven; became a famous frontiersman.
Rocky Mountain Fur Company: Company Smith became a partner in, later known as Smith, Jackson, and Sublette.
Lewis and Clark's journals (1814 edition): One of the three books Smith always carried; only 1,417 copies were sold to the public.
Comanche attack (1831): Smith was killed by Comanche warriors while looking for water on the Santa Fe Trail.

Important Quotes

I started into the mountains with the determination of becoming a first-rate hunter, of making myself thoroughly acquainted with the character and habits of the Indians, of tracing out the sources of the Columbia River, and following it to its mouth, and making the whole profitable unto me, and I have perfectly succeeded.

Shows Smith's clear goals and determination, which he fulfilled in eight years.

Mr. Smith, a young man of our company made a powerful prayer which moved us greatly. And I am persuaded that John died in peace.

Demonstrates Smith's spiritual impact on rough mountain men, recorded by Hugh Glass.

Then let us come forward with faith, nothing doubting, and He that is God will unquestionably hear us.

A journal entry revealing Smith's active faith and prayer life.

My brother, I have need of your prayers to bear me up before the throne of grace.

Shows Smith's dependence on prayer amidst constant danger.

He made religion an active principle from the duties of which nothing could seduce him.

A biographer's summary of Smith's unwavering Christian commitment.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does Jedediah Smith's life challenge the idea that our environment determines our ability to live a godly life?

[Context]

Weaver argues that Smith proved one can live obediently in the roughest company and conditions.

[Question]

What modern 'excuses' do we make that prevent us from worshipping and serving God as faithfully as Smith did?

[Context]

Weaver contrasts Smith's worship in hardship with trivial reasons people give for missing church.

[Question]

In what ways can we 'hold fast' our profession of faith in our current cultural setting?

[Context]

Multiple 'hold fast' passages are cited as direct application from Smith's example.

[Question]

How does the account of the Queen of Sheba and the Ninevites in Luke 11:31-32 apply to our generation's response to the gospel?

[Context]

Weaver uses this passage to warn that those with less light will condemn those who reject greater truth.

[Question]

What can we learn from Smith's motivation to help others and support his parents, and how should that shape our own priorities?

[Context]

Smith's letters reveal his desire to serve others and care for his family, not pursue selfish gain.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-05T20:29:57Z