Jesse Babcock Worden was born in 1787. He was the ninth of nine children. Various circumstances united in such a way that Jesse was raised totally illiterate. When he was twelve, he did not even know the alphabet. However at about that time he became burdened about his ignorance. He applied himself, and six years later he was sufficiently educated to become a teacher.
When his father died, Jesse moved to a community where there was the need of his teaching services. There he was befriended by a pleasant infidel who poisoned his heart toward the things of God, and Jesse became an avid atheist.
After serving the United States in the Niagara region during the War of 1812, Jesse settled in Sangerfield, New York and married a Presbyterian woman. To the couple were born five children. Jesse was a relatively good parent, but he would have nothing to do with religion and forbade his family to attend church. Then early in the 1840s revival swept through the area. The little Baptist church in the community had been so blessed by God that they needed a larger meeting house. One Saturday Jesse saw a group of men who had volunteered to work on the new building. He couldn’t understand how sane and intelligent men would give up a beautiful day to serve a God who didn’t exist. But the joy which was evident in the men as they worked began to stir Jesse’s heart. Inexplicably something broke within him, and he staggered home to talk with his wife about it. Together they began to meet with Elder John Peck, and Jesse Worden came to understand his need of the Saviour. After his conversion, both Jesse and his wife, Hannah, were immersed and joined the Baptist Church of Sangerfield.
Jesse was transformed. He applied himself to the scriptures, and the scriptures applied themselves to him. Soon he was witnessing of his new faith, and in 1818 he began preaching Christ. He eventually became pastor of a Baptist church in Marcellus, New York and finally in Jackson, Pennsylvania.
On this day (August 6) in his 69th year, Jesse preached his last message. It came from the text, “See that ye love one another with a pure heart, fervently.”