Twenty-Five Village Sermons

Part 1

Transcribed from the 1849 John W. Parker edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

TWENTY-FIVE VILLAGE SERMONS.

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BY CHARLES KINGSLEY, JUN.,

RECTOR OF EVERSLEY, HANTS, AND CANON OF MIDDLEHAM, YORKSHIRE.

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LONDON: JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND.

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MDCCCXLIX.

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LONDON: Printed by G. BARCLAY, Castle St Leicester Sq.

CONTENTS.

Page SERMON I.

GOD’S WORLD.

PSALM civ. 24. O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou 1 made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches SERMON II.

RELIGION NOT GODLINESS.

PSALM civ. 13–15. He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is 13 satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart SERMON III.

LIFE AND DEATH.

PSALM civ. 24, 28–30. O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou 25 made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches. That Thou givest them they gather: Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth Thy spirit, they are created: and Thou renewest the face of the earth SERMON IV.

THE WORK OF GOD’S SPIRIT.

JAMES, i. 16, 17. Do not err, my beloved brethren; every good gift and every 35 perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights SERMON V.

FAITH.

HABAKKUK, ii. 4. The just shall live by faith 47 SERMON VI.

THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH.

GALATIANS, v. 16. I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the 60 lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other SERMON VII.

RETRIBUTION.

NUMBERS, xxxii. 23. Be sure your sin will find you out 72 SERMON VIII.

SELF-DESTRUCTION.

Part 2

1 KINGS, xxii. 23. The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these 82 thy prophets SERMON IX.

HELL ON EARTH.

MATTHEW, viii. 29. And behold the evil spirits cried out, saying, What have we 91 to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time? SERMON X.

NOAH’S JUSTICE.

GENESIS, vi. 9. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and 104 Noah walked with God SERMON XI.

THE NOACHIC COVENANT.

GEN. ix. 8, 9. And God spake unto Noah, and his sons with him, saying, And 116 I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you SERMON XII.

ABRAHAM’S FAITH.

HEBREWS, xi. 9, 10. By faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise as in a 125 strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city, which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God SERMON XIII.

ABRAHAM’S OBEDIENCE.

HEBREWS, xi. 17–19. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and 141 he that had received the promises offered up his only-begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure SERMON XIV.

OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN.

1 JOHN, ii. 13. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known 149 the Father SERMON XV.

THE TRANSFIGURATION.

MARK, ix. 2. Jesus taketh Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them 160 up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them SERMON XVI.

THE CRUCIFIXION.

ISAIAH, liii. 7. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter 173 SERMON XVII.

THE RESURRECTION.

LUKE, xxiv. 6. He is not here—He is risen 179 SERMON XVIII.

IMPROVEMENT.

PSALM xcii. 12. The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree: he shall 191 grow like the cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing SERMON XIX.

MAN’S WORKING DAY.

JOHN, xi. 9, 10. Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If 200 any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night he stumbleth, because there is no light in him SERMON XX.

ASSOCIATION.

GALATIANS, vi. 2. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of 210 Christ SERMON XXI.

HEAVEN ON EARTH.

1 COR. x. 31. Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to 219 the glory of God SERMON XXII.

NATIONAL PRIVILEGES.

Part 3

LUKE, x. 23. Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye see: for 228 I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them SERMON XXIII.

LENTEN THOUGHTS.

HAGGAI, i. 5. Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts, consider your 239 ways SERMON XXIV.

ON BOOKS.

JOHN, i. 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 248 and the Word was God SERMON XXV.

THE COURAGE OF THE SAVIOUR.

JOHN, xi. 7, 8. Then after that saith He to His disciples, Let us go into 259 Judea again. His disciples say to Him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither again?

SERMON I. GOD’S WORLD.

PSALM civ. 24.

“O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches.”

WHEN we read such psalms as the one from which this verse is taken, we cannot help, if we consider, feeling at once a great difference between them and any hymns or religious poetry which is commonly written or read in these days. The hymns which are most liked now, and the psalms which people most willingly choose out of the Bible, are those which speak, or seem to speak, about God’s dealings with people’s own souls, while such psalms as this are overlooked. People do not care really about psalms of this kind when they find them in the Bible, and they do not expect or wish nowadays any one to write poetry like them. For these psalms of which I speak praise and honour God, not for what He has done to our souls, but for what He has done and is doing in the world around us. This very 104th psalm, for instance, speaks entirely about things which we hardly care or even think proper to mention in church now. It speaks of this earth entirely, and the things on it. Of the light, the clouds, and wind—of hills and valleys, and the springs on the hill-sides—of wild beasts and birds—of grass and corn, and wine and oil—of the sun and moon, night and day—the great sea, the ships, and the fishes, and all the wonderful and nameless creatures which people the waters—the very birds’ nests in the high trees, and the rabbits burrowing among the rocks,—nothing on the earth but this psalm thinks it worth mentioning. And all this, which one would expect to find only in a book of natural history, is in the Bible, in one of the psalms, written to be sung in the temple at Jerusalem, before the throne of the living God and His glory which used to be seen in that temple,—inspired, as we all believe, by God’s Spirit,—God’s own word, in short: that is worth thinking of. Surely the man who wrote this must have thought very differently about this world, with its fields and woods, and beasts and birds, from what we think. Suppose, now, that we had been old Jews in the temple, standing before the holy house, and that we believed, as the Jews believed, that there was only one thin wall and one curtain of linen between us and the glory of the living God, that unspeakable brightness and majesty which no one could look at for fear of instant death, except the high-priest in fear and trembling once a-year—that inside that small holy house, He, God Almighty, appeared visibly—God who made heaven and earth. Suppose we had been there in the temple, and known all this, should we have liked to be singing about beasts and birds, with God Himself close to us? We should not have liked it—we should have been terrified, thinking perhaps about our own sinfulness, perhaps about that wonderful majesty which dwelt inside. We should have wished to say or sing something spiritual, as we call it; at all events, something very different from the 104th psalm about woods, and rivers, and dumb beasts. We do not like the thought of such a thing: it seems almost irreverent, almost impertinent to God to be talking of such things in His presence. Now does this shew us that we think about this earth, and the things in it, in a very different way from those old Jews? They thought it a fit and proper thing to talk about corn and wine and oil, and cattle and fishes, in the presence of Almighty God, and we do not think it fit and proper. We read this psalm when it comes in the Church-service as a matter of course, mainly because we do not believe that God is here among us. We should not be so ready to read it if we thought that Almighty God was so near us.

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