Westminster Sermons: with a PrefaceKingsley, Charles
Religion
Westminster Sermons: with a Preface
Kingsley, Charles
Sermons, English -- 19th century
And I will tell you of another man who needed no signs and wonders to
make him believe--the man, namely, who wrote the 19th Psalm. He looked
upon the perfect order and law of the heavens over his head, and the mere
sight of the sun and moon and stars was enough for him; and he said--"The
heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament sheweth His handy-work.
One day telleth another, and one night certifieth another. There is
neither speech nor language, where their voice is not heard among them."
And I will tell you of yet another man who needed no signs and wonders to
make him believe--namely, the man who wrote the 104th Psalm. He looked
on the perfect order and law of the world about his feet; and said,--"O
Lord, how manifold are Thy works. In wisdom hast Thou made them all: the
earth is full of Thy riches. So is the great and wide sea also, wherein
are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. These all
wait upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season. Thou
givest to them; they gather. Thou openest Thy 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
breath, they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth. The
glory of the Lord shall endure for ever. The Lord shall rejoice in His
works."
My friends, let us all pray to God and to Christ, that They will put into
our hearts the Spirit by which those psalms were written: that They will
take from us the evil heart of unbelief, which must needs have signs and
wonders, and forgets that in God we live and move and have our being. For
are we not all--even the very best of us--apt to tempt our Lord in this
very matter?
When all things go on in a common-place way with us--that is, in this
well-made world, comfortably, easily, prosperously--how apt we all
are--God forgive us--to forget God. How we forget that on Him we depend
for every breath we draw; that Christ is guarding us daily from a hundred
dangers, a hundred sorrows, it may be from a hundred disgraces, of which
we, in our own self-satisfied blindness, never dream. How dull our
prayers become, and how short. We almost think, at times, that there is
no use in praying, for we get all we want without asking for it, in what
we choose to call the course of circumstances and nature.--God forgive
us, indeed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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