Six Village Sermons from Nature Author:William Vaughan Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Cijt Psalm xxiv. i, 2. "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof for He hath founded it upon the seas, and prepared it upon the floods." Most ... more »of us have probably looked upon the sea. Perhaps as Isaac walked in the fields meditating at eventide we have walked, only at times not in the fields but along a sea road. We have heard the waves murmuring afar off in their minor key; breaking with a noise of roaring upon rocky shores, or lapping with ceaseless motion amid the stones and shingle ; and no other sound has disturbed the stillness of the night, save perchance the sudden cry of some wild fowl, or the bracken moved behind us by a frightened hare. It is when the heart feels itself alone, more especially if the sense of loneness be enhancedby the still sadness of a twilight on the sea, that it turns from the day's jingle, the unsatisfying nature of earthly vanity is made manifest, and withdrawn for awhile from the world's confusion conscience is heard, God speaks to the sinner's soul, and the child is taught by the Spirit of the Father. I. There is a picture in the first chapter of Genesis of land mingled with a mass of water, a chaos in which there seemed to be no difference between earth and sea. Then the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the. waters, " brooded over" them, so that presently the light shone in amongst them, the waters drew off, land appeared and became capable of life, and brought forth fruit. This describes a fact, but it is also an allegory. The earth is a type of man's unregenerate nature, out of earth that nature was formed. The water is an emblem of the evil in which it is by nature encompassed, " a child of wrath." But the Spirit of God breathes upon, " broods over," the human soul imprisoned there ; lightshines on it, life e...« less