Transcribed from the 1884 Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co., edition ,
by
CHARLES KINGSLEY,
late rector of eversley; chaplain to the queen and to the prince of wales.
A BOOK FOR SOLDIERS’ AND SAILORS’ LIBRARIES.
eleventh thousand.
London:
kegan paul, trench, & co., 1 paternoster square.
1884.
p. iiThe Rightsof Translation and of Reproduction are Reserved.
p. iiiDedicated
by kind permission
to
General Sir WILLIAM CODRINGTON, G.C.B.,
and
Admiral WELLESLEY, C.B.,
in memory of
CHARLES KINGSLEY,
who was proud of their friendship,
and loved and honoured them
as he loved and honoured
all brave soldiers
and sailors.
This little volume is selected from the unpublished sermons and addresses of Charles Kingsley by the request of a Colonel of Artillery, and with the sanction of an Army Chaplain of long experience, who knew the influence of his writings on soldiers, and who wish that that influence may live, though he is no longerhere. The Lecture on Cortez was given at Aldershot Camp in 1858, and the Address to Brave Soldiers and Sailors written for and sent out to the troops before Sebastopol in the winter of 1855, when Mr. Kingsley’s own heart, with that of all England, was grieving over the sufferings of our noble army in the Crimea. F. E. K.
“And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto Him a centurion, beseeching Him and saying, Lord,my servant lieth at home, sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus said unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthythat Thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me, and I say unto this man, Go,and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you,I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel.”—Matt. viii. 5-10.
We find in Holy Scripture, that of the seven heathens who werefirst drawn to our Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel, three were soldiers.
The first was the Centurion, of whom our Lord speaks in such high terms of commendation.
The next, the Centurion who stood by His cross, and said, “Truly this wa