Sabine Baring-Gould was a prolific novelist, hymn writer and collector of traditional folk songs. The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould is best known for writing the hymns, Onward Christian Soldiers and Now the Day Is Over. But he is also thought to have inspired his friend George Bernard Shaw to write Pygmalion - which was later made into the film, My Fair Lady.
Baring-Gould was himself a prolific writer and was said to be the tenth most popular novelist of his day. At one point there were more books listed under his name in the British Museum Library than any other English writer.
He was born in Exeter in 1834, and his family owned the Lewtrenchard Estate near Lydford in west Devon. He took Holy Orders in 1864 and became a curate at Horbury in Yorkshire. It was in Horbury that he met mill girl Grace Taylor. He sent her away to be educated and then married her in 1868. The couple were married for 48 years until Grace's death in 1916 and they had 15 children!
Baring Gould wrote Onward Christian Soldiers while at Horbury, and was amazed at its popularity. He said he had dashed the words off in no more than 10 minutes as an occasional piece for a procession of school children.
He returned to Lewtrenchard in 1881, where he was the squire and parson. It's believed he had more than 200 works published.
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Sermon
Casting Blame
8th Sunday after Trinity.
S. Matt. vii. 15. "Inwardly they are ravening wolves."
INTRODUCTION. --A Schoolmaster finds one day that several of his scholars are playing truant. The morning passes and they do not arrive. At last, in the afternoon, the truants turn up. The master has a strong suspicion where they have been: however, he asks ...read
Sermon
Christian Unity
Trinity Sunday.
S. Matt. xxviii. 19. "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
INTRODUCTION. --An ancient writer informs us that when the Egyptians named their Greatest God who was over all, they cried thrice, "Darkness! Darkness! Darkness!" And when we come to speak of the great mystery of the Holy Trinity, the ...read
Sermon
Dread of Ridicule
24th Sunday after Trinity.
S. Matt. ix. 24. "And they laughed Him to scorn."
INTRODUCTION. --"All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim. iii. 12.) This is what S. Paul says. This is what everyone of you must make up your mind to, if you intend to live godly lives, and, moreover, to live in Christ. Do you ...read
Sermon
Evil Thoughts
19th Sunday after Trinity.
S. Matt. ix. 4. "Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?"
INTRODUCTION. --Thoughts are only thoughts! who is to beheld accountable for them? They are clouds blown about by fancy, taking various shapes. God is not so hard as to judge us for our thoughts; He will try us by what we have done, not by what we have dr ...read
Sermon
Example
21st Sunday after Trinity.
S. John iv. 13. "And himself believed, and his whole house."
INTRODUCTION. --As the tree so the fruit, as the parents so the children, as the master so his men, as the mistress so her household. This is not indeed a rule without exceptions, but as a general rule it holds.
No man liveth and dieth to himself, we ...read
Sermon
Gratitude
14th Sunday after Trinity.
S. Luke xvii. 18. "There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger."
INTRODUCTION,--There is nothing that the merciful God desires more from man than thanks, and there is nothing of which He receives less. In the Gospel for to-day we have an example. Christ performs a notable miracle. ...read
Sermon
Great Surprises
1st Sunday after Trinity.
S. Luke xvi. 23. "In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments."
INTRODUCTION. --What a great surprise for Dives! So utterly unawaited! Dives, who had lived so comfortably, clothed in purple and fine linen, and had had such a good coat, and such excellent dinners, and such a cellar of wine, and such good friend ...read
Sermon
Humility
17th Sunday after Trinity.
S. Luke, xiv. 2. "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
INTRODUCTION. --Both Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the apostle John saw in vision the glory of Heaven and the throne of God, and near it four beasts, "full of eyes, within and without." That is to say the beasts ...read
Sermon
Perfection To Be Sought
12th Sunday after Trinity.
S. Mark vii., 37. "He hath done all things well."
INTRODUCTION. --It was said by an old heathen writer that God cares for Adverbs rather than for Substantives. That is to say, God had rather have things done well, than that the things should be merely done. He had rather have you pray earnestly than pray, commun ...read
Sermon
Persistency In Wrong Doing
6th Sunday after Trinity.
S. Matt. v. 25. "Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him."
INTRODUCTION. --I spoke to you the Sunday before last about the obstinacy of persisting in an opinion after you have good cause to believe that this opinion is unjust, or unreasonable. I am going to speak to you to-day of an ...read
Sermon
Petty Dishonesty
9th Sunday after Trinity.
S. Luke xvi, 3, 4. "What shall I do?--I am resolved what to do."
INTRODUCTION. --The dishonest Steward in to-day's Gospel shows us the natural tendency of the human heart when in a scrape--to have recourse to dishonesty to escape from it. He knows that he is about to be turned out of his stewardship because he ha ...read
Sermon
Profession And Practice
18th Sunday after Trinity.
S. Matt. xxii. 42. "What think ye of Christ?"
INTRODUCTION. --Many men are Christians neither in understanding nor in heart. Some are Christians in heart, and not in understanding. Some in understanding, and not in heart, and some are Christians in both. If I were to go into a Temple of the Hindoos, or into a ...read
Sermon
Rash Decisions
4th Sunday after Trinity.
S. Luke vi. 37. "Judge not--condemn not--forgive."
INTRODUCTION. --Our Lord here condemns all rash judgments. We know not the motives of other men's actions, and therefore have no right to pass a sweeping condemnation upon them. From our ignorance, we ought to be cautious and merciful in our judgments, and from ...read
Sermon
Receiving And Rejecting
3rd Sunday after Trinity.
S. Luke, xv. 2. "This Man receiveth sinners."
INTRODUCTION. --In to-day's Gospel our Lord represents Himself as a Good Shepherd seeking His lost sheep, going out into the wilderness after them, to bring them back into the fold.
The fold is that place where He keeps His flock shut behind the hurdles of the Ten C ...read
Sermon
Religious Zeal
Dedication Festival
Ps. lxix., 9. "The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up."
INTRODUCTION. --David spoke the truth. The one great desire of his heart was the glorification of God by the erection of a temple befitting His worship at Jerusalem. Although he had plenty of cares to distract him, yet he never had this out of his heart. "I wi ...read
Sermon
Self-Inspection
11th Sunday after Trinity.
S. Luke xviii., 13. "The Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner."
INTRODUCTION. --I have spoken to you on former occasions pretty strongly upon the evil of backbiting, slandering, and casting of blame witho ...read
Sermon
Thankfulness to God
Harvest
S. Matthew xxii., 21. "Render--unto God, the things that are God's."
INTRODUCTION. --David says in the 8th Psalm, "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him: and the son of man that Thou visitest him? Thou makest him to have dominion of the works of Thy hands; and Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet, all sheep an ...read
Sermon
The Consequences of Sin
10th Sunday after Trinity.
S. Luke xix, 42. "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes."
INTRODUCTION. --I spoke to you the other day about the measure of sin, and showed you that there was a certain limit allotted to every man, beyond which he cou ...read
Sermon
The Contemplation of Death
16th Sunday after Trinity.
S. Luke vii. 12. "Behold, there was a dead man carried out."
INTRODUCTION. --The name of the village where the miracle was wrought which is recorded in this day's Gospel, was Nain, and the meaning of the name is "Pleasant" or "Beautiful." A sweet little village, you can picture it to yourself where you like, in ...read
Sermon
The Formation of Habits
School Sermon.
Proverbs xxii. 6. "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
INTRODUCTION. --There is a district, high up in the Black Forest, where the ground is full of springs. It is a plain some nine hundred feet above the sea. Thousands upon thousands of little springs gush out of the s ...read
