Two Sermons Preached in the Parish Church of Nonington, Kent, January 17, 1864: being the Sunday following the Funeral of John Pemberton Plumptre, Esq

In Short

This collection contains two funeral sermons delivered at the Parish Church of Nonington, Kent, in 1864, commemorating the life of John Pemberton Plumptre, Esq. The sermons, preached by the Reverend Herbert James and the Reverend Edward Hoare, use the deceased’s life as a vessel to explore themes of Christian consistency, the necessity of personal faith, and the promise of salvation. By focusing on Plumptre’s reputation as a man who lived his religion daily, these discourses offer a window into the spiritual values and social expectations of the era.

The Story

The narrative arc of these sermons is not one of dramatic plot but of spiritual evaluation. Following the death of John Pemberton Plumptre, a man of local standing and religious conviction, the two ministers seek to distill the essence of his character for the benefit of his grieving congregation. They do not present a saintly, untouchable figure; rather, they deliberately describe him as a "poor, weak, sinful, erring man" who became a model for others solely through the transformative power of divine grace.

The first sermon, by Herbert James, establishes the premise that a Christian’s life is a "gift" to others. He argues that the primary purpose of a believer is to serve as a guide or a "light to see by" for those in the community. James meticulously examines Plumptre’s life through the lens of his faith, characterizing it as both "fixed"—simple, child-like adherence to the Word—and "joyous"—a sunny disposition that found deep delight in salvation. He invites the congregation to look at their own lives in comparison, using Plumptre’s humility and unselfish love as a standard. The sermon culminates in a direct appeal to the unconverted, urging them to look at the certainty with which Plumptre met his end and to seek that same peace in the person of Christ.

The second sermon, by Edward Hoare, shifts the focus from the man’s earthly character to his current status in heaven. Hoare uses a passage from the Book of Revelation to describe Plumptre as one of the "sealed servants" of God. He breaks down the description of these figures into four distinct traits: freedom from unholy alliances, a life spent following the "Lamb" (Christ) everywhere, the state of being "redeemed," and the condition of being "without fault." Hoare emphasizes that while Plumptre exhibited these traits on earth—manifesting a guileless character in his roles as a landlord, magistrate, and Member of Parliament—his ultimate perfection was not earned by these works. He asserts that Plumptre’s true standing was as a sinner who was "accepted in the Beloved." The sermon concludes with a final exhortation, suggesting that if Plumptre could speak from beyond the veil, his message would be an urgent plea for his hearers to find their own foundation in the same grace he relied upon. The arc ends with a hopeful, solemn call for the congregation to live in such a way that they, too, might be found "without fault" when their own time comes.

How It Unfolds

The call to remember The ministers open by invoking the biblical injunction to "remember those who are the guides." They frame the departed not as an object of hero-worship, but as a living piece of evidence for the power of Christian teaching.

The anatomy of a believer The middle sections of the sermons dissect Plumptre’s character into observable traits. They highlight his "gift of the knees"—his habit of intense, private prayer—and his public consistency in the roles of landlord, magistrate, and family man.

The theology of grace Both speakers pause to preemptively deflect any potential claims that Plumptre earned his status through good deeds. They insist that his works were merely the "fruit" of a prior conversion, anchoring his entire life in the concept of vicarious atonement.

The final summation The conclusion of the work focuses on the "end of his conversation," describing his peaceful deathbed as the logical, triumphant culmination of his faith. The sermons finish by turning the attention back to the living, challenging them to use this example to examine their own spiritual health.

The People

John Pemberton Plumptre stands at the center as the "departed friend." He is presented as a man of influence—a landlord, a magistrate, and a former Member of Parliament—who nonetheless viewed himself as a "poor sinner." He wants nothing for himself, famously loathing any attempt to exalt his own person, and seeks only to make Christ the "spring" and "aim" of every action. His struggle is the universal human struggle with sin, which he meets not through self-improvement, but through total reliance on the "free redemption" provided by the life and death of Jesus.

The Reverend Herbert James and the Reverend Edward Hoare act as the narrators and spiritual guides. Their role is to channel the collective grief of the community into a productive, reflective exercise. They stand between the deceased and the congregation, translating the life of a man they knew into a universal lesson. They are not interested in biographical trivia; they are concerned with the state of the souls in the pews. By the end, they remain unchanged in their theological stance, having successfully reinforced their message that individual salvation is found only in the "Blessed Saviour."

In Its Own Voice

Describing the source of the man's strength:

“The flame of his faith was fed by the oil of prayer.”

Reflecting on the man's own admission of his inadequacy:

“I’m a poor sinner, and nothing at all but Jesus Christ is my all in all.”

Addressing the congregation's need to find purpose:

“Live so as to be missed.”

What It's Really About

At its core, this work is an argument for the "consistency" of the Christian life. It addresses the tension between public duty and private conviction, asserting that a truly religious life is not bifurcated into spiritual and secular spheres. The central question is how a man of significant worldly power—a landowner and legislator—can maintain an "unworldly" spirit in a world of compromises. The text argues that the secret lies in the total surrender of the will to a "spiritual standard." It is a meditation on mortality, asking the reader whether their own life would bear the same scrutiny of "guilelessness" if it were examined after they were gone.

Why Read It Today

Readers interested in 19th-century social history or the evolution of religious rhetoric will find this a fascinating, authentic artifact. It captures the specific, high-minded moral earnestness of the Victorian upper-middle class, where social responsibility and individual piety were inextricably linked.

The prose is warm, precise, and deeply serious. However, the modern reader should be prepared for the specificities of 19th-century Anglican theology, which assumes a baseline familiarity with scriptural language that may feel foreign or dense today. The ministers speak with the absolute certainty of a time when the pulpit was the primary source of moral authority. While the language of "popery" and "spiritual fornication" reflects the intense sectarian anxieties of the 1860s, the underlying sentiment—the desire to be remembered as someone who lived with integrity and kindness—remains universally poignant. It is a slow, meditative read that demands a willingness to step into a world where faith was the primary lens through which all human success and failure were measured. You will likely walk away struck by the sheer intensity of the effort to align every facet of a life with a singular, guiding principle.