Daily Thoughts: selected from the writings of Charles Kingsley by his wife

An Indulgent God.  January 21

A merely indulgent God would be an unjust God, and a cruel God likewise.  If God be just, as He is, then He has boundless pity for those who are weak, but boundless wrath for the strong who misuse the weak.  Boundless pity for those who are ignorant, misled, and out of the right way; but boundless wrath for those who mislead them and put them out of the right way.

    Discipline Sermons.  1867.

The Fifty-First Psalm.  January 22

It is such utterances as these which have given for now many hundred years their priceless value to the little Book of Psalms ascribed to the shepherd outlaw of the Judean hills, which have sent the sound of his name into all lands throughout all the world.  Every form of human sorrow, doubt, struggle, error, sin—the nun agonising in the cloister; the settler struggling for his life in Transatlantic forests; the pauper shivering over the embers in his hovel and waiting for kind death; the man of business striving to keep his honour pure amid the temptations of commerce; the prodigal son starving in the far country and recollecting the words which he learnt long ago at his mother’s knee; the peasant boy trudging afield in the chill dawn and remembering that the Lord is his Shepherd, therefore he will not want—all shapes of humanity have found, and will find to the end of time, a word said here to their inmost hearts. . . .

    Sermons on David.  1866.

Waiting for Death.  January 23

Death, beautiful, wise, kind Death, when will you come and tell me what I want to know?  I courted you once and many a time, brave old Death, only to give rest to the weary.  That was a coward’s wish—and so you would not come. . . .  I was not worthy of you.  And now I will not hunt you any more, old Death.  Do you bide your time, and I mine. . . .  Only when you come, give me not rest but work.  Give work to the idle, freedom to the chained, sight to the blind!

    Two Years Ago, chap. xv.  1856.

The One Refuge.  January 24

Safe!  There is no safety but from God, and that comes by prayer and faith.

    Hypatia.  1852.

Future Identity.  January 25

I believe that the union of those who have loved here will in the next world amount to perfect identity, that they will look back on the expressions of affection here as mere meagre strugglings after and approximation to the union which then will be perfect.  Perfect!

    Letters and Memories.  1842.

Friendship.  January 26

A friend once won need never be lost, if we will be only trusty and true ourselves.  Friends may part, not merely in body, but in spirit, for a while.  In the bustle of business and the accidents of life, they may lose sight of each other for years; and more, they may begin to differ in their success in life, in their opinions, in their habits, and there may be, for a time, coldness and estrangement between them, but not for ever if each will be trusty and true.  For then they will be like two ships who set sail at morning from the same port, and ere night-fall lose sight of each other, and go each on its own course and at its own pace for many days, through many storms and seas, and yet meet again, and find themselves lying side by side in the same haven when their long voyage is past.

    Water of Life Sermons.

Night and Morning.  January 27

It is morning somewhere or other now, and it will be morning here again to-morrow.  “Good times and bad times and all times pass over.”  I learnt that lesson out of old Bewick’s Vignettes, and it has stood me in good stead this many a year.

    Two Years Ago, chap. i.  1856.

Communion with the Blessed Dead.  January 28

Shall we not recollect the blessed dead above all in Holy Communion, and give thanks for them there—at that holy table at which the Church triumphant and the Church militant meet in the communion of saints?  Where Christ is they are; and, therefore, if Christ be there, may not they be there likewise?  May not they be near us though unseen? like us claiming their share in the eternal sacrifice, like us partaking of that spiritual body and blood which is as much the life of saints in heaven as it is of penitent sinners on earth?  May it not be so?  It is a mystery into which we will not look too far.  But this at least is true, that they are with Him where He is.

    MS. Sermon.

The Great Law.  January 29

True rest can only be attained as Christ attained it, through labour.  True glory can only be attained in earth or heaven through self-sacrifice.  Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; whosoever will lose his life shall save it.

    All Saints’ Day Sermons.  1870.

The Coming Kingdom.  January 30

There is a God-appointed theocracy promised to us, and which we must wait for, when all the diseased and false systems of this world shall be swept away, and Christ’s feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, and the twelve apostles shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel!  All this shall come, and blessed is that servant whom his Lord when He cometh shall find ready!  All this we shall not see before we die, but we shall see it when we rise in the perfect material and spiritual ideal, in the kingdom of God!

    Letters and Memories.

Christ’s Coming.  January 31

Christ may come to us when our thoughts are cleaving to the ground, and ready to grow earthy of the earth—through noble poetry, noble music, noble art—through aught which awakens once more in us the instinct of the true, the beautiful, and the good.  He may come to us when our souls are restless and weary, through the repose of Nature—the repose of the lonely snow-peak and of the sleeping forest, of the clouds of sunset and of the summer sea, and whisper Peace.  Or He may come, as He comes on winter nights to many a gallant soul—not in the repose of Nature, but in her rage—in howling storm and blinding foam and ruthless rocks and whelming surge—and whisper to them even so—as the sea swallows all of them which it can take—of calm beyond, which this world cannot give and cannot take away.

And therefore let us say in utter faith, Come as Thou seest best—but in whatsoever way Thou comest, Even so come, Lord Jesus.  Amen.

    Last Sermon.  MS.  1874.

SAINTS’ DAYS, FASTS, & FESTIVALS

Since we gave up at the Reformation the superstitious practice of praying to the saints, Saints’ Days have sunk—and, indeed, sunk too much—into neglect.  We forget too often still, that though praying to any saint or angel, or other created being, is contrary both to reason and Scripture, yet it is according to reason and to Scripture to commemorate them.  That is, to remember them, to study their characters, and to thank God for them,—both for the virtues He bestowed on them, and the example which He has given us in them.

    MS. Sermon.

JANUARY 6

The Epiphany,

Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles

On this day the Lord Jesus was first shown to the Gentiles.  The word Epiphany means “showing.”  The Wise Men were worshippers of the true God, though in a dim confused way; and they had learnt enough of what true faith, true greatness was, not to be staggered and fall into unbelief when they saw the King of the Jews laid, not in a palace, but in a manger, tended by a poor village maiden.  And therefore God bestowed on them the great honour that they first of all—Gentiles—should see the glory and the love of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  God grant that they may not rise up against us in the Day of Judgment and condemn us!  They had but a small spark, a dim ray, of the Light which lighteth every man who cometh into the world; but they were more faithful to that little than many of us, who live in the full sunshine of the Gospel, with Christ’s Spirit, Christ’s Sacraments, Christ’s Churches,—means of grace and hopes of glory of which they never dreamed.

    Town and Country Sermons.

JANUARY 25

Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle and Martyr

How did St. Paul look on his past life?  There is no sentimental melancholy in him.  He is saved, and he knows it.  He is an Apostle, and he stands boldly on his dignity.  He is cheerful, hopeful, joyful.  And yet, when he speaks of the past, it is with noble shame and sorrow that he calls himself the chief of sinners, not worthy to be called an Apostle, because he persecuted the Church of Christ.  What he is, he will not deny; what he was, he will not forget; lest he should forget that in him, that is, in his flesh—his natural character—dwelleth no good thing; lest he should forget that the good which he does, he does not, but Christ which dwelleth in him; lest he should grow careless, puffed up, self-indulgent; lest he should neglect to subdue his evil passions; and so, after preaching to others, himself become a castaway.

    Town and Country Sermons.

February

. . . Every winter,
When the great sun has turned his face away,
The earth goes down into the vale of grief,
And fasts, and weeps, and shrouds herself in sables,
Leaving her wedding garments to decay;