Transcribed from the 1906 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price,
from the writings of
CHARLES KINGSLEY.
“Out of the deep have I criedunto Thee, O God.”
London
MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited
new york: the macmillan company
1906
All rights reserved
p. iiPrinted by Robert MacLehose & Co. Ltd.
University Press, Glasgow.
First Edition 1880.
Reprinted 1883, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1889, 1891, 1893, 1896, 1900, 1906
p. iiiTHIS LITTLEBOOK IS
Dedicated
TO ALL TROUBLED SOULS
and
TO THE DEAR MEMORY OF ONE
who passed through the deep
into eternal rest.
F. E. K
June 12,1880.
p. 2Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul: I am come into deep waters; so that the floods run over me.—Ps. lxix. 1, 2.
I am brought into so great trouble and misery: that I go mourning all the day long.—Ps. xxxviii. 6.
The sorrows of my heart are enlarged: Oh! bring Thou me out ofmy distress.—Ps. xxv. 17.
The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping: the Lord will receive my prayer.—Ps. vi. 8.
In the multitude of the sorrows which I had in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed my soul.—Ps. xciv. 17.
p. 3Each heart knows its own bitterness; each soul has its own sorrow; each man’s life has its dark days of storm and tempest, when all his joys seem blown away by some sudden blast of ill-fortune, and the desire of his eyes is taken from him, andall his hopes and plans, all which he intended to do or to enjoy,are hid with blinding mist, so that he cannot see his way before him, and knows not whither to go, or whither to flee for help; when faith in God seems broken up for the moment, when he feels p. 4no strength, no purpose, and knows not what to determine,what to do, what to believe, what to care for; when the very earth seems reeling under his feet, and the fountains of the abyss are broken up.
When that day comes, let him think of God’s covenant andtake heart. Is the sun’s warmth perished out of the sky because the storm is cold with hail and bitter winds? Is God’s love changed because we cannot feel it in our trouble? Is the sun’s light perished out of the sky because the world is black with cloud and mist? Has God forgotten to give light to suffering souls, because we cannot seeour way for a few short days of perplexity?
No. God’s message to every sad and desolate heart on earth, is that God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all;that God p. 5is Love, and in Him there is no cruelty at all; that God is One, and in Him there is no change atall. And therefore we can pray boldly to Him, and ask Him to deliver us in the time of our tribulation and misery; in the hour of death, whether of our own death or the death of those we lov