Out of the Deep

Out of the Deep, by Charles Kingsley, Edited

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Title: Out of the Deep Words for the Sorrowful
Author: Charles Kingsley
Editor: Fanny E. Kingsley
Release Date: January 8, 2007 [eBook #20312]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUT OF THE DEEP***

Transcribed from the 1906 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email [email protected]

Out of the Deep: WORDS FOR THE SORROWFUL.
FROM THE WRITINGS OF CHARLES KINGSLEY.
"Out of the deep have I cried unto Thee, O God."
London MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1906 All rights reserved
Printed by Robert MacLehose & Co. Ltd. University Press, Glasgow.
First Edition 1880. Reprinted 1883, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1889, 1891, 1893, 1896, 1900, 1906
THIS LITTLE BOOK 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.

I. OUT OF THE DEEP OF SUFFERING AND SORROW.
Save 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 of my 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.
Each 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, and all 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 no 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 and take 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 see our 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 is Love, and in Him there is no cruelty at all; that God is One, and in Him there is no change at all. 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 love; in the day of judgment, whereof it is written--"It is God who justifieth us; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ who died, yea, rather who is risen again, who even now maketh intercession for us." To that boundless love of God, which He showed forth in the life of Christ Jesus; to that perfect and utter will to deliver us which God showed forth in the death of Christ Jesus, when the Father spared not His own Son, but gave Him freely for us; to that boundless love we may trust ourselves, our fortunes, our families, our bodies, our souls, and the bodies and souls of those we love.
National Sermons.
To all, sooner or later, Christ comes to baptise them with fire. But do not think that the baptism of fire comes once for all to a man, in some one terrible affliction, some one awful conviction of his own sinfulness and nothingness. No; with many--and those perhaps the best people--it goes on month after month, year after year. By secret trials, chastenings, which none but they and God can understand, the Lord is cleansing them from their secret faults, and making