Retribution is inevitable
Cover of Kingsley’s posthumous collection Daily Thoughts
Today's Devotional
Know this—that as surely as God sometimes punishes wholesale, so surely is he always punishing in detail. By that infinite concatenation of moral causes and effects, which makes the whole world one mass of special Providences, every sin of ours will punish itself, and probably punish itself in kind. Are we selfish? We shall call out selfishness in others. Do we neglect our duty? Then others will neglect their duty to us. Do we indulge our passions? Then others who depend on us will indulge theirs, to our detriment and misery.
About the author and the source
Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) is recognized for his novels Westward Ho! and Hereward the Wake (among others) and his children’s story The Water Babies. A churchman, he wove Christian themes throughout all his books. After his death, his wife Fanny compiled a thought for each day of the year from his publications and manuscripts.
Charles Kingsley. All Saints’ Day Sermons in Daily Thoughts, edited by Fanny Kingsley. Macmillan and Co., 1885.