Daily meditations taken from the works of an acclaimed novelist, essayist, and preacher who has articulated what he sees with a freshness and clarity and energy that hails our stultified imaginations.

A 'kingdom' is a group of people ruled by one person, the 'king', who makes all the laws himself without their votes or approval. The concept is anathema to contemporary democracy and its confidence in government by the people, the naive assumption that majorities will always get it right. History does not encourage optimism. There have been more bad kings than good, even in God's chosen people Israel. Behind our world's problems, which baffle our finest politicians and philosophers, lies a fundamental, racial and fatal error of having chosen the wrong king. Born into his kingdom, he has deceived us into thinking we can each of us be our own kingdom, inevitably clashing with each other, as individuals or nations. The only solution is to find the right king and become his loyal citizens. One day all other kingdoms will be shaken to pieces but this will remain, for ever. Only then will the conflict, in which every one of us is involved, be resolved.

Vols. for 1871-76, 1913-14 include an extra number, The Christmas bookseller, separately paged and not included in the consecutive numbering of the regular series.

Report and speeches at the [third] annual meeting of the Church Pastoral-aid Society, May 8, 1838.