Book Review #14 – “The Hope of the Gospel” by George MacDonald (this post is in process and is incomplete at thsi time)
Book Review #14 – “The Hope of the Gospel” by George MacDonald.
MacDonald was a Scottish Christian pastor who turned to writing for his livelihood, from the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s, and has long been considered one of the greatest of all writers of fantasy literature, including fairy tales and myths of all kinds.
In fact, our old friend C. S. Lewis said once that George MacDonald “baptized my imagination” with his tales, and Lewis followed that powerful statement with, “I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my mentor; indeed I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him. The quality which had enchanted me in his imaginative works turned out to be the quality of the real universe, the divine, the magical, terrifying and ecstatic reality in which we all live.” MacDonald is an author who has long been famous for his towering moral imagination. And I am so pleased that you are going to experience him firsthand this summer, if you haven’t already.
The Princess and the Goblin was first published in 1872, the same year as the classic Alice book Through the Looking Glass, and is a tale about a princess raised in a castle built on a mountainside, and her friendship and adventures with a miner boy named Curdie. It has long been considered, among MacDonald’s many great works, one of his greatest. So enjoy! And if you want to read the equally terrific sequel, then check out The Princess and Curdie. You won’t be disappointed with that one either.
I must tell you too that George MacDonald held a church pastorate for a few years when he was younger, but then later preached from his heart through the written word in an extremely powerful way. In fact, maybe the most impressive statement made by Lewis about MacDonald was, “To speak plainly, I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continually close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself.” One of his better-known works of non-fiction is a three-volume series called Unspoken Sermons. Those books are full of insightful, inspiring ideas about how the Christian faith can be incarnated and lived out in a way that honors Scripture and the Person of Jesus Christ. He had a rather large family (I believe it was an even dozen), and much of his writing had to do with parenting, and children, and the joys and challenges of home life. “A parent must respect the spiritual person of his child, and approach it with reverence, for that too looks the Father in the face and has an audience with Him into which no earthly parent can enter even if he dared to desire it.” After one of his speaking tours in America, one of the reporters talked about MacDonald’s personality and ministry this way:
“A few days ago Dr. George MacDonald, the most spiritual and poetic novelist of the day, left these shores to return to his native country. His homely, stirring, beautifully simple words have left an echo in the hearts of every one who heard them, which will never quite die out. More than any living man we know of, Dr. MacDonald has the rare power of inspiring his readers and hearers with a personal affection for himself. They feel that in him they have a true man, with the brain of a poet and heart of a child; a man who could never be other than simple, and honest, and loveable; with a peculiarly refined and healthy nature, full of sweetness and warmth and light.” (from an American newspaper clipping, May, 1873).
Quotable Quotes from George MacDonald:
“My theology is Jesus Christ and nothing else. If I can understand Him, I shall need no other. Take your theology from Christ Himself. Learn from Christ Himself. That is the only theology that everyone must have.”
“A good story should have an imaginative reach that arouses within the hearer a sense of wonder, so that he feels he has momentarily caught a glimpse of the eternal world… There ought to be a place for any story which, although founded in the marvelous, is true to human nature and itself.” (from a letter to his wife Luisa)
“The life thoughts, deeds, aims, beliefs of Jesus have to be fresh expounded every age, for all the depth of eternity lies in them, and they have to be seen into more profoundly every new year of the world’s spiritual history.” (from a letter to his father, May 1853, at 28 years old)
“Jesus would not keep her long. It was time that the terrible cloud that was over her should be blown away by the winds of heaven, and that the real facts of things should show themselves – namely, the eternal gladness of God. The well-being of the universe must come forth in her soul, and so He just said to her one word. And what other word could be so much to any of us as to be called by our name from His lips?” (from his sermon Knowing the Risen Lord, referring to Mary and Jesus in the Garden)
“Jesus lived a grand simple life in poverty and love. Why should not I?” (from a letter to his father, June, 1853)
“What is your first thought in the morning? Is it ‘God is life’? or is it ‘What am I going to do first today at my work?’ Is it ‘God is very rich and I am His child and He will see to me’? or is it ‘How on earth shall I get through the problems lying ahead?’ Are you afraid? Are the cares of this world overwhelming you? Then your faith has plenty of room to grow.” (from his sermon Faith, the Proof of the Unseen)
“To trust in spite of the look of being forgotten; to keep crying out into the vast whence comes no voice, and where seems no hearing; to struggle after light, where is no glimmer to guide; at every turn to find a doorless wall, yet ever seek a door; to see the machinery of the world pauseless grinding on as if self-moved, caring for no life, nor shifting a hair’s-breadth for all entreaty, and yet believe that God is awake and utterly loving; to desire nothing but what comes meant for us from his hand; to wait patiently, willing to die of hunger, fearing only lest faith should fail- Such is the victory that overcometh the world, such is faith indeed.” (from his novel Warlock O’ Glenwarlock)
“It is better to love a little than to understand everything.”(from Growth in Grace and Knowledge)
“To be one with Him is the only human perfection –to be becoming one with Him, the only true human history… May you ever seek to please Christ, and be anxious that God should honour you-This last is a wonderful saying-one of Christ’s. How absent are all excludings from His words-how near does He draw us to the Father’s heart! There is nothing to be learnt but from Him.” (from letter to sister-in-law)
“But, come what may of this, I look up, and see the fields of eternity stretching away and away in the sunlight of the Father’s presence: and in those fields I see us all playing like blessed little boys and girls of God’s kingdom, sometimes looking back with wondering smile that we could have cared so much down here about this and that trifle-only we hardly knew how trifling it was.” (from a letter to a disagreeable friend)
“So sure am I that many things which illness has led me to see are true, that I would endlessly rather never be well than lose sight of them.” (from his novel Paul Faber, Surgeon)
“Be willing to fail in what you have set before you, and let the Lord work His own success – His acceptable and perfect will.” (from his novel Salted with Fire)
“Faith is the trying of the things unseen, the putting them to the test. Whatever your doubts or fears may be, try Him by obedience and then you will get help to carry on… If you believe that the Son of God died and rose again, your whole future is full of the dawn of an eternal morning, coming up beyond the hills of this life, and full of such hope as the highest imagination for the poet has not a glimmer of yet.” (from sermon Faith, the Proof of the Unseen)
“If to myself – “God sometimes interferes” –
I said, my faith at once would be struck blind.
I see him all in all, the lifing mind,
Or nowhere in the vacant miles and years.” (an untitled poem of G.M.’s).
“Jesus Christ knew men. We do not try enough to know our fellow man. We are ready enough to judge them; but we do not try enough to understand them – to know what they are, to see what it is at the root that makes them do this or that. We should give ourselves an opportunity to understand humanity, to know those who are about us, and from them to know the individual, until we are a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Every Christian ought to be a refuge. I believe that, if we were like Christ, even the wild beasts of our woods and fields would flee to us for refuge and deliverance; and man must be in the world as He was in the world, and then the world will blossom around him with all God’s meanings.” (from sermon Growth in Grace and Knowledge)
“Suppose, for a moment, there is the Conqueror of all time driving in His chariot through the streets of the city. Amongst the enemy whom He has conquered, He has found children of His own, and He has said to those children, ‘Come up and ride with Me in My chariot.’ And they say, ‘No; We will not.’ But He cannot afford to lose His children, and He will not lose His children. Therefore, they are tied to the chariot and dragged along with ropes through the streets because they will not mount and ride with their conquering Father, and that is just the condition of thousands of thousands of so-called Christians. They are not free, and God will not let them go. They are tied to His chariot wheels, because of themselves they will not be children and ride hanging about the necks of their Father as He drives His conquering steeds.” (from his sermon The Only Freedom).