“They had no notions beyond the rudiments of roaring the melody—the other lines of music in the hymnal they just assumed to be footings and pylons for the higher notes. Musicians fooled around with things like those. Nobody was supposed to sing them.”
Attributes in Tension
“‘I take your meaning,’ he continued. ‘Or at least I think I do. A gentle and quiet spirit, truly such as Peter describeth—a real Christian. As well as a spitfire and a beautiful hellcat, as per Paul in Titus 2.’”
But Seminary Can’t Cover Everything
“Pastor Thomas walked toward Savannah, but a little uncertainly. There had been nothing in seminary about this kind of thing at all. She was plainly a firecracker, a pippin, a beautiful volcano.”
An Ominous Silence
“It seemed to her like that moment when a toddler crashes in the next room, and nothing follows but an eerie silence. Experienced parents know that the child is busy gathering up all the available oxygen in the room, and a wail of wails may be expected presently.”
Nice Having a Friend
“Nevertheless, the sun shone in a way that promised a good friendship for the rest of the day. Savannah promised her friendship in return, and set out confidently.”
As Heathen as That
“But whatever church he wound up joining, the pastor of it would have his hands full—Mr. Lambeth is as fully heathen as the king of the Amalekites.”
When “Won by Sweetness” Means Not Being Won at All
Calvin (aside): We seen plenty of those who are most venomous when corrections and warnings are used.
Dissenters: Et quoy! Is that the way to teach? Ho! we want to be won by sweetness.
Calvin: You do? Then go and teach God his lesson.
Calvin (aside): Look at our fastidious gentlemen who cannot bear one single reproof when it is put to them! And why?
Dissenters: Ho! we want to be taught another way.
Calvin: Then go to the devil’s school. He will flatter you alright—to your destruction.
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p. 145
The Way Things Ought to Be
“Mrs. Fuller was a true boardinghouse cook—cheerful, plump, a feminine mechanic among the pans, and a mysterious force of nature among the sauces.”
The Man in the Dark, p. 7
The Opposite of Hoity Toity
Calvin “is certainly thinking of familiere in terms of language; for a little later he censures ambitious preachers who ‘babble in refined language.’ To make the Scriptural message familiere Calvin used a familiar, homely style of speaking.”
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, pp. 139-140
Unstrung Pearls
“The sermon began mysteriously to meander, and though many good things were still said, they all seemed like pearls rolling around on a table without any thread to make them into a necklace.”
The Man in the Dark, p. 3