“There is no situation so bad that we, through a bad attitude, cannot make . . . worse” (Beyond Stateliest Marble, p. 179).
Chesterton Himself
Chesterton once said, speaking of those who accommodate themselves to the trend of the times, that “at its worst it consists of many millions of frightened creatures all accommodating themselves to a trend that is not there.” It is not that hard to spook a herd. The trend is that things are trending. The buffalo …
Wanting to be Whole Grain
“The flour has to be ground fine if the bread is to be fine. As the old blues song put it, everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. It would be lovely, we think, to be the finest bread that heaven holds, but we do not want to be ground to …
The Problem of the Boring Testimony
Far from being a degradation of standards of covenant purity, [the Half-way Covenant] was the direct result of having artificially high standards. The Bible requires a confession that Jesus is Lord, and the absence of a scandalous lifestyle. It does not require a convulsive Damascus road experience on the part of every convert, especially those …
Dismantling and Rebuilding
“There is nothing particularly intelligent about doubting. But intelligence can be revealed in how the doubts are raised and then answered” (Beyond Stateliest Marble, p. 167).
Instead of the Other Way Around
“A scriptural Christian knows how to take the truth seriously without taking himself too seriously” (Beyond Stateliest Marble, p. 164).
Wisdom at Home
“Shrewdness is wisdom in a homely setting . . . A wise professor might tell you not to take on more than you can handle. A shrewd uncle would tell you not to become a baker if your head’s made of butter. A lofty bit of advice might be to do your work right the …
One Way or the Other
“But to be tender of everyone in a fallen world is actually to be cruel. To be tender of the lambs is to be tender. To be tender to the wolves is to be cruel to the lambs. This is why Christ was tender of the little children who were brought to him, and He …
Neither Skeletal Nor Boneless
“We sometimes have trouble understanding how tenderness and strength can go together. In order to be strong, we harden ourselves in a wrong way, a way which makes tenderness impossible. Or we opt for tenderness, and render ourselves incapable of functioning” (Beyond Stateliest Marble, p. 149).
Neither Does Education
“Training does not put in what God left out” (Beyond Stateliest Marble, p. 141).