Mere Christianity Book IV Chapter 9 ("Counting the cost") : George MacDonald References
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Book IV of Mere Christianity was first published in 1944, a few years before George MacDonald: An Anthology was first published in 1947, containing 365 short quotes with a 17-page preface by C.S. Lewis. The latter is still currently in print published by Harper Collins in 2001 in paperback and electronic versions. Using the book for clues I was able to find the original source of the 2 references since there is a list of sources for each quote in the back of the book.
First reference
It is listed in the Anthology as #55 ("Easy to Please and Hard to Satisfy"):
That no keeping but a perfect one will satisfy God, I hold with all my heart and strength; but that there is none else He cares for, is one of the lies of the enemy. What father is not pleased with the first tottering attempt of his little one to walk? What father would be satisfied with anything but the manly step of the fullgrown son?
The larger context can be read in The Way, a sermon in Unspoken Sermons Second Series (1885) which can be found in the Christian Classics Ethereal Library website (pdf version here).
Second Reference
It is listed in the Anthology as #336 ("The House Is Not for Me"), coming from Diary of an Old Soul (July 16 entry):
The house is not for me—it is for Him. His royal thoughts require many a stair, Many a tower, many an outlook fair Of which I have no thought.
The book's complete title is A Book of Strife, in the form of the Diary of an Old Soul (1880), which can be found in the *Christian Classics Ethereal Library* website as well (txt here). Each entry is a 7-line rhyme royale stanza. I think for the Mere Christianity reference, the July 15 entry goes together with the July 16 entry (which is partially quoted in the Anthology):
15. Too eager I must not be to understand. How should the work the master goes about Fit the vague sketch my compasses have planned? I am his house--for him to go in and out. He builds me now--and if I cannot see At any time what he is doing with me, 'Tis that he makes the house for me too grand. 16. The house is not for me--it is for him. His royal thoughts require many a stair, Many a tower, many an outlook fair, Of which I have no thought, and need no care. Where I am most perplexed, it may be there Thou mak'st a secret chamber, holy-dim, Where thou wilt come to help my deepest prayer.
Further resources
For those who would like to read more George MacDonald works curated by C.S. Lewis, here is a source list of all 365 quotes. The anthology also includes a complete bibliography of his other works.
| Quote # | Work |
|---|---|
| #1 - #52 | Unspoken Sermons, First Series |
| #53 - #167 | Unspoken Sermons, Second Series |
| #168 - #257 | Unspoken Sermons, Third Series |
| #258 - #259 | Phantastes |
| #260 - #266 | Alec Forbes, Vol I, II, III |
| #267 - #278 | Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood |
| #279 - #280 | The Golden Key |
| #281 | The Shadows |
| #282 - #287 | The Seaboard Parish |
| #288 - #289 | The Princess and the Goblin |
| #290 - #301 | Wilfred Cumbermede |
| #302 - #313 | Thomas Wingfold, Curate |
| #314 - #332 | Sir Gibbie |
| #333 - #340 | Diary of an Old Soul |
| #341 - #344 | The Princess and the Curdie |
| #345 - #360 | What's Mine's Mine |
| #361 - #365 | Lilith |
A good introduction to George MacDonald can be read in a journal article A Retrospective on George MacDonald: Poet, Novelist, Preacher by Roderick McGillis (Vol 36. Article 1).
More on his Diary of an Old Soul can be read in a journal article "The Path of Pain": George MacDonald's Portrayal of Death in the Diary of an Old Soul by J. Patrick Pazdziora (Vol 36. Article 6).
Both articles were published in North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies in January 2017.
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The first one is from a sermon called The Father's Appeal, preached in Westminster Chapel:
“Though Jesus Christ is very hard to satisfy, He is very easy to please. Think of that and it will help you a little. He is very easy to please, but very hard to satisfy. If you will but let Him in, and you have not much to put on the table. You cannot share much of life because you have not got it, He will be so pleased, if it be but a cup of cold water that you can give him. Let it be something genuine, something real.”
I could not find the second one but MacDonald may have borrowed it from Book 1 Chapter 5 of The Confessions of St. Augustine:
My soul is like a house, small for you to enter, but I pray you to enlarge it. It is in ruins, but I ask you to remake it. It contains much that you will not be pleased to see: this I know and do not hide. But who is to rid me of these things? There is no one but you …
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