Commonplaces: August /September 2022

 “Let us not claim for ourselves more license in judgement, unless we wish to limit God’s power and confine his mercy by law. For God, whenever it pleases him, adopts the stranger into the church. And the Lord does this to frustrate men’s opinion and restrain their rashness—which, unless it is checked, ventures to assume for itself a greater right of judgment than it deserves.”—Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion IV.xii.9

“This is the first law of a minister, to do nothing without a command.”—Ibid., IV.xix.5

“The righteous and Godly man should be ready patiently to bear the malice of those whom he desires to become good, in order to increase the number of good men—not to add himself to the number of bad by a malice like theirs.”—Ibid., IV.xx.20

“[The Lord] is as gracious in the manner of His mercy, as in the matter of it.”—Spurgeon, Morning and Evening Morning, Aug. 17

“The blood was not only sprinkled upon the door-posts of Israel’s dwelling houses, but upon the sanctuary, the mercy-seat, and the altar, because as sin intrudes into our holiest things, the blood of Jesus is needed to purify them from defilement. If mercy be needed to be exercised towards our duties, what shall be said of our sins?”—Spurgeon, Morning and Evening Morning, Aug. 29

“But there is a further development, which we owe (I believe) entirely to Aristotle; a brilliant conceit. (There is no reason why we should not contribute a conceit to him; he was a wit, and a dressy man, as well as a philosopher.)—C.S. Lewis, Studies in Words

A Stroll Through Space-Time

You’re always moving.


No really, you are. Stay as still as you can, freeze every muscle you can possibly control, and there you will be speeding along at the breakneck pace of sixty seconds per minute. Sixty minutes per hour. All the time, every day. There are no brakes, no pit stops, no time-outs. Time has the cruise control jammed wide open, and her highway only ends at the Styx.

Then it gets worse. While you are holding that frozen pose, the earth is whirling you about in a violent circle. For most of you Americans, you’re doing the merry-go round at about 600 miles per hour. On top of that, you’re being slingshotted about the sun at the truly cosmic speed of 1.6 million miles per day (that’s about 66,627 mph, for the NASCAR buffs). It’s enough to make the queasy among us want to hurl.

And in every single bit of that time and space, you are either being more or less like God. No neutral ground, no unimportant moments. An idle remark to a stranger can change their life. A chance glance downward can lead to a car wreck. A sleepy word to your wife over a coffee cup can impact for years. And if even the stuff you say in boredom matters, if even the mood you read cereal boxes and tin can nutritional labels (that’s not just me, right?) matters, then everything matters.

Some people have the idea that there are things that are truly trivial. Things that don’t matter and will never matter. “So you’re saying,” they laugh, “that it matters when I take a bite of cracker, or lose a hair? Grow up! Get a life!”

They glance at their own stopped watch and blissfully assume time has stopped as well. No one is traveling. We’re at a rest stop. We can get back on the road when we feel like it, after the cracker box is empty.

Tick tock.

Book of the Month August 2022: the Hornblower Novels

Lest you think that I am a snob, puttering grumpily about amidst piles of heavy tomes and refusing diligently to read anything a lesser mortal might comprehend, this month’s selection is what might be called “book candy”: the Horatio Hornblower novels by C.S. Forester.

Taut as a shroud and filled with sails, cannon, combat, danger, and courage, this is a boy's set of stories through and through. The series  began with The Happy Return in 1937 and continued until the author's death in 1966; it covers the entire career of a British Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic Wars, from seasick midshipman to Admiral of the Fleet. While thoroughly accurate in period details, Forester carefully isolates his hero from major historical events (Horatio is always off on a detached command or something similar when a major battle such as the Nile or Trafalgar is fought) but manages to give the flavor of the times nevertheless. Hornblower himself is a mathematical genius and a born commander, a man who dwells endlessly on his faults and does not notice his virtues—the fact that he claws his way up a notoriously favor-ridden navy by sheer pluck, luck, and merit means nothing to him. It is left to his supporting characters to show us just how excellent an officer he is. Forester does this with a deft touch, switching viewpoints and situations between novels to show different sides of his hero’s character—these are not, like many popular series, the same plot dressed up in different details to sell more books.

A comparison with the more recent Aubrey/Maturin Master and Commander series by Patrick O’Brian, covering the same war and premise, is inevitable and probably beneficial. Between them, Hornblower was the first and slightly more refined series; parents hunting for something for the kids to devour will not have to worry about much explicit mention of unsavory behaviors in Forester. O’Brian, on the other hand, made the brilliant authorial move of giving his captain a companion at sea, which avoids the problem of spending too much time in Hornblower’s morose, self-deprecating thoughts (which quickly get old). He is also more blunt about the sins and horrors of the times, so he skews a bit toward older readership. But readers who enjoy one will probably devour the other—particularly if they come to Hornblower first.

I’ve knocked out four Hornblower novels (The Happy Return, Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, Lieutenant Hornblower, and Hornblower and the Atropos) this month and have enjoyed each on its own merits; I’m planning to continue to the end of the series as I find time and opportunity. None of them (so far) takes a medal as Forester’s best (that still goes, in my opinion, to The Good Shepherd, his WWII novel) but they are worthy of the time spent nonetheless. If you’re looking for a break from the heavy stuff, Hornblower is a good place to anchor.