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The Marshmallows Trilogy #2, part 3
The Seaboard Parish Volume 3
The captain himself was on board. Percivale having persuaded Jim Allen, the two had gone about in the crowd seeking proselytes. In a wonderfully short space they had found almost all the crew, each fresh one picking up another or more; till at length the captain, protesting against the folly of it, gave in, and once having yielded, was, like a true Englishman, as much in earnest as any of them. The places of two who were missing were supplied by Percivale and Joe, the latter of whom would listen to no remonstrance.
126 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1871
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About the author
George MacDonald
1,597 books2,468 followersGeorge MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He became a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow-writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 23, 2016
How does truth become sterile? When it becomes separated from story - from our subjective experience. Think of how virtually all scriptural truth is embedded in narrative. All of the classic stories of the OT. Jesus' life in the NT is presented as story. He even chooses to teach in stories. Even the epistles are written as letters to real people in real communities living real lives.
George MacDonald well knows that truth is most easily relayed and captured when presented in story. Maybe that is why I never seem to tire of his writings. Theology made alive as it is channeled through the lives of ordinary people. Perhaps it was this knowing that led him to abandon his pulpit for the calling of a novelist.
Theology is also made alive in man's encounter with nature. In this volume, George occasionally wanders off into lengthy descriptions of the nature that surrounds him and deeply impacts him. At one point, he almost apologizes for this: "I wonder if my readers are tired of so much about the common things of Nature. I reason about it something in this way . . . Beauty is one of the surest antidotes to vexation".
George even compares dry theology with a loss of contact with the beauty of nature:
"And as we went, lo! the sky was glorious again. It had faded from my sight, had grown flat as a dogma . . ."
"A luminous fog had sunk down over the western horizon, and almost hidden the sun, had obscured the half of the sea, and destroyed all our hopes of a sunset. A certain veil as of the commonplace, like that which so often settles down over the spirit of man after a season of vision and glory and gladness, had dropped over the face of Nature".
Following are a few more of the nuggets gleaned from another fascinating venture with my friend George:
1) On coffins. Perhaps the beginnings of a case for cremation???
I do not like coffins. They seem to me relics of barbarism. If I had my way, I would have the old thing decently wound in a fair linen cloth, and so laid in the bosom of the earth, whence it was taken. I would have it vanish, not merely from the world of vision, but from the world of form, as soon as may be. The embrace of the fine life-hoarding, life-giving mould, seems to me comforting, in the vague, foolish fancy that will sometimes emerge from the froth of reverie--I mean, of subdued consciousness remaining in the outworn frame. But the coffin is altogether and vilely repellent. Of this, however, enough, I hate even the shadow of sentiment, though some of my readers, who may not yet have learned to distinguish between sentiment and feeling, may wonder how I dare to utter such a barbarism.
2) Core to our values in Soulstream is the conviction that our spiritual growth is discovered more in our capacity to receive than in our capacity to give (for the latter depends almost completely on the former).
". . . although he loves everybody as much as they can be loved, there are some who can be loved more than others. Only God is always trying to make us such that we can be loved more and more.
3) George offers some beautiful reflections on home. My longing for home runs so deep! Yet how I resist the idea that heaven is a state of endless bliss when all of our longings are filled and we will long no more. I think George may view it similarly.
"Yet I am now getting ready to - go home - to leave this world of homes and go home. When I reach that home, shall I even then seek yet to go home? Even then, I believe, I shall seek a yet warmer, deeper, truer home in the deeper knowledge of God--in the truer love of my fellow-man. Eternity will be, my heart and my faith tell me, a travelling homeward, but in jubilation and confidence and the vision of the beloved".
4) Another pet peeve I have is the need some people have for stories to always have happy endings, for all mystery to be explained, and for everything to be resolved at the end.
"Now I fancy my readers, looking forward to the end, and seeing what a small amount of print is left, blaming me; some, that I have roused curiosity without satisfying it; others, that I have kept them so long over a dull book and a lame conclusion. But out of a life one cannot always cut complete portions, and serve them up in nice shapes. . . 'Now faith is the essence of hopes, the trying of things unseen.' Good-bye".
George MacDonald well knows that truth is most easily relayed and captured when presented in story. Maybe that is why I never seem to tire of his writings. Theology made alive as it is channeled through the lives of ordinary people. Perhaps it was this knowing that led him to abandon his pulpit for the calling of a novelist.
Theology is also made alive in man's encounter with nature. In this volume, George occasionally wanders off into lengthy descriptions of the nature that surrounds him and deeply impacts him. At one point, he almost apologizes for this: "I wonder if my readers are tired of so much about the common things of Nature. I reason about it something in this way . . . Beauty is one of the surest antidotes to vexation".
George even compares dry theology with a loss of contact with the beauty of nature:
"And as we went, lo! the sky was glorious again. It had faded from my sight, had grown flat as a dogma . . ."
"A luminous fog had sunk down over the western horizon, and almost hidden the sun, had obscured the half of the sea, and destroyed all our hopes of a sunset. A certain veil as of the commonplace, like that which so often settles down over the spirit of man after a season of vision and glory and gladness, had dropped over the face of Nature".
Following are a few more of the nuggets gleaned from another fascinating venture with my friend George:
1) On coffins. Perhaps the beginnings of a case for cremation???
I do not like coffins. They seem to me relics of barbarism. If I had my way, I would have the old thing decently wound in a fair linen cloth, and so laid in the bosom of the earth, whence it was taken. I would have it vanish, not merely from the world of vision, but from the world of form, as soon as may be. The embrace of the fine life-hoarding, life-giving mould, seems to me comforting, in the vague, foolish fancy that will sometimes emerge from the froth of reverie--I mean, of subdued consciousness remaining in the outworn frame. But the coffin is altogether and vilely repellent. Of this, however, enough, I hate even the shadow of sentiment, though some of my readers, who may not yet have learned to distinguish between sentiment and feeling, may wonder how I dare to utter such a barbarism.
2) Core to our values in Soulstream is the conviction that our spiritual growth is discovered more in our capacity to receive than in our capacity to give (for the latter depends almost completely on the former).
". . . although he loves everybody as much as they can be loved, there are some who can be loved more than others. Only God is always trying to make us such that we can be loved more and more.
3) George offers some beautiful reflections on home. My longing for home runs so deep! Yet how I resist the idea that heaven is a state of endless bliss when all of our longings are filled and we will long no more. I think George may view it similarly.
"Yet I am now getting ready to - go home - to leave this world of homes and go home. When I reach that home, shall I even then seek yet to go home? Even then, I believe, I shall seek a yet warmer, deeper, truer home in the deeper knowledge of God--in the truer love of my fellow-man. Eternity will be, my heart and my faith tell me, a travelling homeward, but in jubilation and confidence and the vision of the beloved".
4) Another pet peeve I have is the need some people have for stories to always have happy endings, for all mystery to be explained, and for everything to be resolved at the end.
"Now I fancy my readers, looking forward to the end, and seeing what a small amount of print is left, blaming me; some, that I have roused curiosity without satisfying it; others, that I have kept them so long over a dull book and a lame conclusion. But out of a life one cannot always cut complete portions, and serve them up in nice shapes. . . 'Now faith is the essence of hopes, the trying of things unseen.' Good-bye".
October 9, 2024
Also a novel about a painter, a continued character from the 2nd in the trilogy. GM seemed to poke at the “starving artist” idea. I think this might be my favorite trilogy of GM’s possibly because I’m an artist.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews