Last fall I reposted a post from the old Enchiridion Militis, this blog's ancestor, called "The Glory of Lost Causes." The glory of lost causes is a very important theme. Jesus said "In the world you shall have trouble. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world."
In this world many good causes will be, in the earthly sense, lost. Yet fighting for them is important nonetheless, for their significance is more than earthly. I had long known the brief quotation which is now at the right side of this blog, under the cross: "The men signed of the cross of Christ go gaily in the dark." But only recently did I read its larger context in Chesterton's "The Ballad of the White Horse." Here is that larger context. (See Tony's comment last fall for another good quotation from the same poem.) Read it and have your resolve and your heart strengthened.
"Mother of God," the wanderer said,
"I am but a common king,
Nor will I ask what saints may ask,
To see a secret thing.
"The gates of heaven are fearful gates
Worse than the gates of hell;
Not I would break the splendours barred
Or seek to know the thing they guard,
Which is too good to tell.
"But for this earth most pitiful,
This little land I know,
If that which is for ever is,
Or if our hearts shall break with bliss,
Seeing the stranger go?
"When our last bow is broken, Queen,
And our last javelin cast,
Under some sad, green evening sky,
Holding a ruined cross on high,
Under warm westland grass to lie,
Shall we come home at last?"
And a voice came human but high up,
Like a cottage climbed among
The clouds; or a serf of hut and croft
That sits by his hovel fire as oft,
But hears on his old bare roof aloft
A belfry burst in song.
"The gates of heaven are lightly locked,
We do not guard our gain,
The heaviest hind may easily
Come silently and suddenly
Upon me in a lane.
"And any little maid that walks
In good thoughts apart,
May break the guard of the Three Kings
And see the dear and dreadful things
I hid within my heart.
"The meanest man in grey fields gone
Behind the set of sun,
Heareth between star and other star,
Through the door of the darkness fallen ajar,
The council, eldest of things that are,
The talk of the Three in One.
"The gates of heaven are lightly locked,
We do not guard our gold,
Men may uproot where worlds begin,
Or read the name of the nameless sin;
But if he fail or if he win
To no good man is told.
"The men of the East may spell the stars,
And times and triumphs mark,
But the men signed of the cross of Christ
Go gaily in the dark.
"The men of the East may search the scrolls
For sure fates and fame,
But the men that drink the blood of God
Go singing to their shame.
"The wise men know what wicked things
Are written on the sky,
They trim sad lamps, they touch sad strings,
Hearing the heavy purple wings,
Where the forgotten seraph kings
Still plot how God shall die.
"The wise men know all evil things
Under the twisted trees,
Where the perverse in pleasure pine
And men are weary of green wine
And sick of crimson seas.
"But you and all the kind of Christ
Are ignorant and brave,
And you have wars you hardly win
And souls you hardly save.
"I tell you naught for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.
"Night shall be thrice night over you,
And heaven an iron cope.
Do you have joy without a cause,
Yea, faith without a hope?"
The comments in the old post contain other good quotations. Feel free to peruse them or to add more here.
Comments (4)
"But you and all the kind of Christ
Are ignorant and brave,
And you have wars you hardly win
And souls you hardly save."
Lydia's echo of Chesterton: "In this world many good causes will be, in the earthly sense, lost. Yet fighting for them is important nonetheless, for their significance is more than earthly."
I prefer peace over fighting (who doesn't, duh), but I have to admit, that fighting the good fight does animate me more, far more, than anything else. Adrenaline, getting the juices flowing, the senses and discernment becoming more keen, a heightened awareness, a radar that's on alert, ready to move and act when needed, wow, all of that.
Having said that, when I read this part "significance more than earthly" I thought of all things, militant jihadis, and their 70 virgins that they think awaits them. I know I'm not the Christian mirror of these guys, none of us are, but don't they think that their battle is of a "significance more than earthly" too? I mean, what else could drive them to do suicidal-homicidal acts of innocent civilians than thinking and truly believing that such actions are of a "signicance more than earthly" as well?
But Christian soldiers > Islamic jihadis.
Posted by Truth Unites... and Divides | March 1, 2014 12:18 PM
Truth, one facet of "significance more than earthly" has got to be that heaven consists not merely of earthly goods in greater abundance and persistence than they do here. That would be, instead, "significance earthly but more of it". That would have it not the significance greater, just the extent of the good: greater magnitude, not better in kind or even in intensity.
Posted by Tony | March 1, 2014 12:25 PM
Lewis's "The Last Battle" is all about lost causes. Unlike all of his other Narnia books, you get a strong sense of overwhelming despair throughout. Every time something that might be good occurs, it is squashed it quickly and brutally (the slaughter of the horses can only be called a gruesome scene!).
But Tirian is probably my favorite Narnia King, and this may be my favorite line in the entire series. After the dwarves kill the talking horses, Tirian says this:
Nothing else I've read has ever inspired me or made me feel ashamed quite like this line.
Well, maybe this from later in the book. After Eustace is captured by the Calormenes and thrown into the shed:
Ah, C.S. Lewis. The older I've gotten, the more I appreciate him. If I ever have children you can be sure that I'll be reading the Narnia books to them at bedtime.
Posted by MarcAnthony | March 1, 2014 10:26 PM
Thank you, MA. It has been some years since I focused on the courage of Tirian's advice to Jill.
Posted by Lydia | March 2, 2014 2:58 PM