Poetry · Chapter
A Threefold Cord explained
This chapter, a collaborative work by George MacDonald, John Hill MacDonald, and Greville Matheson MacDonald, opens with a dedication to Greville, celebrating familial and spiritual bonds.
What happens
This chapter, a collaborative work by George MacDonald, John Hill MacDonald, and Greville Matheson MacDonald, opens with a dedication to Greville, celebrating familial and spiritual bonds. It contains a series of poems exploring themes of faith, doubt, divine presence, suffering, and the mystery of life and death. The poems include meditations on trust in God amidst life's storms, a longing for a tangible sign from the Lord, a vision of transformation likened to a chrysalis, reflections on imprisonment and hope, a child's pinafore as a metaphor for spiritual hiding and revelation, a prism as a symbol of elusive grace, and a haunting narrative of a house that embodies a past crime.
Themes in this chapter
Spiritual Struggle and Doubt
The poem 'No Sign' directly grapples with doubt and the longing for a tangible sign from God, while other poems wrestle with the soul's place in the universe.
Redemption and Grace
The opening poem speaks of finding home in Jesus, who is wounded and slain, and the poem 'The Prism' reflects on grace as a daily gift that cannot be stored.
Suffering and Purification
The poem 'The Chrysalis' depicts a painful transformation from a shapeless mass to a mighty angel, and the prison poem finds loveliness in suffering.
Nature as Divine Revelation
In 'Show Us the Father', nature (stars, sunsets, flowers) is presented as revealing divine love and beauty, yet still insufficient for knowing the Father's face.
Characters to notice
- Jesus Christ
Addressed as the refuge and home of the soul, the wounded and slain one, and the one whose presence is sought in prayer.
- God
Referenced as the Father, the ruler who proves his rule even in prison, and the source of grace and light.
- Unknown
The speaking voice in the poems, expressing personal faith, doubt, longing, and reflection on the soul's journey.
- Death
Personified as a force that cannot reach the soul hidden in Jesus, and contemplated in the poem 'Sleep' as a foretaste of death.
- Moses
Referenced as growing too radiant for his people's eyes after being in God's presence, used as a simile for spiritual transformation.
- The Child-Mother
Appears in 'The Pinafore' as the child who hides behind a pinafore and undergoes a mysterious inner change.
- The Haunted House
Personified as a soul-filled entity that gapes like a corpse, haunted by a past crime.
Key passages
“I do not fear the wilderness Where thou hast been before; Nay rather will I daily press After thee, near thee, more!”
I am not afraid of difficult times because you have already experienced them; instead, I will strive to draw closer to you every day.
Expresses trust in Jesus as a guide through life's trials.
“O Lord, if on the wind, at cool of day, I heard one whispered word of mighty grace; If through the darkness, as in bed I lay, But once had come a hand upon my face; If but one sign that might not be mistook Had ever been, since first thy face I sought, I should not now be doubting o’er a book, But serving thee with burning heart and thought.”
Lord, if I had ever received a clear, unmistakable sign of your grace, I would not be struggling with doubt but would serve you passionately.
Captures the speaker's yearning for a direct, sensory experience of God to overcome doubt.
“The best of gifts will not be stored: The manna of yesterday Has filled no sacred miser-hoard To keep new need away.”
The finest gifts cannot be saved for later; yesterday's blessings do not create a reserve to meet today's needs.
Reflects on the necessity of daily dependence on God's grace.
“Something is coming, I know—is coming! With an inward soundless humming Somewhere in me, or if in the air I cannot tell, but it is there!”
I sense that something is approaching, accompanied by a silent hum within me or around me, though I cannot pinpoint its source.
Conveys the eerie anticipation in 'The Haunted House'.
