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George MacDonald
George MacDonald (December 10, 1824 – September 18, 1905) was a Scottish preacher, author, and poet whose ministry bridged pulpit and pen, influencing Christian thought and literature across the 19th century. Born in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, to George MacDonald Sr., a farmer and weaver, and Helen MacKay, he was the second of six children in a devout Congregationalist family with Calvinist roots. Educated at a local school, he attended King’s College, Aberdeen (M.A., 1845), worked as a tutor in London (1845–1848), and studied theology at Highbury Theological College, intending ministry despite health setbacks. MacDonald’s preaching career began with his ordination in 1850 at Trinity Congregational Church in Arundel, Sussex, where he served until 1853, resigning over theological disputes—rejecting eternal punishment and predestination for a broader view of God’s love. His sermons, later preached as a layman in Manchester (1856–1868) and at gatherings in London and Italy, emphasized obedience and divine fatherhood, preserved in works like Unspoken Sermons (1867–1889). A prolific writer, his novels (Phantastes, 1858; The Princess and the Goblin, 1872) and poetry doubled as gospel messages, inspiring C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Married to Louisa Powell in 1851, with whom he had eleven children—including Greville, Mary, and Irene—he died at age 80 in Ashtead, Surrey, England, from heart disease and dementia.
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George MacDonald preaches about the awakening of true love from beneath the rose leaves of illusions and dreams, emphasizing the need for genuine connection beyond surface likings and fancies. He highlights the journey of two individuals moving from mere commonalities to a deep unity where they see and are seen for who they truly are, ultimately meeting in the majesty of truth and the image of God through the power of authentic love.
Kiss of the Spirit
"While one is yet only in love, the real person lies covered with the rose leaves of a thousand sleepy-eyed dreams, and through them come to the dreamer but the barest hints of the real person. A thousand fancies fly out, approach and cross, but never meet. The man and the woman are pleased, not with each other, but each with the fancied other. The merest common likings are taken for signs of a wonderful sympathy, of a radical unity. But though at a hundred points their souls seem to touch, their contact points are the merest brushings, as of insect antennae. The real man, the real woman, is all the time asleep under the rose leaves. Happy is the rare fate of the true............ to wake and come forth and meet in the majesty of the truth, in the image of God, in their very being, in the power of that love which alone is being! They love, not this and that about each other, but each the very other. Where such love is, let the differences of taste, the unfitness of temperament, be what they may, the two must by and by be thoroughly one. George MacDonald. "The negative and positive relation we live daily causes us to emerge from beneath the rose leaves and penetrate each other so as to have really seen and be seen. It takes the negative to arouse each of us from our sleep.......But the miracle of love that comes to birth each time forgiveness appears is truly the kiss of the spirit.
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George MacDonald (December 10, 1824 – September 18, 1905) was a Scottish preacher, author, and poet whose ministry bridged pulpit and pen, influencing Christian thought and literature across the 19th century. Born in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, to George MacDonald Sr., a farmer and weaver, and Helen MacKay, he was the second of six children in a devout Congregationalist family with Calvinist roots. Educated at a local school, he attended King’s College, Aberdeen (M.A., 1845), worked as a tutor in London (1845–1848), and studied theology at Highbury Theological College, intending ministry despite health setbacks. MacDonald’s preaching career began with his ordination in 1850 at Trinity Congregational Church in Arundel, Sussex, where he served until 1853, resigning over theological disputes—rejecting eternal punishment and predestination for a broader view of God’s love. His sermons, later preached as a layman in Manchester (1856–1868) and at gatherings in London and Italy, emphasized obedience and divine fatherhood, preserved in works like Unspoken Sermons (1867–1889). A prolific writer, his novels (Phantastes, 1858; The Princess and the Goblin, 1872) and poetry doubled as gospel messages, inspiring C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Married to Louisa Powell in 1851, with whom he had eleven children—including Greville, Mary, and Irene—he died at age 80 in Ashtead, Surrey, England, from heart disease and dementia.