We are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself. That is the formula. That is Christianity. That is what has to be believed.

You can’t go on “seeing through” things forever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. To “see through” all things is the same as not to see.

All these toys were never intended to possess my heart. My true good is in another world, and my only real treasure is Christ.

It is a happy moment when our desire crosses with the will of Heavenly Father.

Death and resurrection are what the story is about and had we but eyes to see it, this has been hinted on every page, met us, in some disguise, at every turn, and even been muttered in conversations between such minor characters (if they are minor characters) as the vegetables.

Enemy occupied territory is what the world is.

The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books.