The Metaphysical Mysteries of G.K. Chesterton by Laird R. Blackwell

Author:Laird R. Blackwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland
Published: 2018-07-25T16:00:00+00:00

Father Brown is so profoundly connected to all humanity, he has entered so deeply into so many criminals that the man to whom he is explaining his secret method “felt as if he were talking to one man [Father Brown] and yet to a hundred murderers…. There was something uncanny… that his round head held a universe of wild unreason and imaginative injustice” (p. 538). This “secret” is a difficult one to practice; it takes a person absolutely solid in his confidence to stay the “individual plant” while yet being nourished by the common root. It takes compassion for and forgiveness of the human condition and of oneself. It takes recognition that it is not our potentials but our response with free choice that distinguishes us from each other. To recognize our capacity for crime and sin is not to accept or foster it but, on the contrary, to have compassion for others and for oneself and to help all of us choose another direction.

Father Brown finishes his explanation to the listener with a powerful summation: “There are two ways of renouncing the devil, and the difference is perhaps the biggest chasm in modern religion. One is to have a horror of him because he is so far off; and the other to have it because he is so near” (p. 539). Father Brown’s secret is, of course, that he chooses the second: “You may think a crime horrible because you could never commit it. I think it horrible because I could commit it” (p. 539).

This collection ends with a practical illustration of the power of Father Brown’s secret—M. Duroc (who is actually Flambeau in his new life) confesses to his past and to his repentance and healing when Father Brown “became” Flambeau and told him why he stole. When the listener promises not to take advantage of the confession to turn Flambeau over to the police because “I can’t imagine any gentleman double-crossing another under such circumstances; it would be a damned sight better to be a dirty informer and sell men’s blood for money. But in a case like this! Could you imagine any man being such a Judas?” (p. 540), Father Brown simply says, “I could try.” It’s difficult to imagine a more shocking or more effective way to explain the “secret” of our profound connections and unlimited capacities.

*  *  *

In this fourth collection of Father Brown stories there has seemed to be a bit of a shift in Chesterton’s emphasis and interest; the metaphysical elements are more prevalent, sometimes, as critics have complained, at the expense of the ingenuity of the mystery and detective elements. A couple of the stories seem little more than sermons with the detective plot just along for the ride; however, there are still several stories (especially “The Mirror of the Magistrate” and “The Worst Crime in the World”) that retain all the qualities of the best detective stories while still reflecting Chesterton’s increased interest in metaphysical parables of the “something more.” The “secret”

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