Neither Pride Nor Despair

In The Ballad of the White Horse, G. K. Chesterton imaginatively retells the story of King Alfred the Great (849-899). The ballad, a poem, opens with Alfred in hiding.

Vikings have overrun his kingdom, most of his knights are dead in battle, and his life is threatened.

Then he receives a heavenly vision in which he is instructed to gather whatever army he can muster and attack in order to drive the Vikings out of his kingdom and back to Denmark. You’d think that given a heavenly vision that success would be assured, but that’s not the case. The vision guarantees Alfred nothing. Instead he is told to rid himself of the twin sins: pride and despair.

He is not to presume on the heavenly vision for victory nor is he to fall into hopelessness a he considers the greatness and strength of the Viking hoard. The vision is as realistic as it is inscrutable:

“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?”

None of us knows the future except that the older we get “the sky grows darker yet and the sea rises higher.” And in light of that, neither pride nor despair will do.

Pride is an illusion: “I’m prepared, healthy, and rich. All will go well and I will live a long, long life full of happiness.” We can hope so, but we can’t know that and it’s foolish to bank on it. Life is far too uncertain.

At the same time despair is an illusion: “My life will move from one failing to the next, nothing is certain about the future except future misery, sickness, and death.” We can’t know that either and it’s foolish to pretend we do. Again, life is far too uncertain.

Instead of pride or despair, we, like King Alfred, need faith. It’s only faith that enables us to rejoice without pride and to mourn without despair. It’s faith that enables us to rid the land of the Viking invaders knowing full well that sooner or later they will be back and the next time they may win. Faith makes us happy pilgrims in the valley of tears.

And there is no time like the present for cultivating our spiritual lives in order to grow in that gift of faith. In fact, it’s now or never.