Ordinary People

A few days ago, I provided a post based on the writings of John Watson, a 19th century Scottish pastor. I've done more reading on him since then. An interesting man and a heck of a good writer. He's not as orthodox as I would like: he seems to have been caught up in the higher criticism of the day, dissecting the scriptures for passages that may be truer than others. However, he seemed to be committed to Christ - his divinity and humanity - and seemed to genuine love him as Lord and savior of men.

In the first chapter of his book, The Homely Virtues, he writes an excellent chapter on the nobility of the ordinary. For many people - Christian and non-believers - nobility and greatness are achieved through public notoriety and extraordinary personal achievements. People become great when they do great things. The ordinary life is not something to be celebrated. I've never agreed with that position and I have tried to find a writer who could express that position's anti-thesis clearly and with compassion. I think John Watson is that person.

I'm going to take a few posts to share with you some of what he wrote in The Homely Virtues. At a later date, I will share the homely virtues with you along with Watson's descriptions of each. For now, I just want to focus on this aspect of his thought: the nobility of the ordinary.

Here's a brief introduction:

It sometimes occurs to one that as there are so many philanthropic societies in our day and another would make no great difference, it might be useful, as well as kindly, to establish a society for the protection of ordinary people. Its subjects would be all persons above the age of twenty-one who had never written a book, nor a magazine article, nor a pamphlet, nor a letter to The Times; who had never stood for Parliament, nor addressed a political meeting, nor taken the chair at a charitable gathering, nor moved a vote of thanks to a speaker; who do not hold any view entirely their own on the doctrine of the Christian Church, or the origin of the Bible, or the relation of the sexes, or the division of property; who are not distinguished players at anything, nor brilliant conversationalists, nor wickedly sarcastic, nor unprinted poets—persons, in fact, who do their daily duty, and pay their debts, and act a neighbour's part, and speak about the weather, and go to Church; persons who are not original nor brilliant nor erratic, who are neither inventors nor reformers nor cranks, nor anything else except law-abiding, tax-paying, housekeeping, kind-hearted citizens - commonplace people.

Sound like anybody you know?