The Wisdom of Lewis and Chesterton on the Editorial Page

Some days the local newspaper, The Daily News Record, gets it totally right.  Today they published two quotes on the Editorial page by two of my favorite people.

C. S. Lewis

Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk. Perhaps we are inclined to disagree with Him. But there is a difficulty about disagreeing with God. He is the source from which all your reasoning power comes: you could not be right and He wrong any more than a stream can rise higher than its own source. When you are arguing against Him you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on.

G. K. Chesterton

Of all modern phenomena, the most monstrous and ominous, the most manifestly rotting with disease, the most grimly prophetic of destruction, the most clearly and unmistakable inspired by evil spirits, the most instantly and awfully overshadowed by the wrath of heaven, the most near to madness and moral chaos, the most vivid with devilry and despair, is the practice of having to listen to loud music while eating a meal in a restaurant.

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In his best selling book of demonic letters: The Screwtape Letters, Lewis has Screwtape say that the two things the devils like least are music and quiet because both encourage contemplation.  What the devils like is constant noise which drives out thought, prayer, doubt and makes the human vermin more easily tempted.  That's the gist of it anyway, and perhaps the Chesterton quote actually contributed to Lewis's visualization of the usual devilry.