C. S. Lewis once remarked that his debt to George MacDonald's writings was ""almost as great as one man can owe to another . . . I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continually close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself."" Born in Scotland in 1824, MacDonald was educated at King's College in Aberdeen and Highbury Seminary in London. As a Christian minister, he indulged early his fondness--and skill--in the writing of poetry,...