| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: hosts shall make a consumption, even determined (verbum
abbreviatum et consummans), in the midst of the land" (Isa. x.
22, 23). As if he said, "Faith, which is the brief and complete
fulfilling of the law, will fill those who believe with such
righteousness that they will need nothing else for
justification." Thus, too, Paul says, "For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness" (Rom. x. 10).
But you ask how it can be the fact that faith alone justifies,
and affords without works so great a treasure of good things,
when so many works, ceremonies, and laws are prescribed to us in
the Scriptures? I answer, Before all things bear in mind what I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: shame at the thought of accepting alms.
"No, it wasn't; she may think it was, but I mean to pay her, and
I shall pay her; I know I shall."
"If you can," sighed the proud mother.
"I shall be able to pay her soon, for I mean to sell lots of
candy."
"You may be disappointed."
"No: I am sure I shall sell a good deal; I mean to make people
buy. I shall talk up smart to them just as the shopkeepers do; I
am going to tell them what candy it is, and that their little
sons and daughters will like it very much."
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Coxon Fund by Henry James: directly?"
Mrs. Saltram hung fire. "Because she's staying with Mr. and Mrs.
Mulville."
"And why should that prevent?"
Again my visitor faltered, and I began to reflect on the grotesque,
the unconscious perversity of her action. I was the only person
save George Gravener and the Mulvilles who was aware of Sir Gregory
Coxon's and of Miss Anvoy's strange bounty. Where could there have
been a more signal illustration of the clumsiness of human affairs
than her having complacently selected this moment to fly in the
face of it? "There's the chance of their seeing her letters. They
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Memories and Portraits by Robert Louis Stevenson: the empire, surprise and even pain us. The dull, neglected
peasant, sunk in matter, insolent, gross and servile, makes a
startling contrast with our own long-legged, long-headed,
thoughtful, Bible-quoting ploughman. A week or two in such a place
as Suffolk leaves the Scotchman gasping. It seems incredible that
within the boundaries of his own island a class should have been
thus forgotten. Even the educated and intelligent, who hold our
own opinions and speak in our own words, yet seem to hold them with
a difference or, from another reason, and to speak on all things
with less interest and conviction. The first shock of English
society is like a cold plunge. It is possible that the Scot comes
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