| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: of the Jesuits, had been patent and potent causes of much of the
misrule and misery of Louis XIV.'s and XV.'s reigns; and that with
all these heavy counts against them, their morality was not such as
to make other men more moral; and was not--at least among the
hierarchy--improving, or likely to improve. To a Mazarin, a De
Retz, a Richelieu (questionable men enough) had succeeded a Dubois,
a Rohan, a Lomenie de Brienne, a Maury, a Talleyrand; and at the
revolution of 1789 thoughtful Frenchmen asked, once and for all,
what was to be done with a Church of which these were the
hierophants?
Whether these complaints affected the French Church as a "religious"
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: hear none but heavenly harmonies? Are you not as pure as a diamond, as
lovely as a flower?
"Think what it is to know, like me, only the City of Sorrows!--
Dwelling there I have worn out my heart.--To search the tombs for
their horrible secrets; to wipe hands steeped in blood, counting them
over night after night, seeing them rise up before me imploring
forgiveness which I may not grant; to mark the writhing of the
assassin and the last shriek of his victim; to listen to appalling
noises and fearful silence, the silence of a father devouring his dead
sons; to wonder at the laughter of the damned; to look for some human
form among the livid heaps wrung and trampled by crime; to learn words
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie: "What can we do?"
"Nothing until we've been to the house in Soho. If Beresford has
still got the upper hand, there's nothing to fear. If otherwise,
our enemy will come to find us, and he will not find us
unprepared!" From a drawer in the desk, he took a service
revolver, and placed it in his coat pocket.
"Now we're ready. I know better than even to suggest going
without you, Miss Tuppence----"
"I should think so indeed!"
"But I do suggest that Miss Finn should remain here. She will be
perfectly safe, and I am afraid she is absolutely worn out with
Secret Adversary |
