| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from God The Invisible King by H. G. Wells: operating surgeon must keep his nerves and muscles as fit and his
hands as clean as he can. Neither may righteously evade exercise
and regular washing--of mind as of hands. An incessant watchfulness
of one's self and one's thoughts and the soundness of one's
thoughts; cleanliness, clearness, a wariness against indolence and
prejudice, careful truth, habitual frankness, fitness and steadfast
work; these are the daily fundamental duties that every one who
truly comes to God will, as a matter of course, set before himself.
5. THE INCREASING KINGDOM
Now of the more intimate and personal life of the believer it will
be more convenient to write a little later. Let us for the present
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: soul outlives one or many bodies, but that she outlives them all.
The audience, like the chorus in a play, for a moment interpret the
feelings of the actors; there is a temporary depression, and then the
enquiry is resumed. It is a melancholy reflection that arguments, like
men, are apt to be deceivers; and those who have been often deceived become
distrustful both of arguments and of friends. But this unfortunate
experience should not make us either haters of men or haters of arguments.
The want of health and truth is not in the argument, but in ourselves.
Socrates, who is about to die, is sensible of his own weakness; he desires
to be impartial, but he cannot help feeling that he has too great an
interest in the truth of the argument. And therefore he would have his
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: Angouleme this lawyer, from the statements of your sister and brother-
in-law, learned that they not only had hardly lent you any money, but
also that their inheritance consisted of land, of some extent no
doubt, but that the whole amount of invested capital was not more than
about two hundred thousand francs.--Now you cannot wonder that such
people as the Grandlieus should reject a fortune of which the source
is more than doubtful. This, monsieur, is what a lie has led to----"
Lucien was petrified by this revelation, and the little presence of
mind he had preserved deserted him.
"Remember," said Camusot, "that the police and the law know all they
want to know.--And now," he went on, recollecting Jacques Collin's
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