| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Alcibiades I by Plato: the reductio ad absurdum of the doctrine that vice is ignorance, traces of
a Platonic authorship. In reference to the last point we are doubtful, as
in some of the other dialogues, whether the author is asserting or
overthrowing the paradox of Socrates, or merely following the argument
'whither the wind blows.' That no conclusion is arrived at is also in
accordance with the character of the earlier dialogues. The resemblances
or imitations of the Gorgias, Protagoras, and Euthydemus, which have been
observed in the Hippias, cannot with certainty be adduced on either side of
the argument. On the whole, more may be said in favour of the genuineness
of the Hippias than against it.
The Menexenus or Funeral Oration is cited by Aristotle, and is interesting
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Contrast by Royall Tyler: Cautious, Sir! No person more approves of an inter-
course between the sexes than I do. Female conver-
sation softens our manners, whilst our discourse, from
the superiority of our literary advantages, improves
their minds. But, in our young country, where there
is no such thing as gallantry, when a gentleman speaks
of love to a lady, whether he mentions marriage or
not, she ought to conclude either that he meant to in-
sult her or that his intentions are the most serious and
honourable. How mean, how cruel, is it, by a thou-
sand tender assiduities, to win the affections of an ami-
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon: acknowledged as gifts and blessings of God.
If bishops have any power of the sword, that power they have,
not as bishops, by the commission of the Gospel, but by human
law having received it of kings and emperors for the civil
administration of what is theirs. This, however, is another
office than the ministry of the Gospel.
When, therefore, the question is concerning the jurisdiction
of bishops, civil authority must be distinguished from
ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Again, according to the Gospel
or, as they say, by divine right, there belongs to the bishops
as bishops, that is, to those to whom has been committed the
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