| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: truly, this is the one work of servants whereby they may be
saved; truly they need not make pilgrimages or do this thing or
the other; they have enough to do if their heart is only set on
this, that they gladly do and leave undone what they know pleases
their masters and mistresses, and all this in a simple faith; not
that they would by their works gain much merit, but that they do
it all in the confidence of divine favor (in which all merits are
to be found), purely for nothing, out of the love and good-will
toward God which grows out of such confidence. And all such works
they should think of as an exercise and exhortation ever to
strengthen their faith and confidence more and more. For, as has
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: could have had for being there.
Presently the straining pace ate up the ener-
gies of the men. As if by agreement, the leaders
began to slacken their speed. The volleys di-
rected against them had had a seeming windlike
effect. The regiment snorted and blew. Among
some stolid trees it began to falter and hesitate.
The men, staring intently, began to wait for some
of the distant walls of smoke to move and dis-
close to them the scene. Since much of their
strength and their breath had vanished, they re-
The Red Badge of Courage |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: drop a word here and a hint there, and in a hundred ways that I
shall show you to draw grist to my mill--and to your own. You must
be brilliant and witty, or sad and learned, as I wish; you must
make the most of your person and your talents, for these go far
with my customers. To the hidalgo you must talk of arms, to the
lady, of love; but you must never commit yourself beyond
redemption. And above all, young man'--and here his manner changed
and his face grew stern and almost fierce--'you must never violate
my confidence or the confidence of my clients. On this point I
will be quite open within you, and I pray you for your own sake to
believe what I say, however much you may mistrust the rest. If you
Montezuma's Daughter |
