| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: says, 'Love your neighbour as yourself'; 'but,' I said, 'if you
loved your neighbour no better nor you do yourself, Dinah, it's
little enough you'd do for him. You'd be thinking he might do
well enough on a half-empty stomach.' Eh, I wonder where she is
this blessed Sunday! Sitting by that sick woman, I daresay, as
she'd set her heart on going to all of a sudden."
"Ah, it was a pity she should take such megrims into her head,
when she might ha' stayed wi' us all summer, and eaten twice as
much as she wanted, and it 'ud niver ha' been missed. She made no
odds in th' house at all, for she sat as still at her sewing as a
bird on the nest, and was uncommon nimble at running to fetch
Adam Bede |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Desert Gold by Zane Grey: "Mebbe Sol's just walked off somewheres."
"He was haltered in the corral."
"Send Yaqui to find the hoss's trail, an' let's figger," said
Ladd. "Shore this 's no raider job."
In the swift search that ensued Gale did not have anything to
say; but his mind was forming a conclusion. When he found his old
saddle and bridle missing from the peg in the barn his conclusion
became a positive conviction, and it made him, for the moment,
cold and sick and speechless.
"Hey, Dick, don't take it so much to heart," said Belding. "We'll
likely find Sol, and if we don't, there's other good horses."
Desert Gold |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare: Say thou wilt course; thy greyhounds are as swift
As breathed stags; ay, fleeter than the roe.
SECOND SERVANT.
Dost thou love pictures? We will fetch thee straight
Adonis painted by a running brook,
And Cytherea all in sedges hid,
Which seem to move and wanton with her breath
Even as the waving sedges play with wind.
LORD.
We'll show thee Io as she was a maid
And how she was beguiled and surpris'd,
The Taming of the Shrew |
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 The Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon: fasting does not destroy the harmony of faith; as also Pope
Gregory intimates in Dist. XII, that such diversity does not
violate the unity of the Church. And in the Tripartite
History, Book 9, many examples of dissimilar rites are
gathered, and the following statement is made: It was not the
mind of the Apostles to enact rules concerning holy-days, but
to preach godliness and a holy life [, to teach faith and
love].
Article XXVII: Of Monastic Vows.
What is taught on our part concerning Monastic Vows, will be
better understood if it be remembered what has been the state
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