| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Droll Stories, V. 1 by Honore de Balzac: At these words the poor seneschal, taking the little dagger which was
on the table by the bed, gave it to her, saying with passion--
"My darling, kill me, or let me believe that you love me a little!"
"Yes, yes," said she, quite frightened, "I will try to love you much."
Behold how this young maidenhood made itself master of this old man
and subdued him, for in the name of the sweet face of Venus, Blanche,
endowed with the natural artfulness of women, made her old Bruyn come
and go like a miller's mule.
"My good Bruyn, I want this! Bruyn, I want that--go on Bruyn!" Bruyn!
Bruyn! And always Bruyn in such a way that Bruyn was more worn-out by
the clemency of his wife than he would have been by her unkindness.
Droll Stories, V. 1 |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: the breast, leaving the arms bare to the elbow, and of a uniform
ghastly white, as are the cerements of the grave. His visage was
even darker than those of the Syrians or Arabs behind him, and his
features were those of a bird of prey: the beak of the eagle, but
the eye of the vulture. His cheeks were hollow; the arms, crossed
on his breast, were long and fleshless. Yet in that skeleton form
there was a something which conveyed the idea of a serpent's
suppleness and strength; and as the hungry, watchful eyes met my
own startled gaze, I recoiled impulsively with that inward warning
of danger which is conveyed to man, as to inferior animals, in the
very aspect of the creatures that sting or devour. At my movement
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: call Sarah Jerusalem. But he has the spiritual and heavenly Jerusalem in
mind, not the earthly Jerusalem. Sarah represents that spiritual Jerusalem
where there is no Law but only the promise, and where the inhabitants are
free.
To show that the Law has been quite abolished, the earthly Jerusalem was
completely destroyed with all her ornaments, temples, and ceremonies.
VERSE 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of
us all.
The earthly Jerusalem with its ordinances and laws represents Hagar and
her offspring. They are slaves to the Law, sin and death. But the heavenly
Jerusalem is Sarah, the free woman. This heavenly Jerusalem is the
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