| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: a restless man and a runagate, to doubt my justice, or the King my
father's, that are sedentary folk and known in the land."
"Nay," said the elder brother, "you have all else, have patience
also; and suffer me to say the world is full of touchstones, and it
appears not easily which is true."
"I have no shame of mine," said the younger brother. "There it is,
and look in it."
So the elder brother looked in the mirror, and he was sore amazed;
for he was an old man, and his hair was white upon his head; and he
sat down in the hall and wept aloud.
"Now," said the younger brother, "see what a fool's part you have
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: sitting-room window on the ground floor, where she
usually throned, was tenanted by the inadequate figure
of her daughter, Mrs. Welland, who signed a haggard
welcome as she caught sight of Archer; and at the door
he was met by May. The hall wore the unnatural
appearance peculiar to well-kept houses suddenly
invaded by illness: wraps and furs lay in heaps on the
chairs, a doctor's bag and overcoat were on the table,
and beside them letters and cards had already piled up
unheeded.
May looked pale but smiling: Dr. Bencomb, who
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: Christ. The curse meant to condemn God's mercy. But it could not do it
because the mercy of God is everlasting. The curse had to give way. If the
mercy of God in Christ had lost out, God Himself would have lost out,
which, of course, is impossible.
"Christ," says Paul, "spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Col. 2:15.) They cannot harm
those who hide in Christ. Sin, death, the wrath of God, hell, the devil are
mortified in Christ. Where Christ is near the powers of evil must keep
their distance. St. John says: "And this is the victory that overcometh the
world, even our faith." (I John 5:4.)
You may now perceive why it is imperative to believe and confess the
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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 Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: We made no great gain, however, by this victory, for we lost a
camel and gained a horse. I paid for the lost camel, and sent for
another; but I did not go to fetch it myself: I had had enough of
that.
The city of Naum, which we were approaching, is a frontier of the
Chinese empire, and is fortified in their fashion. We wanted, as I
have said, above two days' journey of this city when messengers
were sent express to every part of the road to tell all travellers
and caravans to halt till they had a guard sent for them; for that
an unusual body of Tartars, making ten thousand in all, had
appeared in the way, about thirty miles beyond the city.
Robinson Crusoe |
