| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: this time he had taught with ever increasing clearness in his
lectures at the University -- for in the lectures on the Psalms,
which he began to deliver in 1513, he declares his conviction
that faith alone justifies, as can be seen from the complete
manuscript, published since 1885, and with still greater
clearness from his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans
(1515-1516), which is accessible since 1908; nor what he had
urged as spiritual adviser of his convent brethren when in deep
distress -- compare the charming letter to Georg Spenlein, dated
April 8, 1516.
Luther's first literary works to appear in print were also
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: once buried will be seen no more."
"That the dead are seen no more," said Imlac, "I will not undertake
to maintain against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all
ages and of all nations. There is no people, rude or learned,
among whom apparitions of the dead are not related and believed.
This opinion, which perhaps prevails as far as human nature is
diffused, could become universal only by its truth: those that
never heard of one another would not have agreed in a tale which
nothing but experience can make credible. That it is doubted by
single cavillers can very little weaken the general evidence, and
some who deny it with their tongues confess it by their fears.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Reminiscences of Tolstoy by Leo Tolstoy: understand. I know that he has a great store of physical energy,
but whether there is any purpose for which the store is wanted I
do not know. That is why I do not care for children under two or
three; I don't understand.
This letter was written in 1872, when I was six years old.
My recollections date from about that time. I can remember a few
things before.
FAMILY LIFE IN THE COUNTRY
FROM my earliest childhood until the family moved into Moscow--
that was in 1881--all my life was spent, almost without a
break, at Yásnaya Polyána.
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