| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: many of our acquaintance had fallen.
That, I replied, was not far from the truth.
I suppose, he said, that you were present.
I was.
Then sit down, and tell us the whole story, which as yet we have only heard
imperfectly.
I took the place which he assigned to me, by the side of Critias the son of
Callaeschrus, and when I had saluted him and the rest of the company, I
told them the news from the army, and answered their several enquiries.
Then, when there had been enough of this, I, in my turn, began to make
enquiries about matters at home--about the present state of philosophy, and
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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 Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: This sin was very common before the light of the Gospel appeared. When
I was a child there were many witches and sorcerers around who
"bewitched" cattle, and people, particularly children, and did much harm.
But now that the Gospel is here you do not hear so much about it because
the Gospel drives the devil away. Now he bewitches people in a worse way
with spiritual sorcery.
Witchcraft is a brand of idolatry. As witches used to bewitch cattle and
men, so idolaters, i.e., all the self-righteous, go around to bewitch God and
to make Him out as one who justifies men not by grace through faith in
Christ but by the works of men's own choosing. They bewitch and deceive
themselves. If they continue in their wicked thoughts of God they will die
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