| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: for justification or salvation, so far do all His other works or
those of His disciples avail for justification. They are really
free and subsequent to justification, and only done to serve
others and set them an example.
Such are the works which Paul inculcated, that Christians should
be subject to principalities and powers and ready to every good
work (Titus iii. 1), not that they may be justified by these
things--for they are already justified by faith--but that in
liberty of spirit they may thus be the servants of others and
subject to powers, obeying their will out of gratuitous love.
Such, too, ought to have been the works of all colleges,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: shaped pieces of linen told me that she was a sempstress. She looked
like a spirit of solitude. When I held out the bill, I remarked that
she had not been at home when I called in the morning.
" ' "But the money was left with the porter's wife," said she.
" 'I pretended not to understand.
" ' "You go out early, mademoiselle, it seems."
" ' "I very seldom leave my room; but when you work all night, you are
obliged to take a bath sometimes."
" 'I looked at her. A glance told me all about her life. Here was a
girl condemned by misfortune to toil, a girl who came of honest farmer
folk, for she had still a freckle or two that told of country birth.
Gobseck |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: the deep grew dark beneath it. And in the same moment Zeus
thundered and smote his bolt into the ship, and she reeled
all over being stricken by the bolt of Zeus, and was filled
with fire and brimstone, and all the crew fell overboard.
And like sea-gulls they were borne hither and thither on
the waves about the black ship, and the god cut off their
return. But in this hour of my affliction Zeus himself put
into my hands the huge mast of the dark-prowed ship, that
even yet I might escape from harm. So I clung round the
mast and was borne by the ruinous winds. For nine days was
I borne, and on the tenth black night the great rolling
The Odyssey |
