| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: be your pupil: Received ye the Holy Ghost by the works of the Law, or by the
preaching of the Gospel?" This question gave them something to think about,
because their own experience contradicted them.
"You cannot say that you received the Holy Spirit by the Law. As long as you
were servants of the Law, you never received the Holy Ghost. Nobody ever
heard of the Holy Ghost being given to anybody, be he doctor or dunce, as a
result of the preaching of the Law. In your own case, you have not only
learned the Law by heart, you have labored with all your might to perform it.
You most of all should have received the Holy Ghost by the Law, if that were
possible. You cannot show me that this ever happened. But as soon as the
Gospel came your way, you received the Holy Ghost by the simple hearing of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Gentle Grafter by O. Henry: and Caligula dressed and went down-stairs. The landlord was shelling
peas on the front porch. He was six feet of chills and fever, and
Hongkong in complexion though in other respects he seemed amenable in
the exercise of his sentiments and features.
Caligula, who is a spokesman by birth, and a small man, though red-
haired and impatient of painfulness of any kind, speaks up.
"Pardner," says he, "good-morning, and be darned to you. Would you
mind telling us why we are at? We know the reason we are where, but
can't exactly figure out on account of at what place."
"Well, gentlemen," says the landlord, "I reckoned you-all would be
inquiring this morning. You-all dropped off of the nine-thirty train
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: below. Remember our words, then, and whatever is your aim let virtue be
the condition of the attainment of your aim, and know that without this all
possessions and pursuits are dishonourable and evil. For neither does
wealth bring honour to the owner, if he be a coward; of such a one the
wealth belongs to another, and not to himself. Nor does beauty and
strength of body, when dwelling in a base and cowardly man, appear comely,
but the reverse of comely, making the possessor more conspicuous, and
manifesting forth his cowardice. And all knowledge, when separated from
justice and virtue, is seen to be cunning and not wisdom; wherefore make
this your first and last and constant and all-absorbing aim, to exceed, if
possible, not only us but all your ancestors in virtue; and know that to
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