| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: certainly by some rude people, and for prehistoric wars. It
was likewise a frontier. All below was green and woodland,
the tall pines soaring one above another, each with a firm
outline and full spread of bough. All above was arid, rocky,
and bald. The great spout of broken mineral, that had dammed
the canyon up, was a creature of man's handiwork, its
material dug out with a pick and powder, and spread by the
service of the tracks. But nature herself, in that upper
district, seemed to have had an eye to nothing besides
mining; and even the natural hill-side was all sliding gravel
and precarious boulder. Close at the margin of the well
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Open Letter on Translating by Dr. Martin Luther: circumcision and without any works, but by faith, as he says in
Chapter 4: "If Abraham is justified by works, he may boast, but
not before God." However, when all works are so completely
rejected - which must mean faith alone justifies - whoever would
speak plainly and clearly about this rejection of works would have
to say "Faith alone justifies and not works." The matter itself
and the nature of language necessitates it.
"Yet", they say, "it has such an offensive tone that people infer
from it that need not do any good works." Dear, what are we to
say? IS it not more offensive for St. Paul himself to not use the
term "faith alone" but but spell it even more clearly, putting the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: figure was exasperating. Yet at the moment I did not know how to
resent it, but, in any case, Dona Rita would not have given me
time. Without a moment's hesitation she cried out:
"I only wish he could take me out there with him."
For a moment Mr. Blunt's face became as still as a mask and then
instead of an angry it assumed an indulgent expression. As to me I
had a rapid vision of Dominic's astonishment, awe, and sarcasm
which was always as tolerant as it is possible for sarcasm to be.
But what a charming, gentle, gay, and fearless companion she would
have made! I believed in her fearlessness in any adventure that
would interest her. It would be a new occasion for me, a new
The Arrow of Gold |
