| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: the furnace of his flesh. The evil one plied the bellows from
within, while the damsels, fair of face, but uncomely of soul,
supplied the evil fuel from without.
But Ioasaph's pure soul was disturbed to feel the touch of evil,
and to see the warlike host of strange thoughts that was charging
down upon him. And he sought to find deliverance from this great
mischief, and to present himself pure unto Christ, and not defile
in the mire of sinful lust that holy apparel, wherein the grace
of holy Baptism had clothed him. Immediately he set love against
love, the divine against the lascivious; and he called to
remembrance the beauty and unspeakable glory of Christ, the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery: very next day, and was leaving the room with the light when
Anne called her back.
"I've just thought of it now. I should have said, `Amen' in
place of `yours respectfully,' shouldn't I?--the way the
ministers do. I'd forgotten it, but I felt a prayer should
be finished off in some way, so I put in the other. Do
you suppose it will make any difference?"
"I--I don't suppose it will," said Marilla. "Go to sleep
now like a good child. Good night."
"I can only say good night tonight with a clear conscience,"
said Anne, cuddling luxuriously down among her pillows.
Anne of Green Gables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Travels and Researches in South Africa by Dr. David Livingstone: the original was typed in (manually) twice and electronically compared.
[Note on text: Italicized words or phrases are CAPITALIZED.
Some obvious errors have been corrected.]
Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa.
Also called, Travels and Researches in South Africa;
or, Journeys and Researches in South Africa.
By David Livingstone [British (Scot) Missionary and Explorer--1813-1873.]
David Livingstone was born in Scotland, received his medical degree
from the University of Glasgow, and was sent to South Africa
by the London Missionary Society. Circumstances led him to try to meet
the material needs as well as the spiritual needs of the people he went to,
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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 The Figure in the Carpet by Henry James: I expected to see him make a show commensurate with his increase of
means. I knew what his means had been - his article on "The Right
of Way" had distinctly given one the figure. As he was now exactly
in the position in which still more exactly I was not I watched
from month to month, in the likely periodicals, for the heavy
message poor Corvick had been unable to deliver and the
responsibility of which would have fallen on his successor. The
widow and wife would have broken by the rekindled hearth the
silence that only a widow and wife might break, and Deane would be
as aflame with the knowledge as Corvick in his own hour, as
Gwendolen in hers, had been. Well, he was aflame doubtless, but
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