| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs: make his position worse.
He faced the sergeant, snapping his piece to present, hop-
ing that this was the proper thing to do. Then he stumbled
through a brief excuse. The officer in command of the troops
that had just passed had demanded the way of him, and
he had but stepped a few paces from his post to point out
the road to his superior.
The sergeant grunted and ordered him to fall in. Another
man took his place on duty. They were far from the enemy
and discipline was lax, so the thing was accomplished which
under other circumstances would have been well night im-
The Mad King |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Hidden in the alder-bushes,
There he waited till the deer came,
Till he saw two antlers lifted,
Saw two eyes look from the thicket,
Saw two nostrils point to windward,
And a deer came down the pathway,
Flecked with leafy light and shadow.
And his heart within him fluttered,
Trembled like the leaves above him,
Like the birch-leaf palpitated,
As the deer came down the pathway.
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: nation, the world over. They constitute the democratic element
in British politics, and are as much opposed to the union of
church and state as we, in America, are to such an union. At the
meeting where this speech was delivered, Joseph Sturge--a world-
wide philan
[9] See Appendix to this volume, page 317.
<293 ENGLISH REPUBLICANS>thropist, and a member of the society of
Friends--presided, and addressed the meeting. George William
Alexander, another Friend, who has spent more than an
Ameriacn{sic} fortune in promoting the anti-slavery cause in
different sections of the world, was on the platform; and also
My Bondage and My Freedom |
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 Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: because we are pure and without sin, but the contrary because we are
poor miserable men and just because we are unworthy; unless it be some
one who desires no grace and absolution nor intends to reform.
But whoever would gladly obtain grace and consolation should impel
himself, and allow no one to frighten him away, but say: I, indeed,
would like to be worthy, but I come, not upon any worthiness, but upon
Thy Word, because Thou hast commanded it, as one who would gladly be
Thy disciple, no matter what becomes of my worthiness. But this is
difficult; for we always have this obstacle and hindrance to encounter,
that we look more upon ourselves than upon the Word and lips of Christ.
For nature desires so to act that it can stand and rest firmly on
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