| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: frees men from sins, both in this life and also in purgatory,
while only the Lamb of God shall and must do this, as has been
said above. Of this article nothing is to be surrendered or
conceded, because the first article does not allow it.
If, perchance, there were reasonable Papists we might speak
moderately and in a friendly way, thus: first, why they so
rigidly uphold the Mass. For it is but a pure invention of
men, and has not been commanded by God; and every invention of
man we may [safely] discard, as Christ declares, Matt. 15, 9:
In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: establishment
ran as smoothly as a great electric dynamo. They were busy
enough, too.
John Weightman's plans and enterprises were complicated, though
his
principle of action was always simple--to get good value for
every expenditure and effort. The banking-house of which he was
the chief,
the brain, the will, the absolutely controlling hand, was so
admirably
organized that the details of its direction took but little time.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: opinions, had shown itself in a terrible form. Finally, at half-past
four in the afternoon, Augustine, pale, trembling, and with red eyes,
was haled before her father and mother. The poor child artlessly
related the too brief tale of her love. Reassured by a speech from her
father, who promised to listen to her in silence, she gathered courage
as she pronounced to her parents the name of Theodore de Sommervieux,
with a mischievous little emphasis on the aristocratic /de/. And
yielding to the unknown charm of talking of her feelings, she was
brave enough to declare with innocent decision that she loved Monsieur
de Sommervieux, that she had written to him, and she added, with tears
in her eyes: "To sacrifice me to another man would make me wretched."
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