| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: long as we live here. Thus, although we have sins, the [grace of the]
Holy Ghost does not allow them to injure us, because we are in the
Christian Church, where there is nothing but [continuous,
uninterrupted] forgiveness of sin, both in that God forgives us, and in
that we forgive, bear with, and help each other.
But outside of this Christian Church, where the Gospel is not, there is
no forgiveness, as also there can be no holiness [sanctification].
Therefore all who seek and wish to merit holiness [sanctification], not
through the Gospel and forgiveness of sin, but by their works, have
expelled and severed themselves [from this Church].
Meanwhile, however, while sanctification has begun and is growing
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from New Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson: manner and by a well-considered generosity. He was a remarkable
man even by what was known of him; and that was but a small part of
what he actually did. Although of a placid temper in ordinary
circumstances, and accustomed to take the world with as much
philosophy as any ploughman, the Prince of Bohemia was not without
a taste for ways of life more adventurous and eccentric than that
to which he was destined by his birth. Now and then, when he fell
into a low humour, when there was no laughable play to witness in
any of the London theatres, and when the season of the year was
unsuitable to those field sports in which he excelled all
competitors, he would summon his confidant and Master of the Horse,
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