| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: replaced afresh in paradise and created anew, he does not need
works for his justification, but that he may not be idle, but may
exercise his own body and preserve it. His works are to be done
freely, with the sole object of pleasing God. Only we are not yet
fully created anew in perfect faith and love; these require to be
increased, not, however, through works, but through themselves.
A bishop, when he consecrates a church, confirms children, or
performs any other duty of his office, is not consecrated as
bishop by these works; nay, unless he had been previously
consecrated as bishop, not one of those works would have any
validity; they would be foolish, childish, and ridiculous. Thus a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe: heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a
singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself,
as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the
melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was--but, with the
first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom
pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was
unrelieved by any of that half-pleasureable, because poetic,
sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even the sternest
natural images of the desolate or terrible. I looked upon the
scene before me--upon the mere house, and the simple landscape
features of the domain--upon the bleak walls--upon the vacant
The Fall of the House of Usher |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from New Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson: Not knowledge; and by faith, though far removed,
Dwell as in perfect nearness, heart to heart.
We but excuse
Those things we merely are; and to our souls
A brave deception cherish.
So from unhappy war a man returns
Unfearing, or the seaman from the deep;
So from cool night and woodlands to a feast
May someone enter, and still breathe of dews,
And in her eyes still wear the dusky night.
MEN ARE HEAVEN'S PIERS
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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 Desert Gold by Zane Grey: "Nell!"
Her dangerous sweetness was as amazing as this newly revealed
character.
"Dick, will you go?"
"No-no!" cried Gale, in violence, struggling with himself. "Nell
Burton, I'll tell you this. To have the reward I want would mean
pretty hear heaven for me. But not even for that will I break my
word to your father."
She seemed the incarnation of girlish scorn and wilful passion.
"Gracias, senor," she replied, mockingly. "Adios." Then she
flashed out of his sight.
Desert Gold |
