| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Witch, et. al by Anton Chekhov: ground and kicked her. I tried to defend her, but he snatched up
the reins and thrashed her with them, and all the while, like a
colt's whinny, he went: 'He -- he-- he!' "
"I'd take the reins and let you feel them," muttered Varvara,
moving away; "murdering our sister, the damned brutes! . . ."
"Hold your tongue, you jade!" Dyudya shouted at her.
" 'He -- he -- he!' " Matvey Savitch went on. "A carrier ran out
of his yard; I called to my workman, and the three of us got
Mashenka away from him and carried her home in our arms. The
disgrace of it! The same day I went over in the evening to see
how things were. She was lying in bed, all wrapped up in
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: trifling it be in the individual instance, it goes on accumulating
with each successive generation, like compound interest.
The choosing of a wife by family suffrage is not simply an exponent
of the impersonal state of things, it is a power toward bringing
such a state of things about. A hermit seldom develops to his full
possibilities, and the domestic variety is no exception to the rule.
A man who is linked to some one that toward him remains a cipher
lacks surroundings inciting to psychological growth, nor is he more
favorably circumstanced because all his ancestors have been
similarly circumscribed.
As if to make assurance doubly sure, natural selection here steps in
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: such a nature that God cannot pardon it. Neither can we render adequate
satisfaction for our offenses. There is discord between God and us. Could
not God revoke His Law? No. How about running away from God? It
cannot be done. It took Christ to come between us and God and to
reconcile God to us. How did Christ do it? "Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to his cross." (Col. 2:14.)
This one word, "mediator," is proof enough that the Law cannot justify.
Otherwise we should not need a mediator.
In Christian theology the Law does not justify. In fact it has the contrary
effect. The Law alarms us, it magnifies our sins until we begin to hate the
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