| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: gift from Antony the three cities. Upon his arrival, he desired
somebody might be brought to him that could speak Syriac or
Parthian. One Alexander, of Antioch, a friend of Antony's, was
brought to him, to whom the stranger, giving his name, and
mentioning Monaeses as the person who desired to do the
kindness, put the question, did he see that high range of hills,
pointing at some distance. He told him, yes. "It is there,"
said he, "the whole Parthian army lie in wait for your passage;
for the great plains come immediately up to them, and they
expect that, confiding in their promises, you will leave the
way of the mountains, and take the level route. It is true that
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: Now you must know that a Town Mouse once upon a time went on a
visit to his cousin in the country. He was rough and ready, this
cousin, but he loved his town friend and made him heartily
welcome. Beans and bacon, cheese and bread, were all he had to
offer, but he offered them freely. The Town Mouse rather turned
up his long nose at this country fare, and said: "I cannot
understand, Cousin, how you can put up with such poor food as
this, but of course you cannot expect anything better in the
country; come you with me and I will show you how to live. When
you have been in town a week you will wonder how you could ever
have stood a country life." No sooner said than done: the two
Aesop's Fables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: death. Through Christ death has lost her sting. Christ is the Death of
death.
The curse of God waged a similar battle with the eternal mercy of God in
Christ. The curse meant to condemn God's mercy. But it could not do it
because the mercy of God is everlasting. The curse had to give way. If the
mercy of God in Christ had lost out, God Himself would have lost out,
which, of course, is impossible.
"Christ," says Paul, "spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Col. 2:15.) They cannot harm
those who hide in Christ. Sin, death, the wrath of God, hell, the devil are
mortified in Christ. Where Christ is near the powers of evil must keep
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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 Agesilaus by Xenophon: her happiness. And as to power, Sparta, etc." See "Mem." II. vi.
27.
And if, by admission, it is noble for every Hellene to be a lover of
his fellow-Hellenes, yet we must fare far afield to find another
instance of a general who, expecting to sack some city, would have
refused to seize the prize; or who regarded victory in a war waged
against fellow-Hellenes as a species of calamity. Yet this man when a
message was brought him concerning the battle at Corinth,[8] in which
but eight Lacedaemonians had fallen, but of their opponents ten
thousand nearly, showed no sign of exultation, but sighed, saying,
"Alas for Hellas! since those who now lie in their graves, were able,
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