| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: its whole retinue of loaded skows. Until one had found out the key
to the enigma, there was something solemn and uncomfortable in the
progress of one of these trains, as it moved gently along the water
with nothing to mark its advance but an eddy alongside dying away
into the wake.
Of all the creatures of commercial enterprise, a canal barge is by
far the most delightful to consider. It may spread its sails, and
then you see it sailing high above the tree-tops and the windmill,
sailing on the aqueduct, sailing through the green corn-lands: the
most picturesque of things amphibious. Or the horse plods along at
a foot-pace as if there were no such thing as business in the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: to take a journey such as no one ever travelled before. Heed well
what I tell you. Speak not a single word, for if you do,
misfortune will be sure to happen."
"Ain't I to say anything?" said the fisherman.
"No."
"Not even boo' to a goose?"
"No."
"Well, that is pretty hard upon a man who likes to say his say,"
said the fisherman.
"And moreover," said the old man, "I must blindfold you as well."
Thereupon he took from his pocket a handkerchief, and made ready
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: is after, that he should go thus peeping and peering about I
verily believe that yon scurvy varlet is no better than a thief,
and cometh here after our own and the good King's dun deer."
For by much roving in the forest, Little John had come to look upon
all the deer in Sherwood as belonging to Robin Hood and his band
as much as to good King Harry. "Nay," quoth he again, after a time,
"this matter must e'en be looked into." So, quitting the highroad,
he also entered the thickets, and began spying around after stout
Arthur a Bland.
So for a long time they both of them went hunting about,
Little John after the Tanner, and the Tanner after the deer.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
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 Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: has not sinned; all mine is His, and all His is mine," as it is
written, "My beloved is mine, and I am His" (Cant. ii. 16). This
is what Paul says: "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ," victory over sin and death, as he
says, "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the
law" (1 Cor. xv. 56, 57).
>From all this you will again understand why so much importance is
attributed to faith, so that it alone can fulfil the law and
justify without any works. For you see that the First
Commandment, which says, "Thou shalt worship one God only," is
fulfilled by faith alone. If you were nothing but good works from
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