| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: but the Lord of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous
homage which is paid to the persons of kings, he need not wonder that
the Almighty, ever jealous of his honour, should disapprove of a form
of government which so impiously invades the prerogative of heaven.
Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews,
for which a curse in reserve is denounced against them.
The history of that transaction is worth attending to.
The children of Israel being oppressed by the Midianites, Gideon
marched against them with a small army, and victory, through the
divine interposition, decided in his favour. The Jews, elate with
success, and attributing it to the generalship of Gideon,
Common Sense |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: And straight, in pity of his tender years,
They both would strive who first should dry his tears.
'To see his face the lion walk'd along 1093
Behind some hedge, because he would not fear him;
To recreate himself when he hath sung,
The tiger would be tame and gently hear him; 1096
If he had spoke, the wolf would leave his prey,
And never fright the silly lamb that day.
'When he beheld his shadow in the brook,
The fishes spread on it their golden gills; 1100
When he was by, the birds such pleasure took,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: not his benefactor, but an accomplice who had defended their position
with the courage of a lion, and a skill that showed no flaw. Where
Jacques Collin had saved everything by his daring, Lucien, the man of
brains, had lost all by his lack of intelligence and reflection. This
infamous lie against which he revolted had screened a yet more
infamous truth.
Utterly confounded by the judge's skill, overpowered by his cruel
dexterity, by the swiftness of the blows he had dealt him while making
use of the errors of a life laid bare as probes to search his
conscience, Lucien sat like an animal which the butcher's pole-axe had
failed to kill. Free and innocent when he came before the judge, in a
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