| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: parched and hard, and have enough with our little prayer. Of this
more another time.
III. The sermon ought to be nothing else than the proclamation
of this testament. But who can hear it if no one preaches it?
Now, they who ought to preach it, themselves do not know it. This
is why the sermons ramble off into other unprofitable stories,
and thus Christ is forgotten, while we fare like the man in II.
Kings vii: we see our riches but do not enjoy them. Of which the
Preacher also says, "This is a great evil, when God giveth a man
riches, and giveth him not power to enjoy them." So we look on
at unnumbered masses and do not know whether the mass be a
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Koran: altogether?'
God's is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and what is
between the two; He createth what He will, for God is mighty over all!
But the Jews and the Christians say, 'We are the sons of God and His
beloved.' Say, 'Why then does He punish you for your sins? nay, ye are
mortals of those whom He has created! He pardons whom He pleases,
and punishes whom He pleases; for God's is the kingdom of the
heavens and the earth, and what is between the two, and unto Him the
journey is.
O people of the Book! our Apostle has come to you, explaining to you
the interval of apostles; lest ye say, 'There came not to us a
The Koran |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence: "What have you been doing all morning?" asked Paul of Miriam.
"Well, you see," said Miriam, coughing huskily, "Clara only
came with father--and so--she's not been here very long."
Clara sat leaning on the table, holding aloof. He noticed
her hands were large, but well kept. And the skin on them seemed
almost coarse, opaque, and white, with fine golden hairs. She did
not mind if he observed her hands. She intended to scorn him.
Her heavy arm lay negligently on the table. Her mouth was closed
as if she were offended, and she kept her face slightly averted.
"You were at Margaret Bonford's meeting the other evening,"
he said to her.
Sons and Lovers |
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 The Iliad by Homer: sure that the Achaeans would not hold out longer, and that they
should now fall upon the ships. Little did they know that at the
gates they should find two of the bravest chieftains, proud sons
of the fighting Lapithae--the one, Polypoetes, mighty son of
Pirithous, and the other Leonteus, peer of murderous Mars. These
stood before the gates like two high oak trees upon the
mountains, that tower from their wide-spreading roots, and year
after year battle with wind and rain--even so did these two men
await the onset of great Asius confidently and without flinching.
The Trojans led by him and by Iamenus, Orestes, Adamas the son of
Asius, Thoon and Oenomaus, raised a loud cry of battle and made
The Iliad |
