| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: in 1778. And, finally, in 1787 one of the declared objects for ordaining
and establishing the Constitution was "TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION."
But if the destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States
be lawfully possible, the Union is LESS perfect than before the Constitution,
having lost the vital element of perpetuity.
It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion
can lawfully get out of the Union; that Resolves and Ordinances
to that effect are legally void; and that acts of violence,
within any State or States, against the authority of the United States,
are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.
I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws,
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: thou thyself, O my father, hast brought mine affairs to light,
hear the sum of my resolve: I will not be false to my covenant
with Christ; no, I swear it by him that bought me out of slavery
with his own precious blood; even if I must needs die a thousand
deaths for his sake, die I will. Knowing then how matters now
stand with me, prithee, no longer trouble thyself in endeavouring
to persuade me to change my good confession. For as it were a
thankless and never ending task for thee to try to grasp the
heavens with thy hand, or to dry up the waters of the sea, so
hard were it for thee to change me. Either then now listen to my
counsel, and join the household of Christ, and so thou shalt gain
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: would fling the money in her face. Claudine, in her terror, did not
guess that he was joking; she shrank back, stumbled over a chair, and
fell with her head against the corner of the marble chimney-piece. She
thought she should have died. When she could speak, poor woman, as she
lay on the bed, all that she said was, 'I deserved it, Charles!'
"For a moment La Palferine was in despair; his anguish revived
Claudine. She rejoiced in the mishap; she took advantage of her
suffering to compel La Palferine to take the money and release him
from an awkward position. Then followed a variation on La Fontaine's
fable, in which a man blesses the thieves that brought him a sudden
impulse of tenderness from his wife. And while we are upon this
|
