| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain: in Heilbronn, the daredevil spirit of adventure came
suddenly upon me, and I said to my comrades:
"_I_ am going to Heidelberg on a raft. Will you venture
with me?"
Their faces paled a little, but they assented with as
good a grace as they could. Harris wanted to cable his
mother--thought it his duty to do that, as he was all
she had in this world--so, while he attended to this,
I went down to the longest and finest raft and hailed
the captain with a hearty "Ahoy, shipmate!" which put us
upon pleasant terms at once, and we entered upon business.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: Pitt and of Saint-Just, of Napoleon and of Prince Metternich, would
find no admission there; Burke, Sheridan, or Fox could not win seats.
Even if political majority had been fixed at one-and-twenty, and
eligibility had been relieved of every disabling qualification, the
Departments would have returned the very same members, men devoid of
political talent, unable to speak without murdering French grammar,
and among whom, in ten years, scarcely one statesman has been found.
"The causes of an impending event may be seen, but the event itself
cannot be foretold. At this moment the youth of France is being driven
into Republicanism, because it believes that the Republic would bring
it emancipation. It will always remember the young representatives of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved" (Rom. x. 9); and again, "Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. x. 4), and "The
just shall live by faith" (Rom. i. 17). For the word of God
cannot be received and honoured by any works, but by faith alone.
Hence it is clear that as the soul needs the word alone for life
and justification, so it is justified by faith alone, and not by
any works. For if it could be justified by any other means, it
would have no need of the word, nor consequently of faith.
But this faith cannot consist at all with works; that is, if you
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