| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: that the challenge was passed and accepted, and the meeting fixed
at a neutral spot, used as the place of rencontre upon such
occasions, and which he himself had distinguished by numerous
victories. He exulted so much in the conquest which he
anticipated, that, to nerve his son to still bolder exertions, he
conferred upon him, as champion of his clan and province, the
celebrated weapon which he had hitherto retained in his own
custody.
This was not all. When the day of combat arrived, the Laird's
Jock, in spite of his daughter's affectionate remonstrances,
determined, though he had not left his bed for two years, to be a
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: and irrevocably pronounced against the admission of Gentiles to
the Messianic kingdom, and it makes it very probable that the
downfall of Mosaism as a result of his preaching was by no means
unpremeditated. While, on the other hand, the obstinacy of the
Petrine party in adhering to Jewish customs shows equally that
Jesus could not have unequivocally committed himself in favour of
a new gospel for the Gentiles. Probably Jesus was seldom brought
into direct contact with others than Jews, so that the questions
concerning the admission of Gentile converts did not come up
during his lifetime; and thus the way was left open for the
controversy which soon broke out between the Petrine party and
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli: imagined, but those which I have related. And as they were the sins of
princes, it is the princes who have also suffered the penalty.
[*] "With chalk in hand," "col gesso." This is one of the bons mots of
Alexander VI, and refers to the ease with which Charles VIII
seized Italy, implying that it was only necessary for him to send
his quartermasters to chalk up the billets for his soldiers to
conquer the country. Cf. "The History of Henry VII," by Lord
Bacon: "King Charles had conquered the realm of Naples, and lost
it again, in a kind of a felicity of a dream. He passed the whole
length of Italy without resistance: so that it was true what Pope
Alexander was wont to say: That the Frenchmen came into Italy with
The Prince |
