| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In Darkest England and The Way Out by General William Booth: is not as wide as the Scheme of Eternal Salvation set forth in the
Gospel. The Glad Tidings must be to every creature, not merely to an
elect few who are to be saved while the mass of their fellow are
predestined to a temporal damnation. We have had this doctrine of an
inhuman cast-iron pseudo-political economy too long enthroned amongst us.
It is now time to fling down the false idol and proclaim a Temporal
Salvation as full, free, and universal, and with no other limitations
than the "Whosoever will," of the Gospel.
To attempt to save the Lost, we must accept no Limitations to human
brotherhood. If the Scheme which I set forth in these and the
following pages is not applicable to the Thief, the Harlot,
In Darkest England and The Way Out |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Heroes by Charles Kingsley: for what I have not done? Had you bid me love the man of
whom I spoke, and make him my son-in-law and heir, I would
have obeyed you; and what if I obey you now, and send the man
to win himself immortal fame? I have not harmed you, or him.
One thing at least I know, that he will go, and that gladly;
for he has a hero's heart within him, loving glory, and
scorning to break the word which he has given.'
Jason saw that he was entrapped; but his second promise to
Cheiron came into his mind, and he thought, 'What if the
Centaur were a prophet in that also, and meant that I should
win the fleece!' Then he cried aloud -
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: the grooves of launching: So forth into life and fear not, for so
did we all in the ancient ages." And their voices passed away like
an eddy in a river.
"Now," said the Poor Thing, "they have told you a lesson, but make
them give you a gift. Stoop your hand among the bones without
drawback, and you shall find their treasure."
So the man stooped his hand, and the dead laid hold upon it many
and faint like ants; but he shook them off, and behold, what he
brought up in his hand was the shoe of a horse, and it was rusty.
"It is a thing of no price," quoth the man, "for it is rusty."
"We shall see that," said the Poor Thing; "for in my thought it is
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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 Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: out of a man if he is innocent?
Vansen. Oh, you blockhead! When nothing can be worked out of a man by
cross-examination, they work it into him. Honesty is rash and withal
somewhat presumptuous; at first they question quietly enough, and the
prisoner, proud of his innocence, as they call it, comes out with much that
a sensible man would keep back! then, from these answers the inquisitor
proceeds to put new questions, and is on the watch for the slightest
contradiction; there he fastens his line; and, let the poor devil lose his self-
possession, say too much here, or too little there, or, Heaven knows from
what whim or other, let him withhold some trifling circumstance, or at any
moment give way to fear--then we're on the right track, and, I assure you,
Egmont |
