| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Richard III by William Shakespeare: [She looks scornfully at him]
Teach not thy lip such scorn; for it was made
For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.
If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,
Lo here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword;
Which if thou please to hide in this true breast
And let the soul forth that adoreth thee,
I lay it naked to the deadly stroke,
And humbly beg the death upon my knee.
[He lays his breast open; she offers at it with his sword]
Nay, do not pause; for I did kill King Henry-
Richard III |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: her face. What he had glimpsed assured him that she was pretty;
but her strongest appeal to him lay in the affectionate nature
revealed by her gentle mothering of the grotesque doll.
At last he hit upon a plan. He would attract her attention,
and reassure her by a smiling greeting from a greater distance.
Silently he wormed his way back into the tree. It was his
intention to hail her from beyond the palisade, giving her
the feeling of security which he imagined the stout barricade
would afford.
He had scarcely left his position in the tree when his attention
was attracted by a considerable noise upon the opposite side of
The Son of Tarzan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: The revival of Madame de Mortsauf was wholly natural, like the effects
of the month of May upon the meadows, or those of the sun and of the
brook upon the drooping flowers. Henriette, like our dear valley of
love, had had her winter; she revived like the valley in the
springtime. Before dinner we went down to the beloved terrace. There,
with one hand stroking the head of her son, who walked feebly beside
her, silent, as though he were breeding an illness, she told me of her
nights beside his pillow.
For three months, she said, she had lived wholly within herself,
inhabiting, as it were, a dark palace; afraid to enter sumptuous rooms
where the light shone, where festivals were given, to her denied, at
The Lily of the Valley |
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 Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: Wherever, therefore, He speaks, yea, in whichever direction or by
whatever means He speaks, thither faith must look, and to that it must
hold. Now here we have the words: He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. To what else do they refer than to Baptism, that is, to
the water comprehended in God's ordinance? Hence it follows that
whoever rejects Baptism rejects the Word of God, faith, and Christ, who
directs us thither and binds us to Baptism.
In the third place since we have learned the great benefit and power of
Baptism, let us see further who is the person that receives what
Baptism gives and profits. This is again most beautifully and clearly
expressed in the words: He that believeth and is baptized shall be
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