| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: then it follows that all they have becomes theirs in common, as
well good things as evil things; so that whatsoever Christ
possesses, that the believing soul may take to itself and boast
of as its own, and whatever belongs to the soul, that Christ
claims as His.
If we compare these possessions, we shall see how inestimable is
the gain. Christ is full of grace, life, and salvation; the soul
is full of sin, death, and condemnation. Let faith step in, and
then sin, death, and hell will belong to Christ, and grace, life,
and salvation to the soul. For, if He is a Husband, He must needs
take to Himself that which is His wife's, and at the same time,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: to in this expedition, whether we went by sea or land. By sea, we
foresaw the hazard we run of falling into the hands of the Turks,
amongst whom we should lose, if not our lives, at least our liberty,
and be for ever prevented from reaching the court of Aethiopia.
Upon this consideration our superiors divided the eight Jesuits
chosen for this mission into two companies. Four they sent by sea
and four by land; I was of the latter number. The four first were
the more fortunate, who though they were detained some time by the
Turkish bassa, were dismissed at the request of the emperor, who
sent him a zebra, or wild ass, a creature of large size and
admirable beauty.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: that they have none at all: for we see that very little is required to
enable a person to speak; and since a certain inequality of capacity is
observable among animals of the same species, as well as among men, and
since some are more capable of being instructed than others, it is
incredible that the most perfect ape or parrot of its species, should not
in this be equal to the most stupid infant of its kind or at least to one
that was crack-brained, unless the soul of brutes were of a nature wholly
different from ours. And we ought not to confound speech with the natural
movements which indicate the passions, and can be imitated by machines as
well as manifested by animals; nor must it be thought with certain of the
ancients, that the brutes speak, although we do not understand their
Reason Discourse |
