| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: we often feel fear and doubt we cannot come to that happy certainty.
Train your conscience to believe that God approves of you. Fight it out with
doubt. Gain assurance through the Word of God. Say: "I am all right with God. I
have the Holy Ghost. Christ, in whom I do believe, makes me worthy. I gladly
hear, read, sing, and write of Him. I would like nothing better than that
Christ's Gospel be known throughout the world and that many, many be
brought to faith in Him."
VERSE 6. Crying, Abba, Father.
Paul might have written, "God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
hearts, calling Abba, Father." Instead, he wrote, "Crying, Abba, Father." In
the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans the Apostle describes this
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: elements which, since the Restoration, have been dignified by the mane
of Public Morals, out of sheer aversion to the name of the Catholic
religion--where this is seconded by a sense of insults a little too
offensive; when the fatigue of constant self-sacrifice has almost
reached the point of exhaustion; and when, under these circumstances,
a too cruel blow--one of those mean acts which a man never lets a
woman know of unless he believes himself to be her assured master--
puts the crowning touch to her revulsion and disenchantment, the
moment has come for the intervention of the friend who undertakes the
cure. Madame Piedefer had no great difficulty now in removing the film
from her daughter's eyes.
The Muse of the Department |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: should not contribute.[7] Another belief I hold is that amongst our
resident aliens[8] there are some who will show a laudable ambition if
incorporated with the cavalry. I argue from the fact, apparent to
myself, that amongst this class persons are to be found most zealously
disposed to carry out the part assigned to them, in every other branch
of honourable service which the citizens may choose to share with
them. Again, it strikes me that if you seek for an energetic infantry
to support your cavalry, you will find it in a corps composed of
individuals whose hatred to the foe is naturally intense.[9] But the
success of the above suggestions will depend doubtless on the
consenting will of Heaven.[10]
|
