| 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: you want to serve God you must earn your own remission of sins and
everlasting life, and in addition help others to obtain salvation by giving
them the benefit of your extra work-holiness." Monks, friars, and all the
rest of them brag that besides the ordinary requirements common to all
Christians, they do the works of supererogation, i.e., the performance of
more than is required. This is certainly a fiendish illusion.
No wonder Paul employs such sharp language in his effort to recall the
Galatians from the doctrine of the false apostles. He says to them: "Don't
you realize what you have done? You have crucified Christ anew because you
seek salvation by the Law."
True, Christ can no longer be crucified in person, but He is crucified in us
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Dream Life and Real Life by Olive Schreiner: flickers, and her present is an agony to me, and her future a despair, the
scent of that dead rose, withered for twelve years, comes back to me. I
know there will be spring; as surely as the birds know it when they see
above the snow two tiny, quivering green leaves. Spring cannot fail us.
There were other flowers in the box once; a bunch of white acacia flowers,
gathered by the strong hand of a man, as we passed down a village street on
a sultry afternoon, when it had rained, and the drops fell on us from the
leaves of the acacia trees. The flowers were damp; they made mildew marks
on the paper I folded them in. After many years I threw them away. There
is nothing of them left in the box now, but a faint, strong smell of dried
acacia, that recalls that sultry summer afternoon; but the rose is in the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll: While he rattled a couple of bones.
"Leave him here to his fate--it is getting so late!"
The Bellman exclaimed in a fright.
"We have lost half the day. Any further delay,
And we sha'nt catch a Snark before night!"
Fit the Eighth
THE VANISHING
They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
They pursued it with forks and hope;
They threatened its life with a railway-share;
They charmed it with smiles and soap.
The Hunting of the Snark |
