The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: linen-draper, who was just putting up his shutters, Mr. Otis rode
off to Bexley, a village about four miles away, which he was told
was a well-known haunt of the gypsies, as there was a large common
next to it. Here they roused up the rural policeman, but could get
no information from him, and, after riding all over the common,
they turned their horses' heads homewards, and reached the Chase
about eleven o'clock, dead-tired and almost heart-broken. They
found Washington and the twins waiting for them at the gate-house
with lanterns, as the avenue was very dark. Not the slightest
trace of Virginia had been discovered. The gypsies had been caught
on Brockley meadows, but she was not with them, and they had
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: that they might avoid wrong-doing, and be more easily instructed
in that righteousness which is by faith, a thing which the
headlong character of youth would not bear unless it were put
under restraint.
Hence in the Christian life ceremonies are to be no otherwise
looked upon than as builders and workmen look upon those
preparations for building or working which are not made with any
view of being permanent or anything in themselves, but only
because without them there could be no building and no work. When
the structure is completed, they are laid aside. Here you see
that we do not contemn these preparations, but set the highest
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: vigorously upward from the forehead and temples, sharply defining
those five black tongues which our ancestors used to call the "five
points." Notwithstanding this abrupt contrast of black and white,
Max's face was very sweet, owing its charm to an outline like that
which Raphael gave to the faces of his Madonnas, and to a well-cut
mouth whose lips smiled graciously, giving an expression of
countenance which Max had made distinctively his own. The rich
coloring which blooms on a Berrichon cheek added still further to his
look of kindly good-humor. When he laughed heartily, he showed thirty-
two teeth worthy of the mouth of a pretty woman. In height about five
feet six inches, the young man was admirably well-proportioned,--
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