| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: and the insulted only, but, like faithful ministers, would cry aloud
and SPARE NONE. Say not that ye are persecuted, neither endeavour to make
us the authors of that reproach, which, ye are bringing upon yourselves;
for we testify unto all men, that we do not complain against you because
ye are Quakers, but because ye pretend to be and are NOT Quakers.
Alas! it seems by the particular tendency of some part of your testimony,
and other parts of your conduct, as if, all sin was reduced to,
and comprehended in, THE ACT OF BEARING ARMS, and that by the people only.
Ye appear to us, to have mistaken party for conscience; because,
the general tenor of your actions wants uniformity--And it is exceedingly
difficult to us to give credit to many of your pretended scruples;
Common Sense |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Poems by Bronte Sisters: Yet wait till winter comes again,
And who will call the wild-briar fair?
Then, scorn the silly rose-wreath now,
And deck thee with the holly's sheen,
That, when December blights thy brow,
He still may leave thy garland green.
THE ELDER'S REBUKE.
"Listen! When your hair, like mine,
Takes a tint of silver gray;
When your eyes, with dimmer shine,
Watch life's bubbles float away:
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: admitted no one, the mother came forth at last with injured eyes.
Before losing her sight altogether she persisted, against the wishes
of her friends, in visiting her daughter's grave, on which she riveted
her gaze in contemplation. That image remained vivid in the darkness
which now fell upon her, just as the red spectrum of an object shines
in our eyes when we close them in full daylight. This terrible and
double misfortune made Dumay, not less devoted, but more anxious about
Modeste, now the only daughter of the father who was unaware of his
loss. Madame Dumay, idolizing Modeste, like other women deprived of
their children, cast her motherliness about the girl,--yet without
disregarding the commands of her husband, who distrusted female
Modeste Mignon |
