| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers instead of
being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to
employ all their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their
helpless infants who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for
want of work, or leave their dear native country, to fight for
the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.
I think it is agreed by all parties, that this prodigious number
of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of
their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present
deplorable state of the kingdom, a very great additional
grievance; and therefore whoever could find out a fair, cheap and
A Modest Proposal |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Paradise Lost by John Milton: Shall satisfy for Man, be judged and die,
And dying rise, and rising with him raise
His brethren, ransomed with his own dear life.
So heavenly love shall outdo hellish hate,
Giving to death, and dying to redeem,
So dearly to redeem what hellish hate
So easily destroyed, and still destroys
In those who, when they may, accept not grace.
Nor shalt thou, by descending to assume
Man's nature, lessen or degrade thine own.
Because thou hast, though throned in highest bliss
Paradise Lost |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: shall never be in danger of misconstruing the meaning of the Law. We shall
understand that the Law does not justify. We shall understand why a
Christian observes laws: For the peace of the world, out of gratitude to God,
and for a good example that others may be attracted to the Gospel.
VERSE 5. That we might receive the adoption of sons.
Paul still has for his text Genesis 22:18, "In thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed." In the course of his Epistle he calls this promise
of the blessing righteousness, life, deliverance from the Law, the testament,
etc. Now he also calls the promise of blessing "the adoption of sons," the
inheritance of everlasting life.
What ever induced God to adopt us for His children and heirs? What claim can
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: the Civil power was deaf to his pleading. He removed the appeal to
Lisbon, and after narrowly escaping on the way from a shipwreck, and
after having been captured by pirates, he reached Lisbon, and sought
still to obtain means of overawing the force hostile to the work of
the Jesuits in Abyssinia. The Princess Margaret gave friendly
hearing, but sent him on to persuade, if he could, the King of
Spain; and failing at Madrid, he went to Rome and tried the Pope.
He was chosen to go to the Pope, said the Patriarch Alfonso Mendez,
because, of all the brethren at Goa, the 'Pater Hieronymus Lupus'
(Lobo translated into Wolf) was the most ingenious and learned in
all sciences, with a mind most generous in its desire to conquer
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