| 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: as to wish him ill. We do not desire the death of our false brethren. We
desire that they may turn from their evil ways to Christ and be saved with
us. A teacher chastises the pupil to reform him. The rod hurts, but
correction is necessary. A father punishes his son because he loves his son.
If he did not love the lad he would not punish him but let him have his
own way in everything until he comes to harm. Paul beseeches the
Galatians to look upon his correction as a sign that he really cared for them.
"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous;
nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto
them which are exercised thereby." (Heb. 12:11.)
Although Paul seeks to soften the effect of his reproachful words, he does
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: ever been a slave. They said I did not talk like a slave, look
like a slave, nor act like a slave, and that they believed I had
never been south of Mason and Dixon's line. "He don't tell us
where he came from--what his master's name was--how he got away--
nor the story of his experience. Besides, he is educated, and
is, in this, a contradiction of all the facts we have concerning
the ignorance of the slaves." Thus, I was in a pretty fair way
to be denounced as an impostor. The committee of the
Massachusetts anti-slavery society knew all the facts in my case,
and agreed with me in the prudence of keeping them private.
They, therefore, never doubted my being a genuine fugitive; but
My Bondage and My Freedom |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: he not in that case, think you, make much of[82] one whom he regarded
as his bravest fellow-worker, laying at his feet the greatest honours?
[79] Cf. Theogn. 947:
{patrida kosmeso, liparen polin, out' epi demo
trepsas out' adikois andrasi peithomenos}.
[80] Who in 421 B.C. were of course the Lacedaemonians and the allies.
Autolycus was killed eventually by the Thirty to please the
Lacedaemonian harmost. See Plut. "Lysand." 15 (Clough, iii. 120);
Paus. i. 18. 3; ix. 32. 8. Cf. "Hell." II. iii. 14.
[81] Cf. "Anab." IV. i. 20; "Mem." III. vi. 2.
[82] {periepein}. Cf. "Cyrop." IV. iv. 12; "Mem." II. ix. 5.
The Symposium |
