| 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: Luther's aids in the translation of the Bible. Roerer took down Luther's
lectures and this manuscript has been preserved to the present day, in a
copy which contains also additions by Veit Dietrich and by Cruciger, friends
of Roerer's, who with him attended Luther's lectures. In other words, these
three men took down the lectures which Luther addressed to his students
in the course of Galatians, and Roerer prepared the manuscript for the
printer. A German translation by Justus Menius appeared in the
Wittenberg Edition of Luther's writings, published in 1539.
The importance of this Commentary on Galatians for the history of
Protestantism is very great. It presents like no other of Luther's writings
the central thought of Christianity, the justification of the sinner for the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: so too the Gospels. The Book of Enoch believes in a Golden
Age that is to come; it has Dantesque visions of Heaven
and Hell, and of Angels good and evil, and it speaks of a
"garden of Righteousness" with the "Tree of Wisdom" in its
midst. Everywhere, says Prof. Drews, in the first century
B.C., there was the longing for a coming Savior.
[1] Even to-day, the Arabian lands are always vibrating with
prophecies of a coming Mahdi.
[2] See Edition by R. H. Charles (1893).
But the Savior-god, as we also know, was a familiar figure
in Egypt. The great Osiris was the Savior of the world, both
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: wandering overhead--buzz, buzz, buzz--now among the leaves, now
flashing through the strips of sunshine, and now lost in the dark
shade, till finally he appeared to be settling on the eyelid of
David Swan. The sting of a bee is sometimes deadly. As free
hearted as she was innocent, the girl attacked the intruder with
her handkerchief, brushed him soundly, and drove him from beneath
the mapleshade. How sweet a picture! This good deed accomplished,
with quickened breath, and a deeper blush, she stole a glance at
the youthful stranger for whom she had been battling with a
dragon in the air.
"He is handsome!" thought she, and blushed redder yet.
Twice Told Tales |
