| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: soul and body. For that is the reason why these two things are done in
Baptism namely, that the body, which can apprehend nothing but the
water, is sprinkled, and, in addition, the word is spoken for the soul
to apprehend. Now, since both, the water and the Word, are one Baptism,
therefore body and soul must be saved and live forever: the soul
through the Word which it believes, but the body because it is united
with the soul and also apprehends Baptism as it is able to apprehend
it. We have, therefore, no greater jewel in body and soul, for by it we
are made holy and are saved, which no other kind of life, no work upon
earth, can attain.
Let this suffice respecting the nature, blessing, and use of Baptism,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: indeed that there is a mistake, and that I must be a bad enquirer, for
wisdom or temperance I believe to be really a great good; and happy are
you, Charmides, if you certainly possess it. Wherefore examine yourself,
and see whether you have this gift and can do without the charm; for if you
can, I would rather advise you to regard me simply as a fool who is never
able to reason out anything; and to rest assured that the more wise and
temperate you are, the happier you will be.
Charmides said: I am sure that I do not know, Socrates, whether I have or
have not this gift of wisdom and temperance; for how can I know whether I
have a thing, of which even you and Critias are, as you say, unable to
discover the nature?--(not that I believe you.) And further, I am sure,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: and after claiming and receiving the promise of hospitality,
he inquired what she knew of the pilgrims who had just departed?
The lady told him they were newly returned from Palestine, having been long
in the Holy Land. The knight expressed some scepticism on this point.
The lady replied, that they had given her so minute a detail of her
lord's proceedings, and so accurate a description of his person,
that she could not be deceived in them. This staggered the knight's
confidence in his own penetration; and if it had not been a heresy
in knighthood to suppose for a moment that there could be in rerum
natura such another pair of eyes as those of his mistress,
he would have acquiesced implicitly in the lady's judgment.
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