Chapter XXVI

Dismal and dreary as life has become, he nevertheless wishes to live, if only to prove the stedfastness of his affection. And he asks that if the all-seeing Eye, which already perceives the future rottenness of the living tree, and the far off ruin of the now standing tower, can detect any coming indifference in him--any failure of Love--then may the "Shadow waiting with the keys" "shroud me from my proper scorn;"[22] may Death hide me from my own self-contempt!

"In Him is no before." Jehovah is simply, _I am_, to whom foresight and foreknowledge cannot be attributed, since past and future are equally present.

The morn breaks over Indian seas, because they are to the east of us.