And as for praying for strength to resist temptation--granted that
if, when I saw the archdeacon in the band-box stage, I had
immediately prayed for strength I might have been enabled to put the
evil thing from me for a time, how long would this have been likely
to last when I saw his face grow saintlier and saintlier? I am an
excellent sailor myself, but he is not, and when I see him there, his
eyes closed and his head thrown back, like a sleeping St. Joseph in a
shovel hat, with a basin beside him, can I expect to be saved from
snapping him by such a formula as "Deliver us from evil"?
Is it in photographer's nature to do so? When David found himself in
the cave with Saul he cut off one of Saul's coattails; if he had had
a camera and there had been enough light he would have photographed
him; but would it have been in flesh and blood for him neither to cut
off his coat-tail nor to snap him?
There is a photographer in every bush, going about like a roaring
lion seeking whom he may devour.
iv
Teach me to live that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed.
This is from the evening hymn which all respectable children are
taught. It sounds well, but it is immoral.
Our own death is a premium which we must pay for the far greater
benefit we have derived from the fact that so many people have not
only lived but also died before us.
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