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.