John St. John

JOHN ST. JOHN 12.43. Heart that is girt about with the Serpent that “To await Thee is the End, not the Beginning "? It is as silly as rising at midnight, and saying, "I will go out and sleep in the sun." But I am an Irishman, and if you offer me a donkey— ride at a shilling the first hour and Sixpence the second, you must not be surprised at the shrewd silliness of my replying that I will take the second hour first. But that is always the way; the love 01 besting our dearest friends in a bargain is native to us : and so, even in religion, when we are dealing with our own souls, we try to cheat. I go out to cut an almond rod at midnight, and, finding it inconvenient, I "magically affirm” that ash is almond and that seven o’clock is twelve. It seems a pity to have become a magician, capable of forcing Nature to accommodate herself to your statements, for no better use to be made of the power than this ! Miracles are only legitimate when there is no other issue possible. It is waste of power (the most expensive kind of power) to “make the spirits bring us all kinds of food ” when we live next door to the Savoy ; that Yogi was a fool who spent forty years learning to walk across the Ganges when all his friends did it daily for two pice; and that man does ill when he invokes Tahuti to cure a cold in the head while Mr. Lowe’s shop is so handy in Stafford Street. But miracles may be performed in an extremity; and are. This brings us round in a circle; the miracle of the 75