Natural Theology (Kipling)

PRIMITIVE

my fill of a whale that died And stranded after a month at sea. . . . There is a pain in my inside. Why have the Gods afflicted me ? Ow! I am purged till I am a wraith! Wow! I am sick till I cannot see! What is the sense of Religion and Faith ? Look how the Gods have afflicted me!

PAGAN

How can the skin of rat or mouse hold Anything more than a harmless flea ? . . . The burning plague has taken my household. Why have my Gods afflicted me ? All my kith and kin are deceased, Though they were as good as good could be. I will out and batter the family priest, Because my Gods have afflicted me.

MEDIÆVAL

My privy and well drain into each other After the custom of Christendie. . . . Fevers and fluxes are wasting my mother. Why has the Lord afflicted me ? The Saints are helpless for all I offer — So are the clergy I used to fee. Henceforward I keep my cash in my coffer, Because the Lord has afflicted me.

MATERIAL

I run eight hundred hens to the acre. They die by dozens mysteriously. . . . I am more than doubtful concerning my Maker. Why has the Lord afflicted me ? What a return for all my endeavour — Not to mention the L. S. D.! I am an atheist now and for ever, Because this God has afflicted me!

PROGRESSIVE

Money spent on an Army or Fleet Is homicidal lunacy. . . . My son has been killed in the Mons retreat. Why is the Lord afflicting me ? Why are murder, pillage and arson And rape allowed by the Deity ? I will write to the Times, deriding our parson Because my God has afflicted me.

CHORUS

We had a kettle: we let it leak: Our not repairing it made it worse. We haven't had any tea for a week. . . .    The bottom is out of the Universe!

CONCLUSION

This was none of the good Lord's pleasure, For the Spirit He breathed in Man is free; But what comes after is measure for measure, And not a God that afflicteth thee. As was the sowing so the reaping Is now and evermore shall be. Thou art delivered to thy own keeping. Only Thyself hath afflicted thee!

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