Page:Leo Tolstoi - Life Is Worth Living and Other Stories - tr. Adolphus Norraikow (1892).djvu/164

 Rh thought. He began to view his past life in the light of the words he had just read, and said slowly to himself:

"Have I built my house upon a rock, or upon the sand? It is well if on the rock. Yet it all seems easy enough when you are sitting alone in your room. It then looks to you as if you had done everything that God had commanded: but in the very next moment of forgetfulness you may commit another sin. I shall continue, however, to do as I have been doing, for I feel very happy and hopeful. Help me, O Lord!"

While Martin was thus engaged in thought, he felt that sleep was overtaking him; still he could not bear to close the holy book, and he began to read the next chapter. He read all about the centurion and the widow's son; about the answer given to the disciples of John, and at last came to the passage in which the rich Pharisee invites our Lord to dine with him. He read also the story of Mary Magdalen, who anointed our Saviour's feet with oil, and after