So stripped him of his hide, his life, his brain so dense.
Then said: “Since sight of me chased not all thought of self
From thee, death by my paw was due, thou wretched elf!
Thyself thou shouldst have vanquished in my presence dread.
Not having done so, thou’rt now numbered with the dead.”40
“All perisheth, except His counsel” ’s holy writ.[334]
If we’re not of “His counsel,” life cannot us fit.
He that will lose his life for God’s sake, hath it still;
“All perisheth” hath then no power his soul to kill.
He’s of th’ excepted; not of those to perish doomed.