Not P but Moby-Dick (10)

[Mike Jing]

The following excerpt is from Chapter 32:

For small erections may be finished by their first architects; grand ones,
true ones, ever leave the copestone to posterity. God keep me from ever
completing anything. This whole book is but a draught—nay, but the draught
of a draught. Oh, Time, Strength, Cash, and Patience!

The previous translations treated "God keep me from ever completing
anything" as a statement, i.e. "God never allows me to finish anything."
That doesn't seem right, does it?