A FABLE LIII. The Thief and the Dog. THIEF coming to rob a certain house in the night, was disturbed in his attempts by a fierce vigilant dog who kept barking at him continually. Upon which the thief, thinking to stop his moutlı, threw him a piece of bread: But the dog refused it with indignation; telling him, that before, he only suspected him to be a bad man; but now, upon his offering to bribe him, he was confirmed in his opinion; and that, as he was entrusted with the guardianship of his master's house, he should never cease barking while such a rogue as he lay lurking about it. MORALS. Nothing can alter the honest purposes of the man, who despises an insidious bribe; and whose mind is proof against temptation. Faithful to man, and to thy conscience just, REFLECTION. A man who is very free in his protestations of friendship, or offers of great civility, upon the first interview may meet with applause and esteem from fools, but contrives his schemes of that sort to little or no purpose, in the company of men of sense. It is a common and known maxim, to suspect an enemy, even the more, for his endeavouring to convince us of his benevolence; because the oddness of the thing puts us upon our guard, and makes us conclude, that some pernicious design must be couched under so sudden and unexpected a turn of behaviour: But it is no unnecessary caution to be upon the watch against even indifferent people, when we perceive them uncommonly forward in their approaches of civility and kindness. The man, who at first sight makes us an offer, which is due only to particular and well-acquainted friends, must be either a knave, and intends by such a bait to draw us into his net; or a fool, with whom we ought to avoid having any communication. Thus far the consideration of this Fable may be useful to us in private life; what it contains farther, in relation to the public, is, That a man, truly honest, will never let his mouth be stopped with a bribe; but the greater the offer is which is designed to buy his silence, the louder and more constantly will he open against the miscreants who would practise it upon As FABLE LIV. Hercules and the Carter. S a clownish fellow was driving his Cart along a deep miry lane, the wheels stuck so fast in the clay, that the horses could not draw them out. Upon this, he fell a bawling and praying to Hercules to come and help him. Hercules looking down from a cloud, bid him not lie there, like an idle rascal as he was, but get up and whip his horses stoutly, and clap his shoulder to the wheel, adding, That this was the only way for him to obtain his assistance. MORALS. Prayers and wishes amount to nothing: We must put forth our own honest endeavours to obtain success on the assistance of heaven. Inactive wishes are but waste of time, And, without efforts, pray'rs themselves a crime : REFLECTION. This Fable shews us how vain and ill-grounded the expectations of those people are, who imagine they can obtain whatever they want by importuning heaven with their prayers; for it is so agreeable to the nature of the Divine Being, to be better pleased with virtuous actions and an honest industry, than idle Prayers, that it is a sort of blasphemy to say otherwise. These were the sentiments of honest good heathens, who were strangers to all revealed religion: But it is not strange that they should embrace and propagate such a notion, since it is no other than the dictate of common reason. What is both strange in itself, and surprising how it could be made so fashionable, is, that most of those whose reason should be enlightened by Revelation, are very apt to be guilty of this stupidity, and, by praying often for the comforts of life, to neglect that business which is the proper means of procuring them. How such a mistaken devotion came to prevail, one cannot imagine, N unless from one of these two motives; either that people, by such a veil of hypocrisy, would pass themselves upon mankind for better than they really are; or are influenced by unskilful preachers (which is sometimes, indeed too often, the case) to mind the world as little as possible, even to the neglect of their necessary callings. No question but it is a great sin for a man to fail in his trade or occupation, by running often to prayers: it being a demonstration in itself, though the Scripture had never said it, that we please God most, when we are doing the most good: And how can we do more good, than by a sober honest industry, to provide for those of our own household, and to endeavour to have to give to him that needeth. The man who is virtuously and honestly engaged, is actually serving God all the while, and is more likely to have his silent wishes, accompanied with strenuous endeavours, complied with by the Supreme Being, than he who begs with a fruitless vehemence, and solicits with an empty hand: A hand which would be more religious were it usefully employed, and more devout, were it stretched forth to do good to those that want it. |