Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CX
Fab. CX.
A Fisherman's Good Luck.
A Fisherman had been a Long while at work without Catching any thing, and so in Great Trouble and Despair, he refolvd to take up his Tackle, and be gone: But in That very Instant a Great Fish Leapt into the Boat, and by this Providence he made a Tolerable Day on’t.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
That which We commonly call Good Fortune, is properly, Providence, and when Matters succeed Better with us by Accident, then we could pretend to, by Skill; We ought to Ascribe it to the Divine Goodness, as a Blessing upon Industry. It is Every man’s Duty to Labour in his Calling, and not to Despond, for any Miscarriages or Disappointments, that were not in his own Power to Prevent. Faith, Hope, and Patience Overcome All things, and Virtue can never faile of a Reward in the Conclusion. What was it but This Constancy and Resignation, that Kept the Hearts of the Poor Cavaliers from Breaking, in the Tedious Interval of that Bloudy Revolution from Forty to Sixty; ‘till at last, the Banish’d, and the Persecuted Son of a Royal Martyr, was in Gods Good time brought back again, and Placed upon the Throne of his Ancestors, which Crown’d the Sufferings of All his Loyal Subjects, The Fisherman’s Waiting in his Calling, bids us Persevere in our Duties, and the Lucky Hit he had in the Conclusion, tells us that Honest Endeavors will not faile of a Reward.