Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable LVIII
Fab. LVIII.
Two young Men and a Cook.
TWo Young Fellows Slipt into a Cooks Shop, and while the Master was Busie at his Work, One of them Stole a piece of Flesh, and Convey'd it to the Other. The Master Miss'd it immediately, and Challeng’d them with the Theft, He that Took it, Swore He had None on’t. And He that Had it, Swore as Desperately that He did not Take it, The Cook Reflecting upon the Conceit: Well, My Masters, (says he) These Frauds and Fallacies may pass upon men; but there's an Eye Above that sees thorough them,
The Moral.
There's No Putting of Tricks upon an All-Seeing Power; as if He that Made our Hearts, and knows Every Nook, and Corner of them, could not fee thorough the Childish Fallacy of a Double-Meaning.
REFLEXION.
This Fable concerns those that think to Deceive God with Fallacies of Words, Equivocations, Mental Reservations, and Double Meanings; but though Frauds and Perjuries may pass upon Men for a Season, they are as Open as the Light yet to Him that Searches the Heart. A Man had Better be a Downright Atheist, then in such a Case as This, an Equivocating Hypocrite: For He that Denies a Providence, or Doubts whether there be any God at all, is much more Pardonable, then Another that Acknowledges, and Confesses an All-Seeing, and an Almighty Power; and yet at the Same Time, most Blasphemously Affronts it. 'Tis a Great Unhappiness that Children should be so much Addicted (as we see they are) to This Way and Humour of Shuffling: But it is a Greater Shame and Mischief, for Parents, Governours, and Tutors, to Encourage, and Allow them in’t, and so (Effectually) to Train them up to One of the most Dangerous Corruptions they are Capable of, in Countenancing the very Ground-Work of a False and Treacherous Life, There must be No Paradoxing or Playing Tricks with Things Sacred. Truth is the Great Lesson of Reasonable Nature, both in Philosophy, and in Religion. Now there is a Truth of Opinion; a Truth of Fact, and a Truth in Simplicity and Sincerity of Thought, Word, and Deed. The Last of the Three is the Truth that is here in queslion. The Knack of Fast aud Loose passes with a world of Foolish People for a Turn of Wit; but they are not aware all this while, of the Desperate Consequences of an Ill Habit, and that the Practice of Falsifying with Men, will lead us on Insenfibly to a Double-Dealing even with God Himself.