Æſop's FABLES.
49
REFLEXION.
The Fables of the Ax-Handle, and the Wedge, ſerve to Precaution us not to put our ſelves Needleſly upon an After Game, but to Weigh before hand what we Say, and Do. We ſhould have a Care how we Arm our Enemies againſt our Selves; for there's Nothing goes Nearer a Man than to be Undone by his Own Improvidence; and Nothing afterward more Ridiculous, then to Blame Fortune for our own Faults: Though we are ſo Fram'd by Nature, in reſpeft of our Souls and Bodies, that One Part of a Man is ſtill Wounded by the Other. Nothing ſo much Troubled the Eagle and the Thruſh, as the Thought of aſſiſting to their own Deſtruction.
There's No living in This World without an Exchange of Civil Offices, and the Need we have One of Another, goes a Great Way toward the Making of us Love One Another. How is this Amity, and Communication to be entertain'd now, but by the Commerce of Giving and Receiving? Reaſon, and Experience, are Sufficient to convince us of the Neceſſity of ſuch a Correſpondence; And this Fiction of the Axe and the Forreſt, and ſo of the Tree and the Wedge, ſhews us the Danger of it too, if it be not Manag'd with a Provident Reſpect to All the Niceties of Circumſtance, and Contingency in the Caſe. People have got a Cuſtom, 'tis true, of Computing upon the Preſent Need, and Value of Things, without ever heeding the Conſequences of them: As if all our Askings, and our Grantings were to be Governed by the Standard of the Market. 'Tis ſo pityful a Bus'neſs, ſays One, and it was ſo ſmall a Thing, ſays Another; And yet this Pityful Buſneſs, and this Small Thing proves at laſt to be as much as a Man's Life, Honor, and Eſtate is Worth. Alas! What's a Handle for an Axe, out of a whole Forreſt! What's the Writing of a Man's Name, or the ſaying Ay, or No to a Queſtion? And yet the very Safety and Honour of our Prince and Country, and the Summ of our Well-being lies many a time at Stake upon the Iſſue of doing either the One or the Other. Nay and let the People we have to do withal be never ſo Juſt and Honeſt, it is yet a Temerity, and a Folly Inexcuſable, to Deliver up our ſelves Needleſly into Anothers Power: For He that does any thing Raſhly, muſt: be taken in Equity of Conſtruction to do it willingly: For he was Free to Deliberate or Not : 'Tis Good Advice, to Conſider, Firſt, what the Thing is that is Deſired. 2. The Character of the Perſon that Asks. 3. What uſe may be made on't to the Detriment of him that Grants the Requeſt, and ſo to Reſolve how far in Duty, Humanity, Prudence, Juſtice, and Reſpect, we are to Comply with it. Whereſoever there is a Moral Right on the One Hand, No Secondary Intereſt can Diſcharge it on the Other. A Pris'ner upon Parole muſt ſurrender himſelf upon Demand, though he Die for't. A Man may Contribute to his own Ruin Several Ways; but in Caſes not to be Foreſeen, and ſo not to be Prevented, it may be his Misfortune, and the Man not to blame. We are not to omit Precaution however, for fear an Ill Uſe ſhould be made of Thoſe Things that we do, even with a Good Intention; but we are ſtill to Diſtinguiſh betwixt what may Poſſibly, and what will Probably be done, according to the Belt Meaſures we can take of the End of Asking; for there would be No Place left for the Functions of Humane Society, if the Poſſibility of Abuſing a Kindneſs, ſhould wholly Divert us from the Exerciſe of Charity and Good Nature. There may be Great Miſchief Wrought yet, without any thing ofa Pre-
