Age Overtakes them, and they are e’en Glad to take up in a Mill at laſt with Grains and Thiſtles, and there ſpend the Remainder of a Wretched Life in a Circulation of Miſery and Labour. If any Man of War, or State ſhall find This Caſe to be his Own, and Himſelf Touch’d in the Moral of This Fable, let him keep his Own Councel, and learn to be Wiſer here-after. And we may learn This Leſſon of the Horſe too, not to Sacrifice our Honour, Liberty, and Conſcience, to a Freak.
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
