REFLEXION.
In Theſe Three Fables, is ſet forth the Vanity of Unnatural Wiſhics, and Fooliſh Prayers; which are not only to be Rejected, bur they deſerve alſo to be Puniſh’d. Providence has made an Equal Diſtribution of Natural Gifts, whereof each Creature ſeverally has a ſhare; and it is not for This or That Particular to pretend to All: So that Conſidering the Equality of the Diviſion, No Creature has Cauſe, either to Boaſt, or to Complain. We are never Content with the Bounty of Providence. One would have a Voice; T’other Gay Cloaths; and while Every Man would have All, we Charge Providence with Injuſtice for not giving to Every Man Alike. Socrates was in the Right in Saying, That in a Caſe a Man were to go where he ſhould have the Choice before him, of All the Ill Things and All the Good Things in Nature, he would come home again the ſame Man that he went out.
It is to be Noted, upon the Diſtribution of the Matter of Theſe Three Fables that the Camel prays for Weapons Oſſenſive, and Defenſive, either for the Encount’ring of Dangers, or the Repelling of them. The Fox and the Hare, for the Means of Avoiding them. And the Peacock for a Voice, anſwerable to his Beauty. And All their Prayers are to No Purpoſe, but to the Reproche of the Petitioners, and to the Confuſion of Vain Deſires, What is All This but an Appeale from Heaven to Heaven it ſelf; and Petitioning Providence againſt Providence, in a Recourſe from One Providence to Another? The Determinations and Appointments of Heaven are no more to be Diſputed and Controll’d, then they are to be made Better, and Emprov'd; And we muſt not Preſume to Judge of the Goodneſs and Juſtice of Heaven, by the Frailties and Corruptions of Fleſh and Blood. We were not of Councel with the Almighty, either in the Making, or in the Regulating of the World, and we have no more Right to Adviſe him in the Governing of it. The Power, in fine, that Rules in the Nature of Things is no other then a Divine Influence.
Why ſhould not the Nightingale Envy the Peacock's Train as well as the Peacock Envy the Nightingale's Note? And why ſhould not All the Works of the Creation Expoſtulate at the ſame Rate, and upon the ſame Grounds? Why has not Man the Wings of an Eagle to carry him from Danger, or to ſatisſie his Curioſity what the World's a doing? Why has he not the Sagacity of a Dog, the Paw of a Lyon; The Terth of a Leopard; The Heeles of a Courſer, and the like? And have not Brute Animals the ſame Equity of Complaint on the Other Hand, for want of the Facultics and Advantages, Intellectual, and Moral of Mankind? So that here's a Civil War that runs thorough All the Parts of the Univerſe, where Nothing is pleaſed with it's Own Lot; And no Remedy at laſt; but by New Moulding the World over again. This Inordinate Appetite has been the Overthrow of many a Kingdom, Family and Commonwealth.
To Ask Impoſſibilities, in fine, is Ridiculous, and to Ask Things Unnatural is Impious; for to take upon us to Blame, or Mend the Works of Providence, is to ſuppoſe the Divine Wiſdom lyable to Miſcarriages and Miſtakes, Theſe Mutterings are Fooliſh alſo, even to the Degree of Madneſs it ſelf; for there’s no Thought or Poſſibility of Relief in the Caſe. Such as we Are God has made Us: our Poſt and our Station is appointed us, and the Decree is not to be Revers'd.
Fab.
