Fab. CCXXXIII.
A Boy and Fortune.
THere was a Boy half aſleep upon the very Brink of a River. Fortune came to him, and wak'd him. Child, ſays ſhe, prethee get up, and go thy ways, thou't Tumble in and be Drown'd elſe, and then the Fault will be laid upon Me.
The Moral of the Four Fables Above.
REFLEXION.
THESE Four Fables run upon the ſame Biaſs; That is to ſay, the Moral is a Laſh at the Vanity of Arrogating That to our ſelves, which ſucceeds Well, and the Ingratitude of making Providence the Author of Evil, which ſeldom ſcapes without a Judgment in the Tayle on't. But our Hearts are ſo much let upon the Value of the Benefits we receive, that we never Think of the Beſtower of them, and ſo our Acknowledgments are commonly paid to the Second Hand, without any Regard to the Principal. We run into Miſtakes, and Misfortunes, of our Own Accord; and then when we are once Hamper'd, we lay the Blame of our Own Faults and Corruptions upon Others. This is much the Humour of the World too in Common Bus'neſs. If any thing Hits, we take it to our Selves; if it Miſcarries, we ſhuffle it off to our Neighbours. This Ariſes, partly from Pride, and in part from a Certain Canker'd Malignity of Nature. Nay rather then Impute our Miſcarriages and Diſappointments to our Own Corruptions, or Frailties, we do not Stick to Arraign Providence it ſelf, though under Another Name, in all our Exclamations againſt the Rigour, and the Iniquity of Fortune. Now This Fortune in the Fable, is Effectually, God Himſelf, in the Moral. We are apt to Value our ſelves upon our Own Strength and Abilities, and to Entitle Carnal Reaſon to the very Works of Grace: And where any thing goes Wrong with us, we lay our Faults, as we do our Baſtards, at Other Peoples Doors. This or That was not well done, we fay, but alas it was none of our Fault. We did it by Conſtraint, Advice, Importunity, or the Authority perhaps of Great Examples, and the Like. At This rate do we Palliate our Own Weakneſſes and Corruptions, and at the ſame Rate do We likewiſe Aſſume to our ſelves Other Peoples Merits. The Thing to be done, in fine, is to Correct the Arrogance of Claiming to our ſelves the Good that does not belong to us on the One Hand, and of Imputing to our Neighbors the Ill that they are not Guilty of, on the Other. This is the Sum of the Doctrine that's Pointed at in the Caſe and Cuſtom of Dividing our Miſcarriages betwixt Fortune and the Devil.
