Tales of instruction: in verse and prose/The Wisdom of Providence

by Christian Fürchtegott Gellert

The WISDOM OF PROVIDENCE:

An Apologue.

Ceaſe then, nor Order Imperfection name:
Our proper Bliſs depends on what we blame.

DURING the violence of a ſtorm, a traveller implored relief from Jupiter, and intreated him to aſſuage the tempeſt. But Jupiter lent a deaf ear to his intreaty. Struggling with the unabating fury of the whirlwind, tired, and far from ſhelter, he grew peeviſh and diſcontented. "Is it thus (he ſaid) the gods, to whom our ſacrifices are offered daily, heedleſs of our welfare, & amuſed with our ſufferings, make an oſtentatious parade of their omnipotence?" At length, approaching the verge of a foreſt, "here (he cried) I ſhall find that ſuccour and protection which Heaven, either ⟨unable⟩ or unwilling to aid me, hath refuſed." But as he advanced, a robber roſe ſuddenly from a brake, and our traveller, impelled by inſtant terror, and the proſpect of great danger, betook himſelf to flight, expoſing himſelf to the tempeſt of which he had ſo bitterly complained. His enemy, mean while fitting an arrow to his bow, took exact aim, but, the bow-ſtring being relaxed with the moiſture, the deadly weapon fell ſhort of its mark, and the traveller eſcaped uninjured. As he continued his journey, a voice iſſued awful from the clouds: "Meditate on the providence as well as on the power of Heaven: the ſtorm which you deprecated ſo blaſphemouſly hath been the means of your preſervation. Had not the bowſtring of your enemy been rendered uſeleſs by the rain, you had fallen a prey to his violence."

 

FINIS.

 

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Printed by G Miller, Dunbar.