< Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists

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Fab. CCCCXXXIII.

Joy and Sorrow are near A-kin.

THere pass'd a great many Bitter VVords once upon a time betwixt Joy and Sorrow; insomuch that they Mov'd the Court upon it by Consent, and made a Chancery Cause on't. Upon a Fair and a Full Hearing, the Judge found some colour of Equity on Both Sides, and would fain have made ’em Friends again. You should confider, says he, how near y’are a-kin, and what a Scandal, 'tis to have these Heats and Squabbles among Relations: But all this went in at One Ear, and out at T'other: So that when he saw there was no to be done, he pass'd this Sentence upon them, that since they would not go Hand in Hand Amicably of Themselves, they should be Link'd together in a Chain; and Each of them in his Turn should be perpetually Treading upon the Heel of the Other; and not a Pin Matter then which went Foremost.

The Moral.

No Man is to Presume in Prosperity, or to Despair in Adversity for Good and Ill Fortune do as naturally succeed one another, as Day and Night.

REFLEXION.

It is the lot of Mankind to be Happy and Miserable by Turns. The Wisdom of Nature will have it fo 5 and it is exceedingly for our Advantage that so it should be. There's nothing Pure under the Heavens, and the Rule holds in the Chances of Life, as well as in the Elements: Beside, that such an Abstracted Simplicity, (if any such thing there were,) would be neither Nourishing to us, nor Profitable. By the Mediation of this Mixture, we have the Comfort of Hope to support us in our Distresses, and the Apprehensions of a Change to keep a Check upon us in the very Huff of our Greatness and Glory: So that by this Vicissitude of Good and Evil, we are kept steady in our Philosophy, and in our Religion. The One Minds us of God’s Ommipotence and Juslice; the Other of his Goodness and Mercy: The One tells us, that there’s No Trusting to our own Strength; the Other Preaches Faith and Resignation in the Prospect of an Over-ruling Providence that takes Care of us. What is it but Sickness that gives us a Taste of Health? Bondage the Rellish of Liberty? And what but the Experience of Want that Enhances the Value of Plenty? That which we call Ease is only an Indolency or a Freedom from Pains and there’s no such thing as Felicity or Misory, but by the Comparison. 'Tis very true that Hopes and Fears are the Snares of Life in fome Respects; but then they are the Relief of it in others. Now for fear of the worst however on either hand, every Man has it in his own Power by the ​Force of Natural Reason, to Master the Temptation of falling either into Presumption or Despair.


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