Page:Fables of Aesop and other eminent mythologists.djvu/157

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Æſop's FABLES.
103


REFLEXION.

There is a Proper Time and Seaſon for Every Thing; and Nothing can be more Ridiculous than the Doing of Things without a Due Regard to the Circumſtances of Perſons, Proportion, Time and Place.




Fab. CX.

A Fiſherman's Good Luck.

A Fiſherman had been a Long while at work without Catching any thing, and ſo in Great Trouble and Deſpair, he refolvd to take up his Tackle, and be gone: But in That very Inſtant a Great Fiſh Leapt into the Boat, and by this Providence he made a Tolerable Day on’t.

The Moral.

Patience, Conſtancy, and Perſeverance, in an Honeſt Cauſe and Duty, can never faile of a Happy End, One way or Other.

REFLEXION.

That which We commonly call Good Fortune, is properly, Providence, and when Matters ſucceed Better with us by Accident, then we could pretend to, by Skill; We ought to Aſcribe it to the Divine Goodneſs, as a Bleſſing upon Induſtry. It is Every man’s Duty to Labour in his Calling, and not to Deſpond, for any Miſcarriages or Diſappointments, that were not in his own Power to Prevent. Faith, Hope, and Patience Overcome All things, and Virtue can never faile of a Reward in the Concluſion. What was it but This Conſtancy and Reſignation, that Kept the Hearts of the Poor Cavaliers from Breaking, in the Tedious Interval of that Bloudy Revolution from Forty to Sixty; ‘till at laſt, the Baniſh’d, and the Perſecuted Son of a Royal Martyr, was in Gods Good time brought back again, and Placed upon the Throne of his Anceſtors, which Crown’d the Sufferings of All his Loyal Subjects, The Fiſherman’s Waiting in his Calling, bids us Perſevere in our Duties, and the Lucky Hit he had in the Concluſion, tells us that Honeſt Endeavors will not faile of a Reward.




Fab. CXI.

Large Promiſes.

RHere was a Poor Sick Man, that according to the Courſe of the World, when Phyſicians had given him over, betook himſelf to his Prayers, and Vow'd a Sacrifice of a ThouſandOxen