This Fable runs better in the Humour, then it does in the Moral. It
lays before us the Unprofitable Vanity of False Worship, and gives us
to Understand, that the more zealous we are in a Wrong Way, the Worse.
An Idol is an Abomination in the sight both of God, and of Good Men;
and yet we are so to Govern our Selves, even in the Transports of That
Abhorrence, as still to preserve a Reverence for Religion it self, in
the very Indignation we Express for the Corruption of it. So that the
License of this Buffoon went a little too far perhaps, for there must be
No Playing with Things Sacred, nor Jesting, as we say with Edge Tools.
We have the Moral of this Abandon’d Libertine up and down in the _World_
in a Thousand several Shapes. All People that Worship for Fear, Profit,
or some other By-End, Fall More or Less within the Intendment of this
Emblem. It is a kind of a Conditional Devotion for Men to be Religious no
longer then they can Save, or Get by’t. _Put forth thy Hand now_ (says
the Devil to the Almighty in the Case of _Job_) _and Touch All that he
hath, and he will Curse thee to thy Face_. This Good Man Lost All, and
for an Example of Patience and indignation to Future Ages. _The Lord
gave_ (says he) _and the Lord hath Taken away, Blessed be the Name of the
Lord_. Here was No Dashing of the _Two Tables_ one against the Other, for
an _Office_, or _an Egg at Easter_, as the Fellow serv’d his _Idol_ here.
The Whole Sum of the Moral is in short, Comprized in the Old Saying: _He
that serves God for Mony, will serve the Devil for Better Wages_.