There’s a Providence attends Innocency and Virtue, the Power of Musique
apart. ’Tis a Rule that goes a Great way in the Government of a Sober
Man’s Life, not to put any thing to Hazard that may be Secur’d by
Industry, Consideration, or Circumspection. And this Caution reaches
to a Thousand Cases in the Ordinary Course of Life. Men should _Look
before they Leap_; Deliberate before they Resolve; Try, Weigh, Examine,
and Bethink themselves well of the Matter before they Execute. We fall
into some Inconveniencies out of Pure Lazyness, and for want of taking
Pains to Enform our selves Better: Into Others, out of Rashness; by doing
Things in a Hurry, and _Hand over Head_ at a Venture. Now there’s no
Excuse for a Blunder upon any of these Topiques, where there was both
Time and Means to prevent it. What are we the better for the Faculty
of Reason, without the Exercise of it? If the Cook would but have been
at the Trouble of Carrying a Candle with him, he would have been in no
Danger of taking a _Swan_ for a _Goose_.