This is to Caution us against running the Risque of Disappointments; that
are greater then the Present Inconveniences; and where the Misery, and
Hazzard, does more then Countervail the Benefit.
In the Fable of _the Horse and the Ass_ (_Num. 38_,) The _Ass_ finds
himself Mistaken in his Opinion, both of the Foundation of Happiness,
and of the Stability of it. His Mistake in This, looks another way; for
he took his Brother to be Happy when he was not so; Even according to
his own Standard: But we are too apt to think other People more Happy,
and our selves Less, then in Truth, They, or We are: Which favours of a
Malevolence on the One hand, and an Ingratitude on the Other. Nay, it
falls out many times, that the Envious Persons are rather to be Envy’d
of the Two. What had the _Wild Ass_ here to Complain of, or the _Tame_
One to be Envy’d for? The Former was but in the Plight that _Wild Asses_
usually are; and in truth ought to be. When they are in the Woods they
are at Home, and a Forrest Life, to them, is but according to Nature.
As to the State and Rudeness of his Body, ’tis but Answerable to the
Condition of his Lot. The _Tame Ass_, ’tis true, was Better Fed, but then
he was Harder Wrought, and in the Carrying of Packs, he did but serve
Mankind in the Trade that Providence has Assign’d him; for he was made
for Burdens. ’Tis a Fine Thing to be Fat and Smooth; but ’tis a Finer
Thing to Live at Liberty and Ease.
To speak Properly, and to Point, there is no such Thing as Happiness or
Misery in this World (commonly so Reputed) but by Comparison; Neither
is there any Man so Miserable, as not to be Happy, or so Happy, as not
to be Miserable, in some Respect or Other: Only we are apt to Envy our
Neighbours the Possession of Those Advantages that we Want, without ever
giving Thanks for the Blessings that They Want, and We our selves Enjoy.
Now This Mixture in the Distributions of Providence, duly Considered,
serves to make us Easy, as well as Necessary One to Another; and so to
Unite us in a Consistence both of Friendship, and of Civil Convenience:
For it is no less Requisite to maintain a Truck in the Matter of
Moral Offices, and Natural Faculties, then in the Common Bus’ness of
Negotiation, and Commerce; and Humane Society can no more Subsist without
the One, then without the Other. One Man furnishes Brains, Another
Money, a Third, Power, Credit, Mediation, Intelligence, Advice, Labour,
Industry: (to say Nothing of a Thousand other Instances Reducible to this
Head) so that the Rule of Communication holds as well betwixt Man and
Man; as betwixt Country and Country; What One has Not, Another Has, and
there is not That Man Living, but in some Case or Other, stands in Need
of his Neighbour. Take away This Correspondence, and the very Frame of
all Political Bodies drops, to pieces. Every thing is Best in fine, As
God has Made it, and where God has Plac’d it. The _Tame Ass_ wrought
hard for his _Fine Coat_, and the _Wild_ one _Far’d Hard_ to Ballance the
Comfort of his _Freedom_.