_So many Men, so many Minds_; and this Diversity of Thought must
necessarily be attended with Folly, Vanity, and Error: For Truth is one
and the same for Ever, and the Sentence of Reason stands as Firm as the
Foundation of the Earth. So that no Man can be either Happy or Secure
that Governs himself by the Humour and Opinion of the Common People. ’Tis
a Thing utterly impossible to Please All, And none but a Mad Man will
endeavour to Please those that are Divided among themselves, and can
never Please one another. A Wise, and an Honest Man lives by Rule, and
Consults the Conscience of his Actions, without any Regard to Popular
Applause. Did ever any Mortal yet in his Right Wits, Advise with the
_Mobile_ about the Government of his Life and Manners? (Or which is all
one, with the Common and Professed Enemies of Reason and Virtue,) Did
ever any Creature make a Friend or Confident of them? Why should we be
sollicitious then to be thought well of by those that no Prudent Good
Man ever thought well of? They are all Passion and Fancy, without either
Judgment or Moderation: They neither understand what they do, nor why;
but act with a kind of _Impetus_, that knows neither Consideration nor
Conduct. So that it is in truth a Scandal, and an Ill Sign to Please
them; but a worse yet, for a Man to value himself upon the Reputation of
a Popular Favour. What are their Affections but violent Transports that
are carried on by Ignorance and Rage? What are their Thoughts of Things,
but variety of Incorrigible Error? And what are they themselves in their
own Nature, but a _Herd_ rather then a _Society_? Their Humour is very
Happily set forth in this Fable; and so is the Vanity of the Old Man’s
endeavouring to keep Fair with them; for they are still unsatisfied with
the Present State of Things, and consequently never to be pleased. Now
if a Man had nothing else to do but to Fool away his Days in the pursuit
of Phantomes and Shaddows, and then at last lie down in the Dust like a
Brute, without any Fear or Danger of an after-Reckoning, the Care were
taken; but for a Reasonable Soul to Post-pone the most Necessary Offices
and Duties of Life, and to Hazard the very loss even of Heaven it self,
in favour of a depraved Appetite? What has he to Answer for, that shall
be found Guilty of so Impious a Madness? The very Dog’s not worth the
Hanging that runs out at Check, and lets every Cackling Crow or Daw
divert him from his Game and Business. To Conclude; A due Consideration
of the Vanities of the World will Naturally bring us to the Contempt of
it; and that Contempt of the World will as certainly bring us Home to
our Selves. This was the Case of the Poor Man here, when he had Try’d
this, and that, and t’other Experiment, he threw all his Care and Follies
together with his Ass into the River: And then he was at Rest.