That which _Jupiter_ does in the _Fable_, _Nature_ does in the _Life_. We
are here admonish’d of a Double Fault; want of Charity and Justice toward
others, and want of a Christian Scrutiny and Examination into our Selves:
So that here’s the Sin of Detraction in making other People worse then
they are, and the Sin of Pride and Hypocrisie, in Boasting our Selves to
be better. It were well if we could Place our _Transgressions_ out of the
Ken, as well of our _Consciences_ as of our _Eyes_: But these are only
Amusements to put off the Evil Day a little longer, that will certainly
overtake us at last. The _Mythologist_ does well enough however; in
Assigning that to _Jupiter_, which we our selves are but too prone to
do, upon a Propension of _Nature_; that is to say, of Nature corrupted;
for there is both a Sin and a Frailty in’t, to be over Censorious of our
Neighbours, and as Partial to our selves.
_Out of Sight, Out of Mind_, they say; and at this rate one Fault is made
use of to excuse another. We do not _Repent_, because we do not _Think_
on’t; and so the Neglect is made an Excuse for the Impenitence. We live
like Spendthrifts, that know themselves to be desperately in Debt, and
dare not look into their Accounts to see how the Reckoning stands. Nay
’tis the Case of too many of us, that we keep no Books neither; or at the
Best, do not know where to find them. Self-Love is still attended with
a Contempt of others, and a Common Mistake of Matters at Home as well
as Abroad; For we keep Registers of our Neighbours Faults, and none of
their Good Deeds; and no Memorials all this while, of what we do amiss
our Selves. But [_I am not as this Publican_] is the very Top of our
Righteousness.
Thus goes the World, and a lewd Practice it is, for one Man to value
himself upon the Wickedness of another: But the Worst of all is yet
behind; that is to say, to think our selves safe, so long as we keep our
Iniquities from the Knowledge of Men, and out of our own View and Memory,
without any Awe of that Justice that never Sleeps, and of that All-seeing
Eye and Wisdom that Observes all our Mis-doings, and has them perpetually
in his Sight.