It is no more in the Power of Calumny and Envy to Blast the Dignity of a
Wise and of an Honest Man, then it was in the Power of the _Blear-Ey’d
Owl_ here, to cast a Scandal upon the Glory and Greatness of the
_Sun_. The Principles of Good and Evil are as Firm, as the Foundations
of the Earth, and never had any Man Living the Face yet to make an
Open Profession of Wickedness in its own Name. Not but that Men of
Vicious Lives and Conversations, have found out ways of Imposing their
Corruptions and Infirmities upon the World for Virtues, under false
Semblances and Colours. But there’s no Man all this while, that sets up
for a Knave or a Coxcomb in Direct Terms. Now the Mystery of the Cheat
lies in the Artificial Disguising of One thing for Another, and in making
Evil pass for Good, and Good for Evil: As every Virtue has its Bordering
Vice, and every Vice its Bordering Virtue. So that the Pretence is fair
still, let the Practice be never so Foul, and Men will be trying to bring
down the Rule to the Error, where they cannot Reconcile the Error to the
Rule. When People have once Inverted the Measures of Moral Equity, and
Natural Reason, and brought the Question of Right or Wrong, so far as
in them lies, to a False Standard, there follows in course, an Envious
Malevolence upon the Opposition. As for Example; A Fool Naturally Hates a
Philosopher: A Debauchee does as Naturally Hate a Man of good Government
and Moderation. A Man of Conscience and Religion is as much an Eye-Sore
to a Profligate Atheist: And a Mercenary _Knight of the Post_ has just
as much Kindness for a Man of Probity and Virtue. To Conclude the Moral,
There are of these _Owls_ in Palaces and Assemblies, as well as in Barns
and Groves; but a Man of Honour and Integrity Shines on, like the Sun in
the Firmament, Unconcern’d, and continues his Course.