A _Satyr_ and _Fire_.
The Poets tell us, that _Prometheus_ stole some of _Jupiter_’s _Fire_,
and brought it down to us from Heaven, and that was our Original of it.
A _Satyr_ was so Transported with the Glory and the Splendor of this
Spirit, that down on his knees he falls, and would needs Kiss and Embrace
it. Have a care of your Beard, says _Prometheus_; nay, and of your Chin
too; for ’twill both Singe and Burn ye. And why, says the _Satyr_,
would you bring down so Glorious a Temptation then to Plague the World
withal? Why, says _Prometheus_, there were no Living without it; only
the Mischief lies in the Abuse. It Burns, ’tis true, but then consider
the Heat and the Light that comes along with it, and you shall find it
serves us to all manner of Profitable, Delightful and Necessary Purposes,
provided only that we make a Right Use on’t.
The MORAL.
_There’s not One Grain in the whole Composition of the Universe, either
too Much, or too Little; Nothing to be Added, Nothing to be Spar’d; nor
so much as any One Particle of it that Mankind may not be either the
Better or the Worse for, according as ’tis Apply’d. The most Sovereign
Antidotes have Poison in them; the most necessary Means of Life may be
Corrupted or Perverted, and render’d the most Destructive to us; As an
Infected Air, for the Purpose, a Raging Sea, or a Consuming Fire: But let
this Air continue as God made it; the Waters be kept within their Bounds,
and the Fire from breaking out into Conflagrations, and there’s no Living
without them under this Regulation._