Truth in Fiction Or, Morality in Masquerade. A Collection of Two hundred twenty five Select Fables of Aesop, and other Authors. Done into English Verse. By Edmund Arwaker |
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| IX. | FABLE IX. The Mariners:
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 | Truth in Fiction |  |
FABLE IX. The Mariners:
Or, Devotion misdirected.
On the rough Ocean, with a tempest tost,
Some Mariners expected to be lost:
Their Hopes and Spirits equally grown faint,
Each one address'd his own Tutelar Saint;
Begg'd his Compassion, and invok'd his Aid,
And with great Zeal (for in great Danger) pray'd.
But one, more wise, or pious, than his Mates,
Reprov'd their vain Petitions in their Straits:
Alas! said he, you know not what you ask,
While on the Saints you wou'd impose this Task:
E're they to Heav'n can represent your Grief,
We all shall perish, and be past Relief:
Rather, in time, to their Great Ruler pray,
Who can both sooner hear, and help, than they.
Then to Jehovah they their Pray'rs address'd:
Which done, the Billows fell, and Tempest ceas'd.
Some Mariners expected to be lost:
Their Hopes and Spirits equally grown faint,
Each one address'd his own Tutelar Saint;
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And with great Zeal (for in great Danger) pray'd.
But one, more wise, or pious, than his Mates,
Reprov'd their vain Petitions in their Straits:
Alas! said he, you know not what you ask,
While on the Saints you wou'd impose this Task:
E're they to Heav'n can represent your Grief,
We all shall perish, and be past Relief:
Rather, in time, to their Great Ruler pray,
Who can both sooner hear, and help, than they.
Then to Jehovah they their Pray'rs address'd:
Which done, the Billows fell, and Tempest ceas'd.
The MORAL.
‘Why shou'd wise Man to Saints or Angels Pray,‘Who are not to Command, but to Obey?
‘As if the God we serve, was not so near,
‘Or not so ready, and so kind to hear?
‘Those Creatures cannot like Compassion shew,
‘Nor Wonders, as their Great Creator do:
‘He knows our Wants before we vent our Grief,
‘And often helps us e're we ask Relief:
‘And our High-Priest, tho' plac'd above the Skies,
‘Retains a Sense of our Infirmities;
‘It is His Work alone to Intercede,
‘Who can, on our Behalf, His Merits plead.
‘Saints have Defects, which by His Eyes are seen,
‘Those Eyes, in which the Heavens are not clean:
‘And Angels, humbled by their Fellows Pride,
‘With Folly charg'd, their blushing Faces Hide.
‘How then can they on our Account'prevail,
‘Who for themselves, without His Help, wou'd fail?
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‘At the same Instant, Myriads of Pray'rs,
‘Do's an Omniscience to them impute,
‘And robs Jehovah of that Attribute.
‘To think they can at once be ev'ry-where,
‘(Or else they cannot all Addresses hear)
‘Do's Omnipresence give to finite Things,
‘Which only suits the Boundless King of kings.
‘To think they can all our Petitions grant,
‘Supply, at once, Ten thousand sorts of Want;
‘Is to ascribe to them Omnipotence,
‘Tho' insufficient for their own Defence;
‘And do's th' Almighty of His Right deprive,
‘Who to no other will His Glory give.
‘They who created Beings thus adore,
‘And, in their Maker's Stead, his Works implore;
‘The Guilt of gross Idolatry contract,
‘Profaning him they worship, in the Act.
‘Angels, indeed, our due Regard shou'd have,
‘Because they serve us, tho' they cannot save:
‘And to the Saints just Honour shou'd be paid,
‘Whose holy Lives are our Examples made:
‘Who Worships either, or to either Prays,
‘To Them too much, to Heav'n too little, pays.
‘Let us their GOD, and ours, alone Adore;
‘His Pow'r is greater, and His Goodness more.
| Truth in Fiction | |