298 



FABLES. 



APPLICATION. 



WE are liable to many misfortunes that no care 

 or foresight can prevent; but we ought to provide 

 in the best way we can against them, and leave 

 the rest 1 to Providence. The wisest of men have 

 their foibles or blind sides, and have their enemies 

 too, who watch to take advantage of their weak- 

 nesses. It behoves us therefore to look to ourselves 

 on the blind side, as the part that lies most 

 exposed to an attack. Vigilance and caution are 

 commonly our best preservatives from evil, and 

 security is often a fatal enemy, when we cherish 

 it so as to lull all our apprehensions to rest. We 

 should not however encourage in ourselves the 

 slavish principle of fear, nor make ourselves miser- 

 able on account of latent evils, which it is 'not 

 in our power to prevent. The ways and working's 

 of Providence are inscrutable: and it is not in 

 the power of human prudence to obviate all the 

 accidents of life. 



