Fab. LXII.
A Father and his Sons.
IT was the Hap of a very Honeſt Man to be the Father of a Contentious Brood of Children. He call'd for a Rod, and bad ‘em Take it, and Try One after Another with All their Force, if they could Break it. They Try'd, and could not. Well (ſays he) Unbind it now, and take Every Twig of it apart, and ſee what you can do That Way. They Did ſo, and with Great Eaſe, by One and One, they ſnapt it all to pieces. This (ſays he) is the, True Emblem of Your Condition. Keep Together and Y'are Safe, Divide, and Y'are Undone.
The Moral.
REFLEXION.
This is to Intimate the Force of Union, and the Danger of Diviſion. What has it been but Diviſion that has Expos’d Chriſtendom to the Enemies of the Chriſtian Faith? And it is as Ruinous in Private as 'tis in Publique. A Divided Family can no more Stand, than a Divided Common Wealth; for every Individual Suffers in the Neglect of a Common Safety. 'Tis a Strange Thing that Men ſhould not do That under the Government of a Rational Spirit and a Natural Prudence, which Wolves and Boares do by the Impulſe of an Animal Inſtinct. For they, we ſee, will make Head, One and All againſt a Common Enemy; whereas the Generality of Mankind lye Pecking at One Another, till One by One, they are all Torn to Pieces, Never conſidering (with the Father here) the Neceſſity and Strength of Union.
Fab. LXIII.
A Laden Aſſe and a Horſe.
AS a Horſe and an Aſſe were upon the Way together, the Aſſe cryed out to his Companion, to Eaſe him, of his Burden, though never ſo little, he ſhould fall down Dead elſe. The Horſe would not; and ſo his Fellow-Servant ſunk under his Load. The Maſter, upon This, had the Aſſe Flay’d, and laidhis
