LOng and patiently did I wait for this unlucky Crow, wallowing in the sluttish Trough, (whose sides kept him a great while out of the reach of my Gun) and gorging himself with no less greediness, than the very Swinish Proprietaries of the Feast, till at length having guzzl’d and croak’d enough, when by hovering over his beloved Dainties, he had rais’d himself high enough, to prompt me to fire at him, my no less unexpected, than fatal shot, in a moment struck him down, and turning the Scene of his Delight into that of his Pangs, made him abruptly alter his Note, and change his triumphant Chant for a dismal and tragick Noise. This Method is not unusual to Divine Justice towards brawny and incorrigible Sinners, whose Souls no less Black, than this inauspitious Bird’s feathers, do wear already the Livery of the Prince of Darkness, and with Greediness do the works of it, whose Delights are furnish’d (as the Feasts of Crows are by Carrion) by their own filthy lusts, or other people’s faults, and who by the Oaths and Curses wherewith they offend Christian ears whilst they live, and by the ill odour they leave behind them when they are dead, do but too much justifie my resembling them to these hateful Creatures. Such sensual and obdurate Epicures, I say, God ofttimes suffers to run on their long Carier, in paths of their own chusing, without checking them in the fruition of those Joys, which are to be their onely Portion, till at length their iniquity filling up the determinate measure, (Gen. 15. 16) he cuts them off, in the heighth of their Injoyments, and employing oft-times their own sins for their Executioners, or at least Instruments of their Destruction, precipitates them headlong from the Pinacle of their Delights, into the bottomless Pit, which one of their Predecessors (the rich man in the Parable) call’d, as he sadly found it, (Luk. 16. 28) the Place of Torment, where the luscious sweets of sin, are so dearly reckon’d for, and afford so much Bitterness in the latter end, (2 Sam. 2. 26) that their sense sadly convinces them, of (what their sensuality kept them from believing) the folly of gaining any thing at the rate of losing their own Souls. Thus the Israelitish Prince found a Nemesis bold enough to violate the Sanctuary, even of his Mistress’s arms, and (regardless of its charms) enter that lovely Circle, their Kindness clos’d him in,1 to snatch him thence, and extinguish the lustful flames that lighted him thither, with the cold blasts of Death. Thus the mutinous Loathers of Manna, and lusters after flesh, had their wish severely granted, for they had indeed Quails serv’d in by fieldsfull, but attended with so sudden and sharp a Reckoning, (Num. 11. 33) that whilst the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chew’d, Death hindred them to swallow it, choak’d them with it, and devour’d them as greedily, as they did those Birds. Thus the insolent Philistins found themselves ill protected by their vainly celebrated God,2 and his (much stronger) Temple, though in the latter there were thousands of them, without any other Enemy, than one, they had sent for to be a friend to their Mirth. For in the very midst of all the Triumphs of a solemn Festival (which had more properly been kept to Dililah) whil’st they were insulting over captive Samson’s Blindness, they could not see their own approching Destiny, though it were then so near, that the next fit of Laughter had not time to pass to their Mouths, ere an unexpected Vengeance (the provok’d Deity lending an Omnipotent Arm to Samson’s hand) confounded in one Ruine, the Idol with the Worshippers, and suddenly turn’d the whole Temple into an Altar, with which the Priests themselves, fell surprized Sacrifices to that tragical Solemnity. And thus (to hasten from so sad a Theme) the revelling Belshazzar, in the midst of his Magnificent and Royal Feast, saw an intruding hand, which by its manner of appearing, as well as by what it wrote, was able to mar the Supper, without impairing the Dainties. And that Monarch, whom even a Siege could not reduce below a condition of Feasting, though he were carouzing in the consecrated Cups, had such a Brimmer of trembling put into his hand, as both presag’d and perchance began the Destiny approaching him under the Ensigns of the Noble Cyrus, whose Conquering Sword, guided by Providence, and made the Sword of Justice, did that very same night, let out his Wine, and Bloud, and Life together.
Upon the same Subject
‘TIs hard on such an occasion to avoid making some Reflection upon the Mutability of worldly Conditions! How little did this Crow imagine, a quarter of an hour since, that in so short a time, his Body should be as senseless, and as stinking Carrion, as that he was wont to feed it with; that his feathers should wear so unlucky a kind of Mourning for his Destruction, and that I should write his Epitaph with one of his own Quils! Sure since a few minutes can turn the healthiest Bodies into breathless Carkases, and put those very things into the hands of our Enemies, which were they that we principally reli’d on, for our safety, it were little less than Madness, to repose a distrustless Trust in these transitory Possessions, or treacherous Advantages, which we enjoy but by so fickle a Tenure. No; we must never venture to wander far from God, upon the Presumption that Death is far enough from us, but rather in the very height of our Jollities, we should endeavour to remember, that they who feast themselves to-day, may themselves prove Feasts for the Worms tomorrow.
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