[q] Rom. ix. 20, 21.
[r] Neither are they [noxious Creatures] of less Use to amend our Minds, by teaching us Care and Diligence, and more Wit. And so much the more, the worse the Things are we see, and should avoid. Weezels, Kites, and other mischievous Animals, induce us to a Watchfulness: Thistles and Moles to good Husbandry; Lice oblige us to Cleanliness in our Bodies; Spiders in our Houses; and the Moth in our Clothes. The Deformity and Filthiness of Swine, make them the Beauty-Spot of the Animal Creation, and the Emblems of all Vice——The truth is, Things are hurtful to us only by Accident; that is, not of Necessity, but through our own Negligence or Mistake. Houses decay, Corn is blasted, and the Weevel breeds in Mault, soonest towards the South. Be it so, it is then our own Fault, if we use not the Means which Nature and Art have provided against these Inconveniencies. Grew’s Cosmol. c. 2. §. 49, 50.
Non est gemendus, nec gravi urgendus nece,
Virtute quisquis abstulit fatis iter.
Senec. Hercul. Oet. Act. 5. Car. 1833.
Nunquam Stygias fertur ad umbras
Inclyta virtus.
Id. Ibid. Car. 1982.