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To him no high, no low, no great, no small;
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. 280
X. Ceafe then, nor ORDER Imperfection name:
Our proper blifs depends on what we blame.
Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree
Of blindness, weakness, Heav'n beftows on thee.

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 282. in the MS.

Reason, to think of God when she pretends,
Begins a Cenfor, an Adorer ends.

NOTES.

VER. 281. Ceafe then, nor Order] That the reader may fee in one view the exactness of the Method, as well as Force of the Argument, I fhall here draw up a short fynopfis of this Epiftle. The poet begins by telling us his fubject is an Effay on Man: That his end of writing is to vindicate Providence: That he intends to derive his arguments from the visible things of God feen in this fyftem: Lays down this Propofition, That of all poffible fyftems infinite Wisdom has formed the bef: draws from thence two Confequences, 1. That there muft needs be fomewhere fuch a creature as Man; 2. That the moral Evil which he is author of, is productive of the Good of the Whole. This is his general Thefis; from whence he forms this conclufion, That Man fhould reft fubmissive and content, and make the hopes of futurity his comfort; but not fuffer this to be the occafion of PRIDE, which is the caufe of all his impious Complaints.

He proceeds to confirm his Thefis-Previously endeavours to abate our wonder at the phænomenon of moraľ

I

Submit.In this, or any other sphere,

Secure to be as bleft as thou canst bear:
Safe in the hand of one difpofing Pow'r,
Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.

All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee;

285

All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not fee; 290 All Discord, Harmony not understood;

All partial Evil, univerfal Good:

NOTES.

Evil; fhews, first, its Ufe to the perfection of the Universe, by Analogy, from the ufe of phyfical Evil in this particular fyftem-Secondly, its ufe in this fyftem, where it is turned, providentially, from its natural bias to promote Virtue. Then goes on to vindicate Providence from the imputation of certain fuppofed natural Evils; as he had before juftified it for the permiffion of real moral Evil, in fhewing that, though the atheist's complaint against Providence be on pretence of real moral Evil, yet the true caufe is his impatience under imaginary natural Evil; the iffue of a depraved appetite for fantastical advantages, which, if obtained, would be useless or hurtful to Man, and deforming and deftructive to the Universe, as breaking into that Order by which it is fupported.-He describes that Order, Harmony, and clofe connexion of the Parts; and by fhewing the intimate prefence of God to his whole creation, gives a reafon for an Universe so amazingly beautiful and perfect. From all this he deduces his general Conclufion, That Nature being neither a blind chain of Caufes and Effects, nor yet the fortuitous refult of wandering atoms, but the wonderful Art and Direction of an all-wife, all-good, and free Being; WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT, with regard to the Dif pofition of God, and its Ultimate Tendency; which once granted, all complaints againft Providence are at an end.

And, fpite of Pride, in erring Reason's spite,

One truth is clear, WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT.

NOTES.

VER. 294. One truth is clear, whatever is, is right,] What are we to understand by these words? Did the poet mean right with regard to Man, or right with regard to God; right with regard to itself, or right with regard to its ultimate tendency? Surely wITH REGARD TO GOD; for he tells us his defign is to vindicate the ways of God to Man. Surely, with regard to its ULTIMATE TENDENCY; for he tells us again, all partial illis univerfal good, ver. 291.

EPISTLE II.

I. KNOW then thyfelf, prefume not God to scan,
The proper ftudy of Mankind is Man.

Plac'd on this ifthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wife, and rudely great:

VER. 2. Ed. Ift.

VARIATIONS.

The only science of Mankind is Man.

NOTES.

VER. 2. The propen study, &c.] The poet having fhewn, in the first epiftle, that the ways of God are too high for our comprehenfion, rightly draws this conclufion, and methodically makes it the fubject of his Introduction to the fecond, which treats of the Nature of Man.

VER. 3. Plac'd on this ifthmus, &c.] As the poet hath given us this description of Man for the very contrary purpofe to which Sceptics are wont to employ fuch kind of paintings, namely, not to deter men from the fearch, but to excite them to the difcovery of truth; he hath, with great judgment, reprefented Man as doubting and wavering between the right and wrong object; from which state there are great hopes he may be relieved by a careful and circumfpect use of Reason. On the contrary, had he fuppofed Man fo blind, as to be bufied in chufing, or doubtful in his choice, between two objects equally wrong, the cafe had appeared defperate, and all fudy of Man had been effectually discouraged.

With too much knowledge for the Sceptic fide, 5
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or reft;
In doubt to deem himfelf a God, or Beaft;
In doubt his Mind or Body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason fuch,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much;

NOTES.

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VER. 10. Born but to die, &c.] The author's meaning is, that, as we are born to die, and yet to enjoy some small portion of life; fo, though we reafon to err, yet we comprehend fome few truths. This is the weak state of Reafon, in which Error mixes itself with all its true conclufions concerning Man's Nature.

VER. 11. Alike in ignorance, &c.] i. e. The proper fphere of his Reason is fo narrow, and the exercise of it fo nice, that the too immoderate ufe of it is attended with the fame ignorance that proceeds from the not using it at all. Yet, tho' in both these cafes, he is abused by himself, he has it still in his own power to disabuse himself, in making his paffions fubfervient to the means, and regulating his Reason by the end of Life.

VER. 12. Whether he thinks too little, or too much.] This is so true, that ignorance arifes as well from pushing our enquiries too far, as from not carrying them far enough, that we may obferve, when Speculations, even in Science, are carried beyond a certain point; that point, where use is reasonably fuppofed to end, and mere curiofity to begin; they conclude in the most extravagant and fenfelefs inferences; fuch as the unreality of matter; the reality of fpace; the fervility of the will, &c. The reafon of this fudden fall out of full light into utter darkness appears not to refult from the natural condition of things, but to

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