Then, looking up from fire to fire, explor'd 225 The worker from the work diftinct was known, COMMENTARY. 230 the knowledge of one God, the creator of all things, he fhews how Men came by that knowledge: That it was either found out by Reason, which giving to every effect a cause, instructed them to go from cause to caufe, till they came to the first, who being causeless, would neceffarily be judged felf-existent: or else taught by Tradition, which preserved the memory of the Creation. He then tells us what thefe men, undebauched by falfe science, understood by God's Nature and Attributes: First, of God's Nature, that they eafily diftinguished between the Worker and the Work, faw the fubftance of the Creator to be diftinct and different from that of the creature, and fo were in no danger of falling into the horrid opinion of the Greek philofophers, and their follower, Spinoza. And fimple Reafon teaching them that the Creator was but One, they easily faw that all was right, and were in as little danger of falling into the Manichean error; which, when oblique Wit had broken the fteddy light of Reason, imagined all was not right, having before imagined all was not the work of One. Secondly, he fhews what they understood of God's Attributes; that they eafily conceived a Father where they NOTES. VER. 225. Then, looking up, &c.] The poet here maketh their more serious attention to Religion to have arifen, not from their gratitude amidst abundance, but from their helplefsnefs in diftrefs; by fhew ing that, during the former ftate, they rested in second caufes, the immediate authors of their bleffings, whom they revered as God; but that, in the other, they reasoned up to the First: Then looking up from fire to fire, &c. E'er Wit oblique had broke that steddy light, And own'd a Father when he own'd a God. A fov'reign being but a fov'reign good. That was but love of God, and this of Man. 240 done, Th'enormous faith of many made for one; COMMENTARY. had found a Deity; and that a fovereign being could only be a fovereign Good. VER. 241. Who first taught fouls enflav'd, &c.] Order leadeth the poet to speak next (from 240 to 246) of the corruption of civil Society into Tyranny, and its Causes; and here, with all the art of addrefs as well as truth, he observes it arose from the violation of that great Principle, which he fo much infifts upon throughout his Essay, that each was made for the use NOTES. This, I am afraid, is but too true a representation of human nature. VER. 231. E'er Wit oblique &c.] A beautiful allufion to the effects of the prismatic glass on the rays of light. VER. 242. Th'enormous faith &c.] In this Aristotle placeth the difference between Force first made Conqueft, and that conquest, Law; 'Till Superftition taught the tyrant awe, COMMENTARY. 246 of all. We may be fure, that, in this corruption, where natural juftice was thrown afide, and force, the Atheist's justice, prefided in its ftead, Religion would follow the fate of civil Society: We know, from ancient hiftory, it did fo. Accordingly Mr. Pope (from 245 to 269) with corrupt Politics defcribes corrupt Religion and its Causes: he firft informs us, agreeable to his. exact knowledge of Antiquity, that it was the Politician and not the Prieft (as our illiterate tribe of Free-thinkers would make us believe) who first corrupted Religion. Secondly, That the Superftition he brought in was not invented by him, as an engine to play upon others (as the dreaming Atheist feigns, who would thus miferably account for the origin of Religion) but was a trap he first fell into himself. NOTES. a King and a Tyrant, that the first supposeth himself made for the People; the other, that the People are made for him: Βάλεται δ ̓ ὁ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ εἶναι φύλαξ, ὅπως οἱ μὲν κεκλημένοι τας εσίας μηθὲν ἄδικον πάσχωσιν, ὁ δὲ δῆμος μὴ ὑβρίζηται μηθέν· ἡ δὲ ΤΥΡΑΝ ΝΙΣ πρὸς ἐδὲν ἀποβλέπει κοινὸν, εἰ μὴ This idias wpcreías xágv. Pol. lib. v. cap. 10. its owner to all the vain, as well as real, terrors of conscience: Hence the whole machinery of Superftition. It is true, the poet obferves, that afterwards, when the Tyrant's fright was over, he had cunning enough, from the experience of the effect of Superftition upon himself, to turn it by the affiftance of the Priest (who for his reward went Tharer with him in the Tyranny) as his best defence against his Subjects. For a Tyrant naturally and reasonably deemeth all his Slaves to be his enemies. Having given the Causes of crimes neceffary to fupport a Superftition, he next defcribes Tyranny, naturally fubjecteth its objects: VER. 245. Force first made Conqueft, &. All this is agreeable to fact, and sheweth our Author's exact knowledge of human nature. For that Impotency of mind (as the Latin writers call it) which giveth birth to the enormous Gods partial, changeful, paffionate, unju?, &c. Then fhar'd the Tyranny, then lent it aid, found, When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd the ground, 250 254 She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray, NOTES. The ancient Pagan Gods are himself. But there was another, and more fubftantial caufe, of the refemblance between a Tyrant and a Pagan god; and that was the making Gods of Conquerors, as the poet fays, and fo canonizing a tyrant's vices with his perfon. That thefe gods should suit a people humbled to the stroke of a mafter, will be no wonder, if we recollect a generous faying of the ancients; That day which fees a Man a flave, takes away half his Virtue. Such as the fouls of cowards might conceive, And, form'd like tyrants, tyrants would believe. Zeal then, not charity, became the guide; 261 And hell was built on fpite, and heav'n on pride. Then facred feem'd th'etherial vault no more; Altars grew marble then, and reek'd with gore: Then firft the Flamen tafted living food; 265 Next his grim idol fmear'd with human blood; With Heav'n's own thunders fhook the world below, And play'd the God an engine on his foe. So drives Self-love, thro' just and thro' unjust, To one Man's pow'r, ambition, lucre, luft: COMMENTARY. 270 VER. 269. So drives Self-love, &c.] The inference our author draws from all this (from ✯ 268 to 283) is, that Self-love driveth through right and wrong; it caufeth the Tyrant to violate the rights of mankind; and it caufeth the People to vindicate that violation. For Self-love being common to the whole fpecies, and setting each individual in pursuit of the same objects, it became neceffary for each, if he would fecure his own, to provide for the fafety of another's. And thus Equity and Benevolence arose from that fame Self-love which had given birth to Avarice and Injustice: His Safety must his Liberty reftrain; NOTES. VER. 262.- and heav'n on pride.] This might be very well faid of thofe times, when no one was content to go to heaven without being received there on the footing of a God. |