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And, if each fyftem in gradation roll
Alike effential to th' amazing Whole,
The leaft confufion but in one, not all
That fyftem only, but the whole muft fall.
Let earth, unbalane'd from her orbit fly,
Planets and Suns run lawless through the sky;
Let ruling Angels from their fpheres be hurl'd,
Being on Being wreck'd, and world on world,
Heav'n's whole foundations to the centre nod,
And Nature tremble to the throne of God.
All this dread ORDER break-for whom? for thee?
Vile worm!-Oh Madness! Pride! Impiety!
What if the foot, ordain'd the duft to tread,
"Or hand,, to toil, afpir'd to be the head?
What if the head, the eye, or ear, repin'd
To ferve mere engines to the ruling Mind?
Juft as abfurd for any part to claim
To be another, in this gen'ral frame:
Juft as abfurd to mourn the tasks or pains,
The great directing MIND of ALL ordains.

All are but parts of one ftupendous whole,
Whofe body Nature is, and God the Soul:
That chang'd through all, and yet in all the fame,
Great in the earth, as in th' ethereal frame,
Warms in the fun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the ftars, and bloffoms in the trees,
Lives thro' all life, extends thro' all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unfpent;
Breathes in our foul, informs our mortal part,
As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart;
As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns,
As the rapteraph that adores and burns:
To him no high, no low, no great, no small;
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all.

Ceafe

Ceafe then, nor ORDER Imperfection name:
Our proper bliss depends on what we blame.
Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree
Of blindness, weakness, Heav'n beftows on thee.
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;
All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not fee;
All Difcord, Harmony not understood;

All partial Evil, univerfal Good:

And, spite of Fride, in erring Reason's spite,
One truth is clear, WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT.

CHAP. XIV.

THE ORIGIN OF

POPE.

SUPERSTITION AND TYRANNY.

WHO firft taught fouls enflav'd and realms undone,

Th' enormous faith of many made for one;
That proud exception to all Nature's laws,

T' invert the world, and counterwork its Cause?
Force firft made conqueft, and that conqueft, law;
'Till Superstition taught the tyrant awe.
Then shar'd the tyranny, then lent it aid,

And Gods of conqu'rors, flaves of fubjects made:
She 'midft the lightning's blaze, and thunder's found,
When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd the ground,
She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray,
To pow'r unfeen, and mightier far than they :
She, from the rending earth and bursting skies,
Saw Gods defcend, and fiends infernal rise :
Here fix'd the dreadful, there the bleft abodes;
Fear made her Devils, and weak Hope her Gods;

F

Gods

Gods partial, changeful, paffionate, unjust,
Whofe attributes were Rage, Revenge, or Luft;
Such as the fouls of cowards might conceive,
And, form'd like tyrants, tyrants would believe.
Zeal, then, not Charity, became the guide;
And Hell was built on fpite, and Heav'n on pride.
Then facred feem'd th' ethereal vault no more;
Altars grew marble then, and reek'd with
Then firft the flamen tafted living food;
Next his grim idol smear'd with human blood;
With Heav'n's own thunders fhook the world below,
And play'd the God an engine on his foe.

gore:

So drives felf-love, through juft and through unjust,
To one Man's pow'r, ambition, lucre, luft:
The fame felf-love, in all, becomes the caufe
Of what reftrains him, Government and Laws;
For, what one likes, if others like as well,
What ferves one will, when many wills rebel?
How fhall he keep, what fleeping or awake,
A weaker may fui prife, a ftronger take?
His fafety muft his liberty reftrain:

All join to guard what each defires to gain.
Forc'd into virtue thus by felf-defence,
Ev'n kings learn'd justice and benevolence:
Self-love forfook the path it first purfu'ḍ,
And found th private in the public good.
'Twas then the flucious head or gen'rous mind,
Follow'r of God, or friend of humankind,
Poet or patriot, rose but to restore

The faith and moral, Nature gave before;
Relum'd her ancient light, not kindled new ;
If not God's image, yet his fhadow drew;
Taught pow'r's due ufe to people and to kings,
Taught nor to flack, nor ftrain its tender ftrings,

The

The lefs or greater, set so justly true,

That touching one muft ftrike the other too;
'Till jarring interefts of themselves create
Th' according mufic of a well-mix'd state.
Such is the world's great harmony, that springs
From order, union, full confent of things:

Where small and great, where weak and mighty, made
To ferve, not fufter, ftrengthen, not invade;.
More pow'rful each as needful to the rest,
And, in proportion as it blesses, blest;
Draw to one point, and to one centre bring
Beaft, Man, or Angel, Servant, Lord, or King.
For Forms of Government let fools conteft;
Whate'er is beft adminifter'd is best:
For Modes of Faith let graceless zealots fight,
His can't be wrong whofe life is in the right;
In Faith and Hope the world will disagree,
But all Mankind's concern is Charity:

All must be falfe that thwart this one great End:
And all of God that blefs Mankind or mend.

Man, like the gen'rous vine, fupported lives;
The ftrength he gains is from the embrace he gives.
On their own axis as the planets run,

Yet make at once their circle round the Sun;
So two confiftent motions act the Soul;

And one regards itself, and one the Whole.

Thus God and Nature link'd the gen❜ral frame, And badé Self-love and Social be the fame.

CHAP. XV.

ON HAPPINESS.

OH HAPPINESS! our being's end and aim !

POPE.

Good, Pleasure, Eafe, Content! whate'er thy name :
That fomething ftill which prompts th' eternal figh,
For which we bear to live, or dare to die.;
F 2

Which

?

Which still so near us, yet beyond us lies,
O'erlook'd, feen double, by the fool, and wife.
Plant of celestial feed! if dropp'd below,
Say, in what mortal foil thou deign'ft to grow
Fair op'ning to fome Court's propitious shine,
Or deep with diamonds in the flaming mine?
Twin'd with the wreaths Parnaffian laurels yield,
Or reap'd in iron harvests of the field?
Where grows

where grows it not? If vain our toil, We ought to blame the culture, not the foil; Fix'd to no fpot is happiness fincere,

'Tis no where to be found, or ev'ry where; 'Tis never to be bought, but always free,

And, fled from monarchs, Sr. JoHN! dwells with thee.
Afk of the Learn'd the way? The Learn'd are blind:
This bids to ferve, and that to fhun mankind:

Some place the blifs in action, some in eafe,
Thofe call it Pleafure, and Contentment thefe;
Some, funk to beafts, find pleasure end in pain,,
Some, fwell'd to Gods, confefs ev'n Virtue vain :
Or indolent, to each extreme they fall,
To trust in every thing, or doubt of all..

Who thus define it, fay they more or lefs
Than this, that Happiness is Happiness ?
Take Nature's path, and mad Opinion's leave,
All flates can reach it, and all heads conceive;
Obvious her goods, in no extreme they dwell;
There needs but thinking right, and meaning well;
And mourn our various portions as we please,
Equal is common fenfe, and common ease.

Remember, Man, "the Univerfal Caufe
"Acts not by partial but by gen'ral laws;”`
And makes what Happiness we justly call
Subfift not in the good of one, but all.

7

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