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On him, their second Providence, they hung,
Their law his eye, their oracle his tongue.
He from the wond'ring furrow call'd the food,
Taught to command the fire, controul the flood,

COMMENTARY.

fourth, with respect to HAPPINESS.

But in none of these

relations does the Poet ever lofe fight of him under that in which he ftands to GOD: It will follow, therefore, that fpeaking of him with refpect to Society, the account would be then most imperfect, were he not at the fame time confidered with refpect to his Religion; for between these two, there is a close, and, while things continue in order, a most interesting connection:

"True FAITH, true POLICY united ran;

"That was but love of God, and this of Man."

Now Religion fuffering no change or depravation, when Man first entered into civil Society, but continuing the fame as in the state of Nature; the Author, to avoid repetition, and to bring the account of true and falfe Religion nearer to one another, in order to contraft them by the advantage of that fituation, deferred giving account of his Religion till he had fpoken of the origin of that Society. Thence it is, that he here refumes the account of the ftate of Nature, that is, fo much of it as he had left untouched, which was only the Religion of it. This confifting in 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 caufe, inftructed them to go from caufe to caufe, till they came to the first, who, being caufelefs, would neceffarily be judged felf-exiftent: or elle

NOTES.

VER. 219. He from the wond'ring furrow, &c.] i. e. He fubdued the intractability of all the four elements, and made them fubfervient to the ufe of Man..

Draw forth the monsters of th' abyss profound,
Or fetch the aerial eagle to the ground.
Till drooping, fick'ning, dying, they began
Whom they rever'd as God to mourn as Man:
Then, looking up from fire to fire, explor'd 225
One great firft father, and that first ador'd.

COMMENTARY.

that it was taught by TRADITION, which preferved the memory of the Creation. He then tells us what these men, undebauched by false science, understood by God's nature and attributes: Firft, of God's Nature, that they easily diftinguished between the Worker and the Work; faw the fub. ftance of the Creator to be distinct 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 eafily faw that all was right, and so were

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 inability in diftrefs; by fhewing, that in profperity, they rested in fecond caufes, the immediate authors of their bleffings, whom they revered as God; but that, in adverfity, they reasoned up to the Firft:

"Then looking up from fire to fire," &c.

This, I am afraid, is but too true a reprefentation of human

nature.

VER. 225 to Ver. 240.] M. Du Refnel, not apprehending that the Poet was here returned to finish his defcription of the State of Nature, has fallen into one of the groffest mistakes that ever was committed. He has miftaken this account of true Religion for an account of the

Or plain tradition that this All begun,

Convey'd unbroken faith from fire to fon;
The worker from the work diftinct was known,
And fimple Reafon never fought but one: 230
Ere Wit oblique had broke that steddy light,
Man, like his Maker, faw that all was right;

COMMENTARY,

in as little danger of falling into the Manichean error; which, when oblique Wit had broken the freddy light of Reafon, imagined all was not right, having before imagined that all was not the work of One. Secondly, he fhews, what they understood of God's Attributes; that they easily acknowledged a Father where they found a Deity; and could not conceive a fovereign Being to be any other than a fovereign Good.

NOTES.

origin of Idolatry; and thus he fatally embellishes his own blunder.

"Jaloux d'en conferver les traits et la figure,
"Leur zèle industrieux inventa la peinture.
"Leurs neveux, attentifs à ces hommes fameux,
"Qui par le droit du fang avoient régné fur eux,
"Trouvent-ils dans leur fuite un grand, un premier pere,
"Leur aveugle respect l'adore et le révere."

Here you have one of the fineft pieces of reasoning turned at once into a heap of nonsense. The unlucky term of Great firft Father, was mistaken by our Tranflator to fignify a Great Grand Father But he fhould have confidered, that Mr. Pope always reprefents God under the idea of a FATHER: He fhould have obferved, that the Poet is here defcribing those men who

"To Virtue in the paths of pleasure trod,

"And own'd a Father, where they own'd a God."

VER. 231. Ere Wit oblique, &c.] A beautiful allufion to the effects of the prifmatic glafs on the rays of light.

To Virtue, in the paths of pleasure trod,

And own'd a Father when he own'd a God.
Love all the faith, and all th'allegiance then; 235
For Nature knew no right divine in Men,
No ill could fear in God; and understood
A fov'reign being but a fov'reign good.
True faith, true policy, united ran,

That was but love of God, and this of Man. 240
Who first taught fouls enflav'd, and realms un-

done,

Th' enormous faith of many made for one;
That proud exception to all Nature's laws,
T'invert the world, and counter-work its Cause?

COMMENTARY.

VER. 241. Who first taught souls enflav'd, &c.] Order leadeth the Poet to speak (from Ver. 240 to 245) of the corruption of civil Society into Tyranny, and its caufes; and here, with all the dexterity of addrefs, as well as force of truth, he obferves it arofe from the violation of that great Principle, which he fo much infifts upon throughout his Effay, that each was made for the ufe of all. We may be fure, that in this corruption, where right or natural justice was cast aside, and violence, the Atheist's justice, prefided in its ftead, Religion

NOTES.

VER. 242. Th' enormous faith, &c.] In this Ariftotle placeth the difference between a King and a Tyrant, that the first fuppofeth himself made for the People; the other, that the People are made for him: Βέλεται δ ̓ ὁ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ εἶναι φύλαξ, ὅπως οἱ μὲν κεκλημένοι τὰς ἐσίας μηθὲν ἄδικον πάσχωσιν, ὁ δὲ δήμος μὴ ὑβρίζηται μηθέν ἡ δὲ ΤΥΡΑΝΝΙΣ πρὸς ἐδὲν ἀποβλέπει κοινὸν, εἰ μὴ τῆς ἰδίας ὠφελείας χάριν. Pol, lib. v. сар. 10.

Force first made Conqueft, and that conqueft, law;

Till Superstition taught the Tyrant awe,

COMMENTARY.

246

would follow the fate of civil Society: We know, from ancient hiftory, it did fo. Accordingly Mr. Pope, (from Ver. 244 to 269) together with corrupt Politics, defcribes corrupt Religion and its Caufes: he firft informs us, agreeable to his exact knowledge of Antiquity, that it was the Politician and not the Priest (as the illiterate tribe of Freethinkers would make us believe) who firft 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 account for the origin of Religion) but was a trap he first fell into himself.

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VER. 245. Force first made Conqueft, &c.] All this is agreeable to fact, and fhews our Author's exact knowledge of human nature. For that Impotency of mind (as the Latin Writers call it) which gives birth to the enormous crimes neceffary to fupport a Tyranny, naturally fubjects its owner to all the vain, as well as real, terrors of Confcience: Hence the whole ma chinery of SUPERSTITION.

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 affistance of the Prieft (who for his reward went fharer with him in the Tyranny) against the justly dreaded refentment of his fubjects. For a Tyrant naturally and reafonably fuppofeth all his Slaves to be his Enemies.

Having given the causes of Superftition, he next defcribeth its objects:

"Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust," &c. The antient Pagan Gods are here very exactly described. This fact evinces the truth of that original, which the Poet gives to Superftition; for if these phantafms were first raised in the imagination of Tyrants, they muft needs have the qua

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