335 Yet poor with fortune, and with learning blind, COMMENTARY. VER. 329. Yet poor with fortune, &c.] The Poet then obferveth, with fome indignation (from Ver. 328 to 341.) that as eafy and as evident as this truth was, yet Riches and falfe Philofophy had fo blinded the difcernment even of improved minds, that the poffeffors of the firft, placed happiness in externals, unfuitable to Man's nature; and the followers of the latter, in refined vifions, unfuitable to his fituation: while the fimple-minded man, with NATURE only for his guide, found plainly in what it fhould be placed. VER. 341. For him alone, Hope leads from goal to goal.] But this is not all; the Author fhews further (from Ver. 340 to 353-) that when the fimple-minded man, on his firft setting NOTES. VER. 341. For him alone, Hope leads from goal to goal, &c.] PLATO, in his first book of a Republic, hath a remarkable paffage to this purpose. "He whofe confcience does not VOL. III. 'Till lengthen'd on to FAITH, and unconfin'd, It pours the blifs that fills up all the mind. He fees, why Nature plants in Man alone 345 Hope of known blifs, and Faith in blifs unknown: COMMENTARY. out in the pursuit of Truth in order to Happiness, hath had the wisdom "To look thro' Nature up to Nature's God," (inftead of adhering to any fect or party, where there was fo great odds of his chufing wrong) that then the benefit of gaining the knowledge of God's will written in the mind, is not confined there; for ftanding on this fure foundation, he is now no longer in danger of chufing wrong, amidst fuch diverfities of Religions; but by pursuing this grand scheme of univerfal benevolence, in practice as well as theory, he arrives at length to the knowledge of the revealed will of God, which is the confummation of the fyftem of benevolence: 66 "For him alone, Hope leads from goal to goal, NOTES. reproach him, has chearful Hope, for his companion, and the fupport and comfort of his old age, according to Pindar. "For this great Poet, O Socrates, very elegantly fays, That "he who leads a just and holy life has always amiable Hope "for his companion, which fills his heart with joy, and is "the fupport and comfort of his old age. Hope, the most powerful of the Divinities, in governing the ever-changing "and inconftant temper of mortal men." Τῷ δὲ μηδὲν ἑαυτῷ ἄδικον ξυνειδότι ἡδεῖα ἐλπὶς ἀεὶ πάρεσι, καὶ ἀγαθὴ γηροτρόφος, ὡς καὶ Πίνδαρος λέγει. Χαριέντως γάρ τα, ὦ Σώκρατες, τότ ἐκεῖνος εἶπεν, ὅτι ὃς ἂν δικαίως καὶ ὁσίως τὸν βίον διαγάγη, γλυκεῖα οἱ καρδίαν ατάλλεσα γηροτρόφος συναορεῖ ἐλπὶς, ἃ μάλιςα θνατῶν πολύτροφον γνώμαν κυβερνά. In the fame manner Euripides fpeaks in his Hercules furens, R Οὗτος δ' ἀνὴρ ἄριςος ὅσις ἐλπίσιν w 'Ver. 105. (Nature, whofe dictates to no other kind Are giv'n in vain, but what they feek they find) His greatest Virtue with his greatest Blifs; 350 Self-love thus pufh'd to focial, to divine, Gives thee to make thy neighbour's bleffing thine. COMMENTARY. VER. 353. Self-love thus pufh'd to focial, &c.] The Poet, in the laft place, marks out (from Ver. 352 to 373.) the progres of his good man's benevolence, pushed through natural religion to revealed, till it arrives to that height which the facred writers defcribe as the very fummit of Chriftian perfection; and fhews how the progrefs of human differs from the progrefs of divine benevolence. That the divine defcends from u hole to parts; but that the human must rise from individual to univerfal. His argument for this extended benevolence is, that, as God has made a Whole, whofe parts have a perfect relation to, and an entire dependency on each other, man, by extending his benevolence throughout that Whole, acts in conformity to the will of his Creator; and therefore this enlargement of his affection becomes a duty. But the Poet hath not only hewn his piety in this obfervation, but the utmost art and addrefs likewife in the difpofition of it. The Essay on Man opens with expofing the murmurings and impious conclufions of foolith men against the prefent constitution of things as it proceeds, it occafionally detects all thofe falfe principles and opinions, which led them to conclude thus perverfely. Having now done all that was neceffary in ipecula NOTES. "He is the good man in whofe breaft Hope frings eternally: But to be without Hope in the world, is the portion of the wicked." Is this too little for the boundless heart? Extend it, let thy enemies have part: 355 Grafp the whole worlds of Reason, Life, and Senfe, In one close system of Benevolence: Happier as kinder, in whate'er degree, And height of Bliss but height of Charity. 360 COMMENTARY. tion, the Author turns to practice; and ends his Essay with the recommendation of an acknowledged virtue, CHARITY; which, if exercised in the extent that conformity to the will of God requireth, would effectually prevent all complaints against the present order of things: fuch complaints being made with a total difregard to every thing but their own private fyftem, and feeking remedy in the diforder, and at the expence of all the reft. This obfervation, "Self-love but ferves the virtuous mind to wake," is important: Rochefoucault, Efprit, and their wordy disciple Mandeville, had obferved that Self-love was the origin of all thofe virtues which mankind most admire; and therefore foolishly fuppofed it was the end likewife: and fo taught that the highest pretences to disinterestedness were only the more artful disguises of Self love. But our Author, who says somewhere or other, "Of human Nature, Wit its worst may write, MS. faw, as well as they, and every body elfe, that the Paffions began in Self-love; yet he understood human nature better than to imagine that they ended there. He knew that Reason and Religion could convert Selfishness into its very opposite; and therefore teacheth that "Self-love but ferves the virtuous mind to wake:" and thus hath vindicated the dignity of human Nature, and the philofophic truth of the Chriftian doctrine. God loves from Whole to Parts: But human foul Muft rife from Individual to the Whole. Self-love but ferves the virtuous mind to wake, 370 Earth smiles around, with boundless bounty bleft, And Heav'n beholds its image in h i:breast. Come then, my Friend! my Genius! come along; Oh master of the poet, and the fong! VARIATIONS. VER. 373. Come then, my Friend! &c.] In the MS. thus, While the wing'd courfer flies with all her rein, NOTES. VER. 373. Come then, my Friend! &c.] This noble apoftrophe, by which the Poet concludes the Effay in an address to his friend, will furnish a critic with examples of every one > |