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, unbalanc'd from her orbit fly,
Planets and Suns run lawless thro' the sky;
Let ruling Angels from their spheres 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 dust to tread,
Or hand, to toil, afpir'd to be the head?
What if the head, the eye, or ear repined
To serve mere engines to the ruling Mind?
Juft as abfurd for any part to claim

To be another, in this genʼral 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 foul:
That, chang'd thro' all, and yet in all the fame,
Great in the earth, as in th' ethereal frame,

Warms in the fun,

Glows in the stars,

Lives thro' all life,

refreshes in the breeze,

and bloffoms in the trees,

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 rapt Seraph that adores and burns:
To him no high, no low, no great, no small;
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all.

Cease

Cease 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 bestows 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 Discord, Harmony not understood;

All partial Evil, univerfal Good:

And, fpite of Pride, in erring Reafon's fpite,
One truth is clear, WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT.

CHAP. XIV.

THE ORIGIN OF

POPE.

SUPERSTITION AND TYRANNY.

WHO first 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 counter-work its Caufe!
Force first made conquest, and that conqueft, Law;
'Till Superstition taught the tyrant awe,

Then fhar'd the Tyranny, then lent it aid,

And Gods of Conqu'rors, Slaves of Subjects 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 rife:
Here fix'd the dreadful, there the bleft abodes;
Fear made her Devils, and weak Hope her Gods;

Gods partial, changeful, paffionate, unjust,
Whose 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 gore:
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..

So drives Self-love, thro' juft and thro' unjust,
To one Man's pow'r, ambition, lucre, luft::
The fame Self-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 surprise, a ftronger take?
His fafety must his liberty restrain :
All join to guard what each defires to gain.
Forc'd into virtue thus by Self-defence,
Ev'n kings learn'd juftice and benevolence :
Self-love forfook the path it firft purfa'd,
And found the private in the public good.

'Twas then, the ftudious head or gen'rous mind,
Follow'r of God, or friend of human kind,
Poet or patriot, rofe but to restore

The Faith and Moral, Nature gave before out
Re-lum'd her ancient light, nor kindled new;
If not God's image, yet his shadow 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, fet fo juftly true,

That touching one must 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 serve, not fuffer, ftrengthen, not invade;
More pow'rful each as needful to the rest,
And, in proportion as it bleffes, bleft;
Draw to one point, and to one centre bring
Beast, 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 whose 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 bless Mankind or mend.

Man, like the gen'rous vine, fupported lives;
The ftrength he gains is from th' 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 genʼral frame, And bade Self-love and Social be the fame.

Он

CHAP. XV.

ON HAPPINESS.

H HAPPINESS! our being's end and aim !

РОРЕ.

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;

Which still so near us, yet beyond us lies,
O'erlook'd, feen double, by the fool, and wife.
Plant of celeftial feed! if dropt 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 spot 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, ST. JOHN! dwells with thee.
Ask of the Learn'd the way? The Learn'd are blind :
This bids to ferve, and that to fhun mankind :
Some place the bliss in action, some in ease,
Those call it Pleasure, and Contentment these ;
Some, funk to beasts, find pleasure end in pain ;
Some, fwell'd to Gods, confefs ev'n Virtue vain :
Or indolent, to each extreme they fall,
To truft in every thing, or doubt of all.

Who thus define it, fay they more or less
Than this, that Happiness is Happiness ?
Take Nature's Path, and mad Opinions leave :
All states 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 Senfe, and Common Eafe.
Remember, Man, "the Universal Cause
"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.

There's