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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 Reason's spite,
One truth is clear, WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT.

POFE.

CHA P. XIV.

THE ORIGIN OF SUPERSTITION AND TYRANNY.

W

HO 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 counter-work its Cause? Force first made Conqueft, and that conqueft, Law; 'Till Superftition taught the tyrant awe,

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

And Gods of Conqu'rors, Slaves of Subjects made:
She 'midst the light'ning'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

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 gore:
Then first the Flamen tafted living food;

Next his grim idol smear'd with human blood;
With Heav'ns own thunders fhook the world below,
And play'd the God an engine on his foe.

So drives Self-love, thro' juft and thro' unjuft,
To one Man's pow'r, ambition, lucre, lust:
The fame Self-love, in all, becomes the caufe
Of what restrains him, Government and Laws.
For, what one likes if others like as well,
What ferves one will, when many wills rebel?
How shall he keep, what, fleeping or awake,
A weaker may furprise, a ftronger take?
His safety 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 justice and benevolence:
Self-love forfook the path it first purfu'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, rose but to restore

The Faith and Moral, Nature gave before;
Re-lum'd her ancient light, not kindled new;
If not God's image, yet his shadow drew:

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Taught Pow'r's due ufe to People and to Kings,
Taught nor to flack, nor ftrain its tender ftrings,
The lefs, or greater, set so justly true,

That touching one muft ftrike the other too;
"Till jarring int'refts, 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 fmall and great, where weak and mighty, made
To serve, not fuffer, ftrengthen, not invade ;-
More pow'rful each as needful to the reft,
And, in proportion as it bleffes, bleft;
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 beft:
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 false that thwart this One great End;
And all of God, that blefs Mankind or mend.

Man, like the gen'rous vine, fupported lives;
The strength 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 Itfelf, and one the Whole.

gives.

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

РОРЕ.

CHAP.

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CHA P. XV.

ON HAPPINESS.

H HAPPINESS! our being's end and aim!?

Good, Pleasure, Eafe, Content! whate'er thy name:

That fomething ftill which prompts th' eternal figh,

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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?

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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, ST. JOHN! dwells with thee.
Afk of the Learn'd the
way y? The Learn'd are blind; :
This bids to ferve, and that to fhun mankind :
Some place the bliss in action, fome in ease,
Those call it Pleasure, 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 truft in every thing, or doubt of all. ·.
Who thus define it, fay they more or lefs
Than this, that Happiness is Happiness ?>

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Take Nature's path, and mad Opinions leave;
All ftates 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 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.
There's not a bleffing Individuals find,

But fome way leans and hearkens to the kind:
No Bandit fierce, no Tyrant mad with pride,
No cavern'd Hermit, refts felf-fatisfy'd:
Who most to shun or hate Mankind pretend,
Seek an admirer, or would fix a friend :
Abstract what others feel, what others think,
All pleasures ficken, and all glories fink:
Each has his fhare; and who would more obtain,
Shall find, the pleasure pays not half the pain.
ORDER is Heav'ns first law; and this confest,
Some are, and must be, greater than the reft,
More rich, more wife; but who infers from hence
That fuch are happier, fhocks all common sense.
Heav'n to mankind impartial we confess,

If all are equal in their Happiness:

But mutual wants this Happiness increase;
All Nature's diff'rence keeps all Nature's peace.
Condition, circumftance is not the thing;
Blifs is the fame in subject or in king,
In who obtain defence, or who defend,
In him who is, or him who finds a friend:

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