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Above, how high, progressive life may go !
Around, how wide! how deep extend below!
Vaft chain of being! which from God began,
Natures æthereal, human, angel, man,
Beaft, bird, fish, infect, what no eye can fee,
No glass can reach; from Infinite to thee,
From thee to Nothing.-On fuperior pow'rs
Were we to prefs, inferior might on ours:
Or in the full creation leave a void,

Where, one step broken, the great scale's deftroy'd :
From Nature's chain whatever link you ftrike,
Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.
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 must fall.
Let earth unbalanc'd from her orbit fly,
Planets and Suns run lawless thro' the fky;
Let ruling Angels from their spheres be hurl'd,
Being on Being wreck'd, and world on world;
Heav'n's whole foundations to their centre nod,
And Nature trembles to the throne of God.

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All this dread ORDER break-for whom? for thee?
Vile worm!--Oh Madness! Pride! Impiety!

IX. What if the foot, ordain'd the duft to tread,

260

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?

VER. 238. Ed. ift.

Ethereal effence, fpirit, fubftance, man.

Jaft as abfurd for any part to claim
To be another, in this gen'ral frame:
Juft as bfurd, to mourn the talks or pains
The great directing MIND of all ordains.

All are but parts of one ftupend'ous whole,
Whole 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'æthereal franie;
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 rapt Seraph that adores and burns;
To him no high, no low, no great, no finall;
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all.

X. Ceafe 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 fphere,

Secure to be as bleft as thou can't bear :

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270

275

280

285

VBR. 265. Just as abfurd, etc.] See the profecution and application of this in Ep. iv.

After ver. 282. in the MS.

Reafon, to think of God, when the pretends,

Begins a Cenfor, an Adorer ends.

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; 200 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.

ARGUMENT OF

EPISTLE II.

Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to Himfelf, as an Individual.

I. THE business of Man not to pry into God, but to fiudy himfelf. His Middle Nature: his Powers and Frailties, ver. 1. to 19. The Limits of his Capacity, ver. 19, etc. II. The two principles of Man, Self love and Reason, both neceffary, ver. 53, etc. Self-love the ftronger, and why, ver. 67, etc. Their end the

fame, ver. 81, etc. III. The PASSIONS, and their ufe, ver. 93 to 130. The Predominant Paffion, and its force, ver. 132 to 160. Its Necefity, in directing Men to different Purposes, ver. 165, etc. Its providential Ufe, in fixing our Principle, and afcertaining our Virtue, ver. 177. IV. Virtue and Vice joined in our mixed Nature; the Limits near, yet the Things feparate and evident: What is the Office of Reason, ver. 202 to 216. V. How odious Vice in itself, and how we deceive ourselves into it, ver. 217. VI. That, however, the Ends of Providence and general Good are answered in our Paffions and Imperfections, ver. 238, etc. How ufefully thefe are diftributed to all Orders of Men, ver. 241. How ufeful they are to Society, ver. 251. And to the Individuals, ver. 263. In every State, and every Age of Life, ver. 273, etc.

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EPISTLE II.

I. T NOW then thyfelf, prefume not God to fcan,

K The proper ftudy of Mankind is Man.

Plac'd on this ifthmus of a middle state,

A Being darkly wife, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic fide,
With too much weakness for the Stoick's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act or reft;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beaft;
In doubt his Mind or Body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reafon fuch,
Whether he thinks too little or too my
Chaos of Thought and Paffion, all confufed;
Still by himself abus'd or difabus'd;
Created half to rife, and half to fall;

mych:

Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth in endless Error hurl'd:
The glory, jeft and riddle of the world!

VER. 2. Ed. ift.

The only science of Mankind is Man.
After ver. 18. In the MS.

For more perfection than this ftate can bear
In vain we figh, Heav'n made us as we are.
As wifely fure a modeft Ape might aim
To be like Man, whofe faculties and frame
He fees, he feels, as you or I to be
An Angel thing we neither know nor fee.

5.

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