36 Is the great chain, that draws all to agree, And drawn fupports, upheld by God, or thee? II. Prefumptuous Man! the reafon wouldst thou find, Why form'd fo weak, fo little, and fo blind? First, if thou canft, the harder reason guess, Why form'd no weaker, blinder, and no less? Afk of thy mother earth, why oaks are made Taller or stronger than the weeds they shade? Or afk of yonder argent fields above, Why Jove's Satellites are less than Jove? Of Systems poffible, if 'tis confest That Wisdom infinite must form the best, 40 Where all must full or not coherent be, And all that rifes, rife in due degree; 45 Then, in the scale of reas'ning life, 'tis plain, NOTES. greater good in the natural | world, he supposes they may tend likewise to some greater 50 good in the moral, as appears If plagues or earthquakes break not Heav'n's defign, Who knows, but he, whofe hand the lightning forms, 1 Or turns young Ammon loofe to fcourge mankind? Refpecting Man, whatever wrong we call, In human works, tho' labour'd on with pain, 55 60 When the proud steed shall know whyMan restrains Then fhall Man's pride and dulnefs comprehend 65 VARIATIONS. In the former Editions ✯ 64. Now wears a garland an Ægyptian God. Then fay not Man's imperfect, Heav'n in fault; Say rather, Man's as perfect as he ought: If to be perfect in a certain fphere, What matter, foon or late, or here or there? As who began a thousand years ago. 70 75 III. Heav'n from all creatures hides the book of Fate, All but the page prefcrib'd, their prefent ftate: From brutes what men, from men what spirits know: Or who could fuffer Being here below? 02 The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, Had he thy Reason, would he skip and play? Pleas'd to the laft, he crops the flow'ry food, And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood. A hero perish, or a fparrow fall, VARIATIONS. After 88. in the MS. No great, no little; 'tis as much decreed VER. 87. Who fees with equal eye, &c.] Mat. x. 29. 80 85 Atoms or fyftems into ruin hurl'd, And now a bubble burst, and now a world. 90 Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions foar; Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore. What future bliss, he gives not thee to know, But gives that Hope to be thy bleffing now. Hope fprings eternal in the human breast: Man never Is, but always To be bleft: The foul, uneafy and confin'd from home, Refts and expatiates in a life to come. 95 Lo, the poor Indian! whofe untutor'd mind Yet fimple Nature to his hope has giv❜n, VARIATIONS. In the firft Fol. and Quarto, y 93. What blifs above he gives not thee to know, Some fafer world in depth of woods embrac❜d, 105 Where flaves once more their native land behold, He asks no Angel's wing, no Seraph's fire; 110 115 IV. Go, wifer thou! and, in thy scale of fenfe, Weigh thy Opinion against Providence ; Call imperfection what thou fancy'ft fuch, Say, here he gives too little, there too much : Destroy all creatures for thy fport or guft, Yet cry, If Man's unhappy, God's unjust; If Man alone ingrofs not Heav'n's high care, Alone made perfect here, immortal there: Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod, Re-judge his juftice, be the GOD of GOD. VARIATIONS. After 108. in the first Ed. But does he fay the maker is not good, 120 |