Nor God alone in the still calm we find, Pleasures are ever in our hands and eyes; Nature its mother, habit is its nurse; Wit, spirit, faculties, but make it worse; Reason itself but gives it edge and pow'r; As heaven's blest beam turns vinegar more sour. We, wretched subjects tho' to lawful way, In this weak queen, some fav'rite still obey: Ah! if she lend not arms as well as rules, What can she more than tell us we are fools? Teach us to mourn our nature, not to mend? A sharp accuser, but a helpless friend! Or from a judge turn pleader, to persuade The choice we make, or justify it made; Proud of an easy conquest all along, She but removes weak passions for the strong: So, when small humors gather to a gout, The doctor fancies he has driven 'them out. Yes, nature's road must ever be preferr'd; Reason is here no guide, but still a guard; Tis here to rectify, not overthrow, And treat this passion more as friend than foe; A mightier Pow'r the strong direction sends, And sev'ral men impels to sev'ral ends: Like varying winds, by other passions tost, This drives them constant to a certain coast. Let pow'r or knowledge, gold or glory please, Or (oft more strong than all) the love of ease, Thro' life 'tis followed, even at life's expence; The merchant's toil, the sage's indolence, The monk's humility, the hero's pride; All, all alike find Reason on their side. Th' Eternal Art, educing good from ill, Grafts on this Passion our best principle: "Tis thus the Mercury of Man is fix'd, Strong grows the Virtue with his nature mix'd; The dross cements what else were too refin'd, And in one int'rest body acts with mind. As fruits, ungrateful to the planter's care, On savage stocks inserted learn to bear; The surest Virtues thus from Passions shoot, Wild Nature's vigor working at the root. What crops of wit and honesty appear From spleen, from obstinacy, hate, or fear! See anger, zeal and fortitude supply: Ev'n av rice, prudence, sloth, philosophy; Lust, thro' soine certain strainers well refin'd, Is gentle love, and charms all womankind; Envy, to which th' ignoble mind's a slave, Is emulation in the learn'd or brave; Nor Virtue, male or female, can we name, But what will grow on Pride, or grow onShame. Thus Nature gives us (let it check our pride) The virtue nearest to our vice allied: Reason the bias turns to good from ill, And Nero reigns a Titus if he will. The fiery soul abhorr'd in Cataline, In Decius charms, in Curtius is divine: The same ambition can destroy or save, And makes a patriot as it makes a knaye. This light and darkness in our chaos join'd, What shall divide? The God within the mind. Extremes in Nature equal ends produce; In man they join to some mysterious use: Tho' each by turns the other's bounds invade, As in some well wrought picture, light and shade, And oft so mix, the diff 'rence is too nice Where ends the Virtue, or begins the Vice. Fools who from hence into the notion fall, That Vice or Virtue there is none at all. If white and black blend, soften, and unite A thousand ways, is there no black or white? Ask your own heart, and nothing is so plain; 'Tis to mistake them costs the time and pain. Vice is a monster of so frightful 'mien, As, to be hated, needs but to be seen; Yet, seen too oft, familiar with her face; We first endure, then pity, then embrace. But where th' Extreme of Vice, was ne'er agreed. Ask where's the North? at York, 'tis on the In Scotland, at the Orcades; and there, [Tweed At Greenland, Zembla,or theLord knows where No creature owns it in the first degree, But thinks his neighbour farther gone than he Ev'n those who dwell beneath its very zone, Or never feel the rage, or never own; What happier natures shrink at with affright, The hard inhabitant contends is right. Virtuous and vicious ev'ry man must be; Few in th' extreme, but all in the degree: The rogue and fool, by fits, is fair and wise; And ev'n the best, by fits, what they despise. "I'is but by parts we follow good or ill! For, Vice or Virtue, Self directs it still; Each Fach individual seeks a sev'ral goal; [Whole: Heaven, forming each on other to depend, The starving chemist in his golden views ARGUMENT. Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to Society, The whole Universe one System of Society-Nothing made wholly for itself, nor wholly for another. The happiness of Animals mutual. - -Reason or Instinct operates alike to the good of each Individual. — Reason or Instinct operates also to Society in all animals.—How far Society is carried by Instinct.-How much farther by Reason. — Öf that which is called the State of Nature.. Reason instructed by Instinct in the Invention of Arts, and in the Forms of Society. Origin of Political Societies.Origin of Monarchy.- Patriarchal Government.. Origin of true Religion and Government, from the same principle of Love. · Origin of Superstition and Tyranny, from the same principle of Fear. The influence of Self-love operating to the social and public Good. Restoration of true Religion and Government on their first Principle.— Mixed Government.—l'arious Forms of each, and the true End of all. --- HERE then we rest: " The Universal Canse Acts to one end, but acts by various laws.' In all the madness of superfluous health, The train of pride, the impudence of wealth, Let this great truth be present night and day; But most be present, if we preach or pray. [Love Look round our World; behold the chain of Combining all below and all above. See plastic Nature working to this end; The single atoms each to other tend; Attract, attracted to the next in place, Form'd and impell'd its neighbour to embrace. See Matter next, with various life endued, Press to one centre still, the gen'ral Good, See dying Vegetables life sustain, See life dissolving vegetate again: All forms that perish other forms supply (By turns we catch the vital breath, and die); Like bubbles on the sea of Matter borne, They rise, they break, and to that sea return. Nothing is foreign; Parts relate to Whole; One all-extending, all-preserving Soul Connects each being, greatest with the least; Made Beast in aid of Man, and Man of Beast; All serv'd, all serving: nothing stands alone; The chain holds on, and where it ends unknown. Has God, thou fool! work'd solely for thy good, Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food? Now, Nature's children shall divide her care, The fur that warms a monarch warm'd a bear. While Man exclaims, 'See all things for my use! | 'See man for mine!' replies a pamper'd goose: And just as short of reason he must fall, Who thinks all made for one, not one for all. Grant that the pow'rful still the weak control, Be Man the Wit and Tyrant of the whole : Nature that Tyrant checks; he only knows, And helps another creature's wants and woes. Say will the falcon, stooping from above, Smit with her varying plumage, spare the dove! Admires the jay the insect's gilded wings? Or hears the hawk when Philomela sings? Man cares for all: to birds he gives his woods, To beasts his pastures, and to fish his floods, For some his int'rest prompts him to provide, For more his pleasure, yet for more his pride: All feed on one vain Patron, and enjoy Th' extensive blessing of his luxury. That very life his learned hunger craves, He saves from famine, from the savage saves; Nay, feasts the animal he dooms his feast, And till he ends the being, makes it blest; Which sees no more the stroke, or feels the pain, Than favor'd Man by touch ethereal slain. The creature had his feast of life before; Thou too must perish when thy feast is o'er! To each unthinking being, Heaven a friend, Gives not the useless knowledge of its end! To Man imparts it; but with such a view A3, while he dreads it, makes him hope it too: The hour conceal'd, and so remote the fear, Death still draws nearer, never seeming near. Great standing miracle! that Heaven assign'd Its only thinking thing this turn of mind. Whether with Reason or with Instinct blest, Know, all enjoy that pow'r which suits them To bliss alike by that direction tend, [best; And find the means proportion'd to their end. Say, where full Instinct is th' unerring guide, What Pope or Council can they need beside? Reason, however able, cool at best, Cares not for service, or but serves when prest, Stays till we call, and then not often near; But honest Instinct comes a volunteer, Sure never to o'ershoot, but just to hit; While still too wide or short is human Wit; Sure by quick Nature happiness to gain, Which heavier Reason labors at in vain. This too serves always, Reason never long ; 'One must go right, the other may go wrong, See then the acting and comparing pow'rs One in their nature, which are two in ours; And Reason raise o'er Instinct as you can, In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis Man. Who taught the nations of the field and wood To shun their poison, and to choose their food? Prescient, the tides or tempests to withstand, Build on the wave, or arch beneath the sand? Who made the spider parallels design, Sure as De Moivre, without rule or line? Who bid the stork, Columbus like, explore Heav'ns, not his own, and worlds unknown before? God, in the nature of each being, founds Its proper bliss, and sets its proper bounds: But as he fram'd the Whole, the Whole to bless, On mutual Wants built mutual Happiness; So, from the first, eternal order ran, And creature link'd to creature, man to man. Whate'er of life all quick'ning æther keeps, Or breathes thro'air, or shoots beneath the deeps, Or pours profuse on earth, one nature feeds The vital flame, and swells the genial seeds. Not man alone, but all that roam the wood, Or wing the sky, or roll along the flood, Each loves itself, but not itself alone; Each sex desires alike, till two are one. Nor ends the pleasure with the fierce embrace; They love themselves, a third time, in their race, Thus beast and bird their common charge attend, The mothers nurse it, and the sires defend. The young dismiss'd to wander earth or air, There stops the Instinct, and there ends the care; The link dissolves, each seeks a fresh embrace; Another love succeeds another race. A longer care Man's helpless kind demands; That longer care contracts more lasting bands : Reflection, Reason, still the ties improve, At once extend the int'rest and the love: With choice we fix, with sympathy we burn; Each Virtue in each Passion takes its turn; And still new needs, new helps, new habits rise, That graft benevolence on charities. Still as one brood, and as another rose, These nat'ral love maintain, habitual those : The last scarce ripen'd into perfect Man, Saw helpless him from whom their life began: Mem'ry and forecast just returns engage; That pointed back to youth, this on to age: While pleasure, gratitude, and hope combin'd, Still spread the int'rest, and preserv'd the kind. Nor think, in Nature's state they blindly trod; Unbrib'd, unbloody, stood the blameless priest: See him from Nature rising slow to Art! To copy Instinct then was Reason's part: Who calls the council, states the certain day? Thus then to Man the voice of Nature spakeWho forms the phalanx,and who points the way?" Go, from the Creatures thy instructions take: Learn ** Learnfromthebirdswhat food the thicketsyield: | No ill could fear in God; and understood Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale. "Here too all forms of social union find, "And hence let Reason, late, instruct mankind: "Here subterranean works and cities see; "There towns acrial on the waving tree. "Learn each small People's genius, policies, "The Ant's republic, and the realm of Bees; "How those in common all their wealth bestow, "And Anarchy without confusion know; "And these for ever, tho' a Monarch reign, A Sovereign Being but a sov'reign good. Who first taught souls enslav'd, and realms un- When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd Threir sep'rate cells and properties maintain. Mark what unvaried laws preserve each state, *Laws wise as Nature, and as fix'd as Fate. "In vain thy Reason finer webs shall draw, "Entangle Justice in her net of Law; "And right, too rigid, harden into wrong, "Still for the strongtoo weak, theweaktoostrong. Yet go! and thus o'er all the creatures sway, "Thus let the wiser make the rest obey: "And for those arts mere Instinct could afford, Be crown'd as Monarchs, or as Gods ador'd." Great Nature spoke; observant Man obey'd; Cities were built, Societies were made: Here rose one little state; another near Grew by like means, and join'd thro' love or fear. Did here the trees with ruddier burdens bend, And there the streams in purer rills descend! What War could ravish,Commerce could bestow, And he return'd a friend who came a foe. Converse and Love mankind might strongly draw, When Love was Liberty, and Nature Law. Thus states were form'd; the name of King un-The same Self-love in all, becomes the cause known, Till common int'rest plac'd the sway in one. She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray, Of what restrains him, Government and Laws. 'Twas then the studious head or gen'rous mind, To serve, not suffer: strengthen, not invade More More pow'rful each as needful to the rest, gives. On their own Axis as the Planets run, Yet make at once their circle round the Sun; Of the Nature and State of Man, with respect That something still which prompts the eternal This bids to serve, and that to shun mankind; Take Nature's path, and mad opinions leave; False Notions of Happiness, Philosophical and Popular It is the End of all Men, and at-Than this, that happiness is happiness? tainable by all. God intends Happiness to be equal; and to be so, it must be social, since all particular Happiness depends on general, and since he governs by general not particular Laws. As it is necessary for Order, and the peuce and welfare of Society, that external And mourn our various portions as we please, goods should be unequal, Happiness is not Equal is common sense and common ease. made to consist in these. But, notwith- Remember, Man," the Universal Cause standing that inequality, the balance of" Acts not by partial, but by gen'ral laws;" Happiness among mankind is kept even by And makes what Happiness we justly call Providence, by the two Passions of Hope and Subsist not in the good of one, but all. Fear. What the Happiness of Individuals There's not a blessing individuals find, is, as far as is consistent with the con-But some way leans and hearkens to the kind. stitution of this world; and that the Good No bandit fierce, no tyrant mad with pride, Man has here the advantage. The error No cavern'd hermit rests self-satisfied:" of imputing to Virtue what are only the cala- Who most to shun or hate mankind pretend, mities of Nature or of Fortune. The folly Seek an admirer, or would fix a friend: of expecting that God should alter his general Abstract what others feel, what others think, laws in fuvor of particulars. — That we are All pleasures sicken, and all glories sink; not judges who are good; but that, whoever Each has his share; and who would more obtain, they are, they must be happiest. That ex-Shall find the pleasure pays not half the pain. ternal goods are not the proper rewards, but Order is Heaven's first law; and this confest, often inconsistent with, or destructive of, Some are, and must be, greater than the rest, Virtue. That even these can make no Man More rich, more wise; but who infers from hence happy without Virtue: Instanced in Riches-That such are happier, shocks all common sense. Honors-Nobility - Greatness Fame- Heaven to mankind impartial we confess, Superior Talents-With pictures of human If all are equal in their happiness: infelicity in Men possessed of them all.-That But mutual wants this happiness increase; Virtue only constitutes a Happiness whose ob- All nature's diff'rence keeps all nature's peace, ject is universal, and whose prospect eternal. Condition, circumstance, is not the thing; That the perfection of Vertue and Happiness Bliss is the same in subject or in king consists in a conformity to the Order of Pro- In who obtain defence, or who defend, vidence here, and a Resignation to it here and In him who is, or him who finds a friend":" hereafter. Heaven breathes thro' ev'ry member of the whole One common blessing, as one common soul. But fortune's gifts if each alike possess'd, And each were equal, must not all contest? O HAFFINESS! out being's end and aim! |