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Warms in the fun, refreshes in the breeze,

Glows in the ftars, and bloffoms in the trees,

NOTES.

"verfa, fed abfque mutua paffione. Deus nihil patitur ex "corporum motibus; illa nullam fentiunt refiftentiam ex om"nipræfentia Dei.-Corpore omni & figura corporea deftitu"itur.-Omnia regit & omnia cognofcit.-Cum unaquæque "Spatii particula fit femper, & unumquodque Durationis in"divifibile momentum, ubique certe rerum omnium Fabricator ❝ac Dominus non erit nunquam, nufquam."

Mr. Pope;

"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 fmall;
"He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all."

Sir Ifaac Newton:-" Annon ex phænomenis conftat effe en"tem incorporeum, viventem, intelligentem, omnipræfentem, qui in fpatio infinito, tanquam fenforio fuo, res ipfas intime "Cernat, penitufque perfpiciat, totafque intra fe præfens præfentes complectatur."

But now admitting, there was an ambiguity in thefe expreffions, fo great that a Spinozist might employ them to exprefs his own particular principles; and fuch a thing might well be, because the Spinozifts, in order to hide the impiety of their principle, are wont to exprefs the Omniprefence of God in terms that any religious Theift might employ; in this case, I fay, how are we to judge of the Poet's meaning? Surely by the whole tenor of his argument. Now take the words in the fenfe of the Spinozifts, and he is made, in the conclufion of his epiftle, to overthrow all he had been advancing throughout the body of it: For Spinozism is the deftruction of an Universe, where every thing tends, by a forefeen contrivance in all its parts, to the perfection of the Whole. But allow

Lives thro' all Life, extends thro' all extent,

Spreads undivided, operates unfpent;

Breathes in our foul, informs our mortal part, 275
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 :

NOTES.

him to employ the paffage in the fenfe of St. Paul, That we and all creatures live, and move, and have our being in God; and then it will be seen to be the most logical fupport of all that had preceded. For the Poet, having, as we fay, laboured through his epiftle to prove, that every thing in the Universe tends, by a forefcen contrivance, and a prefent direction of all its parts, to the perfection of the Whole; it might be objected, that fuch a difpofition of things implying in God a painful, operofe, and inconceivable extent of Providence, it could not be fuppofed that fuch care extended to all, but was confined to the more noble parts of the creation. This grofs conception of the First Caufe the Poet expofes, by hewing that God is equally and intimately prefent to every particle of Matter, to every fort of Subftance, and in every inftant of Being.

VER. 277. As full, as perfect, in vile Man that mourns,
As the rapt Seraph that adores and burns.]

Which M. Du Refnel tranflates thus,

"Dans un homme ignoré fous une humble Chaumiere, "Que dans le Seraphin, rayonnant de lumiere.

i. e. As well in the ignorant man, who inhabits an humble cottage, as in the Seraphim encompaffed with rays of light. The Tranf lator in good earneft thought, that a vile man that mourn'd could be no other than fome poor Country Cottager. Which has betrayed M. de Croufaz into this important remark.-For all that, we fometimes find in perfons of the loweft rank, a fund of probity and refignation which preferves

To him no high, no low, no great, no small; He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. 280 X. Cease then, nor ORDER Imperfection name: Our proper bliss depends on what we blame.

VARIATIONS.

After Ver. 282, in the MS.

Reafon, to think of God when the pretends,
Begins a Cenfor, an Adorer ends.

COMMENTARY.

VER. 281. Geafe then, nor Order Imperfection name:" And now the Poet, as he had promifed, having vindicated the ways of God to Man, concludes (from Ver. 280, to the end) that, from what had been said, it appears, that the very things we blame, contribute to our Happiness, either as unrelated particulars, or at leaft as parts of the universal system; that our state of ignorance was allotted to us out of compaffion; that yet we have as much knowledge as is fufficient to fhew us, that we are, and always fhall be, as bleft as we can bear; for that NATURE is neither a Stratonic chain of blind Caufes and Effects,

(All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee)

NOTES.

"them from contempt; their minds are, indeed, but nar<6 row, yet fitted to their station," &c. Comm. p. 120. But Mr. Pope had no fuch childish idea in his head. He was here oppofing the human fpecies to the angelic; and fo fpoke of the firft, when compared to the latter, as vile and difconfolate. The force and beauty of the reflection depend upon this fenfe; and, what is more, the propriety of it.

VER. 278. As the rapt Seraph, &c.] Alluding to the Name Seraphim, fignifying burners,

Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree Of blindness, weakness, Heav'n beftows on thee.

COMMENTARY.

nor yet the fortuitous result of Epicurean Atoms,

(All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not see)

as those two species of atheism fuppofed it; but the wonderful art and direction, unknown indeed to Man, of an all-powerful, all-wife, all-good, and free Being. And therefore we may be affured, that the arguments brought above, to prove partial moral evil productive of Good, are conclufive; from whence one certain truth results, in fpite of all the pride and cavils of vain Reason, That WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT.

That the reader may fee in one view the exactness of the Method, as well as force of the Argument, I shall here draw up a short fynopfis of this Epiftle. The Poet begins by telling us his fubject is an Essay on Man: That his end of writing is to vindicate Providence: That he intends to dérive his arguments, from the visible things of God feen in this fyftem: Lays down this Propofition, That of all poffible fiftems, infinite Wisdom has formed the beft: draws from thence two Confequences, 1. That there must needs be fomewhere fuch a creature as Man; 2. That the moral Evil which he is author of, is produc-. tive of the Good of the Whole. This is his general Thesis ; from whence he forms this Conclufion, That Man should reft fubmiffive and content, and make the hopes of Futurity his comfort; but not fuffer this to be the occafion of PRIDE, which is the caufe of all his impious complaints,

He proceeds to confirm his Thesis-Previously endeavours to abate our wonder at the phænomenon of moral Evil; fhews, firft, its ufe to the perfection of the univerfe, by analogy, from the ufe of phyfical Evil in this particular fyftem.-Secondly, its ufe in this fyftem, where it is turned, providentially, from its natural bias, to promote Virtue. Then goes on to vindicate Providence from the imputation of certain fuppofed natural Evils; as he had before justified it for the permiffion of real moral Evil, in fhewing that, though the Atheist's complaint againft Providence be on pretence of real moral Evil, yet the true caufe is his impatience under imaginary natural Evil; the iffue of a depraved ap

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;

285

All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not fee;
All Discord, Harmony not understood;
All partial Evil, univerfal Good:

291

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

COMMENTARY.

petite for fantaftical advantages, which, if obtained, would be ufelefs or hurtful to Man, and deforming of, and destructive to the Universe, as breaking into that order by which it is fupported. He describes that order, harmony, and clofe connection of the parts; and by fhewing the intimate prefence of God to his whole creation, gives a reafon for an Univerfe fo amazingly beautiful and perfect. From all this he deduces his general conclufion, That Nature being neither a blind chain of Caufes and Effects, nor yet the fortuitous refult of wandering atoms, but the wonderful art and direction of an allwife, all-good, and free Being; WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT, with regard to the difpofition of God, and its ultimate tendency; which once granted, all complaints against Providence are at at end.

NOTES.

VER. 294. One truth is clear, &c.] It will be difficult to think any caviller fhould have objected to this conclufion; efpecially when the Author, in this very epiftle, has himself thus explained it;

"Refpecting Man, whatever wrong we call,
"May, must be right, as relative to ALL-

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