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What if the head, the eye, or ear, repin'd
To serve mere engines to the ruling mind?
Just as absurd for any part to claim
To be another in this genʼral frame;
Just as absurd to mourn the tasks or pains
The great directing Mind of all ordains.

All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body Nature is, and God the soul;

That chang'd thro' all, and yet in all the same,
Great in the earth as in th' ethereal frame,
Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees;
Lives thro' all life, extends thro' all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent ;
Breathes in our soul, 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 small;
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all.

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X. Cease then, nor Order Imperfection name Our proper bliss 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 sphere,

Secure to be as bless'd as thou canst bear;

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Safe in the hand of one disposing 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 see; 290 All discord harmony not understood;

All partial evil universal good:

And spite of pride, in erring reason's spite,
One truth is clear, Whatever is is right.

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

THE ARGUMENT.

I. The business of man not to pry into God, but to study himself; his middle nature; his powers and frailties, v. 1. to 19. The limits of his capacity, v. 19, &c. II. The two principles of Man, self-love and reason, both necessary, v. 53, &c. Self-love the stronger, and why, v. 67, &c. Their end the same, v. 81, &c. III. The passions and their use, v. 93, to 130, The predominant passion, and its force, v. 132, to 160. Its necessity, in directing Men to different purposes, v. 165, &c. Its providential use in fixing our principle, and ascertaining our virtue, v. 177. IV. Virtue and vice joined in our mixed nature; the limits near yet the things separate and evident: what is the office of Reason, v. 203, to 216. V. How odious vice in itself, and how we deceive ourselves in it, v. 217. VI. That however, the ends of Providence and general good are answered in our passions and imperfections, v. 138, &c. How usefully these are distributed to all orders of men, v. 241; how useful they are to society, v. 251; and to individuals, v. 263; in every state, and every age of life, v. 273, &c.

I. KNOW then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is Man.

Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state,

A being darkly wise and rudely great;

With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between, in doubt to act or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a god or beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer ;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he think too little or too much :
Chaos of thought and passion, all confus'd;
Still by himself abus'd or disabus'd;
Created half to rise and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd:
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

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[guides;

Go, wondrous creature! mount where science Go, measure earth, weigh air and state the tides; 20 Instruct the planets in what orbs to run,

Correct old Time, and regulate the sun;
Go, soar with Plato to th' empyreal sphere,
To the first good, first perfect, and first fair;
Or tread a mazy round his foll❜wers trod,
And quitting sense call imitating God;

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As Eastern priests in giddy circles run,
And turn their head to imitate the sun;
Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule-
Then drop into thyself, and be a fool!

Superior beings, when of late they saw
A mortal man unfold all nature's law,
Admir'd such wisdom in an earthly shape,
And shew'd a Newton as we shew an ape.
Could he, whose rules the rapid comet bind,
Describe or fix one movement of his mind?
Who saw its fires here rise and there descend,
Explain his own beginning or his end?
Alas! what wonder! Man's superior part
Uncheck'd may rise, and climb from art to art;
But when his own great work is but begun,
What Reason weaves by passion is undone.
Trace Science then, with Modesty thy guide;
First strip off all her equipage of pride;
Deduct what is but vanity or dress,

Or learning's luxury, or idleness :

Or tricks to shew the stretch of human brain,
Mere curious pleasure, or ingenious pain;
Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrescent parts
Of all our vices have created arts;

Then see how little the remaining sum,

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Which serv'd the past, and must the times to come!

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