That, chang'd thro' all, and yet in all the fame;

Great in the earth, as in th3 æthereal frame;

270

NOTES.

a line that overturns all Spi- ❘ of St Paul; but, if that nozism from it's very foundations.

But this sublime description of the Godhead contains not only the divinity

will not fatisfy the men he writes againft, the philosophy likewise of Sir Ifaac Newton.

The poet says,

All are but parts of one ftupendous whole,
Whose body Nature is, and God the foul,
That, chang'd thro' all, and yet in all the same,
Great in the earth, as in th' æthereal frame,
Warms in the fun, 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.

The Philosopher : - In ipso continentur & moventur universa, sed absque mutua paffione. Deus nihil patitur ex corporum motibus; illa nullam fentiunt refiftentiam ex omnipræfentia Dei. -Corpore omni & figura corporea

Mr Pope :

deftituitur. -Omnia regit & omnia cognofcit. -Cum unaquæque Spatii particula fit femper, & unumquodque Durationis indivisibile momentum, ubique, certe rerum omnium Fabricator ac Dominus non erit nunquam, nusquam.

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 small;
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all.

Warms in the fun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the fstars, and blossoms in the trees,

NOTES.

Sir Ifaac Newton:- Annon | overthrow all he has been ex phanomenis conftat effe advancing throughout the entem incorporeum, viven- body of it: For Spinozism tem, intelligentem, omnipræfentem, qui in spatio infinito, tanquam fenforio fuo, res ipfas intime cernat, penitusque perspiciat, totasque intra se præfens præfentes complecta

tur.

is the destruction of an Universe, where every thing tends, by a foreseen contrivance in all it's parts, to the perfection of the whole. But allow him to employ the passage in the sense 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 support of all that had preceded. For the poet having, as we say, laboured through his epiftle to prove, that every thing in the Universe tends, by a

But now admitting, for argument's fake, there was an ambiguity in these expressions, so great, as that a Spinozist might employ them to express his own particular principles; and such a thing might well be, because the Spinozists, in order to hide the impiety of their principle, are used to | foreseen contrivance, and a

express the Omnipresence of God in terms that any reli gious Theift might employ. In this cafe, I say, how are we to judge of the poet's meaning? Surely by the whole tenor of his argument. Now take the words in the sense of the Spinozifts, and he is made, in the conclufion of his epistle, to

present direction of all it's parts, to the perfection of the whole; it might be objected, that such a disposition of things implying in God a painful, operose, and inconceivable extent of Providence, it could not be supposed that such care extended to all, but was confined to the more noble parts of Lives thro' all life, extends thro' all extent,

Spreads undivided, operates unspent;

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:
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.
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 blest as thou canst bear :

Safe in the hand of one difpofing Pow'r,
Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.

VARIATIONS.

After y 282. in the MS.

Reason, to think of God when she pretends,

Begins a Cenfor, an Adorer ends.

NOTES.

285

the creation. This gross | fort of Substance, and in e

very instant of Being.

conception of the First Cause the poet exposes, by shewing that God is equally and intimately present to every particle of Matter, to every

VER. 278. As the rapt Seraph, &c.] Alluding to the name Seraphim, signifying burners.

All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee;
All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not fee;

All Discord, Harmony not understood;

All partial Evil, universal Good :

291

And, spite 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 Himself, as an Individual.

I. THE business of Man not to pry into God, but to study himself. His Middle Nature; his Powers and Frailties, I to 19. The Limits of his Capacity, * 19, &c. II. The two Principles of Man, Selflove and Reason, both necessary, 53, &c. Selflove the stronger, and why, 67, &c. Their end the fame, 81, &c. III. The PASSIONS, and their ufe, & 93 to 130. The predominant Passion, and it's force, 132 to 160. It's Neceffity, in directing Men to different purposes, * 165, &c. It's providential Ufe, in fixing our Principle, and ascertaining our Virtue, 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,

202 to 216. V. How odious Vice in itself, and how we deceive ourselves into it, * 217. VI. That, however, the Ends of Providence and general Good are answered in our Passions and Imperfections, * 238, &c. How usefully these are distributed to all Orders of Men, * 241. How useful they are to Society, $ 251. And to the Individuals, 263. In every state, and every age of life, $ 273, &c.