For nature knew no right divine in men: That was but love of God, and this of man. 240 Who first taught souls enslav'd, and realms undone, Th' enormous faith of many made for one; That proud exception to all nature's laws, T' invert the world, and counterwork its cause? Force first made conquest, and that conquest law; 245 "Till superstition taught the tyrant awe, Then shar'd the tyrany, then lent it aid, And Gods of conquerors, slaves of subjects made: She, 'midst the light'ning's blaze, and thunder's sound, When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd the ground, She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray 255 260 265 Next his grim idol smear'd with human blood; 270 So drives self-love, through just and through unjust, What serves one will, when many wills rebel? All join to guard what each desires to gain. 275 280 "Twas then the studious head or gen'rous mind, Follower of God, or friend of human kind, Poet or patriot, rose but to restore 285 The faith that moral Nature gave before; 290 That touching one must strike the other too; 'Till jarring int'rests, of themselves, create Th' according music of a well mix'd state. Such is the world's great harmony that springs 295 300 Where small and great, where weak and mighty made 305 In faith and hope the world will disagree, But all mankind's concern is charity: All must be false that thwart this one great end: And all of God, that bless mankind, or mend. 310 Man, like the gen'rous vine, supported lives; The strength he gains is from th' embrace he gives. Yet make at once their circle round the sun; So two consistent motions act the soul, 315 And one regards itself, and one the whole. Thus God and nature link'd the gen'ral frame, And bade self-love and social be the same. 318 Of the Nature and State of Man, with respect to Happiness. False notions of happiness, philosophical and popular, answered, from verse 19 to 27. It is the end of all men, and attainable by all, 30. 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, 37. As it is necessary for order, and the peace and welfare of society, that external goods should be unequal, happiness is not made to consist in these, 51. But notwithstanding that inequality, the balance of happiness amongst mankind is kept even by Providence, by the two passions of hope and fear, 70. What the happiness of individuals is, as far as it is consistent with the constitution of this world; and that the good man has here the advantage, 77. The error of imputing to virtue what are only the calamities of nature, or of fortune, 94. The folly of expecting that God should alter his general laws in favor of particulars, 121. That we are not judges who are good; but that whoever they are, they must be happiest, 133, &c. That external goods are not the proper rewards, but often inconsistent with, or destructive of virtue, 167. That even these can make no man happy without virtue-instanced in riches, 185.— Honors, 193. Nobility, 205. Greatness, 217. Fame, 237. Superior talents, 259, &c. With pictures of human infelicity in men possessed of them all, 269, &c. That virtue alone constitutes happiness, whose object is universal, and whose prospect eternal, 309. That the perfection of virtue and happiness consists in a conformity to the order of providence here, and a resignation to it here and hereafter, 316, &c. OH Happiness! our being's end and aim ; Good, pleasure, ease, content! whate'er thy name; That something still which prompts th' eternal sigh, For which we bear to live, or dare to die, Which still so near us, yet beyond us lies, O'erlook'd, seen double, by the fool and wise. Plant of celestial seed; if dropt below, Say, in what mortal soil thou deign'st to grow? Fair op'ning to some courts, propitious shine, Or deep with diamonds in the flaming mine? Twin'd with the wreaths Parnassian laurels yield, 5 10 Or reap'd in iron harvests of the field? Where grows-where grows it not? If vain our toil, We ought to blame the culture, not the soil: Fix'd to no spot is happiness sincere ; "Tis no where to be found, or ev'ry where: 'Tis never to be bought, but always free; And fled from monarchs, St. John! dwells with thee. 15 20 I. Ask of the learn'd the way? The learn'd are blind : This bids to serve, and that to shun mankind. Some place the bliss in action, some in ease, Those call it pleasure, and contentment these; Some, sunk to beasts, find pleasure end in pain; Some, swell'd to gods, confess e'en virtue vain ; Or indolent, to each extreme they fall, 25 To trust in ev'ry thing, or doubt of all. Who thus define it, say they more or less Than this, that happiness is happiness? II. Take nature's path, and mad opinions leave; All states can reach it, and all heads conceive; Obvious her goods, in no extreme they dwell; There needs but thinking right and meaning well; And, mourn our various portions as we please, Equal is common sense, and common ease. Remember, man, "the Universal Cause Acts not by partial, but by gen'ral laws;" And makes what happiness we justly call, Subsist not in the good of one, but all. There's not a blessing individuals find, 30 35 But some way leans and hearkens to the kind; 40 No bandit fierce, no tyrant mad with pride, No cavern'd hermit, rests self-satisfied. |