True faith, true policy, united ran, That was but love of God, and this of Man. 239 Who first taught souls enslaved, and realms undone, The enormous faith of many made for one; That proud exception to all Nature's laws, To invert the world, and counterwork its cause? Force first made conquest, and that conquest, law; "Till Superstition taught the tyrant awe, 251 Then shared the tyranny, then lent it aid, 260 So drives self-love, through just and through unjust, To one man's power, ambition, lucre, lust : Of what restrains him, government and laws. 270 For, what one likes, if others like as well, 'Twas then the studious head or generous mind, The according music of a well-mix'd state. Such is the world's great harmony, that springs From order, union, full consent of things: 273 280 296 Where small and great, where weak and mighty, made For forms of government let fools contest; 300 In faith and hope the world will disagree, Man, like the generous vine, supported lives; Yet make at once their circle round the sun; And one regards itself, and one the whole. Thus God and Nature link'd the general frame, And bade self-love and social be the same. EPISTLE IV. 307 ARGUMENT. OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO HAPPINESS. I. False notions of happiness, philosophical and popular, answered from ver. 19 to ver. 27. II. It is the end of all men, and attainable by all, ver. 29. 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, ver. 35. 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, ver. 51. But, notwithstanding that inequality, the balance of happiness among mankind is kept even by Providence, by the two passions of hope and fear, ver. 70. III. What the happiness of individuals is, as far as is consistent with the constitution of this world; and that the good man has here the advantage, ver. 77. The error of imputing to virtue what are only the calamities of nature, or of fortune, ver. 94. IV. The folly of expecting that God should alter his general laws in favour of particulars, ver. 121. V. That we are not judges who are good; but that, whoever they are, they must be happiest, ver. 131, &c. VI. That external goods are not the proper rewards, but often inconsistent with, or destructive of virtue, ver. 167. That even these can make no man happy without virtue: instanced in riches, ver. 185; honours, ver. 193; nobility, ver. 205; greatness, ver. 217; fame, ver. 237; superior talents, ver. 259, &c. With pictures of human infelicity in men possessed of them all, ver. 269, &c. VII. That virtue only consti tutes a happiness, whose object is universal, and whose prospect eternal, ver. 309, &c. 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, ver. 326, &c. O HAPPINESS! our being's end and aim! Good, Pleasure, Ease, Content! whate'er thy name : Where grows ?-where grows it not? If vain our toil, 'Tis never to be bought, but always free, And, fled from monarchs, St John! dwells with thee. 10 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 even virtue vain ; Or, indolent, to each extreme they fall, To trust in every thing, or doubt of all. VER. 1, in the MS. thus VARIATIONS. O Happiness! to which we all aspire, Wing'd with strong hope, and borne by full desire; That ease, for which in want, in wealth we sigh; That ease, for which we labour and we die. Who thus define it, say they more or less Than this, that happiness is happiness? 6 II. Take Nature's path, and mad Opinion's leave; Order is Heaven's first law; and, this confess'd, But mutual wants this happiness increase; After VER. 52, in the MS. VARIATIONS. Say not, Heaven's here profuse, there poorly saves, And for one monarch makes a thousand slaves.' 27 40 50 You'll find, when causes and their ends are known, 'Twas for the thousand Heaven has made that one. |