Gradations juft, has thy pervading foul Look'd thro'? or can a part contain the whole? Why form'd fo weak, fo little, and fo blind? NOTES. of body and fpirit. By the ftrong connections, therefore, the Poet alluded to the natural part; and by the nice dependencies to the moral. For the Efay on Man is not a system of NATURALISM, on the Philofophy of Bolingbroke, but a system of NATURAL RELIGION on the Philofophy of Newton. Hence it is, that where he fuppofes diforders may tend to fome greater good in the natural world, he supposes they may tend likewise to fome greater good in the moral, as appears from these sublime images in the following lines, "If plagues or earthquakes break not Heav'n's defign, "Why then a Borgia, or a Catiline? "Who knows, but he, whofe hand the light'ning forms, "Who heaves old Ocean, and who wings the storms; "Pours fierce Ambition in a Cæfar's mind, "Or turns young Ammon loose to fcourge Mankind?” VER. 35 to 42.] In thefe lines the Poet has joined the beauty of argumentation to the fublimity of thought; where the fimilar inftances, propofed for his adverfaries examination, fhew as well the abfurdity of their complaints against Order, as the fruitleness of their enquiries into the arcana of the Godhead. Or ask of yonder argent fields above, Why Jove's Satellites are less than Jove? That Wisdom infinite must form the best, COMMENTARY. VER. 43. Of fyftems poffible, &c.] So far the Poet's modest and fober Introduction; in which he truly obferves, that no wifdom lefs than omnifcient "Can tell why Heav'n has made us as we are.” Yet, though we be unable to discover the particular reasons for this mode of our exiftence, we may be affured in general that it is right. For now, entering upon his argument, he lays down this evident propofition as the foundation of his Thefis, which he reasonably fuppofes will be allowed him, That, of all poffible fyftems, infinite wisdom hath formed the best. (Ver. 43, 44.) From whence he draws two confequences: 1. The firft, (from Ver. 44 to 51.) is, that as the best fyftem cannot but be fuch a one as hath no inconnected Void; NOTES. VER. 41. Or afk of yonder, &c.] On thefe lines M. Voltaire thus difcants." Pope dit que l'homme ne peut favoir pour"quoi les Lunes de Jupiter font moins grandes que Jupiter? "Il fe trompe en cela c'eft une erreur pardonable. Il n'y a "point de Mathematicien qui n'ent fait voir," &c. [Ver. 2. p. 384, Ed. Gen.] And fo goes on to fhew, like a great Mathematician as he is, that it would be very inconvenient for the Page to be as big as his Lord and Mafter. It is pity all this fine reasoning fhould proceed on a ridiculous blunder. The Poet thus reproves the impious complainer of the order of Providence. "You are diffatisfied with the weakness of your condition. But, in your fituation, the nature of things requires juft fuch a creature as you are in a different fituation it might have required, that you should be still weaker. And though you fee not the reafon of this in your own cafe; but, that reasons there are, you may fee in the case of other of God's creatures, 45 Where all muft full or not coherent be, COMMENTARY, 50 fuch a one in which there is a perfect coherence and gradual fubordination in all its parts; there muft needs be, in fome part or other of the fcale of reasoning life, fuch a creature as MAN: Which reduces the difpute to this abfurd question, Whether God has placed him wrong? VER. 51. Refpecting Man, &c.] It being fhewn that MAN, the Subject of this enquiry, has a neceffary place in fuch a NOTES. "Afk of thy mother Earth, why Oaks were made "Taller or stronger than the weeds they fhade. "Or afk of yonder argent fields above, "Why Jove's Satellites are lefs than Jove." Here the ridicule of the weeds' and the Satellites' complaint had they the faculties of fpeech and reasoning, (fays the Poet) is obvious to all; because their very fituation and office might have convinced them of their folly. Your folly, fays the Poet, to his complainers, is as great, though not fo evident, because the reason is more out of fight; but that a reason there is, may be demonftrated from the attributes of the Deity. This is the Poet's clear and strong reafoning; from whence, we fee, he was fo far from faying, that Man could not know the cause why Jove's Satellites were less than Jove, that all the force of his reafoning turns upon this, that Man did fee and know it, and fhould from thence conclude, that there was a cause of this inferiority as well in the rational, as in the irrational Creation. 55 In human works, tho' labour'd on with pain; COMMENTARY. 60 fyftem as this is confeffed to be; and it being evident, that the abuse of Free-will, from whence proceeds all moral evil, is the certain effect of such a creature's existence; the next queftion will be, How thefe evils can be accounted for, confiftently with the idea we have of God's moral attributes? Therefore, 2. The fecond confequence he draws from his principle, That of all poffible fiftems, infinite wisdom has formed the best, is, that whatever is wrong in our private fyftem, is right as relative to the whole : "Refpecting Man, whatever wrong we call, May, must be right, as relative to ALL." That it may, he proves (from Ver. 52 to 61.) by fhewing in what confifts the difference between the fyftematic works of God, and thofe of Man; viz. that, in the latter, a thousand movements scarce gain one purpose; in the former, one movement gains many purposes. So that "-Man, who here seems principal alone, "Perhaps acts jecond to fome fphere unknown." And acting thus, the appearance of wrong in the partial system may be right in the univerjal: For "Tis but part we fee, and not a whole." When the proud steed shall know why Man reftrains His fiery course, or drives him o'er the plains; When the dull Ox, why now he breaks the clod, Is now a victim, and now Ægypt's God: VARIATIONS. In the former Editions, Ver. 64. Now wears a garland an Ægyptian God. altered as above for the reafon given in the note. COMMENTARY. That it muff, the whole body of this epiftle is employed to illustrate and enforce. Thus partial Evil, is univerfal Good; and thus Providence is fairly acquitted. VER. 61. When the proud fleid, &c.] From all this the Poet draws a general conclufion (from Ver 60 to 91.) that, as what has been faid is fufficient to vindicate the ways of Providence. Man fhould reft fubmiffive and content; and own every thing to be difpofed for the beft; that to think of discovering the manner how God conducts this wonderful scheme to its comp'etion, is as abfurd as to imagine that the horse and ox fhall ever be able to comprehend why they undergo fuch different treatment in the hand of Man; nay, that fuch knowledge, if communicated, would be even ternicious, and make us neglect or defert our Duty here. This he illuftrates by the cafe of the lamb, which is happy in not knowing the fate that attends it from the NOTES. VER. 64.-Egypt's God.] Called fo, because the God Apis was worshipped univerfally over the whole land of Egypt. |