In doubt, his Mind or Body to prefer,
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in Ignorance, his Reason fuch,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much.
Chaos of Thought and Paffion, all confus'd;
Still by himself abus'd, or dif-abus'd;
Created half to rife, 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, Jeft, and Riddle, of the World!
Go wondrous Creature! mount where Science guides,
Go measure Earth, weigh Air,' and state the Tides,
Inftruct the Planets in what Orbs to run,
Correct old Time, and regulate the Sun.
Go foar with Plato to th' empyreal Sphere,
To the first Good, first Perfect, and first Fair;
Or tread the mazy round his Follow'rs trod,
And quitting Senfe call Imitating God, in legnica A
As Eastern Priests in giddy Circles run, ez du if
And turn their heads to imitate the Sun.
Go, teach Eternal Wifdom how to rule;
Then drop into Thy-felf, and be a Fool!
Superior Beings, when of late they faw
A mortal Man unfold all Nature's Law,
Admir'd fuch Wisdom in an earthly Shape,
And fhow'd a NEWTON as we fhow an Ape.
Could He who taught each Planet where to roll,
Defcribe, or fix, one Movement of the Soul?
Who mark'd their Points, to rife, and to defcend,
Explain his own Beginning, or his End?:
Alas what wonder!- Man's fuperior Part
Uncheck'd may rise, and climb from Art to Art;
But when his own great Work is but begun,
What Reason weaves, by Paffion is undone.
Two Principles in Human Nature reign; Self-Love, to urge; and Reafon, to restrain; Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call, Each works its end, to move, or govern all : And to their proper Operation ftili
Afcribe all Good; to their improper, Ill.
Self-Love, the Spring of Motion, acts the Soul; Reafon's comparing Balance rules the whole; Man, but for that; no Action could attend,
And but for this, were active to no End.
Fix'd like a Plant on his peculiar Spot,
To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot;
Or Meteor-like flame lawless through the Void,
Destroying others, by himself destroy'd.
Moft Strength the moving Principle requires,
Active its Task, it prompts, impels, infpires:
Sedate and quiet the comparing lies,
Form❜d but to check, delib'rate, and advise.
Self-Love still stronger, as its Objects nigh;
Reafon's at 'distance and in profpect lye;
That fees immediate Good, by prefent Senfe,
Reason, the future, and the confequence;
Thicker than Arguments, Temptations throng,
At best more watchful this, but that more ftrong.
The Action of the stronger to fufpend,
Reason still use, to Reafon ftill attend:
Attention, Habit and Experience gains,
Each strengthens Reafon and Self-Love restrains.
Let fubtile Schoolmen teach thefe Friends to fight,
More ftudious to divide, than to unite,
And Grace and Virtue, Senfe and Reafon fplit,
With all the rash Dexterity of Wit.
Wits, just like Fools, at War about a Name,
Have full as oft, no Meaning, or the fame.
Self-Love and Reafon to one End aspire,
Pain their Averfion, Pleafure their Defire;
But greedy that its Object would devour,
This tafte the Honey, and not wound the Flower.
Pleasure, or wrong or rightly understood,
Our greatest Evil, or our greatest Good.
Modes of Self-Love, the PASSIONS we may call;
'Tis real Good, or feeming, moves them all :
But fince not every Good we can divide,
And Reafon bids us for our own provide;
Paffions tho' felfish, if their Means be fair,
Lift under Reason, and deserve her Care:
Those that imparted, court a nobler Aim,
Exalt their Kind, and take fome Virtue's Name.
In lazy Apathy let Stoics boast
Their Virtue fix'd, 'tis fix'd as in a Froft,
Contracted all, retiring to the Breast ;
But Strength of Mind is Exercife, not Reft:
The rifing Tempest puts in act the Soul,
Parts it may ravage, but preferves the whole.
C
On Life's vaft Ocean diverfely we fail,
Reafon the Card, but Paffion is the Gale:
Nor God alone in the ftill Calm we find!
He mounts the Storm, and walks upon the Wind.
Paffions, like Elements, tho' born to fight,
Yet mix'd and foften'd, in His Work unite:
Thefe, 'tis enough to temper and employ,
But what compofes Man, can Man deftroy?
Suffice that Reafon keep to Nature's Road,
Subject, compound them, follow her, and Gop..
Love, Hope, and Joy, fair Pleasure's smiling Train,
Hate, Fear, and Grief, the Family of Pain;
These mix'd with Art, and to due Bounds confin'd,
Make, and maintain, the Balance of the Mind:
The Lights and Shades, whofe well-accorded Strife
Gives all the Strength and Colour of our Life.
Pleasures are ever in our Hands or Eyes,
And when in Act they cease, in Prospect rife;
Present to grafp, and future ftill to find,
The whole Employ of Body and of Mind.
All spread their Charms, but charm not all alike ;
On diff'rent Senfes diff'rent Objects ftrike:
|