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Roaft him, or flea him, break him on the wheel,
Retract he will not, tho' he can't but feel:
Pain's not an ill, he utters with a groan;
What then? an inconvenience 'tis, he'll own.
What? vigour, health, and beauty? are thefe good?
No: they may be accepted, not pursued:
Abfurd to fquabble thus about a name,

Quibbling with diff'rent words, that mean the fame.
Stoic, were you not fram'd of flesh and blood,
You might be bleft without external good;
But know, be felf-fufficient as you can,

You are not spirit quite, but frail, and mortal man.
But fince thefe fages, fo abfurdly wife,
Vainly pretend enjoyments to despise,

Because externals, and in Fortune's pow'r,

Now mine, now thine, the bleffings of an hour;

Why value then, that firength of mind, they boast,
As often varying, and as quickly loft?

A head-ach hurts it, or a rainy day,

And a flow fever wipes it quite away.

b

See one whofe councils, one whofe conquʼring hand Once fav'd Britannia's almoft finking land:

Examples of the mind's extenfive pow'r,

Examples too how quickly fades that flow'r.

* Him let me add, whom late we saw excel In each politer kind of writing well;

* Lord Somers.

Duke of Marlborough.

• Dean Swift.

Whether

Whether he ftrove our follies to expofe
In easy verse, or droll and hum'rous profe;
Few years, alas! compel his throne to quit
This mighty monarch o'er the realms of wit,
See felf-furviving he's an ideot grown!

A melancholy proof our parts are not our own.
Thy tenets, Stoic, yet we may forgive,
If in a future ftate we cease to live.

For here the virtuous fuffer much, 'tis plain;
If pain is evil, this muft God arraign;
And on this principle confefs we must,
Pain can no evil be, or God must be unjust.

Blind man! whose reason fuch ftrait bounds confine,

That ere it touches truth's extremeft line,
It stops amaz'd, and quits the great design.
Own you not, Stoic, God is juft and true?
Dare to proceed; fecure this path pursue:
"Twill foon conduct you far beyond the tomb,
To future juftice, and a life to come.
This path you fay is hid in endless night,
'Tis felf-conceit alone obftructs your fight,
You ftop, ere half your destin'd course is run,
And triumph, when the conqueft is not won;
By this the Sophifts were of old misled :

See what a monftrous race from one mistake is bred!

Hear then my argument: confefs we must,

A God there is, fupremely wife and just :

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If fo, however things affect our fight,
As fings our bard, whatever is, is right.
But is it right, what here so oft appears,
That vice fhou'd triumph, virtue fink in tears?
The inference then, that closes this debate,
Is, that there must exist a future state.
The wife extending their enquiries wide
See how both ftates are by connection ty'd;
Fools view but part, and not the whole furvey,
So crowd existence all into a day.

Hence are they led to hope, but hope in vain,
That Juftice never will refume her reign;
On this vain hope adulterers, thieves rely,
And to this altar vile affaffins fly.

"But rules not God by general laws divine ?
"Man's vice, or virtues change not the defign."
What laws are thefe ? inftruct us if you can:
There's one defign'd for brutes, and one for man:
Another guides inactive matter's course,
Attracting, and attracted by its force:
Hence mutual gravity fubfifts between
Far diftant worlds, and ties the vaft machine.
The laws of life why need I call to mind,
Obey'd by birds, and beasts of ev'ry kind;
By all the fandy defart's favage brood,
And all the num'rous offspring of the flood;
Of these none uncontroul'd, and lawless rove,
But to fome deftin'd end spontaneous move.

Led

Led by that inftin&t, heav'n itself inspires,
Or fo much reason, as their state requires ;
See all with skill acquire their daily food,
All use those arms, which Nature has beftow'd';
Produce their tender progeny, and feed
With care parental, whilst that care they need;
In these lov'd offices compleatly bleft,
No hopes beyond them, nor vain fears moleft.
Man o'er a wider field extends his views;
God thro' the wonders of his works pursues,
Exploring thence his attributes, and laws,
Adores, loves, imitates th' Eternal Caufe;
For fure in nothing we approach fo nigh
The great example of divinity,
As in benevolence: the patriot's foul
Knows not felf-center'd for itself to roll,
But warms, enlightens, animates the whole :
Its mighty orb embraces firft his friends,
His country next, then man'; nor here it ends,
But to the meanest animal defcends.

Wife Nature has this focial law confirm'd,
By forming man fo helpless, and unarm'd;
His want of others' aid, and pow'r of speech
T' implore that aid, this leffon daily teach.
Mankind with other animals compare,
Single how weak, and impotent they are!
But view them in their complicated state,

Their pow'rs how wond'rous, and their ftrength how great,

F 2

When

When focial virtue individuals joins,

And in one folid mafs, like gravity combines!
This then's the first great law by Nature giv'n,
Stamp'd on our fouls, and ratify'd by Heav'n;
All from utility this law approve,

As ev'ry private bliss must spring from focial love.
Why deviate then fo many from this law?
See paffions, cuftom, vice, and folly draw!
Survey the rolling globe from East to West,
How few, alas! how very few are bleft?
Beneath the frozen poles, and burning line,
What poverty, and indolence combine,

To cloud with Error's mifts the human mind?
No trace of man, but in the form we find.

And are we free from error, and distress,

Whom Heav'n with clearer light has pleas'd to bless?
Whom true Religion leads? (for the but leads
By foft perfuafion, not by force proceeds ;)
Behold how we avoid this radiant fun!

This proffer'd guide how obftinately shun,
And after Sophistry's vain fyftems run!
For these as for effentials we engage
In wars, and maffacres, with holy rage;
Brothers by brothers' impious hands are flain,
Mistaken Zeal, how favage is thy reign!
Unpunish'd vices here so much abound,

All right, and wrong, all order they confound;

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