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And middle natures, how they long to join,
Yet never pass the insuperable line!
Without this just gradation, could they be
Subjected, these to those, or all to thee?
The powers of all subdued by thee alone,
Is not thy reason all these powers in one ?*

VIII. See, through this air, this ocean, and this earth,
All matter quick, and bursting into birth.
Above, how high progressive life may go!
Around, how wide! how deep extend below!
Vast chain of being! which from God began,
Natures ethereal, human, angel, man,
Beast, bird, fish, insect, what no man can see,
No glass can reach; from infinite to thee;
From thee to nothing.-On superior powers
Were we to press, inferior might on ours;
Or in the full creation leave a void,

Where, one step broken, the great scale's destroyed:
From nature's chain, whatever link you strike,
Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.

And, if each system in gradation roll,

Alike essential to the amazing whole;

The least confusion but in one, not all
That system only, but the whole, must fall.
Let earth unbalanc'd, from her orbit fly,
Planets and suns run lawless through the sky;
Let ruling angels from their spheres be hurl'd,
Being on being wreck'd, and world on world;
Heav'n's whole foundations to their center nod,
And nature trembles to the throne of God.

All this dread order break-For whom? For thee?
Vile worm! O madness! pride! impiety!

IX. What if the foot, ordain'd the dust to tread,
Or hand, to toil, aspir'd to be the head?
What if the head, the eye, or ear, repin'd
To serve mere engines to the ruling mind?

* Phrenology is the only means by which a line may be drawn between instinct and reason. Animals have only the instinct manifested through the perceptive faculties; man has the same, with reason added-the reflective faculties-and in addition to these he has moral sentiments--denied to all animals-which make him a religious being, allied to angels and to God. Man may be said to have a brain like a house three stories high, corresponding with the kitchen, drawing-room, and chambers; while the animal has a brain with but a single story, and that only a basement. See "New Physiognomy" for a comprehensive article on this subject.

Just as absurd, for any part to claim
To be another in this general frame;
Just as absurd, to mourn the task or pains,
The great directing MIND of ALL ordains.

All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body nature is, and God the soul;
That, chang'd through all, and yet in all the same,
Great in the earth, as in the ethereal frame;
Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees;
Lives through all life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent,

Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part,

As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart;

As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns,
As the rapt seraph that adores and burns;
To him, no high, no low, no great, no small;
He fills, he bounds, connects and equals all.

X. Cease then, nor ORDER Imperfection name;
Our proper bliss depends on what we blame.
Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree
Of blindness, weakness, Heaven bestows on thee.
Submit. In this, or any other sphere,
Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear;
Safe in the hand of one disposing power,

Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.

All nature is but art, unknown to thee;

All chance, direction which thou canst not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;

All partial evil, universal good.

And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite,
One truth is clear, "Whatever IS, is RIGHT.' 11%

*"Whatever Is, is RIGHT," is true in the abstract, or in relation to the laws by which God governs the universe. War is an evil in itself, but good may grow out of it. Disease is made a warning against dissipation and improper living, and by some is regarded as remedial. Thunder-storms and earthquakes are counted evils, but who can prove that they are not blessings in disguise? If we would not quarrel with Providence, we must accept the statement, that, "Whatever is, is RIGHT."

Epistle H.

F THE NATURE AND, STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO HIMSELF AS AN INDIVIDUAL.-The business of man, to study himself. His middle nature; his powers and frailties, and his capacity. The two principles of man, self-love and reason, both necessary; self-love the stronger, and why; their end the same. The passions, and their use. The predominant passion, and its force. Its tendency in directing men to different purposes. Its providential use, in fixing our principle and ascertaining our virtue. Virtue and vice joined in our mixed nature; the limits near, yet the things separate and evident. What is the office of reason. How odious vice in itself, and how we deceive ourselves into it. That, however, the ends of Providence and general good are answered in our passions and imperfections. How usefully they are distributed to all orders of men. How useful they are to society and to individuals in every state, and in every age of life.

I. KNOW then thyself, presume

not God to scan;

[graphic]

The proper study of mankind is

Man.

Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,

A being darkly wise and rudely

great;

With too much knowledge for the
skeptic side,

With too much weakness for the
Stoic's pride,

He hangs between; in doubt to act

or rest;

In doubt to deem himself a God or

beast;

In doubt his mind or body to pre-
fer;

Born but to die, and reasoning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little or too much;
Chaos of thought and passion, all confused;
Still by himself abused or disabused;
Created half to rise, 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, jest, and riddle of the world!)

Go, wondrous creature! mount where science guides;
Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides;

Instruct the planets in what orbs to run,
Correct old time, and regulate the sun;
Go, soar with Plato to the empyreal sphere,
To the first good, first perfect, and first fair;
Or tread the mazy round his followers trod,
And quitting sense call imitating God;
As Eastern priests in giddy circles run,
And turn their heads to imitate the sun.
Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule!
Then drop into thyself, and be a fool!
Superior beings, when of late they saw
A mortal man unfold all nature's law,
Admired such wisdom in an earthly shape,
And showed a NEWTON, as we show an ape.
Could he, who rules the rapid comet, bind,
Describe, or fix one movement of his mind?
Who saw its fires here rise, and there descend,
Explain his own beginning or his end?
Alas, what wonder! man's superior part
Unchecked may rise, and climb from art to art;
But when his own great work is but begun,
What reason weaves, by passion is undone.
Trace science then, with modesty thy guide;
First strip off all her equipage of pride;
Deduct what is but vanity or dress,

Or learning's luxury, or idleness;

Or tricks to show the strength of human brain,
Mere curious pleasure, or ingenious pain?
Expunge the whole, or lop the excrescent parts

Of all our vices have created arts;

Then see how little the remaining sum,

Which served the past, and must the times to come!
II. Two principles in human nature reign;
Self-love to urge, and reason 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 still,

Ascribe all good, to their improper, ill.

Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul;
Reason'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.

Most strength the moving principle requires;
Active its task, it prompts, impels, inspires.
Sedate and quiet the comparing lies,

Form'd but to check, deliberate, and advise.
Self-love, still stronger, as its object's nigh;
Reason's at distance, and in prospect lie;
That sees immediate good by present sense;
Reason, the future and the consequence.
Thicker than arguments, temptations throng,
At best, more watchful this, but that more strong.
The action of the stronger to suspend,
Reason still use, to reason still attend.

Attention habit and experience gains;

Each strengthens reason, and self-love restrains.

Let subtle schoolmen teach these friends to fight,
More studious to divide, than to unite;

And grace and virtue, sense and reason split,
With all the rash dexterity of wit.*

Wits, just like fools, at war about a name,
Have full as oft no meaning, or the same.
Self-love and reason to one end aspire,
Pain their aversion, pleasure their desire;
But greedy that, its object would devour,
This, taste the honey, and not wound the flow'r.
Pleasure, or wrong or rightly understood,

Our greatest evil, or our greatest good.

III. Modes of self-love the passions we may call;

'Tis real good, or seeming, moves them all:

But since not every good we can divide,
And reason bids us for our own provide;

Passions, though selfish, if their means be fair,

List under reason, and deserve her care;

Those, that imparted, court a nobler aim,
Exalt their kind, and take some virtue's name.
In lazy apathy let Stoics boast

Their virtue fix'd: 'tis fix'd as in a frost;

* Sectarian animosity more frequently grows out of Combativeness and Comparison, than Benevolence, Veneration, or Conscientiousness. If love of truth were the aim and end of discussion, there would be no acrimony, no ill-temper in it, but only kindness. A true Christian will be more zealous for the right and the good of mankind, than for the success of self, a party, or a sect.

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