I. Say first, of God above, or Man below, What can we reason, but from what we know? Of Man, what see we but his station here, From which to reason, or to which refer? COMMENTARY. 20 Ver. 17. Say first, of God above, or Man below, &c.] The poet having declared his subject; his end of writing; and the quality of his adversaries; proceeds (from ver. 16 to 23) to instruct us, from whence he intends to draw his arguments; namely, from the visible things of God in this system, to demonstrate the invisible things of God, his eternal Power and Godhead. And why? Because we can reason only from what we know; and as we know no more of Man than what we see of his station here, so we know no more of God than what we see of his dispensations in this station; being able to trace him no further than to the limits of our own system. This naturally leads the poet to exprobrate the miserable folly and impiety of pretending to pry into, and call in question, the profound dispensations of Providence: which reproof contains (from ver. 22 to 43) a sublime description of the omniscience of God, and the miserable blindness and presumption of Man. NOTES. and that its crimes are so flagitious, that the most candid have seldom an opportunity, on this subject, to exercise their virtue. Warburton. Ver. 16. VINDICATE the ways of God to Man.] Milton's phrase, judiciously altered, who says, JUSTIFY the ways of God to Man. Milton was addressing himself to BELIEVERS, and delivering reasons or explaining the ways of God; this idea, the word justify precisely conveys. Pope was addressing himself to UNBELIEVERS, and exposing such of their objections whose ridicule and absurdity arises from the judicial blindness of the objectors; he, therefore, more fitly employs the word VINDICATE, which conveys the idea of a confutation attended with punishment. Thus, suscipere vindictam Legis, to undertake the defence of the law, implies punishing the violators of it. Warburton. Ver. 19, 20. Of Man, what see we but his station here,. From which to reason, or to which refer ?] The sense is, " we see nothing of Man but as he stands at present Through worlds unnumber'd tho' the God be known, May tell why Heav'n has made us as we are. NOTES. 25 30 in his station here; from which station, all our reasonings on his nature and end must be drawn; and to this station they must all be referred." The consequence is, that our reasonings on his nature and end must needs be very imperfect. Warburton. Ver. 21. Through worlds unnumber'd, &c.] Hunc cognoscimus solummodo per proprietates suas et attributa, et per sapientissimas et optimas rerum structuras et causas finales. Newtoni Princ. Schol. gen. sub fin. Warburton. Ver. 29. But of this frame, the bearings] The whole doctrine of Plato is contained in this one short sentence: Μέρος μὲν ἔνεκα ὁλε, καὶ ἐχ ̓ ὅλον ἔνεκα μέρες απεργάζεται. See a very fine passage in A. Gellius, lib. vi. cap. 1. containing the opinion of Chrysippus on the origin of evil. Warton. Ver. 30. The strong connections, nice dependencies,] The thought is very noble, and expressed with great beauty and philosophic exactness. The system of the Universe is a combination of natural and moral fitnesses, as the human system is of body and spirit. By the strong connections, therefore, the poet alluded to the natural part; and by the nice dependencies, to the moral. For the Essay on Man is not a system of NATURALISM, on the philosophy of Bolingbroke, but a system of NATURAL RELIGION, on the philosophy of Newton. Hence it is, that where he supposes disorders may tend to some greater good in the natural world, he supposes they may tend likewise to some greater good in the moral, as appears from these sublime images in the following lines: "If Gradations just, has thy pervading soul Look'd through? or can a part contain the whole? 35 Why form'd so weak, so little, and so blind? Why Jove's Satellites are less than Jove. NOTES. "If plagues and earthquakes break not Heav'n's design, Why then a Borgia or a Catiline? Who knows, but he whose hand the lightning forms, Who heaves old ocean, and who wings the storms, Pours fierce ambition in a Cæsar's mind, Or turns young Ammon loose to scourge mankind ?” Warburton. Ver. 31. has thy pervading soul] The reader will perhaps remember some of the sublime apostrophes in Job: "Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? and hast thou walked in the search of the depth? Have the gates of death been opened unto thee, or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? Declare, if thou knowest it all! Bowles. Ver. 35 to 42.] In these lines the Poet has joined the beauty of argumentation to the sublimity of thought; where the similar instances, proposed for his adversaries' examination, shew as well the absurdity of their complaints against Order, as the fruitlessness of their inquiries into the arcana of the Godhead. Warburton. Ver. 41. Or ask of yonder, &c.] On these lines M. Voltaire thus descants: "Pope dit que l'homme ne peut savoir pourquoi les Of systems possible, if 'tis confess'd That Wisdom infinite must form the best, COMMENTARY. Ver. 43. Of systems possible, &c.] So far the Poet's modest and sober Introduction; in which he truly observes, that no wisdom less than omniscient "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 existence, we may be assured in general that it is right. For now, entering upon his argument, he lays down this evident proposition as the foundation of his Thesis, which he reasonably supposes will be allowed him, That, of all possible systems, infinite NOTES. les Lunes de Jupiter sont moins grandes que Jupiter. Il se trompe en cela ; c'est une erreur pardonable. Il n'y a point de Mathématicien qui n'eût fait voir," &c. [Vol. ii. p. 384. Ed. Gen.] And so goes on to shew, like a great mathematician as he is, that it would be very inconvenient for the Page to be as big as his Lord and Master. It is pity all this fine reasoning should proceed on a ridiculous blunder. The Poet thus reproves the impious complainer of the order of Providence: You are dissatisfied with the weakness of your condition. But, in your situation, the nature of things requires just such a creature as you are: in a different situation, it might have required that you should be still weaker. And though you see not the reason of this in your own case, yet, that reasons there are, you may see in the case of other of God's creatures: "Ask of thy mother Earth, why oaks are made Why Jove's Satellites are less than Jove." Here (says the Poet) the ridicule of the weeds' and the Satellites' complaint, had they the faculties of speech and reasoning, would be obvious to all; because their very situation and office might have convinced them of their folly. Your folly, says the Poet to his complainers, is as great, though not so evident, because the reason is more out of sight; but that a reason there is, may be demonstrated VOL. V. Ꭰ 45 Where all must full or not coherent be, Respecting Man, whatever wrong we call, May, must be right, as relative to all. COMMENTARY. 50 infinite wisdom hath formed the best. Ver. 43, 44. From whence he draws two consequences: 1. The first (from ver. 44 to 51.) is, that as the best system cannot but be such a one as hath no unconnected void; such a one in which there is a perfect coherence and gradual subordination in all its parts; there must needs be, in some part or other of the scale of reasoning life, such a creature as MAN: which reduces the dispute to this absurd question, Whether God has placed him wrong? Ver. 51. Respecting Man, &c.] It being shewn that MAN, the subject of this inquiry, has a necessary place in such a system as this is confessed to be; and it being evident, that the abuse of Freewill, from whence proceeds all moral evil, is the certain effect of such a creature's existence; the next question will be, How these evils can be accounted for, consistently with the idea we have of God's moral attributes? Therefore, 2. The second consequence he draws from his principle, That of all possible systems, infinite Wisdom has formed the best, is, that whatever is wrong in our private system, is right as relative to the whole : 66 Respecting Man, whatever wrong we call, NOTES. 39 That demonstrated from the attributes of the Deity. This is the Poet's clear and strong reasoning; from whence, we see, he was so far from saying, that Man could not know the cause why Jove's Satellites were less than Jove, that all the force of his reasoning turns upon this, that Man did see and know it, and should from thence conclude, that there was a cause of this inferiority as well in the rational, as in the material creation. Warburton. |