Yet gave me, in this dark Estate,
To fee the Good from Ill;
And binding Nature fast in Fate,
Left free the human Will.

What Confcience dictates to be done,
Or warns me not to do,

This, teach me more than hell to fhnn, That, more than heav'n purfue.' What Bleffings thy free Bounty gives, Let me not caft away;

For God is paid when Man receives:
T' enjoy is to obey.

Yet not to Earth's contracted Span
Thy Goodness let me bound,
Or think Thee Lord alone of Man,
When thoufand Worlds are round:

Let not this weak, unknowing hand
Prefume thy bolts to throw,
And deal damnation round the land,
On each I judge thy Foe.

If I am right, thy grace impart,
Still in the right to ftay::
If I am wrong, oh teach my heart.
To find that better way.

Save me alike from foolish Pride,
Or impious Discontent,

At aught thy Wisdom has deny'd,
Or aught thy Goodness lent.

Teach me to feel another's Woe,"
To hide the Fault I fee;
That Mercy I to others fhow,
That Mercy fhow to me.

Mean tho' I am, not wholly fo,
Since quick'ned by thy breath:
Oh lead me wherefoe'er I go,
Thro' this day's Life or Death.

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This day, be Bread and Peace my Lot
All elfe beneath the Sun,

Thou know'ft if beft beftow'd or not,
And let Thy Will be done.

To Thee, whofe Temple is all Space,
Whofe Altar, Earth, Sea, Skies!
One Chorus let all Being raise;
All Nature's Incenfe rife!

The DYING CHRISTIAN

TO HIS SOUL. An ODE.

VITA

I.

ITAL Ipark of heav'nly flame,
Quit, oh quit this mortal frame':
Trembling, hopeing, ling'ring, flying,
Oh the pain, the blifs of dying!
Ceafe, fond Nature, ceafe thy ftrife,
And let me languish into life.

II.

Hark! they whisper; Angels fay
Sifter Spirit, come away.

What is this abforbs me quite?
Steals my fenfes, fhuts my fight,

Drowns my fpirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my Soul, can this be Death?

III.

The world recedes, it disappears!
Heaven opens on my eyes! my ears
With founds feraphic ring:

I

I

Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly
O Grave! where is thy Victory?
O Death! where is thy Sting?

FINI S.

T

"Hunc cog

ER. 21. Thro' worlds unnumbered, &c.]"

fcimus folummodo per Proprietatas fuas & Attrita, & per fapientiffimas & optimas rerum ftructuras caufas finales. Newtoni Princ. Schol. fub fin.

ER. 87. Who fees with equal eye, &c.] Matth. x. 29. ER123 In Pride, &c.] Arnobius has paffed the cenfure on these very follies, which he supposes to from the cause here affigned" Nihil eft quod s fallat, nihil quod nobis polliceatur fpes caffas (id od nobis a quibufdam dicitur viris immoderata fui inione fublatis) animas immortales effe, Deo rerum principi, gradu proximas dignitatis, genitor illo ac re prolatas, divinas, fapientes, doctas, neque ulla poris attrectatione contiguas." Advertus gentes. R. 150. Then Nature deviates, &c.]" While comets ve in very eccentric orbs, in all manner of pofitions, d Fate could never make all the planets move one I the fame way in orbs concentric; fome inconfider- : e irregularities excepted, which may have arifen n the mutual actions of comets and planets upon one ther, and which will be apt to increafe, till this em wants a reformation." Sir Ifaac Newton's Optics, uti.

R. 169. But all fubfifts, &c.] See this fubject ex1 in EP. ii. from ver. 90 to 112, 155, &c. R. 174. And little less than Angel, &c.]" Thou haft e him a little lower than the Angels, and haft~ wned him with glory and honour." Pfalm viii. v. 9. R. 182. Here with degrees of swiftness, &c.] It is a axiom is the anatomy of creatures, that in pr as they are formed for ftrength, their fwiftnefs is 1; or, as they are formed for fwiftness, their h is abated.

213. The headlong lionefs] The manner of the unting their prey in the deferts of Africa is th ir firft going out in the night-time they fett -ar, and then liften to the noise made by the h.

n their flight, purfuing them by the ear, and not by he noftril. It is probable the ftory of the Jackal's hunting for the lion, was occafioned by an obfervation of his defect of fcent in that terrible animal.

Ver. 265. Just as abfurd, &c.] See the profecution and application of this in EP. iv.

VER. 266. The great directing Mind, &c.]" Veneramur autem et colimus ob dominium. Deus enim fine dominio, providentia, et caufis finalibus, nihil aliud eft quam Fatum & Natura.” Newtoni Princip. Schol. gener. fub finem.

The

VER. 45.-Vanity, or Drefs,] Shakespeare touches upon this latter advantage with great force and humour. Flatterer fays to Timon in diftress, "I cannot cover the "monftrous bulk of their ingratitude with any fize of "words." The other replies, "Let it go naked, men may fee't the better,"

'

VER. 133. As Man, perhaps, &c.]" Antipater Sido"nius Poeta omnibus annis uno die natali tantum corripiebatur febre, et eo confumptus eft, fatis longa fenecta." Plin. N. H. l. vii. Antipater lived in the times of Craffus, and was much admired by Cicero, for the quickness of his parts.

VER. 204. The God within the Mind.] A Platonic phrafe for Conscience.

VER. 286. And cach vacuity of fenfe by Pride:] A famous Cafuift, Father Francis Garaffe, has drawn a very charitable conclufion, in his Somme Theologique, from this principle. "Selon la juftice tout travail honnete doit étre recompenfe de louange ou de fatisfaction. Quand les bons efprits font un ouvrage excellent, ils "font juftement recompenfez par les fuffrages du Public. "Quand un pauvre efprit travaille beaucoup, pour faire "un mauvais ouvrage, il n'eft pas jufte, ni raisonable, "qu'il attende des louanges publiques, car elles ne lui "font pas dues. Mais afin que fes travaux ne demeu"rent pas fans recompenfe, Dieu lui donne une fatis"faction perfonelle, que perfonne ne lui peut envier fans un injuftice plus que barbare; tout ainfi que

Dieu

Dieu, qui eft jufte, donne de la fatisfaction aux Grenouilles de leur chant. Autrement la blame public, joint à leur mecontentement, feroit fuffifant pour les « réduire au desespoir."

VER. 22. One all-extending, all-preferving foul According to the language of Sir Ifaac Newton, is thus," Deus omnipræfeus eft, non per virtutem folam, fed etiam per substantiam: nam virtus fine fubftantia subsistere non "poteft." Newt. Princ. fchol. gen. fub fin.

VER. 45. See all things for my ufe!] On the contrary the wife man hath faid, The Lord hath made all things for himfelf. Prov. xvi. 4.

VER. 68. Then favour'd man, &c.] Several of the Ancients, and many of the Orientals fince, esteemed those who were ftruck by lightning as facred perfons, and the particular favourites of Heaven.

VER 156. All vocal beings, &c.] This is finely explained by the following fublime paffage of the pialmifi: Praise the Lord, all his ang; praife him, all ye hofts. Praise ye him, fun and moon; praise him, all ye ftars of light. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded, and they were created. "Praife the Lord, from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps; fire and hail, fnow and vapour, ftormy wind fulfilling his word: Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars: Beafts and all Cattle, creeping things and flying fowl: Kings of the earth, and all People; Princes, and all judges of the earth. Let them praise the name of the Lord; for his name alone "is excellent, his glory is above the earth and heaven." · Pfalm cxlviii.

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VER. 177. Learn of the little Nautilus] Oppian Halieut, lib. i. defcribes this fifh in the following manner: They fwim on the furface of the fea, on the back of their fhells, which exactly refemble the hulk of a fhip; they raise two feet like mats, and extend a membrane between, which ferves as a fail; the other two feet they employ as oars at the fide. They are ufually feen in the Mediterranean."

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