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THE

DESIGN.

HAVING propofed to write fome pieces on Hu

man Life and Manners, fuch as (to ufe my lord Bacon's expreffion come home to Mens Business and Bofoms, I thought it more fatisfactory to begin with conidering Man in the abstract, his Nature and his State; fince, to prove any moral duty, to enforce any moral precept, or to examine the perfection or imperfection. of any creature whatsoever, it is neceffary first to know what conditian and relation it is placed in, and what is the proper end and purpose of its being.

The science of human Nature is like all other fciences, reduced to a few clear points: there are not many sertain truths in this world. It is therefore in the Anatomy of the Mind as in that of the Body: more good will accrue to mankind by attending to the large, open, and perceptible parts, than by studying too much such finer nerves and veffels, the conformations and ufes of which will for ever escape our observation. The dif putes are all upon these last, and 1 will venture to say, they have lefs fharpened the wits then the hearts of men against each other, and have deminished the practice, more than advanced the theory of Morality. If I could Hatter myself that this Effay has any merit, it is in fteering betwixt the extremes of doctrines feemingly ppofite, in paffing over terms utterly unintelligible,

and in forming a temperate yet not inconfifient, and a fhort yet not imperfect fyftem of Ethics.

This I might have done in profe; but I chofe verse, and even rhyme, for two reafons. The one will appear obvious; that principles, maxims or precepts fo written, both strike the reader more ftrongly at first, and are more easily retained by him afterwards the other may feem odd, but it is true; I found I could express them more fhortly this way than in profe itfelf; and nothing is more certain, than that much of the force as well as grace of arguments or inftructions, depends on their concifenefs. I was unable to treat this part of my fubject more in detail, without becoming dry and tedious; or more poetically, without facrificing perfpicuity to ornament, without wandering from the precision, or breaking the chain of reasoning: if any man can unite all these without diminution of any of them, I freely confess he will compass a thing above my capacity.

What is now published, is only to be confidered as a general Map of MAN, marking out no more than the greater parts, their extent, their limits, and their connection, but leaving the particular to be more fully delineated in the charts which are to follow. Confequently, thefe Epiftles in their progrefs, (if I have health and leisure to make any progress) will be lefs dry, and more fufceptible of poetical ornament. I am here only opening the fountains, and clearing the paffage. To deduce the rivers, to follow them in their courfe, and to obferve their effects,may be a task more agreeable.

1

AN

ESSAY ON MAN,

I N

FOUR EPISTLES,

TO

H. St. JOHN, LORD BOLINGBROKE.

ARGUMENT OF

EPISTLE I.

Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to the UNIVERSE.

OF Man in the abstract.-I. That we can judge only with regard to our own fyftem, being ignorant of the relations of fyftems and things, ver. 17, etc.

11.

That man is not to be deemed imperfect, but a Being fuited to his place and rank in the creation, agreeable to the general Order of things, and conformable to Ends and Relations to him unknown, ver. 35, etc. III. That it is partly upon his ignorance of future events, and partly upon the hope of a future ftate, that all his happiness in the present depends, ver. 77, etc. IV. The pride of aiming at

more knowledge, and pretending to more Perfecti

on,

the caufe of Man's error and mifery. The impiety of putting himself in the place of GoD, and judging of the fitness or ur fitneis, perfection or imperfection, justice or injustice, of his difpenfations, ver. 109, etc. V. The alfurdity of conceiting himfelf the final caufe of the creation, or expecting that perfection in the moral world, which is not in the natural, ver. 131, etc. VI. The unreasonableness of his complaints against Providence, while on the one hand he demands the Perfections of the Angels, and on the other the bodily qualifications of the Brutes; though, to poffefs any of the fenfitive faculties in a higher degree, would render him miferable, ver. 173, etc. VII. That throughout the whole vifible world, an univerfal order and gradation in the fenfual and mental faculties is obferved, which caufes a fubordination of creature to creature, and of all creatures to Man. The gradations of fenfe, infine, thought, reflection, reafon; that Reafon alone countervails all the other faculties, ver. 207. VIII. How much further this order and fubordination of living creatures may extend, above and below us; were any part of which broken, not that part only, but the whole connected creation must be destroyed, ver. 233. IX. The extravagance, madnefs, and pride of fuch a defire, ver. 250. X. The confequence of all, the abfolute fubmiffion due to Providence, both as to our present and future state, ver. 281, etc. to the end.

AWAKE, my St. JOHN! leave all meaner things

To low ambition, and the pride of Kings.

Let us (fince Life can little more fupply
Than just to look about us, and to die)
Expatiate free o'er all this scene of Man;

A mighty maze! but not without a plan;
A Wild, where weeds and flow'rs promifcuous shoot;
Or Garden, tempting with forbidden fruit.
Together let us beat this ample field,

Try what the open, what the covert yield!
The latent tracts, the giddy heights, explore
Of all who blindly creep, or fightless foar;
Eye Nature's walks, shoot Folly as it flies,
And catch the Manners living as they rife:
Laugh where we must, be candid where we can;
But vindicate the ways of God to Man.

I. Say first, of GoD above, or Man below, What can we reafon but from what we know? Of Man, what fee we but his station here, From which to reafon, or to which refer? 'Thro' worlds unnumber'd tho' the GoD be known, "Tis ours to trace him only in our own.

He, who thro' vaft immenfity can pierce,
See worlds on worlds compofe one universe,
Obferve how system into fyftem runs,
What other planets circle other funs,
What vary'd Being peoples ev'ry star,
May tell why Heav'n has made us as we are.
But of this frame the bearings and the ties,
The strong connections, nice dependencies,

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