fuch Paffages as these : Ask for what End the heav'nly Bodies shine, &c. And again : Has God, thou Fool! work'd folely for thy Good, &c. But in Truth this is fo far from a Contradiction to what was faid before of Man's Prerogative, that it is a Confirmation of it, and of what the Scripture tells us concerning it. And because this Matter has been mistaken, to the Discredit of the Poet's religious Sentiments, by Readers, whom the Conduct of certain licentious Writers, treating this Subject in an abufive Way, hath rendered jealous and mistrustful, I fhall endeavour to explain it. Scripture fays, that Man was made Lord of All. But this Lord, become, at length, intoxicated with Pride, the common Effect of Sovereignty, erected himself, like particular Monarchs, into a Tyrant. And as Tyranny confifts in suppofing all made for the Use of one; he took those Freedoms with all, that are consequent on such a Principle. He foon began to confider the whole Animal Creation as his Slaves, rather than his Subjects; as being created for no Ufe of their own, but for his only; and therefore used them with the utmost Barbarity: And not fo content; to add Infult to his Cruelty, he endeavoured to philosophise himself into an Opinion, that Animals were mere Machines, infenfible of Pain or Pleasure. And thus, as Mr. Pope fays, Man affected to be the Wit, as well well as Tyrant of the Whole. Our Commentator can tell us what deep Philofopher it was that invented this witty System, and by the Affiftance of what METHOD fo wonderful a Discovery was brought to Light. It became then one who adhered to the Scripture Account of Man's Dominion, to reprove this Abuse of it, and to fhew that, Heav'n's Attribute was univerfal Care, And Man's Prerogative to rule, BUT SPARE. The poetical Translator, has turned the Words, to Man's imperial Race, by Jufqu'à l'Homme, ce Chef, ce Roy de l'Univers! Even to Man, this Head, this King of the Universe. Which is fo fad a Blunder, that it contradicts Mr. Pope's whole System. Who, altho' he allows Man to be King of this inferior World, is far from thinking him King of the Universe. If the System itself could not teach him this, yet methinks the following Lines of this very Epistle might: So Man, who here feems Principal alone, 1.57 If the Tranflator imagined Mr. Pope was here fpeaking ironically, where he talks of Man's impe • Grant that the Pow'rful ftill the Weak controul, P Mr. l'Abbé du Refnel. Ep. iii. 54. rial rial Race, and fo would heighten the Ridicule by ce Roy de l'Univers, the Mistake is still worfe; the Force of the Argument depending upon its being faid feriously. For the Poet is speaking of a Scale, from the highest to the loweft, in the Mundane System. But now we come to the famous Passage which is to fix the Charge: All are but Parts of one ftupendous Whole, On which our Examiner blind to the Light of Reafon, as well as deaf to the Charms of Harmony,- A Spinozist (fays he) would express himfelf in this Manner. I believe he would, and fo would St. Paul too, writing on the fame Subject, namely, the Omniprefence of God in his Provi Examen de l'Efai. dence, dence, and in his Subftance. In him we live and move and have our Being; i. e. we are Parts of him, bis Offspring, as the Greek Poet, a Pantheist, quoted by the Apoftle, obferves: And the Reafon is, because a religious Theift, and an impious Pantheift, both profefs to believe the Omniprefence of God. But would Spinoza, as Mr. Pope does, call God the great directing Mind of all, who hath intentionally created a perfect Univerfe?" Or would Mr. Pope, like Spinoza, fay there is but one univerfal Subftance in the Universe, and that blind too? We know Spinoza would not fay the firft; and we ought not to think Mr. Pope would fay the latter, because he fays the direct contrary throughout the Poem. Now it is this latter only that is Spinozifm. But this fublime Defcription of the Godhead contains not only the Divinity of St. Paul; but, if that will not fatisfy, the Philofophy likewise of Sir Ifaac Newton. The Poet fays, All are but Parts of one ftupendous Whole, Whole Body Nature is, and God the Soul. The Philofopher, "Deus omnipræfens eft, non For in him we live and move, and have our Being; as certain alfo of your own Poets have faid, For we are alfo his Offspring. Acts xvii. 28. For that is the Meaning of All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee; All Chance, Direction which thou canst not fee. 't per Virtutem folam, fed etiam per SUBSTAN"TIAM: nam Virtus fine Substantia subsistere non " potest "? cr c Mr. Pope, That, chang'd thro' all, and yet in all the fame, Great in the Earth as in th'Etherial Frame, Warms in the Sun, refreshes in the Breeze, Glows in the Stars, and bloffoms in the Trees, Lives thro' all Life, extends thro' all Extent, Spreads undivided, operates unfpent. - Sir I. Newton,-" In ipfo continentur et moven«tur univerfa, fed abfque mutua paffione. Deus "nihil patitur ex corporum motibus; illa nullam «fentiunt refiftentiam ex Omni-præfentia Dei.« Corpore omni et figura corporea deftituitur "" "Omnia regit et omnia cognofcit.-Cum unaquæ66 que fpatii particula fit femper, et unumquodque « Durationis indivifibile momentum, ubique, certe << rerum omnium Fabricator ac Dominus non ❝erit nunquam, nufquam*" Mr. Pope, Breaths 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 fmall; He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. Sir I. Newton,-" Annon ex Phænomenis con t Newtoni Principia Schol. gener. fub finem. « ftat |