to fet it in Competition with those which are read in our Proteftant Churches under that Name, the' it be impoffible that any fet Form of Words fhould deferve the Name of univerfal, feeing it cannot be fuited to all States, the Mind requires different Expreffions under different Influences and Habits, nor can be tied down to one Set of Thoughts and Words, even under the fame Habits and Influence: But let us proceed to fee how Mr. Pope himself ftands, or imagines himself to ftand with relation to the Deity. He infcribes it:

DEO OPT. MAX.

FATHER of all in every Age,

In every Clime ador'd,

By Saint, by Savage, and by Sage,
Jehovah! Jove! or Lord!

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In these first four Lines he firft acknowledges him to be the Creator of all, who has always fomehow or another, either with or without the publick Forms, been worshipped by all the habitable Earth in all Ages, that thofe we have called Pagan, or even barbarous, have agreed in paying Adoration to a fupreme Being, it making little Difference what Name they have called him by, for Jove is Jehovah and the Lord.

Thou first great Cause, least understood,
Who all my Senfe confin'd,

To know but this, that thou art good,
And that myself am blind:

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

Thou first great Caufe! is here only a Repetition of Father of all! and is spoke in Admiration, not from any conceiv'd Idea, because, though he knows that the infinite Creator of all Things must be good, yet he does not pretend to say that he fees it, but confeffes himself to be blind, yet not with fuch a total Blindness as to prevent his feeing his own Good from Ill l; as to what he fays of Nature being bound fast in Fate and yet the human Will free, it wants a little Explanation, infinuating, that the human Will was not included when Nature was spoke of; but to proceed,

What Confcience dictates to be done,
Or wants me not to do ;

This teach me more than Hell to shun,
That more than Heav'n pursue,

This Refolution of being govern'd by the Confcience, is the best can be made, for that is what Mr. Pope in his Essay on Man, has called the God within the Mind; the Approbation or Condemnation of Men alter not the Good and Evil here, 'tis within I ftand acquitted or condemn'd to myself, this well confider'd makes it appear the ftranger, that_any Man (for all feel they have their Accufer and Judge within their Mind) fhould want to force the Conscience of another, or strive to do it, knowing how vain an Attempt it is, and that thofe Things are only right which Confience dictates to be done, and thofe Things (tho' others appearing to be good Men do them) carefully to be avoided which fhe warns me not to do:

What Bleffings thy free Bounty gives,

Let me not cast away;

For God is paid when Man receives,
To enjoy is to obey.

This is good Doctrine against all the unnatural Abftinencies of affected People, who pretend to mortify themselves, by not fatisfying the Calls of Nature in a temperate Manner, which is Wickedness, for the great Abundance given, is doubtlefs with Defign that the Creatures fhould be refresh'd and fuftain'd, that fo the Animal Spirits may be kept up, and the Chearfulness of the Heart, and then, as Milton fays, the great Giver would be better thanked, not in fuch long Fafts as fome Monks and Mysticks ufe, that fo frequently bring on Faintings, which have too often been mistaken by the poor Creatures for Extafy, and when after another fhort Faft, a little Food has lull'd them to fleep, then they dream that they fee Vifions. This Mr. Pope wholly oppofes, when he fays, that when Man receives, God's Defign is answer'd in giving, and to enjoy it is not only beft for us as to our Pleasure, but it is our Duty and a Proof of our Obedience :

Yet not to Earth's contracted Span,

Thy Goodness let me bound,

Or think thee Lord alone of Man

When thousand Worlds are round.

That is, at the fame Time that we confider the Dei-
ty difpenfing of Good to us, we fhould contemplate
further, and look on him as ruling the whole Uni-
verfe; thousands of Worlds, and perhaps thousands
of thousands, by this Means filling our Minds as
much as we poffibly may, with an Idea of his Great-
nefs, and the Greatnefs of his Power:

Let not this weak unknowing Hand
Presume thy Bolts to throw,

And deal Damnation round the Land
On each I judge thy Foe.

Here

Here he reproaches thofe wicked Zealots who are for anathematizing all thofe who move not in their narrow Crcles, and thundering Curfes fhocking to the Ears of human Charity, on Men moft Times remarkable for their Goodness and Purity of Life, whereas thefe folemn and affuming Interdictors, are generally Perfons of moft tainted Converfation and lewd Practices, proud, cruel, felfish, Profaners of Vows, full of Voluptuoufness, Gluttony, and its beastly Attendants, yet these are they who pretend to direct the Aim of the Almighty, and impudently pronounce in his Name, Sentences which are fo far from being his Dictate or Command, that they fhew themselves to be the Effects of meer Malice of iniquitous Men, fupported by a Power unjustly affum'd:

If I am right, oh teach my Heart

Still in the Right to stay ;

If I am wrong, thy Grace impart to find that beetter Way!

This is Humiliation; firft, a Fear left he should not be in the Right, and then a Supplication for Knowledge to find a better Way, if he is indeed in the Wrong; this Knowledge he has been pleas'd to call Grace, whereas all the Favours we receive, our very Being, our rational Faculties and Powers, may all be called by the fame Name, it being thro' the Grace of the infinite Deity that we have receiv'd them but Mr. Pope has not here diftinguifh'd whether he fupplicates for a fupernatural Grace, or only that he may fo ufe the Grace receiv'd by Nature, as to find a better Path, if there might be a better for him to walk in, neither can I fee why Grace is not as much requir'd to preferve a Man in the Continuation of good Works, as to begin them, more efpecially, if it be fo that we of ourfelves do nothing good,

good, this allow'd, would make all Actions done in the Freedom of the human Will not good; but they must have the Affiftance of Grace, or the holy Spirit, before they can be fo:

Save me alike from foolish Pride,
Or impious Difcontent

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

As there are Abundance of good Things, which, ás Mr. Pope here expreffes, are lent us, (for they are only fo) it fhould not make us proud, for Pride is Folly; where the moft Perfection is, there is the leaft Pride, and where all Perfection is, there is none at all: The Satisfaction arising from the Consciousness of Wisdom or Virtue, is a natural Complacency in the Mind; but Pride is a Pain; even to the very Soul it puffs up, befides that, we are fo far from having Motives to be proud, that every Minute of our Life carries Teaching enough with it to make us humble, and as nothing we poffefs fhould elevate us, or make us too full of ourselves, fo nothing withheld from us, fhould we wifh to know or enjoy, much lefs difquiet ourselves, or grow impioufly dif contented, but with Patience, Thankfulnefs, and Humility, receive the Bleffings Providence has fcen fit to hand to us:

Teach me to feel another's Woe;

To hide the Fault I fee;
That Mercy I to others fhow,
That Mercy fhow to me.

Thefe Lines exprefs a very great and extenfive Charity, many would have afked for Power to relicve the Diftreffes and Woes of others; but knowing that the greatest Motive to Compaffion is feeling the like

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