ous Encomium of Univerfal Charity to the Whim of calling every Thing, that he does or does not fee, right. HERE is another Method of freeing. But Fools the Good alone unhappy call, thefe Expreffions must be understood with fome Restrictions: A good Man does not become abfolutely unhappy by Adversity, he has fome Hopes of Happinefs still left, and tho' afflicted, yet fupports himself with Conftancy. WHEN we read, Verse, 97, &c. See FALKLAND dies, the Virtuous and the Juft! this Antithefis is fubtile, but not fatisfactory, for there are certain Cafes where Duty bids us expofe our Lives for the Sake Sake of our Country, and its lawful Governors. I AM at a Lofs to fatisfy myself upon the Senfe that ought to be given to the several Periods, which follow. Verfe 107, &c. What makes all Phyfical or Moral Ill? There deviates Nature, and here wanders Will. Phyfical and Moral Ill: Here he seems to enter again into the ordinary Stile. Here wanders Will: This too is another Thing that confirms this Syftem, and when Mr Pope fpeaks of the Deviations of Nature, he seems more clearly to abandon the Syftem of Fatality; for in this Syftem, where every thing inevitably follows the firft Impulfe, there can be no Deviation. God fends not Ill: Verfe 3. This is directly contrary to the System in which all the II, as well as the Good, arifes from the Univerfal Caufe. I Do not agree with him though that God fends no III, nor ever punishes Difobedience, if it were but to correct it. 'Tis Nature lets it fall, Or Change admits; and Man improves it all. I I do not understand this. Does Nature let it fall? Does Change admit it, without being directed by any Providence? Verfe 1159 We just as wifely might of Heav'n complain, Mr Pope does not feem to put Diftinction enough between two Cafes which are extremely oppofite. The Ills of the virtuous Son are not at all voluntary, with regard to him, neither was it by Design that his Father injur'd him: But what Cain did was a voluntary Action. However, Man is very far from having a Right to complain of Heaven for this, and demand a Reafon of it.. God thought fit to make Men free Creatures, and the ill Ufe which they make of their Liberty is no Reafon to him to revoke it; for if he deprived them of it the Moment, that he forefaw they might abuse it, this would be the fame Thing as if he had not given it to them at all: And the first would them Steps towards abufing it felves be an Abuse, as I have explain'd it elféwhere. Now, Man has no fort of Right to complain of what God has thought fit; this would be attacking his fovereign Liberty; he is not the Author of Moral Ill, it is Blafphemy to lay this to his Charge; but in Cafes where this Ill happens, those who fuffer by it are called to the Duty of Refignation. It is not fit that God fhould revoke what he has establish'd, whenever one Man might fuffer from it. I fee a great Talker and an impertinent Fellow coming towards me, I am certain that he will be troublefom; ought I to defire that God, for my Sake, fhould deftroy for ever, or at leaft for this Time, the Liberty of this Babler? And Mr Pope was in the right to fay, Verse 119, Think we like fome weak Prince th' Eternal Cause, Prone for his Fav'rites to reverse his Laws? THIS Period, however, muft not be abfolutely taken. The Duty of Prayer, which God allows us, and which he is fo gracious as even to order us, proves that there are Cafes in which he is willing to which he is accufed of. Though the Titles of the firft, third and fourth Epiftles are different, the System returns, and seems to make the principal Part of them. This, from time to time, gives me Difficulty, but, in the end, will furnish me with Means to juftify him. Ver. 147. But fometimes Virtue ftarves, while Vice is fed. What then? is the Reward of Virtue, Bread? This too is not answering the Difficulty, nor removing the Cause of Astonishment; 'tis rather answering like a Stoic, whofe Errors Mr Pope had before condemn'd, in these Expreffions, Ep. II. v. 91. In lazy Apathy let Stoics boaft. Has Mr Pope alter'd this Opinion? And does he pretend, with rhe Stoic, that Virtue is felf-sufficient, that it is even its own Reward, and that the Virtuous are happy when starving? THE Solution of this Difficulty is not eafy In the Leibnitzian System, where God is reprefented as the Author of every Thing, as well of the good Man's Virtue, who languishes in Want, as of the |