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Of the Nature and State of Man with

respect to Society.

THE ARGUMENT.

I. THE whole universe one system of society, v. 7. &c. Nothing made wholly for itself, nor yet wholly for another, v. 27. The happiness of animals mutual, v. 49. II. Reason or instinct operate alike to the good of each individual, v. 79. Reason or instinct operate also to society in all animals, v. 99. III. How far society carried by instinct, v. 109; how much farther by reason, v. 128. IV. Of that which is called the State of Nature, v. 147. Reason instructed by instinct in the invention of arts, v. 166; and in the forms of Society, v. 176. V. Origin of political Societies, v. 199; origin of monarchy, v. 207; Patriarchal government, v. 212. VI. Origin of true religion and government, from the same principle of love, v. 215, &c. origin of superstition and tyranny, from the same principle of fear, v. 237, &c. The influence of self-love operating to the social and public good, v. 266. Restoration of true religion and government on their first principle, v. 285. Mixed government, v. 288. Various forms of each, and the true end of all, v. 300, &c.

HERE then we rest: The Universal Cause "Acts to one end, but acts by various laws." In all the madness of superfluous health,

The train of pride, the impudence of wealth,
Let this great truth be present night and day,
But most be present if we preach or pray.

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I. Look round cur world; behold the chain of love Combining all below and all above.

See plastic Nature working to this end,
The single atoms each to other tend;

Attract, attracted to, the next in place

Form'd and impell'd its neighbour to embrace.
See matter next, with various life endu❜d,

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Press to one centre still, the genʼral good:
See dying vegetables life sustain,

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See life dissolving vegetate again.

All forms that perish other forms supply,
(By turns we catch the vital breath, and die ;)
Like bubbles on the sea of matter borne,
They rise, they break, and to that sea return.
Nothing is foreign; parts relate to whole;
One all-extending, all-preserving, soul
Connects each being, greatest with the least,
Made beast an aid of Man, and Man of beast;
All serv'd, all-serving; nothing stands alone; ·
The chain holds on, and where it ends unknown.
VOL. III.

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Has God, thou fool! work'd solely for thy good,
Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food?
Who for thy table feeds the wanton fawn,

For him as kindly spread the flow'ry lawn.
Is it for thee the lark ascends and sings?
Joy tunes his voice, joy elevates his wings.
Is it for thee the linnet pours his troat?
Loves of his own and raptures swell the note.
The bounding steed you pompously bestride

Shares with his lord the pleasure and the pride.
Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain?
The birds of heav'n shall vindicate their grain.
Thine the full harvest of the golden year?
Part pays, and justly, the deserving steer.
The hog that ploughs not, nor obeys thy call,
Lives on the labours of this Lord of all.

Know Nature's children all divide her care;
The fur that warms a monarch warm'd a bear.
While Man exclaims, "See all things for my use!
"See Man for mine!" replies a pamper'd goose.
And just as short of reason he must fall
Who thinks all made for one,not one for all.
Grant that the pow'rful still the weak controul;
Be Man the wit and tyrant of the whole :
Nature that tyrant checks; he only knows
And helps another creature's wants and woes.

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Say, will the falcon, stooping from above,
Smit with her varying plumage, spare the dove?
Admires the jay the insect's gilded wings?
Or hears the hawk when Philomela sings?

Man cares for all: to birds he gives his woods,
To beasts his pastures, and to fish his floods;
For some his int'rest prompts him to provide,
For more his pleasures, yet for more his pride:
All feed on one vain patron, and enjoy

Th' extensive blessing of his luxury.
That very life his learned hunger craves,
He saves from famine, from the savage saves :
Nay, feasts the animal he dooms his feast,
And till he ends the being makes it blest;
Which sees no more the stroke, or feels the pain,
Than favour'd Man by touch ethereal slain.
The creature had his feast of life before;
Thou, too, must perish when thy feast is o'er !

To each unthinking being Heav'n, a friend,
Gives not the useless knowledge of its end :
To man imparts it, but with such a view
As, while he dreads it, makes him hope it too:
The hour conceal'd, and so remote the fear,
Death still draws nearer, never seeming near.
Great standing miracle! that Heav'n assign'd
Its only thinking thing this turn of mind.

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II. Whether with reason or with instinct blest,

Know all enjoy that pow'r which suits them best; 80
To bliss alike by that direction tend,

And find the means proportion'd to their end.
Say where full instinst is th'unerring guide,
What pope or council can they need beside?
Reason, however able, cool at best,

Cares not for service, or but serves when prest,
Stays till we call, and then not often near,
But honest instinct comes a volunteer;
Sure never to o'ershoot, but just to hit,

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While still too wide or short is human wit;

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Sure by quick Nature happiness to gain,
Which heavier reason labours at in vain.
This, too, serves always; reason never long;
One must go right, the other may go wrong.
See then the acting and comparing pow'rs
One in their nature, which are two in ours;
And reason raise o'er instinct as you can,
In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis Man.

Who taught the nations of the field and wood
To shun their poison, and to chuse their food?
Prescient, the tides or tempest to withstand,
Build on the wave, or arch beneath the sand?
Who made the spider parallels design,
Sure as De Moivre, without rule or line?

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