An Essay on Man [14]
of themselves create
The according music of a well-mixed state.
Such is the world's great harmony, that springs
From order, union, full consent of things:
Where small and great, where weak and mighty, made
To serve, not suffer, strengthen, not invade;
More powerful each as needful to the rest,
And, in proportion as it blesses, blest;
Draw to one point, and to one centre bring
Beast, man, or angel, servant, lord, or king.
For forms of government let fools contest;
Whate'er is best administered is best:
For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight;
His can't be wrong whose life is in the right:
In faith and hope the world will disagree,
But all mankind's concern is charity:
All must be false that thwart this one great end;
And all of God, that bless mankind or mend.
Man, like the generous vine, supported lives;
The strength he gains is from the embrace he gives.
On their own axis as the planets run,
Yet make at once their circle round the sun;
So two consistent motions act the soul;
And one regards itself, and one the whole.
Thus God and Nature linked the general frame,
And bade self-love and social be the same.
ARGUMENT OF EPISTLE IV.
OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO HAPPINESS.
I. False Notions of Happiness, Philosophical and Popular, answered from
v.19 to 77.
II. It is the End of all Men, and attainable by all, v.30. God intends
Happiness to be equal; and to be so, it must be social, since all
particular Happiness depends on general, and since He governs by general,
not particular Laws, v.37. As it is necessary for Order, and the peace and
welfare of Society, that external goods should be unequal, Happiness is not
made to consist in these, v.51. But, notwithstanding that inequality, the
balance of Happiness among Mankind is kept even by Providence, by the two
Passions of Hope and Fear, v.70.
III. What the Happiness of Individuals is, as far as is consistent with
the constitution of this world; and that the good Man has here the
advantage, V.77. The error of imputing to Virtue what are only the
calamities of Nature or of Fortune, v.94.
IV. The folly of expecting that God should alter His general Laws in
favour of particulars, v.121.
V. That we are not judges who are good; but that, whoever they are, they
must be happiest, v.133, etc.
VI. That external goods are not the proper rewards, but often inconsistent
with, or destructive of Virtue, v.165. That even these can make no Man
happy without Virtue: Instanced in Riches, v.183. Honours, v.191.
Nobility, v.203. Greatness, v.215. Fame, v.235. Superior Talents, v.257,
etc. With pictures of human Infelicity in Men possessed of them all,
v.267, etc.
VII. That Virtue only constitutes a Happiness, whose object is universal,
and whose prospect eternal, v.307, etc. That the perfection of Virtue and
Happiness consists in a conformity to the Order of Providence here, and a
Resignation to it here and hereafter, v.326, etc.
EPISTLE IV.
Oh, happiness, our being's end and aim!
Good, pleasure, ease, content! whate'er thy name:
That something still which prompts the eternal sigh,
For which we bear to live, or dare to die,
Which still so near us, yet beyond us lies,
O'erlooked, seen double, by the fool, and wise.
Plant of celestial seed! if dropped below,
Say, in what mortal soil thou deign'st to grow?
Fair opening to some Court's propitious shine,
Or deep with diamonds in the flaming mine?
Twined with the wreaths Parnassian laurels yield,
Or reaped in iron harvests of the field?
Where grows?--where grows it not? If vain our toil,
We ought to blame the culture, not the soil:
Fixed to no spot is happiness sincere,
'Tis nowhere to be found, or everywhere;
'Tis never to be bought, but always free,
And fled from monarchs, St. John! dwells with thee.
Ask of the learned the way? The learned are blind;
This bids to serve, and that to shun mankind;
Some place the bliss in action, some in ease,
Those call it pleasure, and contentment these;
Some, sunk
The according music of a well-mixed state.
Such is the world's great harmony, that springs
From order, union, full consent of things:
Where small and great, where weak and mighty, made
To serve, not suffer, strengthen, not invade;
More powerful each as needful to the rest,
And, in proportion as it blesses, blest;
Draw to one point, and to one centre bring
Beast, man, or angel, servant, lord, or king.
For forms of government let fools contest;
Whate'er is best administered is best:
For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight;
His can't be wrong whose life is in the right:
In faith and hope the world will disagree,
But all mankind's concern is charity:
All must be false that thwart this one great end;
And all of God, that bless mankind or mend.
Man, like the generous vine, supported lives;
The strength he gains is from the embrace he gives.
On their own axis as the planets run,
Yet make at once their circle round the sun;
So two consistent motions act the soul;
And one regards itself, and one the whole.
Thus God and Nature linked the general frame,
And bade self-love and social be the same.
ARGUMENT OF EPISTLE IV.
OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO HAPPINESS.
I. False Notions of Happiness, Philosophical and Popular, answered from
v.19 to 77.
II. It is the End of all Men, and attainable by all, v.30. God intends
Happiness to be equal; and to be so, it must be social, since all
particular Happiness depends on general, and since He governs by general,
not particular Laws, v.37. As it is necessary for Order, and the peace and
welfare of Society, that external goods should be unequal, Happiness is not
made to consist in these, v.51. But, notwithstanding that inequality, the
balance of Happiness among Mankind is kept even by Providence, by the two
Passions of Hope and Fear, v.70.
III. What the Happiness of Individuals is, as far as is consistent with
the constitution of this world; and that the good Man has here the
advantage, V.77. The error of imputing to Virtue what are only the
calamities of Nature or of Fortune, v.94.
IV. The folly of expecting that God should alter His general Laws in
favour of particulars, v.121.
V. That we are not judges who are good; but that, whoever they are, they
must be happiest, v.133, etc.
VI. That external goods are not the proper rewards, but often inconsistent
with, or destructive of Virtue, v.165. That even these can make no Man
happy without Virtue: Instanced in Riches, v.183. Honours, v.191.
Nobility, v.203. Greatness, v.215. Fame, v.235. Superior Talents, v.257,
etc. With pictures of human Infelicity in Men possessed of them all,
v.267, etc.
VII. That Virtue only constitutes a Happiness, whose object is universal,
and whose prospect eternal, v.307, etc. That the perfection of Virtue and
Happiness consists in a conformity to the Order of Providence here, and a
Resignation to it here and hereafter, v.326, etc.
EPISTLE IV.
Oh, happiness, our being's end and aim!
Good, pleasure, ease, content! whate'er thy name:
That something still which prompts the eternal sigh,
For which we bear to live, or dare to die,
Which still so near us, yet beyond us lies,
O'erlooked, seen double, by the fool, and wise.
Plant of celestial seed! if dropped below,
Say, in what mortal soil thou deign'st to grow?
Fair opening to some Court's propitious shine,
Or deep with diamonds in the flaming mine?
Twined with the wreaths Parnassian laurels yield,
Or reaped in iron harvests of the field?
Where grows?--where grows it not? If vain our toil,
We ought to blame the culture, not the soil:
Fixed to no spot is happiness sincere,
'Tis nowhere to be found, or everywhere;
'Tis never to be bought, but always free,
And fled from monarchs, St. John! dwells with thee.
Ask of the learned the way? The learned are blind;
This bids to serve, and that to shun mankind;
Some place the bliss in action, some in ease,
Those call it pleasure, and contentment these;
Some, sunk