An essay on man: In epistles to a friend.

AN ESSAY on MAN. EPISTLE III. Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to Society.

The Whole Universe one System of Society, VER. 7, &c. No|thing is made wholly for itself, nor yet wholly for Another, 27. The Happiness of Animals mutual, 53. Reason or In|stinct operate alike to the Good of each Individual, 83. Rea|son or Instinct operate to Society, in all Animals, 109. How far Society carry'd by Instinct, 119. How much farther by Reason, 131. Of that which is called the STATE of NA|TURE, 149. Reason instructed by Instinct in the Invention of Arts, 169. and in the Forms of Society, 179. Origin of Political Societies, 199. Origin of Monarchy 211. Patriar|chal Government, 215. Origin of True Religion and Govern|ment; from the same Principle, of Love, 226, &c. Origin of Superstition and Tyranny; from the same Principle, of Fear, 241, &c. The Influence of Self-Love operating to the Social and Publick Good, 269. Restoration of true Religion and Go|vernment on their first Principle, 285. Mixt Government, 289. Various Forms of each, and the True End of All, 303, &c.

LEARN Dulness, learn! "The Universal Cause "Acts to one End, but acts by various Laws." In all the Madness of superfluous Health, The Trim of Pride, and Impudence of Wealth,

Let that great Truth be present Night and Day; But most be present, if thou preach, or pray.

View thy own World: Behold the Chain of Love Combining all below, and all above. See, lifeless Matter moving to one End, The single Atoms each to other tend, Attract, attracted to, the next in place, By Nature form'd its Neighbour to embrace. Behold it next, with various Life endu'd, Press to one Centre still, the Gen'ral Good. See dying Vegetables Life sustain, See Life dissolving vegetate again. All Forms that perish other Forms supply, By turns they 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 all Being, greatest with the least; Made Beast in aid of Man, and Man of Beast: Each serv'd, and serving; nothing stands alone; The Chain holds on, and where it ends, unknown!

Has God, thou Fool! work'd solely for thy Good, Thy Joy, thy Pastime, thy Attire, thy Food? Who for thy Table seeds the wanton Fawn, For him, as kindly, spreads the flow'ry Lawn. Is it for thee the Lark ascends and fings? Joy tunes his Voice, Joy elevates his Wings:

Is it for thee the Linnet pours his Throat? 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 strows 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 plows not, nor obeys thy Call, Lives on the Labours of this Lord of All.

Know, Nature's Children all divide her Care; The Furr 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: What care to tend, to lodge, to cram, to treat him, All this he knew; but not that 'twas to eat him.

As far as Goose could judge, he reason'd right: But as to Man, mistook the Matter quite: And just as short of Reason, Man will 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 feels, another Creature's Wants and Woes. 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 Pleasure, 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. The favour'd Man, by Touch ethereal slain, Not less foresees the Stroke, or feels the Pain. 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.

Whether with Reason, or with Instinct blest, Know, all enjoy that Pow'r which suits 'em best, To Bliss alike, by that Direction, tend, And find the Means proportion'd to their End.

Say, where full Instinct 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, 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 Tydes or Tempests 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? Who bid the Stork, Columbus-like explore Heav'ns not his own, and Worlds unknown before? Who calls the Council, states the certain Day. Who forms the Phalanx, and who points the Way?

GOD, in the Nature of each Being, founds Its proper Bliss, and sets its proper Bounds: But as he fram'd a Whole, the Whole to bless On mutual Wants built mutual Happiness: So from the first, Eternal Order ran, And Creature link'd to Creature, Man to Man.

hate'er of Life all-quickening Aether keeps, Or breathes thro' Air, or shoots beneath the Deeps, Or pours profuse on Earth; one Nature feeds The vital Flame, and swells the genial Seeds. Not Man alone, but all that roam the Wood, Or wing the Sky, or roll along the Flood, Each loves Itself, but not itself alone, Each Sex desires alike, till two or one: Nor ends the Pleasure with the fierce Embrace; All love themselves, a third time, in their Race. The Beast, the Bird, their common Charge attend, The Mothers nurse it, and the Sires defend; The young dismiss'd to wander Earth or Air, There stops the Instinct, and there ends the Care, The Link dissolves, each seeks a fresh Embrace, Another Love succeeds, another Race. A longer Care Man's helpless Kind demands; That longer Care contracts more lasting Bands: Reflection, Reason, still the Ties improve, At once extend the Int'rest, and the Love: With Choice We fix, with Sympathy we burn, Each Virtue in each Passion takes its turn; And still new Needs, new Helps, new Habits rise, That graft Benevolence on Charities, From private Sparkles raise the gen'ral Flame, And bid Self-Love and Social be the same. Thus as one Brood, and as another rose, These nat'ral Love maintain'd, habitual those; The last, scarce ripen'd into perfect Man, Saw helpless him from whom their Life began:

Mem'ry and Forecast just Returns engage, That pointed back to Youth, this on to Age; While Pleasure, Gratitude and Hope, combin'd, Still spread the Int'rest, and preserv'd the Kind.

Nor think in Nature's State they blindly trod; The State of NATURE was the Reign of GOD: Self-Love and Social at her Birth began, UNION, the Bond of all Things, and of Man. Pride then was not; nor Arts, that Pride to aid; Man walk'd with Beast joint Tenant of the Shade; The same his Table, and the same his Bed, No Murder cloath'd him, and no Murder fed. In the same Temple, the resounding Wood, All Vocal Beings hymn'd their equal God: The Shrine with Gore unstain'd, with Gold undrest, Unbrib'd, unbloody, stood the blameless Priest: Heav'n's Attribute was universal Care, And Man's Prerogative to rule, but spare. Ah how unlike the Man of Times to come! Of half that live, the Butcher, and the Tomb; Who, Foe to Nature, hears the gen'ral Groan, Murders their Species, and betrays his own. But just Disease to Luxury succeeds, And ev'ry Death its own Avenger breeds; The Fury-Passions from that Blood began, And turn'd on Man a fiercer Savage, Man.

See him from Nature rising slow to Art? To copy Instinct, then, was Reason's Part;

Thus then to Man the Voice of Nature spake— Go! from the Creatures thy Instructions take; Learn from the Birds what Food the Thickets yield; Learn from the Beasts the Physick of the Field: Thy Arts of Building from the Bee receive; Learn of the Mole to plow, the Worm to weave; Learn of the little * 1.1 Nautilus to sail, Spread the thin Oar, and catch the driving Gale. Here too all Forms of social Union find, And hence let Reason, late, instruct Mankind: Here Subterranean Works and Cities see, There Towns aereal on the waving Tree. Learn each small People's Genius, Policies; The Ants Republic, and the Realm of Bees; How those in common all their Stores bestow, And Anarchy without Confusion know, And these for ever, tho' a Monarch reign, Their sep'rate Cells and Properties maintain. Mark what unvary'd Laws preserve their State, Laws wise as Nature, and as fix'd as Fate. In vain thy Reason finer Webs shall draw. Entangle Justice in her Net of Law, And Right too rigid harden into Wrong, Still for the Strong too weak, the Weak too strong. Yet Go! and thus o'er all the Creatures sway, Thus let the Wiser make the rest obey, Who for those Arts they learnt of Brutes before, As Kings shall crown them, or as Gods adore.

Great Nature spoke; observant Men obey'd; Cities were built, Societies were made: Here rose one little State: Another near Grew by like means, and join'd, thro' Love or Fear. Did here the Trees with ruddier Burdens bend, And there the Streams in purer Rills descend? What War could ravish, Commerce could bestow, And he return'd a Friend, who came a Foe. Thus States were form'd, the Name of King unknown, 'Till common Int'rest plac'd the Sway in One. Then VIRTUE ONLY (or in Arts or Arms, Diffusing Blessings, or averting Harms) The same which in a Sire the Sons obey'd, A Prince the Father of a People made.

'Till then, by Nature crown'd, each Patriarch sate King, Priest, and Parent of his growing State: On him, their second Providence they hung, Their Law, his Eye; their Oracle, his Tongue. He, from the wond'ring Furrow call'd their Food, Taught to command the Fire, controul the Flood, Draw forth the Monsters of th' Abyss profound, Or fetch th' Aereal Eagle to the Ground. 'Till drooping, sick'ning, dying, they began Whom they rever'd as God, to mourn as Man. Then, looking up from Sire to Sire, explor'd One Great, First Father, and that first ador'd. Or plain Tradition, that this All begun, Convey'd unbroken Faith from Sire to Son,

The Workman from the Work distinct was known, And simple Reason never sought but One: Ere Wit oblique had broke that steady Light, Man, like his Maker, saw, that all was right, To Virtue in the Paths of Pleasure trod, And own'd a Father, when he own'd a God. LOVE all the Faith, and all th' Allegiance then; For Nature knew no Right Divine in Men, No Ill could fear in God; and understood A Sov'reign Being but a Sov'reign Good. True Faith, true Policy, united ran, That was but Love of God, and this of Man.

Who first taught Souls enslav'd, and Realms undone Th' enormous Faith of Many made for One? That proud Exception to all Nature's Laws, T' invert the World, and counter-work its Cause? Force first made Conquest, and that Conquest Law; 'Till Superstition taught the Tyrant Awe, Then shar'd the Tyranny, and lent it Aid, And Gods of Conqu'rors, Slaves of Subjects made: She, 'midst the Lightning's Blaze, and Thunder's Sound When rock'd the Mountains, and when groan'd the Ground. She taught the Weak to bend, the Proud to pray To Pow'r unseen, and mightier far than they. She, from the rending Earth and bursting Skies, Saw Gods descend, and Fiends infernal rise, Here fix'd the dreadful, there the blest Abodes; Fear made her Devils, and weak Hope her Gods:

Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust, Whose Attributes were Rage, Revenge, or Lust: Such as the Souls of Cowards might conceive, And form'd like Tyrants, Tyrants would believe. Zeal then, not Charity, became the Guide, And Hell was built on Spite, and Heav'n on Pride. Then sacred seem'd th' ethereal Vault no more; Altars grew Marble then, and reek'd with Gore: Then first the Flamen tasted living Food; Next his grim Idol smear'd with human Blood; With Heav'n's own Thunder shook the World below, And play'd the God an Engine on his Foe.

So drives Self-Love, thro' Just, and thro' Unjust, To One Man's Pow'r, Ambition, Lucre, Lust: The same Self-Love, in All, becomes the Cause Of what restrains him, Government and Laws. For what one likes, if others like as well, What serves one Will when many Wills rebel? How shall he keep, what sleeping or awake A Weaker may surprise, a stronger take? His Safety must his Liberty restrain; All join to guard what each desires to gain. Forc'd into Virtue thus by Self-Defence, Ev'n Kings learn'd Justice and Benevolence: Self-Love forsook the Path it first pursu'd, And found the private in the publick Good.

'Twas then, the studious Head or gen'rous Mind, Follow'r of God, or Friend of Humankind,

Poet or Patriot, rose, but to restore The Faith and Moral Nature gave before; Re-lum'd her ancient Light, not kindled new; If not God's Image, yet his Shadow drew; Taught Pow'r's due Use to People and to Kings, Taught, not to slack, nor strain, its tender strings; The Less, and Greater, set so justly true, That touching one, must strike the other too, And jarring Int'rests of themselves create Th' according Musick of a well-mix'd State. Such is the WORLD's great Harmony, that springs From Union, Order, full Consent of Things! Where Small and Great, where Weak and Mighty, made To serve, not suffer, strengthen, not invade, More pow'rful 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 administred, is best: For Modes of Faith let graceless Zealots fight; His can't be wrong whose Life is in the right. All must be false, that thwart this One Great End, And all of God, that bless Mankind, or mend.

Man, like the gen'rous Vine, supported lives, The Strength he gains is from th' 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 link'd the gen'ral Frame, And bade Self-Love and Social be the same.

The End of the Third EPISTLE.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Vide Oppian. Halient. lib. 1.