An Essay on Man - Pope (1751).pdf/27

Exported from Wikisource on July 24, 2024

EPISTLE I.

11

All are but parts of one stupendous whole,

Whose body nature is and GOD the soul;

That chang'd thro' all, and yet in all the same,

Great in the earth as in the ethereal frame,    270

Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,

Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,

Lives thro' all life, extends thro' all extent,

Spreads undivided, operates unspent,

Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part,    275

As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart;

As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns,

As the rapt seraph that adores and burns;

To him no high, no low, no great, no small;

He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all,    280

CEASE then, nor order imperfection name;

Our proper bliss depends on what we blame.

Know thy own point; this kind, this due degree

Of blindness, weakness, heav'n bestows on thee.

Submit.———In this, or any other sphere,    285

Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear:

Safe in the hand of one disposing pow'r,

Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.

All nature is but art unknown to thee;

All chance direction, which thou canst not see;    290

All discord harmony not understood;

All partial evil universal good;

And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite,

One truth is clear, 'Whatever is, is right.'

EPISTLE

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Table of Contents

Title page

An Essay on Man - Pope (1751).pdf/27

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