Think righteous Heav'n will its own Laws regard,

And punish those whom Juftice can't reward.

But if no Fiends in gloomy Darkness howl,
Nor Ghosts in airy Forms confefs the Soul:
If fulph'rous Lakes, and livid Fires below,
To Priests their Being, or to Statesmen owe;
If vain we hope a bright Expanse above,
Where Spirits riot in Excess of Love;
If after Death be Nothing, nothing Death,

But th' utmost Limits of a Gafp of Breath;

If these are all Dreams, Whimfies, and no more,
First made by Fear, and then enforc'd by Pow'r,
What Motive can reclaim the careless Boy?
He'll give a Loofe, and grafp the fleeting Joy;
Greedy indulge what Pleasures now invite,

And fnatch the present Moments of Delight.
But future Joys believ'd, or future Pain,

Will curb the wild Defire, and ev'ry Lust restrain.

To

To trace th' intelligible World, and find

Th' immortal Nature of an active Mind,

Is th' utmost Height, and most exalted View, That Reafon here can reach, or Thought purfue. To know our God, and know our felves, is all That we can Happiness or Wisdom call.

Juft Notions will into good Actions grow,
And to our Reafon we our Virtues owe:

Falfe Judgments are th' unhappy Source of Ill,
And blinded Error draws the paffive Will;

Deceiv'd by Show, we feldom think with Care,
While with falfe Beauty and affected Air,
Too often 'tis the Dress that makes the Fair;

But let not fpecious Errors foon betray,

Unmask the Cheat, and chace the Clouds away,

Long doubt, and oft reflect, and firm Allent

delay.

But

But ah! the Race of Life is eafy run,

While tedious Science is as yet begun ;

Thought muft the previous Strokes of Sense attend,

And huddled Images but flow afcend.

From earthy Dregs the circling Fogs arise,

And mifty Vapours skim before our Eyes;
The Soul is forc'd, while pent in darkfom Clay
To grope in Shades, and guess the doubtful

way:

Great is the Toil, but glorious is the Prize;
Who would not alway labour to be Wife?
Thus Heav'n decrees, and we must fearch to find,
Or wink for ever, be for ever blind.

Nor may we hence indulge a wild Conceit, And vainly hope to climb the utmoft Height; To view the inmoft Effences of things,

And Nature's hidden Laws, and fecret Springs:

She

She coyly hides, and fhifts her various Shapes,
Slips from th' Embrace, and ev'ry Eye escapes.
Knowledge has Bounds, that ftint th' unwilling Soul,
For finite Reason cannot grafp the Whole.
We fee enough t' employ the lab'ring Mind,
Nor may we fearch, what Heaven forbids to find.
Mark how the Orbs their finish'd Course renew,

Still move alike, and conftant Rules purfue.

Look up, and then conceive, how vaft, how bright, That inexhaufted Source of joyous Light!

Think, if the fluggish Earth be downward prest By its own Weight, and courts unactive Rest,

Th' unweary'd God to dayly Toil fucceeds,

And drives th' ætherial Stage, and guides the flying

Steeds;

While we, dull and unmov'd, fee all befide

Dance the fwift Round, and circle thro' the Void:

But

But if the Sun, fixt in his Central Throne,

Attracts the Planets, and commands alone,

He tunes the Sphères, and they harmonious found; Earth too becomes a Star, and keeps the conftant

Round,

But whate'er Syftem Fancy may approve,
Whether we like to reft, or chufe to move,

Th' Effect's the fame, and one Almighty Caufe
The Motion first began, and fix'd th' unerring Laws,

The Atomift may groundless Schemes pursue, T'explain the old World, or create a new; Well-pleas'd he may indulge his wandring Thoughts, And endless Voids conceive, and flying Motes; But let these roul long in the boundless Space,

Then meet, and form an indigested Mass,

If Motion thus with thoughtless Chance combine, And huddled Bodies clofe without Design,