Pure uncorrupted Element I breath,. By pure uncorrupted Element is meant the refined intelletual Entertainments of the Divine Life, which are abftracted from all Corporeal Allays. Hovai Tai jaure, as Plato is I think obferv'd to call them, thofe Pleafures which are proper to Man as fuch. By grofs Atmosphere is meant the more droffy Gratifications of the Animal Life, which comes as fhort in Purity of the Divine, as the thick Atmofphere does of the pure Æther. No fteams of Earth can here retard thy flight, &c. The thing intended in the whole Stanza is to infinuate the great Facility and Pleafure of the Divine Life to one that is arrived to an Habit of it. For as the Magnetick Influence of the Earth can have no Force upon him that is placed in the upper Regions, beyond the Sphere of its Activity, fo (which is the Counterpart of the Allegory) the inclinations of the Animal Nature have little or no Power over him, who has advanc'd to the Heights of habitual Contemplation. He looks down upon, and obferves the Tumults of his Senfitive Appetite, but no way fympathizes with it; He views the Troubled Sea, but with the Unconcerned nefs of a Stander by, not as one that Sails in it. His Soul tho in Conjunction with his Body is yet above the reach of its Gufts and Relishes, and from her Serene Station at once fees and finiles at its little Complacencies. As Lucan fays of the Soul of Pompey, when advanced to the Ethereal Regions. Illic poftquam fe lumine vero Implevit, ftellafque vagas miratur, & astra And here I cannot chufe but take notice of a Difficulty which is very incident to the bufinefs in Hand,and wherewith I my felf was once very much perplex'd when I first applied my Thoughts to Moral Contemplations. 'Tis in fhort this, we have a receiv'd Axiom that the Difficulty of the Performance Commends the Merit of a good Acti on. Now if fo, it feems to follow that he who by a long habitual Courfe of Piety and Virtue has made his Duty eafie and natural to himself, will be lefs perfect than a nother who does hardly abstain from Vice, or than himfelf before the Acquifition of that Habit. And then that Fyrearea which Ariftotle in his Ethics makes only a Semivirtue, because of the Difficulty of its Performance, will for that very Reafon become Virtus Heroica, and if fo, to make a Progrefs in Virtue will involve a Contradiction. This I confefs appear'd to me in no inconfiderable Intricacy, when it firft occur'd to my Thoughts, and I could not prefently unwind my felf from it. But in anfwer to it I confider, 1ft. That when the Difficulty of the Performance is faid to commend the Action, 'tis not fo to be understood as if Difficulty did in it felf, as an Ingredient, add any Moment to the Excellency of a Man's Virtue, but only that 'tis a fign of it à pofteriori. Becaufe were not a Man endow'd with fuch a Degree of Virtue, he would not be able to conquer the fuppos'd Difficulty. So that if a Man has a flock of Refolution fufficient to conquer fuch a Difficulty, his Virtue is the fame, tho he never be ingaged in it. For all the Virtue is abfolv'd in the Degree of Refolution, the Difficulty is only a Sign or Indication of it. And upon this Confideration 'tis that thofe whom Nature has befriended with fuch an 'Euquía or happy Conftitution, as carries with it little or no Temptation to Vice may yet be accounted Virtuous, because their Refolution to Virtue may be fo firm and peremptory, that they would adhere to it notwithstanding any Oppofition. 2ly. I confider that we are to diftinguifh of a twofold Difficulty. ft. There is a Difficulty which arifes from the Nature of the Work it felf. And 2ly. There is a Difficulty which arifes from the Difpofition of the Agent. Now 'tis not this later Difficulty that commends the excellency of Virtue, but only the former, which is no way diminish'd by the Habit. For after the Induction of the Habit, the Work remains the fame in its own Na ture, ture, which it was before; the only Change is in the Agent, who by his Habit is render'd more expedite and ready for the Performance of what is good. But as for the later Difficulty which proceeds from the Agent himfelf, that is fo far from commending the Worth of any good Action, that it derogates much from its Commendation. 'Tis eafinefs of Performance that here gives the value. He that abftains from fenfual Pleafures with great Abhorrency, and has fet himfelf at a wide distance from it, difcovers more and has more of a Virtuous Refolution, than he whofe Mind ftands almoft in an Equipoife, and does but juft abftain. For fince we become Virtuous by a right Application of our Wills, the excellency of our Virtues must be measured by the greater or less Strength of our Refolutions. And confequently, he who by a strong Habit has made his Virtue moft natural. and eafe to him, is arrived to the greatest Perfection. Drawn by the bent of the Ethereal Tide; This is in Allufion to the Cartefian Hypothefis of Vortices or Whirl-pools of fubtile Marter. The Myftic Senfe is this, that the higher a Seraphic Soul advances in the Contemplation of the Supreme Good, the fironger he will find its Attractions. I know it well, it is my Native home. This Verfe with the whole Stanza proceeds upon the Platonic Hypothefis of Pre-existence. I fhall not here difpute the Problem. Those that defire to be fatisfied concerning it, I refer to the Works of that Oracle of profound Wisdom and Learning, the Excellent Dr. More, to an ingenious Treatife called Lux Orientalis, and to the Account of Origen. In the mean while I hope the moft rigid maintainer of Orthodoxy will allow me the Liberty of alluding to it as an Hypothefis, if not, I'm fure the Laws of Poetry will. My Bufinefs here was to imitate Nature, and to reprefent how a Soul would be affected in fuch a Cafe, fuppofing it true: Which I think Í have not done amifs. For fo the Ingenious Platonift Boethius, Huc Huc te fi reducem referat via, 'Tis one immenfe and ever-flowing Light. My Business was here to give a Compendious Defcription of God. Now among all the Representations we have of him, I thought none fo agreeable to the Genius of Poetry as a fenfible One, and of all thofe I could not find a better in all the Inventory of the Creation, than this of Light. I fhall not here endeavour a Parallel; It may fuffice to fay, that the Representation is warranted by Authority, both Humane and Divine. The School of Plato reprefents God under the fimilitude of Light, or Lucid Fountain; for that I fuppofe, Boethius may be prefumed to mean by his Fons Boni Lucidus. And Holy Scripture goes further, and fays in exprefs Terms, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all, John 1.5. The CURIOSITY. I. Nhappy State of Mortals here below, Whom unkind Heaven does infpire With fuch a conftant, strong defire, When they've fuch flender Faculties to know! And yet we not Content to bear the Pain Of thirst unquencht and fruitless Love, With one more Curfe our ills improve, And Toil and Drudge for what we ne're can gain. II. With what ftrange Frenzy are we all poffeft, Not the Enjoyment only, but our Reft! We We taken with the fpecious Shew, With Pains dig in the flattering Mine But all alafs in vain, Truth lies more low. III. The greatest Knowledge we can ever gain From Studying Nature, Books, or Men, But envious Death shuts up our Eyes, Could I among the nobler Spirits find One that would lay afide his State, That fuddainly I might inrich my Mind; And (not as now) ftill labour on and dye. W The 114 Pfalm Paraphrafed. I. Hen conquer'd by the Plagues of Moses Rod Ifrael the chofen Family of God. Among them dwelt the Holy One, Juda his Sanctuary, and Ifrael was his Throne. II. The Sea beheld this Scene, and did admire, They faw, and fled the dreadful Guide of Fire. And Jordan too divided stood, (Flood! The Priests the facred Ark bore through the yielding E III. Mount |