Our only contest, what deserves the name. Give Pleasure's name to nought, but what has pass'd Th' authentic seal of Reason (which like Yorke,[49] 1030 Demurs on what it passes), and defies The tooth of time; when past, a pleasure still; Dearer on trial, lovelier for its age, 1033 And doubly to be prized, as it promotes Our future, while it forms our present, joy. Some joys the future overcast; and some Throw all their beams that way, and gild the tomb. Some joys endear eternity; some give Abhorr'd annihilation dreadful charms. Are rival joys contending for thy choice? 1040 Consult thy whole existence, and be safe; That oracle will put all doubt to flight. Short is the lesson, though my lecture long; Be good--and let Heaven answer for the rest. Yet, with a sigh o'er all mankind, I grant In this our day of proof, our land of hope, The good man has his clouds that intervene; Clouds, that obscure his sublunary day, But never conquer: even the best must own, Patience, and resignation, are the pillars 1050 Of human peace on earth. The pillars, these: But those of Seth not more remote from thee, Till this heroic lesson thou hast learn'd; To frown at pleasure, and to smile in pain. Fired at the prospect of unclouded bliss, Heaven in reversion, like the sun, as yet Beneath th' horizon, cheers us in this world; It sheds, on souls susceptible of light, The glorious dawn of our eternal day. "This (says Lorenzo) is a fair harangue: 1060 But can harangues blow back strong nature's stream; Or stem the tide Heaven pushes through our veins, Which sweeps away man's impotent resolves, And lays his labour level with the world?" Themselves men make their comment on mankind; And think nought is, but what they find at home: Thus, weakness to chimera turns the truth. 1067 Nothing romantic has the Muse prescribed. Above,[50] Lorenzo saw the man of earth, The mortal man; and wretched was the sight. To balance that, to comfort, and exalt, Now see the man immortal: him, I mean, Who lives as such; whose heart, full bent on heaven, Leans all that way, his bias to the stars. The world's dark shades, in contrast set, shall raise His lustre more; though bright, without a foil: Observe his awful portrait, and admire; Nor stop at wonder; imitate, and live. Some angel guide my pencil, while I draw, What nothing less than angel can exceed! 1080 A man on earth devoted to the skies; Like ships in sea, while in, above the world. With aspect mild, and elevated eye, Behold him seated on a mount serene, Above the fogs of sense, and passion's storm; All the black cares, and tumults, of this life, Like harmless thunders, breaking at his feet, Excite his pity, not impair his peace.