Say first, of God above, or man below
What can we reason but from what we know?
Of man, what see we but his station,
From which to reason, or to which refer?
Through worlds unnumbered though the God be known,
‘Tis ours to trace him only in our own.
He who through vast immensity can pierce,
See worlds on worlds compose one universe,
Observe how system into system runs,
What other planets circle other suns,
What varied being peoples every star,
May tell why Heaven has made us as we are.
But of this frame the bearing and the ties,
The strong connections, nice dependencies,
Gradations just, has thy pervading soul
Looked through? or can a part contain the whole?
Is the great chain that draws all to agree,
And drawn supports, upheld by God, or thee?
-Alexander Pope