Some might argue that Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Man" presents the viewpoint of a deist. Others might claim that the poem fails to exhibit Christian concepts of good and evil, especially since the poet concludes his first epistle with the seemingly unchristian claim that "whatever IS, is Right" (I. 1. 294).   Yet Pope's arguments actually reflect a traditional Christian perspective, which can be verified by comparing his poem with New Testament teachings.  In his attempt to vindicate God in the face of suffering, he does not, like the pantheist, rule out the existence of evil. Pope knows that men are capable of vice and that suffering is real. Pope does not argue that evil does not exist; rather he argues that its existence does not preclude the justice of God. Like the writers of the New Testament, particularly the apostle Paul, Pope claims that pride and envy leads man to question the justice of God, and he insists that men submit to God, remaining content with their lot in life.

Although Pope claims that "[o]ne truth is clear, `Whatever IS, is RIGHT'" (I. 1.294), he recognizes suffering:

But errs not nature from this gracious end,
From burning suns when livid deaths descend,
When earthquakes swallow, or when tempest sweep
Towns to one grave, whole nations to the deep?  (I. ll. 140-143)

Pope does not only acknowledge the existence of evil. He describes it in vivid detail. In the above passage, he paints a horrid picture of plagues caused by excessive heat, of destructive earthquakes, and of storms that decimate entire towns and nations. He writes too of Ammon, who was turned "loose to scourge mankind" (I. l. 160). He may argue that nature does not err to allow such disasters, but he never claims that they do not exist.

Nor does Pope deny the existence of personal vice. In the tradition of Christian thought, he claims that although nothing is evil in itself, vice and virtue still exist. For instance, neither self-love nor reason are evil, but each has its place in the order, "self love, to urge, and Reason, to restrain" (I. l54). Therefore, neither "this a good nor that a bad we call" (II. l.56). However, Pope insists that this lack of inherent evil does not imply that neither virtue nor vice exist. "Fools!" he cries, "who from hence into the notion fall, / That Vice or Virtue there is none at all" (II. 210-211). Vice and virtue still exist, even if something as seemingly negative as self-love can be made a virtue. "If white and black bend, soften, and unite / A thousand ways, is there no black or white?" (II. ll. 212-213). Although black and white may mix to form gray, and although vices can be made into virtues and virtues into vices, absolute right and wrong remain.

Pope then anticipates the question: "This light and darkness in our chaos join'd, / What shall divide?" He replies: "The God within the mind" (II. ll. 202-203). Conscience will tell whether a certain quality is a virtue or a vice. For it is not the quality itself, but rather how the quality is applied, that determines whether it is right or wrong. Indeed, "Nero reigns a Titus if he will" (II. l. 198). Both Titus and Nero possessed the same power, but they applied it differently. Rumor blamed Nero for the great fire in Rome, whereas Titus rebuilt much of the city, including the colosseum and the baths. So Nero used his power to destroy, while Titus used his to rebuild. Both dealt with fires in Rome, but Nero reportedly fiddled, while Titus did everything he could to alleviate the suffering of his people.

Pope's thoughts are hardly unchristian. In fact, they coincide with the teachings of the apostle Paul. He, too, claimed that "nothing is unclean in itself" (Romans 14:14). Paul also emphasizes the importance of application. "The man who eats does so to honor the Lord...the man who does not eat abstains to honor the Lord" (Romans 14:6). Just as power is in itself neither good nor bad, the eating of meat is neither good nor bad. It becomes a virtue if a man eats to honor the Lord. If, however, his conscience prevents him from eating (because the meat had once been sacrificed to an idol), eating becomes a vice and abstaining becomes a virtue. As in "An Essay on Man," the deciding factor is conscience. Paul says that "each should be certain of his own conscience" (Romans 14:5). It will divide virtue from vice; it will separate the light and the darkness.

If Pope does not deny the existence of evil, then why does he maintain that whatever is is right? He even says that "respecting Man, whatever wrong we call, / May, must be right, as relative to all" (I. ll. 51-52). When Pope makes these claims, he does not imply that there is no vice. Rather, he implies that God is correct to allow imperfection in man, and that whatsoever God's wisdom ordains is right. Whatever we call imperfection in man can not be attributed to God's injustice. For "'tis but a part we see, and not a whole" (I. l.60).  If man could relate his imperfection to God's intricate order, if he could see the whole and not just the part, he would understand that he had not been wronged by God.

Pope admits that evil exists, but he refuses to allow his readers to attribute its existence to the injustice of God.  Instead, he attributes these complaints to the pride of man: "Ask for what end the heav'nly bodies shine, / Earth for whose use? Pride answers, `Tis for mine'" (I. ll. 131-132).  Men claim that God's creation is imperfect because they mistakenly believe that everything was created specifically for them.  Pope admits that "if the great end be human Happiness, / Then Nature deviates" (I. 1. 149-150). He does not believe, however, that God created the world solely for man's happiness.  Pride persuades men to consider their present felicity the core purpose of creation.  "If Man alone engross not Heav'n's high care," (I. l. 119), if his pride is not satisfied by the fulfillment of every desire, he will enviously cry: "If Man's unhappy, God's unjust" (I. l. 118).

These complaints, besides being prideful, are also ridiculous.  Pope writes that men are, in effect, considering themselves to be wiser than God.  Pope demonstrates the absurdity of this attitude when he writes: "Snatch from the hand the balance and the rod, / Rejudge his justice, be the God of God!" (I. ll. 121-122). Man, by passing judgement on God's creation, elevates himself to a level of authority higher than that of God Himself.  "Aspiring to be Angels," writes Pope, "Men rebel" (I. l. 128).  Man refuses to accept that God has wisely placed him in the present order.  He aspires first to be an angel, but his aspiration does not end there.   Man mutinies against God Himself, snatching from His hand the rod of justice.

Pope emphasizes the absurdity of this rebellion when he asks: "What if the foot, ordained the dust to tread, / Or hand to toil, aspir'd to be the head?" (I. l. 259-260).  God has placed each man wisely; if the individual were to succeed in acquiring a different place, then he would pervert the order, because "all are but parts of one stupendous whole" (I. l. 267). Man's envy leads him to wish that he were some other part, "and who but wishes to invert the laws / Of ORDER, sins against th' Eternal Cause" (I. ll. 129-130). Man's very desire is envious and therefore sinful, and his attempt, could it ever succeed, would prove disastrous. For, "from Nature's chain whatever link you strike, / Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike" (I. ll.245-246). Fortunately, all rebellion is futile, as Pope's analogy of the body implies.

This analogy provides further evidence that Pope's philosophy is Christian. In fact, the mention of men as parts of one body should remind the Christian reader of Paul's claim that "just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all the members have the same function, so too we, though many, are one body in Christ" (Romans 12:4-5). As in "An Essay on Man," all are parts of the whole. And all should accept the role to which God has assigned them. "If the foot should say, `Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,' would it no longer belong to the body?" (I. Corinthians 12:15). The foot is part of the whole, and it has its role to play.  Pope asks what would happen if the foot aspired to be the head.  Similarly, Paul asks, "If the body were all eye, what would happen to our hearing?" (I. Corinthians 12:17).  Pope probably chooses his analogy to recall this passage.  The congregation of the church at Corinth was having many struggles.  Prod by envy, people were complaining that they had not been given all the gifts, talents, and positions they wanted, just as the people of Pope's time complained that God had made them imperfect.

Pope asserts that God has wisely placed each man in His great order. "Then say not Man's imperfect, Heav'n in fault; / Say rather, Man's as perfect as he ought" (I. 69-70). Pope does not imply that man has no faults, or that he is incapable of sin. He means only that God should not be criticized merely because He has not endowed men with everything they desire. "Who finds not Providence all good and wise," Pope asks, "alike in what it gives, and what denies?" (I. l.205-206) Although man may not understand why, God is correct to deny him certain blessings.

Ultimately, Pope insists that men stop complaining that God is unjust and instead submit to His wisdom. Man may not understand why he lacks certain abilities. Even more baffling is the existence of suffering and evil. But rather than seek for an answer, and rather than blame God for evil's existence, men should simply trust God, knowing that one day all will be explained: "Hope humbly then...Wait the great teacher Death, and God adore!" (I. ll.91-92). This hope requires patience. As Paul writes, "hoping for what we cannot see means awaiting it with patient endurance" (Romans 8:25).   Both Paul and Pope know that one day evil will be explained, because "there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; nether hid, that shall not be known" (Luke 12:2).

Nor is man left without some sense of the future.  Pope tells the reader that although "what future bliss, he gives not thee to know," God at least "gives that hope to be thy blessing now" (I. ll. 95-96).  The author of Hebrews calls this hope "an anchor of the soul" (Hebrews 6:19).  Man may be left without understanding, but God does not leave him without the hope of one day understanding.  Even though he may think he suffers now, man has the hope of future bliss, and it, like an anchor, will steady him. Man cannot blame God for evil.   Instead, he must adore his Creator, humbly await an explanation, and submit to his present station in life.

Pope's emphasis on submission is decidedly Christian. "Submit-" he writes, "In this, or any other sphere, / Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear" (I. ll. 285-286). Paul writes something similar to Timothy: "And having food and raiment let us therewith be content" (Timothy 6:8). Man is to submit and remain content with what blessings he has been given. Paul would probably agree with Pope's claim that "to reason right is to submit" (I. l. 164). The Christian is constantly called to submission. "Wives should be submissive to their husbands" just "as the church submits to Christ" (Ephesians 5:22-24). Young men should submit to their elders, and all should "obey [their] leaders and submit to them" (Hebrews 13:17). Christ Himself offered this humble prayer of submission: "Thy will be done."

Pope has already shown that the failure to submit is a result of pride, and that it creates ridiculous envyings which threaten, in vain, to upset God's order. Therefore, Pope concludes that the only answer is to stop seeking for answers and to submit to the wisdom of God. "Cease then, nor ORDER Imperfection name: / Our proper bliss depends on what we blame" (I.ll.281-282).  If man questions God, or blames Him for injustice, he can never be happy.  But if he submits, he may remain "safe in the hand of one disposing Pow'r" (I. l. 287).  Nor is God an indifferent power, who does not know of the suffering or the evil in His creation. He is a creator "who sees with equal eye, as God of all, / A hero perish, or a sparrow fall" (I. ll. 87-88). No doubt Pope intends this verse to remind the reader of the passage in Matthew in which Jesus says:

Not a single sparrow falls to the ground without your Father's consent. As for you, every hair of your head has been counted; so do not be afraid of anything. You are worth more than an entire flock of sparrows.   (Matthew 10:29-31)

Man can confidently submit to the wisdom of God, because He assures people that He values them. He knows that suffering and evil exist, and nothing occurs without His permission, not even the death of a sparrow. He keeps careful watch over His creation, numbering even the hairs of a man's head. And if man suffers any evil, it is only because God must allow it to preserve His order, not because He is indifferent.

Pope insists on submission, because it alone can bring happiness, but he fails to follow his own advice. He does not wait humbly for death the teacher but attempts to explain evil immediately, in his own poem.  He even claims from the very beginning that his object is not to remain quietly submissive, but to "vindicate the ways of God to Man" (I. l. 15). Indeed, this task exhibits the arrogance of refusing to submit, because Pope attempts to explain the ways of a God who has said: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways" (Isaiah 55:8). Pope, in supposed humility, asks, "What can we reason, but from what we know?" (I. l. 17). Yet, soon after he asks the question, he proceeds to reason about things he could not possibly know. "So man, who here seems principal alone," he writes, "perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown / Touches some wheel, or verges to some goal" (I. ll. 57-59).  Pope, determined to vindicate the ways of God to man, speculates on possibilities and offers tentative explanations for the problem of evil.

A prime example of Pope's failure to follow his own advice appears in the first epistle:

Better for Us, perhaps, it might appear,
Were there all harmony, all virtue here...
But ALL subsists by elemental strife;
And Passions are the elements of Life.  (I. ll. 165-168)

If Pope were reasoning from what he knows, he could only conclude that suffering and imperfection were senseless, because it appears that harmony and virtue would be better for man. Yet, Pope does not confess that discord and vice are beyond his comprehension. Nor does he respond to their existence by insisting that men submit to God's wisdom, trusting that He has reasons, however incomprehensible to man, for what He does. Instead, Pope tries to explain the reason. He argues that we are not surrounded with all harmony and virtue because strife is necessary for anything to exist. Tension between good and evil is essential to creation, and life can not endure without varying passions. Pope's explanation, however, proves inadequate. One could easily ask why God did not create the world so that it could exist just as well without strife. Certainly He is capable of creating a world with both order and harmony.

Surprisingly, Pope's failure to follow his own advice does not injure his argument. In fact, the very inadequacy of Pope's explanations demonstrates the necessity of submitting. Man should not struggle for answers, because any answer he can produce will prove insufficient. He can only trust that God is just, and that whatever evil He permits, He permits for a valid reason. Perhaps Pope realizes this himself for a moment at the end of the second epistle. For he does not conclude by attempting to explain the existence of evil. Rather, he says only that "one comfort still must rise, / 'Tis this, Tho' Man's a fool, yet GOD IS WISE" (II. ll. 292-293). In the end, it is better to believe that every man (including Pope) is a fool for failing to explain evil than to believe that God is not wise for allowing it. This couplet is one further proof of the Christian influence in Pope's "An Essay on Man." In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul writes: "Let God be true, but every man a liar" (Romans 3:4). 

Works Cited

Pope, Alexander. "An Essay on Man." Ed. Gordon N. Ray. Boston: Houghton Miflin Company, 1969.

The New American Bible. Nashville: Catholic Publishers, Inc., 1971.