The worker from the work diftinct was known,
And fimple reason never sought but one :
Ere wit oblique had broke that steady light,
Man, like his Maker, saw that all was right;
To virtue, in the paths of pleasure, trod,
And own'd a Father when he own'd a God.
LOVE all the faith, and all th' allegiance then;
For nature knew no right divine in Men,
No ill could fear in God; and understood
A fov'reign being but a fov'reign good.
True faith, true policy, united ran,
That was but love of God, and this of Man.
Who firft taught fouls enflav'd, and realms undone,
Th' enormous faith of many made for one;
That proud exception to all nature's laws,
T" invert the world, and counterwork its Cause? Force first made conqueft, and that conqueft, law: 'Till Superftition taught the tyrant awe,
Then thar'd the tyranny, then lent it aid,
And gods of conqu'rors, flaves of subjects made:
She 'midft the lightning's blaze, and thunder's found, When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd the
She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray,
To pow'r unfeen, and mightier far than they :
She, from the rending earth and bursting fkies,
Saw gods defcend, and fiends infernal rife:
Here fix'd the dreadful, there the bleft abodes
Fear made her devils, and weak Hope her gods;
Gods partial, changeful, paffionate, unjust,
Whose attributes were rage, revenge, or luft;
Such as the fouls of cowards might conceive,
And, form'd like tyrants, tyrants would believe.
Zeal then, not charity, became the guide;
And hell was built on fpite, and heav'n on pride.
Then facred feem'd th' ethereal vault no more!
Altars grew marble then, and reek'd with
Then first the Flamen tafted living food;
Next his grim idol fmear'd with human blood;
With heav'n's own thunders thook the world below, And play'd the god an engine on his foe.
So drives Self-love, thro' juft, and thro' unjust,
To one Man's pow'r, ambition, lucre, luft:
The fame Self-love, in all, becomes the cause
Of what reftrains him, government and laws,
For, what one likes if others like as well,
What ferves one will, when many wills rebel?
How fhall he keep what, fleeping or awake,
A weaker may surprise, a ftronger take?
His fafety muft his liberty restrain :
All join to guard what each defires to gain.
Forc'd into virtue thus by felf-defence,
Ev'n kings learnt justice and benevolence :
Self-love forfook the path it first pursu’d,
And found the private in the public good.
'Twas then, the ftudious head or gen'rous mind,
Follow'r of God, or friend of human-kind,
Poet or patriot, rose but to restore
The faith and moral, Nature gave before;
Relum'd her ancient light, not kindled new;
If not God's image, yet his fhadow drew:
Taught pow'r's due ufe to people and to kings;
Taught nor to flack, nor strain its tender strings;
The lefs, or greater, fet fo juftly true,
That touching one must strike the other too;
Till jarring int'rests, of themselves create
Th' according mufic of a well-mix'd state.
Such is the word's great harmony, that springs
From order, union, full confent of things;
Where small and great, where weak and mighty, made
To ferve, not fuffer, ftrengthen, not invade;
More pow'rful each as needful to the rest,
And, in proportion as it bleffes, bleft;
Draw to one point, and to one centre bring
Beast, man, or angel, servant, lord, or king.
For forms of government let fools conteft;
Whate'er is beft adminifter'd is beft;
For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight;
His can't be wrong whose life is in the right:
In faith and hope the world will disagree,
But all mankind's concern is charity;
All must be falfe that thwart this one great end;
And all of God, that blefs mankind or mend.
Man, like the gen'rous vine, fupported lives; The ftrength he gains is from th' embrace he gives. On their own axis as the planets run,
Yet make at once their circle round the fun;
So two confiftent motions act the foul;
And one regards itself, and one the whole.
Thus God and nature link'd the gen'ral frame,
And bade felf-love and focial be the fame.
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