Did here the trees with ruddier burdens bend,
And there the streams in purer rills descend ?
What War could ravish, Commerce could beftow,
And he return'd a friend who came a foe ;
Converfe and Love mankind might strongly draw,
When Love was Liberty, and Nature Law.
Thus States were form'd; the name of King unknown,
'Till common int'reft plac'd the sway in one.
'Twas VIRTUE ONLY (or in arts or arms,
Diffusing bleffings, or averting harms)
The fame which in a Sire the Sons obey'd,
A Prince the Father of a People made.
VI. 'Till then, by Nature crown'd, each Patriarch fate,
King, priest, and parent, of his growing state;
On him, their fecond Providence, they hung,
Their law his eye, their oracle his tongue.
He from the wond'ring furrow call'd the food,
Taught to command the fire, controul the flood, 220
Draw forth the monsters of th' abyfs profound,
Or fetch th' aërial eagle to the ground.
'Till drooping, fick'ning, dying they began Whom they rever'd as God to mourn as Man:
For want alone each animal contends;
Tigers with Tigers, that remov'd, are friends.
Plain Nature's wants the common mother crown'd,
She pour'd her acorns, herbs, and ftreams around.
No Treasure then for rapine to invade,
What need to fight for fun-shine or for shade?
And half the cause of conteft was remov❜d,
When beauty could be kind to all who lov'd.
Then, looking up from fire to fire, explor'd
One great first father, and that first ador'd.
Or plain tradition that this All begun,
Convey'd unbroken faith from fire to fon;
The worker from the work distinct was known,
And simple Reason never fought but one:
Ere Wit oblique had broke that steddy light,
Man, like his Maker, faw 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; 235
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 first 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 counter-work its Caufe? Force first made Conquest, and that conqueft, Law; 'Till Superftition taught the tyrant awe,
Then shar'd the Tyranny, then lent it aid,
And Gods of Conqu❜rors, Slaves of Subjects made:
She, 'midst the light'ning'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 skies,
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, clangeful, paffionate, unjust,
Whofe attributes were Rage, Revenge, or Lust;
Such as the fouls of cowards might conceive,
And, form'd like tyrants, tyrants would believe. 260
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 gore:
Then first the Flamen tafted living food;
Next his grim idol smear'd with human blood!
With heav'n's own thunders fhook 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, lust :
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 shall he keep, what, fleeping or awake,
A weaker may furprife, a ftronger take?
His fafety must his liberty reftrain :
All join to guard, what each defires to gain.
Forc'd into Virtue thus, by Self-defence,
Ev'n Kings learn'd juftice 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, rofe but to restore
The Faith and Moral, Nature gave before;
Re-lumn'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, 290
The lefs, or greater, fet so justly true,
That touching one must strike the other too;
'Till jarring int'refts, of themselves create
Th' according mufic of a well-mix'd State.
Such is the World'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
Beaft, 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; 350 His can't be wrong whofe life is in the right:
In Faith and Hope, the world will difagree,
But all Mankind's concern is Charity:
All must be falfe that thwart this One great End;
And all of God, that bless Mankind, or mend.
Man, like the gen'rous vine, fupported lives; 310 The strength he gains is from th' embrace he gives. On their own Axis as the Planets run,
Yet make at once their circle round the Sun;
So two confiftent motions act the Soul;
And one regards Itself, and one the Whole.
Thus God and Nature link'd the gen'ral frame, And bade Self-love and Social be the fame.
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