King, priest and parent of his growing state;
On him their second 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, control the flood,
Draw forth the monsters of th' abyss profound,
Or fetch th' aerial eagle to the ground.
'Til, drooping, sick'ning, dying, they began
Whom they rever'd as God, to mourn as man:
Then, looking up from sire to sire, explor'd
One great first father, and that first ador❜d.
Or plain tradition that this all begun,
Convey'd unbroken faith from sire to son;

The worker from the work distinct was known,
And simple 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 sovereign being, but a sovereign good.
True faith, true policy, united ran,

That was but love of God, and this of man.

Who first taught souls enslav'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 cause?
Force first made conquest, and that conquest, law,
"Til superstition taught the tyrant awe,

Then shar'd the tyranny, then lent it aid,

And Gods of conqu❜rors, slaves of subjects made. She, 'mid the lightning's blaze, and thunder's

sound,

When rock'd the mountains, and when groan'd the ground,

She taught the weak to bend, the proud to pray
To power unseen, and mightier far than they:
She from the rending earth and bursting skies,
Saw gods descend, and fiends infernal rise:
Here fix'd the dreadful, there the blest abodes;
Fear made her devils, and weak hope her gods,
Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust;
Whose attributes were rage, revenge or lust;
Such as the souls of cowards might conceive,
And, form'd like tyrants, tyrants would believe.
Zeal then, not charity, became the guide;
And hell was built on spite, and heaven on pride

Then sacred seem'd th' ethereal vault no more; Altars grew marble then, and reek'd with gore; Then first the Flamen tåsted living food;

Next his grim idol smear'd with human blood; With heaven's own thunders shook the world below,

And play'd thé god an engine on his foe.

So drives self-love through just and through unjust,

To one man's power, ambition, lucre, lust:
The same self-love in all becomes the cause
Of what restrains him, government and laws.
For, what one likes, if others like as well,

What serves one will, when many wills rebel?
How shall he keep, what, sleeping or awake,
A weaker may surprise, a stronger take?
His safety must his liberty restrain:

All join to guard what each desires to gain.
Forc'd into virtue thus, by self-defence,
E'en kings learn justice and benevolence:
Self-love forsoook the path it first pursu❜d,
And found the private in the public good.

"Twas then the studious head, or gen'rous min

Foll'wer of God, or friend of human kind,
Poet or patriot rose but to restore

The faith and moral, nature gave before;
Re-lum'd her ancient light, not kindled new;
If not God's image, yet his shadow drew:
Taught power's due use to people and to kings,
Taught nor to slack, nor strain its tender strings,
The less or greater, set so justly true,

That touching one must strike the other too;
'Til jarring int'rests of themselves create
Th' according music of a well-mix'd state.
Such is the world's great harmony, that springs
From order, union, full consent of things:

Where small and great, where weak and mighty,

made

To serve, not suffer, strengthen, not invade;
More powerful each as needful to the rest,
And, in proportion as it blesses, blest;
Draw to one point, and to one centre bring
Beast, man, or angel, servant, lord, or king..

For forms of government let fools contest;
Whate'er is best administer'd, is best:
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 false that thwart this one great end; And all of God that bless mankind, or mend. Man, like the generous vine, supported lives; 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 consistent 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 same,