Who, foe to nature, hears the general groan,
Murders their species, and betrays his own.
But just disease to luxury succeeds,
And every death its own avenger breeds :
The fury-passions from that blood began,
And turned on man, a fiercer savage, man.
See him from nature rising slow to art:
To copy instinct then was reason's part.
Thus then to man the voice of nature spake-
"Go, from the creatures thy instructions take:
Learn from the birds what food the thickets yield;
Learn from the beast the physic of the field;
Thy arts of building from the bee receive;
Learn of the mole to plough, the worm to weave;
Learn of the little nautilus to sail,
Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale.
Here too all forms of social union find,
And hence let reason, late, instruct mankind :
Here subterranean works and cities see;
There towns ærial on the waving tree.
Learn each small people's genius, policies,
The ant's republic, and the realm of bees;
How those in common all their wealth bestow,
And anarchy without confusion know;
And these forever, though a monarch reign,
Their separate cells, and properties maintain.
Mark what unvaried laws preserve each state,
Laws, wise as nature, and as fixed as fate.
In vain thy reason finer webs shall draw,
Entangle justice in her net of law,
And right, too rigid, harden into wrong;
Still for the strong too weak, the weak too strong.
Yet go! and thus o'er all the creatures sway,
Thus let the wiser make the rest obey.
And for those arts mere instinct could afford,
Be crown'd as monarchs, or as gods ador'd."
V. Great nature spoke; observant man obey'd;
Cities were built, societies were made :
Here rose one little state, another near
Grew by like means, and joined thro' love or fear.
Did here the trees with ruddier burdens bend,
And there the streams in purer rills descend?
What war could ravish, commerce could bestow;
And he return'd a friend, who came a foe.
Converse 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 interest placed the sway in one.
'Twas VIRTUE ONLY, (or in arts or arms,
Diffusing blessings, or averting harms,)
The same 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 sate, 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 the abyss profound, Or fetch the aerial eagle to the ground; 'Till drooping, sickening, 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.
On plain tradition that this all begun,
Convey'd unbroken faith from sire to son.
The worker from the work distinct was known,
And simpler 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 the allegiance then,
For nature knew no right divine in men:
Nor 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, The 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 conquest, and that conquest law; 'Till superstition taught the tyrant awe.
Then shar'd the tyranny, then lent it aid,
And gods of conquerors, slaves of subjects made :
She, 'midst 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 seemed the ethereal vault no more:
Altars grew marble then, and reek'd with gore;
Then first the Flamen tasted living food,
Next his grim idol, smear'd with human blood;
With heaven's own thunders shook the world below, And played the God an engine on his foe.
So drives self-love, through just and through unjust,
To one man's pow'r, 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.
Forced into virtue thus, by self-defence,
E'en kings learn'd justice and benevolence :
Self-love forsook the path it first pursu'd,
And found the private in the public good.
'Twas then the studious head or generous mind, Follower of God, or friend of human kind, Poet or patriot, rose but to restore
The faith that moral Nature gave before;
Resumed 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 not to slack, nor strain its tender strings,
The less or greater set so justly true,
That touching one must strike the other too;
'Till jarring interest 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 the embrace he gives.
On their own axis as the planets run,
To 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 general frame,
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