Nature so plain this primal law displays,
Each living creature sees it, and obeys;
Each, form'd for all, promotes thro' private care
The publick good, and justly tastes its share.
All understand their great Creator's will,
Strive to be happy, and in that fulfill;
Mankind excepted; lord of all beside,
But only slave to folly, vice, and pride;
'Tis he that's deaf to this command alone,
in others' woe, and courts his own;
Racks and destroys with tort'ring steel and flame,
For lux'ry brutes, and man himself for fame:
Sets Superstition high on Virtue's throne,
Then thinks his Maker's temper like his own:
Hence are his altars stain'd with reeking gore,
As if he could atone for crimes by more:
Hence whilst offended heav'n he strives in vain
T' appease by fasts, and voluntary pain,
Ev'n in repenting he provokes again.