'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 their food,
Taught to command the Fire, controul the Flood,
Draw forth the Monsters of th' Abyss profound,
Or fetch th' aerial Eagle to the ground.
Till 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  ador'd.
Or plain Tradition that this All
Convey'd unbroken Faith from Sire to Son,
The Workman from the Work distinct was known,
And simple Reason never sought but One:
E're Wit oblique had broke that steady light,
Man, like his Maker, saw, that
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.