More joy exists in nature's wildest state,
Than slaves enjoy beneath oppression's weight.
Hence, I repeat, and can by facts, maintain,
Chaos is better than a monarch's reign.
Bound hand and foot, in this, we yield to fate;
In that, like heroes after just debate :

In this, like sheep before some beast of prey;
In that, like beings arm'd with equal sway :
In this, we see the just have been belied;
And have, unheard, on racks (105) or crosses died:
In that, no instance can be shown or found,

Where racks have caus'd a single death or wound.
But both shall cease, and man, though now oppress'd
Shall find in future, freedom, peace and rest.

I

PART II.

To know what monsters pow'r would surely cause,
If men were plac'd above the reach of laws;
To know the means which lead us blindly on,
Until our freedom, peace, and joy, are gone;
Let men peruse the true, historic page;
And see what kings have done in ev'ry age :

For none (106) conceives what fiends such pow'r

creates,

Nor knows what arts are us'd to ruin states,

Unless he reads the page of ancient lore;

And learns man's nature from the deeds of yore;
Or learns the cause which guides the human will,
To vice or virtue, or to good or ill.

In forms of government, the cause we find,
Which gives direction to the human mind:
There lies the source whence good or evil flows;
And yet that source produces half our woes.

Most forms (107) are bad; and there the fountain lies,
From which corruption's baneful streams arise
And spread, diverging in contagious rills,

Polluting nations as the bane distils.

But mend these forms; and that will dry the sourse,
Which gives the mind its most unhappy course.
No head correct would let the body stray;

But heads insane make bodies miss their way.
So forms correct would keep the people right;

But forms defective wrap their souls in night.
If law is bad, that people whom it rules,
Are surely plagu'd with arrant knaves and fools :
With knaves to pass, and fools to tolerate,

Laws, made to injure or inthrall the state.

How strange! how marvellous! that what was made To guard our lives, our freedom, wealth, and trade, Should be profan❜d to torture or enslave; Or rob mankind of all that nature gave. That government, though form'd for social good, Should be so little watch'd or understood, That one, more vile or cruel than the rest, Should take from many what the heart loves best, Is strange, indeed ! and yet 'tis surely true; For kings take cities, lands, and freedom too; Yes, even freedom, kings with sneers deride; For they and freedom cannot both preside. In proof of this, search all the nations round; Where kings reside, there freedom can't be found And yet, without it, all our hopes are vain ; For men, in fear, must surely live in pain : And men oppress'd, such dreadful hardships bear, That he who dies, a milder fate, will share.

From reason only, ev'ry state should draw
Her constitution, and her statute law.
A constitution is a social pact,

Which is created by the people's act:

It is a compact, or a great decree,

Which limits pow'r; and leaves the people free,

To form, amend, or change, their social scheme;
And bind their rulers with a rule supreme.
The major number form this great decree,
Or social scheme, to keep the nation free:
For ev'ry people who are free enact,
And at their pleasure change, their social pact.
To constitutions, statute laws must bend :

For those, the people make, revoke or mend;
But these, their servants, or their agents, make;
And, from the former, their instructions take.
Hence statute laws are rules, by agents, made,
Within the sov'reign people's palisade
Or constitution: thus, the difference lies
Most clearly mark'd before the weakest eyes!
Who from the whole, may this distinction take;
The people this, (108) and that, their servant's make.
But what is reason? reason's rules are those
From which the smallest earthly evil flows.
Fools steer by passion, prejudice, and pride;
But reason's precepts are the sage's guide :
He follows reason, makes her rules his laws;
And judges actions by the things they cause.
For reason's rules, by which the wise elect,
Must give fore knowledge of each deed's effect:
Effects distinguish what is right or wrong;
And show the class to which our acts belong.
For, if our acts molest no others joy,

Or if they neither man nor beast annoy,

They can't be wrong; and men who censure deeds

From which the least distress or pain proceeds,
Are selfish knaves, or poor misguided tools,
Misled by vice, or prejudic'd by schools.

From whence comes reason, why should man be told
To doubt his sense, and give the priest his gold?
That priest who bids you disregard your wealth,
Yet hoards up riches by deceit and stealth;
That priest who talks of mercy, faith, and light,
Yet slaughters thousands in a single night; (109)
That priest who meekly preaches, prays and sings,
Yet roasts mankind, and props the vilest kings;
That priest whose bulls (110) have licenc'd ev'ry sin,
And weary'd life with torture, strife and din?
Shall man be told to doubt his eyes and ears?
By idle priests, or false, pretended seers.
Who heeds such counsel in some ditch shall fall
Or knock his head against his neighbour's wall.
The god who made us gave us reason's guide,
We know no safe or certain rule * beside.

All other rules may spring from man's deceit ;
Or spring from schemes, contriv'd to thrall or cheat:
For ev'ry writing sacred or profane,

Without that reason, would be read in vain.
If sacred writ be out of reason's (111) reach,
'Tis not the book, but inspirations teach
The word by reason, must be understood;
Or else, from reading, we derive no good.
When church and state, by civl law, unite,
The devil triumphs o'er religious right :
For any church, if propt by civil power,