JOVI ELEUTHERIO . Or , an OFFERING to LIBERTY . Quisnam igitur liber ? Sapiens , sibique imperiosus ; Quem neque pauperies , neque mors , neque vincula terrent : Responsare cupidinibus , contemnere honores Fortis ; et in seipso totus teres atque rotundus . HOR. Serm . Lib. II . Sat. 7. HAIL LIBERTY ! whose presence glads th' abode Of heav'n itself , great attribute of God ! By thee sustain'd , th' unbounded spirit runs , Moulds orbs on orbs , and lights up suns on suns ; By thee sustain'd , in love unwearied lives , And uncontroul'd creates , supports , forgives : No pow'r , or time , or space his will withstood ; Almighty ! endless ! infinite in good ! " If so , why not communicate the bliss , " And let man know what this great blessing is ? " Say what proportion , creature , wouldst thou claim ; As thy Creator's , in extent , the same ! Unless his other attributes were join'd To poise the will , and regulate the mind , Goodness to aim , and wisdom to direct , What mighty mischiefs must we thence expect ? The maker knows his work ; nor judg'd it fit To trust the rash resolves of human wit : Which prone to hurt , too blind to help , is still Alike pernicious , mean it good or ill . A whim , t' improvements making fond pretence , Would burst a system in experiments ; Sparrows and cats indeed no more should fear , But Saturn tremble in his distant sphere : Give thee but footing in another world , Say , Archimedes , where should we be hurl'd ? A sprightly wit , with liquor in his head , Would burn a globe to light him drunk to bed : Th' Ephesian temple had escap'd the flame , And heaven's high dome had built the madman's fame . The sullen might ( when malice boil'd within ) Strike out the stars to intimate his spleen : Not poppy-heads had spoke a Tarquin crost ; Nature's chief spring had broke , and all been lost . Nor less destructive would this license prove , Tho' thy breast flam'd with universal love . In vain were thy benevolence of soul ; Soon would thy folly disconcert the whole . No rains , or snows , should discompose the air ; But flow'rs and sun-shine drain the weary year : No clouds should sully the clear face of day ; No tempests rise , — to blow a plague away . Mercy should reign untir'd , unstain'd with blood ; Spare the frail guilty , — to eat up the good : In their defence , rise , sacred Justice , rise ! Awake the thunder sleeping in the skies , Sink a corrupted city in a minute : — Wo ! to the righteous ten who may be in it . Pick out the bad , and sweep them all away ! — So leave their babes , to cats and dogs a prey . Such pow'r without God's wisdom and his will , Were only an omnipotence of ill . Suited to man can we such pow'r esteem ! Fiends would be harmless , if compar'd with him . Say then , shall all his attributes be given ? His essence follows , and his throne of heav'n ; His very unity . Proud wretch ! shall he Un-god himself to make a god of thee ? How wide , such lust of liberty confounds ! Would less content thee , prudent mark the bounds ! " Those which th' almighty Monarch first design'd , " When his great image seal'd the human mind ; " When to the beasts the fruitful earth was giv'n ; " To fish the ocean , and to birds their heaven ; " And all to man : whom full creation , stor'd , " Receiv'd as its proprietor , and lord . " Ere earth , whose spacious tract unmeasur'd spreads , " Was slic'd by acres and by roods to shreds ; " When trees and streams were made a general good ; " And not as limits , meanly to exclude : " When all to all belong'd ; ere pow'r was told " By number'd troops , or wealth by counted gold : " Ere kings , or priests , their tyranny began ; " Or man was vassal'd to his fellow-man . " O halcyon state ! when man begun to live ! A blessing , worthy of a god to give ! Who on th' unspotted mind his Maker drew The heav'nly characters , correct and true . All useful knowledge , from that source , supply'd ; No blindness sprung from ignorance , or pride : All proper blessings , from that hand , bestow'd ; No mischiefs , or for want , or fulness , flow'd : The quick'ning passions gave a pleasing zest ; While thankful man submitted to be blest . Simplicity , was wisdom ; temperance , health : Obedience , pow'r ; and full contentment , wealth . So happy once was man ! till the vain elf Shook off his guide , and set up for himself . Smit with the charms of independency , He scorns protection , raging to be free . Now , self-expos'd , he feels his naked state ; Shrinks with the blast , or melts before the heat : And blindly wanders , as his fancy leads , To starve on wastes , or feast on pois'nous weeds . Now to the savage beasts an obvious prey ; Or crafty men , more savage still than they : No less imprudent to his breast to take The friend unfaithful , or th' envenom'd snake ; Equally fatal , whether on the Nile , Or in the city , weeps the crocodile . Nor yet less blindly deviates learned pride ; In Aetna burn'd , or drown'd amid the tide : Boasts of superior sense ; then raves to see ( When contradicted ) fools less wise than he . Mates with his great Creator ; vainly bold To make new systems , or to mend the old . Shapes out a Deity ; doubts , then denies : And drunk with science , curses God and dies . Not heav'nly wisdom , only , is with-held , But the free bounty of the self-sown field : No more , as erst , from Nature's ready feast , Rises the satisfy'd , but temp'rate guest : Cast wild abroad , no happy mean preserves ; By choice he surfeits , by constraint he starves : Toils life away upon the stubborn plain , T' extort from thence the slow reluctant grain ; The slow reluctant grain , procur'd to-day , His less industrious neighbour steals away : Hence fists and clubs the village-peace confound , Till sword and cannon spread the ruin round ; For time and art but bring from bad to worse : Unequal lots succeed unequal force , Each lot a several curse . Hence rich , and poor : This pines , and dies neglected at the door ; While gouts and fevers wait the loaded mess , And take full vengeance for the poor's distress . No more the passions are the springs of life ; But seeds of vice , and elements of strife : Love , social love , t' extend to all design'd , Back to its fountain flows ; to self , confin'd . Source of misfortunes ; the fond husband's wrong ; The maid dishonour'd , and deserted young ! The mischief spreads ; when vengeance for the lust Unpeoples realms , and calls the ruin just . Hence , Troy , thy fate ! the blood of thousands spilt , And orphans mourning for unconscious guilt . Thus love destroys , for kinder purpose giv'n ; And man corrupts the blessings meant by heav'n ; Self-injur'd , let us censure HIM no more : Ambition makes us slaves , and av'rice poor . What arts the wild disorder shall controul , And render peace with virtue to the soul ? Out-reason interest , ballance prejudice ; Give passion ears , and blinded error eyes ? Arm the weak hand with conquest , and protect From guile , the heart too honest to suspect ? For this , mankind , by sad experience taught , Again their safety in dependence sought : Press'd to the standard , sued before the throne ; And durst rely on wisdom not their own . Hence Saturn rul'd in peace th' Ausonian plains , While Salian songs to virtue won the swains , But pois'nous streams must flow from pois'ned springs : The priests were mortal , and mere men the kings . What aid from monarchs , mighty to enslave ? What good from teachers , cunning to deceive ? Allegiance gives defensive arms away ; And faith usurps imperial reason's sway . Let civil Rome , from faithful records , tell What royal blessings from her Nero fell . When those , prefer'd all grievance to redress , Bought of their prince a licence to oppress ; When uncorupted merit found no place , But left the trade of honour to the base . See industry , by draining impost curst , Starve in the harvest , in the vintage thirst ! In vain for help th' insulted matron cries , 'Twas death in husbands to have ears and eyes : Fatal were beauty , virtue , wealth , or fame : No man in aught a property could claim ; No , not his sex : strange arts the monster try'd ; And Sporus , spight of nature , was his bride . Unhurt by foes proud Rome for ages stands , Secure from all , but her protector's hands . Recall your pow'rs , ye Romans , back again ; Unmake the monarch , and ne'er fear the man . Naked and scorn'd , see where the abject flies ! And once un-caesar'd , soon the fidler dies . Next holy Rome , thy happiness declare ; While peace and truth watch round the sacred chair . Peace ! — which from racks and persecution flows ! Mysterious truths ! — which every sense oppose ! That God made man , was all th' unlearn'd could reach ; That man makes God th' enlighten'd fathers teach . Men , blind and partial , need a light divine : Which popes new trim , and teach it how to shine . Rude nature dreads accusing guilt , unknown The balmy doctrine , that dead saints atone : The careful pontiff , merciful to save , Hoards up a fund of merit from the grave ; And righteous hands the equal balance hold , Nor weigh it out but to just sums of gold . Sole judge , he deals his pardon , or his curse ; Not heav'n itself the sentence can reverse : Grac'd with his scepter , aweful with his rod , This man of sin usurps the seat of God ; Disarm'd and unador'd th' Almighty lies , And quits to saints his incense , and his skies : No more the object of our fears , or hope ; The creature , and the vassal of the pope . " From fanes and cities scar'd , fly swift away ! " — To the rude Lybian in his wilds a prey . " The blood-stain'd sword from the fell tyrant wrest ! " — Thousands unsheath'd shall threat thy naked breast . " The dogmatists imperious aid disdain ! " — So sink in brutish ignorance again . " Is there no medium ? must we victims fall " To one man's LUST , or to the RAGE of all ? " Is reason doom'd a certain slave to be , " To our blind PASSIONS , or a priest's DECREE ? " Hail happy Albion ! whose distinguish'd plains This temp'rate mean , so dearly earn'd , maintains ! Senates , ( the will of individuals check'd ) The strength and prudence of the realm collect , Each yields to all ; that each may thence receive The full assistance , which the whole can give . For this , thy patriots lawless pow'r withstood , And bought their children's charter with their blood ; While reverend years , and various letter'd age , Dispassion'd open the mysterious page ; Not one alone the various judgment sways , But prejudice the general voice obeys : For this , thy martyrs wak'd the bloody strife , Asserting truth with brave contempt of life . Oh OXFORD ! let deliver'd Briton know From thy fam'd seats her several blessings flow . Th' accouter'd barons , and assisting knights , In thee prepar'd for council , or for fights , Plan'd and obtain'd her By the Oxford provisions , A. D. 1258 ; at which time the commons are supposed first to have obtained the privilege of repre sentatives in parliament . civil liberty : Truth found her fearless In the imprisonment , disputes , and sufferings of our first re formers , Cranmer , Ridley , and Latimer , at Oxford , A. D. 1554-6. witnesses in thee ; When , try'd as gold , saints , from thy tott'ring pyres , Rose up to heav'n , Elijah-like , in fires ! Peace to thy walls ! and honour to thy name ! May age to age record thy gathering fame ! While thy still favour'd seats pour forth their youth , Brave advocates of liberty and truth ! In fair succession rise to bless the realm ! Fathers in church , and statesmen at the helm ! " But factious synods thro' resentment err ; " And venal senates private good prefer : " How wild the faith which wrangling sophs dispose ! " The laws how harsh of pension'd aye's and no's ! " Wilt thou by no authority be aw'd , Self-excommunicated , self-outlaw'd ? Expunge the creed , the decalogue reject ? If they oblige not , nor will they protect . You fear no God ; — convinc'd by what you say , Knaves praise your wit , and swear your lands away . Corrupt not wives , erase it if you will ; The injur'd husband blots out , — do not kill . From God his sabbaths steal , for sport , not need ; Why hangs the wretch , who steals thy purse for bread ? Or shall each schismatic your faith new mould , Or senates stand by patriot mobs controul'd ? Drive back , ye floods ! roll , Xanthus , to your spring ! Go , crown the people , and subject the king ; Break rule to pieces , analyse its pow'r , And every atom to its lord restore : As mixt with knaves , or fools , the weak , or brave , A dupe , a plague , a tyrant , or a slave . " What shall I do ; how hit the happy mean " 'Twixt blind submission , and unruly spleen ? " Consult your watch ; you guide your actions by't ; And great its use , tho' not for ever right . What tho' some think implicit faith be due , And dine at twelve if their town-clock strike two ? Or others bravely squir their watch away , Disdain a guide , and guess the time of day ? They guess so lucky , or their parts so great , They come on all affairs , but just too late ; You neither choose . Nor trav'ling thro' the street , Correct its hand by ev'ry one you meet ; Yet scruple not , if you should find at one It points to six , to set it by the SUN . Aim at the bliss that's suited to thy state , Nor vainly hope for happiness compleat ; Some bounds imperfect natures must include , And vice and weakness feel defects of good . Nor is it blind necessity alone : Contriving wisdom , in the whole , we own : And in that wisdom satisfy'd may trust , In its restraints , as merciful , as just . By these thy selfish passions it corrects ; By these from wrong thy weakness it protects ; In sovereign power thy safety's heaven's design ; Some faults permitted , as the scourge of thine . Absurd the wish of all men , if exprest ; Each grieves that he's not lord of all the rest . Why then should we complain , or thankless live , Because not blest with more than God can give ? Would you be safe from others ? 'tis but due , That others also should be safe from you . It is not virtue wakes the clam'rous throng ; Each claims th' exclusive privilege , to wrong . When ceaseless faction must embroil the mad ; Alike impatient , under A' or Zad . How patriot Cromwell fights for liberty ! He shifts the yoke , then calls the nation free . He cannot bear a monarch on the throne ; But vindicates his right — to rule alone . Macheath roars out for freedom in his cell ; And Tindal wisely would extinguish hell . Macheath's approv'd by all whom Tyburn awes , And trembling guilt gives Tindal's page applause . O sage device , to set the conscience free From dread ! he winks ; then says that heav'n can't see . Both blindly plan the paradise of fools ; Peace without laws , and virtue without rules . Full of the Roman let the school-boy quote , And rant all Lucian's rhapsodies by rote . Gods ! shall he tremble at a mortal's nod ! His generous soul disdains the tyrant's rod . Forc'd to submit , at last he tastes the fruit ; Finds wealth and honours blossom from its root . Would thy young soul be like the Roman free ? From Romans paint thy form of LIBERTY : The goddess offers gifts from either hand ; In this manner they represent LIBERTY on their medals . Th' auspicious bonnet , with the PRAETOR'S wand ; The privilege of that would'st thou not miss , Bend , and submit beneath the stroke of this . See Furioso on his keeper frown , Depriv'd the precious privilege to drown ; Greatly he claims a right to his undoing ; The chains that hold him , hold him from his ruin . Kindly proceed ; strict discipline dispense ; Till water-gruel low'rs him down to sense . " Why this to me ? am I the froward boy , " Or knave to wrong , or madman to destroy ? " Will thy denial prove that thou art none ! 'Tis Newgate's logick : thou art all in one . Blind to their good , to be instructed loth , Dryden in All for Love . Men are but children of a larger growth ; If no superior force the will controul , Self-love's a villain , and corrupts the soul ; Wild and destructive projects fire our brains ; We all are madmen , and demand our chains . Know your own sphere , content to be a man ; Well pleas'd , to be as happy as you can : Lose not all good , by shunning ills in vain ; 'Tis wiser to enjoy than to complain . Some evils must attend imperfect states ; But discontent new worlds of ills creates . Hush thy complaints , nor quarrel with thy God ; If just the stroke , approve and kiss the rod . By man if injur'd , turn thy eyes within ; Thou'lt find recorded some unpunish'd sin ; Then heav'n acquit : and with regard to man , Coolly th' amount of good and evil scan ; If greater evils wait the wish'd redress , Grieve not that thou art free to chuse the less . Unknown to courts , ambition's thirst subdu'd , My lesson is to be obscurely good ; In life's still shade , which no man's envy draws , Legum idcirco servi sumus , ut liberi esse possimus . CIC. To reap the fruit of government and laws , In fortune's round , as on the globe I know No top , no bottom , no where high or low ; Where-ever station'd , heav'n in prospect still , That points to me , the zenith of her wheel . " What ! double tax'd , unpension'd , unprefer'd , " In such bad times be easy ? most absurd ! " Yet heav'n vouchsafes the daily bread intreated ; And these bad times have left me free to eat it : My taxes , gladly paid , their nature shift ; If just , cheap purchase ; if unjust , a gift : Nor knows ambition any rank so great ; My servants , kings , and ministers of state ! They watch my couch , my humble roof defend ; Their toil the means , my happiness the end . My freedom to compleat , convinc'd I see foreign . PLUT. de Audit . Thy service , Heav'n , is perfect LIBERTY . The foreign . Ibid. will , conform'd to thy celestial voice , Knows no restraint ! for duty is her choice : What ills thou sendest , thankfully approve , As kind corrections , pledges of thy love ; In every change , whatever stage I run , My daily wish succeeds ; THY WILL BE DONE .