Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 36.djvu/45

Rh True virtue by the Almighty first was made, By man its counterfeit, and empty shade; He may disguise the truth with errors vain, His feelings an attempt to change restrain.

Containing answers to the objections against universal morality, with a demonstration of that truth.

Cardan and famed Spinoza both reply, This check of conscience, Nature's boasted cry, From mutual wants and habit take their rise, 'Tis these cement our friendships and our ties. Foe to thyself, sophist both weak and blind, Whence springs this want? Why did the sovereign mind Make in the bosom of all mortals dwell, Instincts which to society impel? Laws made by mortal man soon pass away, The varied, weak productions of a day. Jacob of old, as inclination led, Two sisters of the Hebrew race could wed; David, exempt both from restraint and shame, Could to a hundred beauties tell his flame, Whilst at the Vatican, the pope distressed, Can't without scandal be of one possessed. Here successors are chosen by the sires, Whilst birthright there the whole estate acquires. If but a whiskered Polander commands, All public business suspended stands. Electors must the emperor sustain, The pope has dignity, the English gain. Worship, law, interests, variations know, Virtue's alone unchangeable below.