This plain distinction, Sir, your doubt secures: 'Tis not true Reason I despise, but yours. Thus, I think Reason righted; [...]ut for man, I'le ne're recant, defend him if you can. For all his Pride, and his Philosophie, 'Tis evident Beasts are, in their own Degree, As Wise at least, and Better far, than he, Those Creatures are the wisest, who attain By surest means, the ends at which they aim. If therefore Jowler finds, and kills, the Hares Better than man supplies Committee Chairs; Though one's a Statesman, th' other but a Hound; Jo[...]ler in Justice will be wiser found. You see how far mans Wisdom here extends: Look next if Human Nature makes amends; Whose principles are most Generous and Just; And to whose morals, you would sooner trust: Be Judge your self, I'le bring it to the Test, Which is the basest Creature, Man, or Beast: Birds feed on Birds, Beasts on each other prey; But salvage Man alone, does Man Betray. Prest by Necessity, they kill for food; Man undoes man, to do himself no good. With Teeth, and Claws, by Nature arm'd, they Hunt, Natures allowance, to supply their want: But man with Smiles, Embrances, Friendships, Praise, Inhumanly, his fellows life betrayes, With voluntary pains, works his distress, Not through Necessity, but Wantonness For hunger, or for love they bite or tear, Whilst wretched man is still in arms for fear. For fear he arms, and is of arms afraid: From fear, to fear, successively betray'd. Base fear, the source, whence his best passions came, His boasted Honor, and his dear bought Fame: The Lust of Pow'r, to which he's such a slave, And for the which alone, he dares be brave: To which his various projects are design'd, Which makes him Generous, Affable and Kind: For which he takes such pains to be thought wise, And scrues his actions, in a forc't disguise: Leads a most tedious life, in misery, Under laborious, mean Hypocrisie, Look to the Bottom of his vast design, Wherein man's Wisdom, Pow'r and Glory joyn; The Good he acts, the Ill he does endure, 'Tis all from fear, to make himself secure. Meerly for safety, after fame they thirst, For all men would be Cowards if they durst: And honesty's against all common sense, Must men be Knaves, 'tis in their own defence, Mankind's dishonest; if you think it fair, Amongst known Cheats, to play upon the square, You'le be undone.— Nor can weak Truth, your reputation save; The Knaves will all agree to call you Knave. Wrong'd shall he live, insulted o're, opprest, Who dares be lesser Villain, than the rest. Thus here you see, what Human Nature craves, Most men are Cowards, all men should be Knaves. The Difference lyes, as far as I can see, Not in the thing it self, but the Degree: And all the subject matter of Debate, Is only who's a Knave, of the first Rate.