Would Heaven quite beggar Virtue, if beloved?
“Has Virtue charms?”—I grant her heavenly fair;
But if unportion’d, all will Interest wed; 1170
Though that our admiration, this our choice.
The virtues grow on immortality;
That root destroy’d, they wither and expire.
A Deity believed, will nought avail;
Rewards and punishments make God adored;
And hopes and fears give Conscience all her power.
As in the dying parent dies the child,