Therefore the fables turn'd fome men to flow'rs,
And others did with brutish forms inveft,
And did of others make celestial pow'rs,

Like angels, which still travel, yet still reft.

Yet thefe three pow'rs are not three Souls, but

one;

As one and two are both contain'd in three; Three being one number by itself alone, A fhadow of the bieffed Trinity.

Oh! what is man (great Maker of mankind!) That thou to him fo great respect doft bear! That thou adorn'ft him with fo bright a mind, Mak'ft him a king, and e'en an angel's peer!

Oh! what a lively life, what heav'nly pow'r, What fpreading virtue, what a sparkling fire; How great, how plentiful, how rich a dow'r

Doft thou within this dying flesh inspire!

Thou leav'ft thy print in other works of thine;
But thy whole image thou in man haft writ:
There cannot be a creature more divine,
Except (like thee) it should be infinite.

But it exceeds man's thought, to think how high God hath rais'd men, fince God a man became; The angels do admire this mystery,

And are astonish'd when they view the fame.

Nor hath he giv❜n these bleffings for a day,

Nor made them on the Body's life depend: The Soul, though made in time, furvives for ay; And though it hath beginning, fees no end.

SECTION XXX.

That the Soul is immortal, proved by feveral
Reafons.

HER only end is never-ending blifs;

Which is, the eternal face of God to fee; Who, laft of ends, and first of caufes, is; And to do this, fhe muft eternal be.

How fenfelefs then, and dead a Soul hath he, Which thinks his Soul doth with his body die;

Or thinks not fo, but fo would have it be,
That he might fin with more fecurity?

For though thefe light and vicious perfons fay,
Our foul is but a smoke, or airy blast,
Which, during life, doth in our nostrils play,

And when we die, doth turn to wind at laft:

Although they fay, come let us eat and drink; Our life is but a fpark, which quickly dies; Though thus they fay, they know not what to think;

But in their minds ten thousand doubts arife.

Therefore no hereticks de fire to spread

Their light opinions, like thefe epicures; For fo their ftagg'ring thoughts are comforted, And other men's affent their doubt affures.

Yet though these men against their confcience ftrive,

There are fome fparkles in their flinty breasts, Which cannot be extinct, but ftill revive; [beafts. That though they would, they cannot quite be

But whofo makes a mirror of his mind,

And doth with patience view himself therein. His Soul's eternity fhall clearly find,

Though th' other beauties be defac'd with fin.

REASON I.

Drawn from the defire of Knowledge.

First, in man's mind we find an appetite
To learn and know the truth of ev'ry thing,
Which is co-natural, and born with it,

And from the effence of the Soul doth spring.

With this defire, the hath a native might

To find out ev'ry truth, if the had time; Th' innumerable effects to fort aright, And by degrees from caufe to caufe to climb.

But fince our life fo faft away doth flide,

As doth a hungry cagle through the wind; Or as a fhip transported with the tide,

Which in their paffage leave no print behind:

Of which swift little time fo much we spend, While fome few things we through the sense do ftrain,

That our fhort race of life is at an end,

Ere we the principles of skill attain.

Or God (who to vain ends hath nothing done) In vain this appetite and pow'r hath giv'n; Or elfe qur knowledge, which is here begun, Hereafter must be perfected in heav'n.

God never gave a pow'r to one whole kind,

But most part of that kind did ufe the fame: Moft eyes have perfect fight, though fome be blind;

Most legs can nimbly run, though fome be lame.

But in this life no foul the truth can know
So perfectly, as it hath pow'r to do :
If then perfection be not found below,
An higher place must make her mount thereto.

REASON II.

Drawn from the Motion of the Soul.

Again, how can fhe but immortal be,
When with the motions of both will and wit,
She ftill afpireth to eternity,

And never refts, till fhe attain to it?

Now God the Truth, and first of Caufes is; God is the laft good end, which lafteth ftill; Being Alpha and Omega nam'd for this; Alpha to Wit, Omega to the Will.

Since then her heavenly kind the doth display, In that to God the doth directly move; And on no mortal thing can make her ftray, She cannot be from hence, but from above.

And yet this first true caufe, and laft good end,
She cannot here fo well, and truly fee;
For this perfection she must yet attend,

Till to her Maker fhe efpoufed be.

As a king's daughter, being in person sought
Of divers princes, who do neighbour near,
On none of them can fix a conftant thought,
Though the to all do lend a gentle ear:

Yet she can love a foreign emperor,
Whom of great worth and pow'r fhe hears
to be,

If the be woo'd but by ambassador,

Or but his letters, or his pictures fee:

For well she knows, that when she shall be brought Into the kingdom where her foufe doth reign; Her eyes fhall fee what the conceiv'd in thought, Himself, his flate, his glory, and his train,

So while the virgin-foul on earth doth stay,

She woo'd and tempted is ten thoufand ways, By thefe great pow'rs, which on the earth bear fway;

The wisdom of the world, wealth, pleasure, praife:

With thefe fometimes fhe doth her time beguile,
Thefe do by fits her fantasy poffefs;
But the diftaftes them all within a while,
And in the fweeteft finds a tedioufnefs.

But if upon the world's Almighty King

she once doth fix her humble loving thought, Who by his picture drawn in every thing,

And facred meffages, her love hath fought;"

Of him the thinks the cannot think too much;
This honey tafted ftill, is ever sweet;
The pleasure of her ravish'd thought is fuch,

As almoft here the with her blifs doth meet :

But when in heaven the shall his effence fee,
This is her fov'reign good, and perfect blifs;
Her longing, withings, hopes, all finish'd be;
Her joys are full, her motions reft in this:

There is the crown'd with garlands of content;
There doth fhe manna eat, and nectar drink:
That prefence doth such high delights prefent,
As never tongue could speak, nor heart could
think.

REASON III.

Fram Contempt of Death in the better Sort of Spirits.

For this, the better fouls do oft despise
The Body's death, and do it oft defire;
For when on ground, the burthen'd balance lies,
The empty part is lifted up the higher :

But if the body's death the Soul fhould kill,
Then death muft needs against her nature be;
And were it fo, all Souls would fly it ftill,

For nature hates and fhuns her contrary,

For all things elfe, which nature makes to be, Their being to preferve are chiefly taught; And though fome things defire a change to fee, Yet never thing did long to turn to naught.

If then by death the Soul were quenched quite, She could not thus against her nature run; Since ev'ry fenfeless thing, by nature's light, Doth prefervation feek, deftruction fhun.

Nor could the world's beft fpirits fo much err, If death took all, that they should agree, Before this life, their honour to prefer;

For what is praise to things that nothing be?

Again, if by the Body's prop the stand;

If on the Body's life, her life depend, As Meleager's on the fatal brand,

The body's good fhe only would intend :

We fhould not find her half fo brave and bold,
To lead it to the wars, and to the feas,
To make it fuffer watchings, hunger, cold,

When it might feed with plenty, reft with ease.

Doubtlefs, all Souls have a furviving thought,
Therefore of death we think with quiet mind;
But if we think of being turn'd to naught,
A trembling horror in our Souls we find.

REASON IV.

From the Fear of Death in wicked Souls.

And as the better spirit, when the doth bear

A fcorn of death, doth fhew the cannot die; So when the wicked Soul death's face doth fear, E'en then the proves her own eternity.

For when death's form appears, the feareth not
An utter quenching or extinguifhment;
She would be glad to meet with fuch a lot,
That fo fhe might all future ill prevent:

But the doth doubt what after may befal;
For nature's law accufeth her within,
And faith, 'tis true what is affirm'd by all,
That after death there is a pain for fin.

Then the who hath been hoodwink'd from her

birth,

Doth first herself within death's mirror fee; And when her body doth return to earth, She first takes care, how fhe alone shall be.

Whoever fees these irreligious men,

With burthen of a fickness weak and faint, But hears them talking of religion then,

And vowing of their Souls to ev'ry faint?

When was there ever cursed atheist brought
Unto the gibbet, but he did adore
That bleffed pow'r, which he had set at nought,
Scorn'd and blafphemed all his life before?

Thefe light vain perfons ftill are drunk and mad, With furfeitings and pleafures of their youth; But at their death they are fresh, sober, sad; Then they difcern, and then they speak the truth.

If then all Souls, both good and bad, do teach, With gen'ral voice, that Souls can never die; 'Tis not men's flattering glofs, but nature's speech,

Which, like God's oracles, can never lie.

REASON V.

From the general Defire of Immortality. Hence fprings that universal strong defire;

Which all men have of immortality: Not fome few fpirits unto this thought aspire; But all men's minds in this united be.

Then this defire of nature is not vain, "She covets not impoffibilities; "Fond thoughts may fall into fome idle brain, "But one affent of all, is ever wife."

From hence that gen'ral care and study springs, That launching, and progreffion of the mind, Which all men have fo much of future things,

That they no joy do in the prefent find.

From this defire, that main defire proceeds, Which all men have furviving fame to gain, By tombs, by books, by memorable deeds;

For fhe that this defires, doth ftill remain.

Hence, laftly, fprings care of pofterities,

For things their kind would everlasting make: Hence it is, that old men do plant young trees, The fruit whereof another age fhall take.

If we thefe rules unto ourfelves apply,

And view them by reflection of the mind, All these true notes of immortality

In our heart's tables we fhall written find.

REASON VI.

From the very Doubt and Difputation of
Immortality.

And though fome impious wits do questions move
And doubt if fouls immortal be, or no;
That doubt their immortality doth prove,
Because they seem immortal things to know.

For he who reafons on both parts doth bring,
Doth fome things mortal, fome immortal call;
Now, if himself were but a mortal thing,

He could not judge immortal things at all.

For when we judge, our minds we mirrors make;
And as thofe glaffes which material be,
Fornus of material things do only take;

For thoughts or minds in them we cannot fee:

So when we God and angels do conceive,

And think of truth, which is eternal too; Then do our minds inmortal forms receive, Which if they mortal were, they could not do.

And as if beafts conceiv'd what reafon were,

And that conception fhould diftin&tly fhew, They should the name of reasonable bear;

For without reason, none could reason know:

So when the Soul mounts with so high a wing, As of eternal things the doubts can move; She proofs of her eternity doth bring,

Ev'n when the ftrives the contrary to prov

For ev'n the thought of immortality,

Being an act done without the Body's aid, Shews, that herself alone could move and be, Although the Body in the grave were laid.

SECTION XXXI.

That the Soul cannot be defirozed.

AND if herself she can so lively move.

And never need a foreign help to take; Then muft her motion everlafting prove, “Because herself she never can forlake.”

But though corruption cannot touch the mind, By any caufe that from itself may fpring. Some outward caufe fate hath perhaps deûgn'd,

Which to the Soul may utter quenching bring.

Perhaps her cause may cease †, and the may die:

God is her caufe, his Word her Maker was; Which fhall stand fix'd for all eternity, When heav'n and earth fhall he a fak pafs.

Her caufe ceafethnot, + She bath no contrary.

Bodies are fed with things of mortal kind,
And so are subject to mortality:
But truth, which is eternal, feeds the mind,
The tree of life, which will not let her die.

Yet violence, perhaps the Soul deftroys ||,

As lightning, or the fun-beams dim the fight; Or as a thunder clap, or cannou's noise,

The pow'r of hearing doth astonish quite :

But high perfection to the foul it brings,

T'encounter things most excellent and high; For, when the views the best and greatest things, They do not hurt, but rather clear the eye.

Befides, as Homer's gods, 'gainst armies ftand, Her fubtle form can through all dangers flide : Bodies are captive, minds endure no band;

"And will is free, and can no force abide."

But laftly, time perhaps at last hath pow'r §

To spend her lively pow'rs, and quench herlight; But old god Saturn, which doth all devour,

Doth cherish her, and still augment her might.

Heav'n waxeth old, and all the spheres above

Shall one day faint, and their swift motion flay; And time itself, in time fhall ceafe to move;

Only the Soul furvives, and lives for ay.

"Our Bodies, ev'ry footstep that they make, "March towards death, until at last they die : "Whether they work or play, or fleep or wake, "Our life doth pafs, and with time's wings "doth fly:

But to the Soul time doth perfection give,
And adds fresh luftre to her beauty ftill;
And makes her in eternal youth to live,
Like her which nectar to the gods doth fill.

The more fhe lives, the more the feeds on truth; The more the feeds, her strength doth more increafe:

And what is ftrength, but an effect of youth,
Which if time nurse, how can it ever ceafe?

* She cannot die for want of food.
Violence cannot dearov her.
Time cannot deftroy her.

SECTION XXXII.

Objections against the Immortality of the Soul, with their respective Answers.

BUT now thefe epicures begin to smile,
And fay, my doctrine is more fafe than true,
And that I fondly do myself beguile,
While thefe receiv'd opinions I enfue.

OBJECTION I.

For, what, fay they? doth not the foul wax old? How comes it then that aged men do dote; And that their brains grow fottish, dull, and cold,

Which were in youth the only spirits of note?

What! are not fouls within themselves corrupted?
How can there ideots then by nature be?
How is it that fome wits are interrupted,
That now they dazzled are, now clearly fee?

ANSWER.

These questions make a fubtle argument

To fuch as think both sense and reafon one; To whom nor agent, from the inftrument,

Nor pow'r of working, from the work is known.

But they that know that wit can shew no skill, But when the things in fenfe's glass doth view, Do know, if accident this glafs do fpill,

It nothing fees, or fees the falfe for true.

For, if that region of the tender brain,
Where th' inward fenfe of fantasy should fit,
And th' outward fenfes, gath'rings should retain,
By nature, or by chance, become unfit:

Either at first incapable it is,

And fo few things, or none at all receives; Or marr'd by accident, which haps amifs: And fo amifs it ev'ry thing perceives.

Then, as a cunning prince that ufeth fpies,

If they return no news, doth nothing know; But if they make advertisement of lies,

The prince's counfels all awry do go:

Ev'n fo the Soul to fuch a body knit,

Whofe inward fenfes undifpofed be; And to receive the forms of things unfit,

Where nothing is brought in, can nothing fee.

This makes the ideot, which hath yet a mind, Able to know the truth, and choose the good If the fuch figures in the brain did find,

As might be found, if it in temper food.

But if a frenfy do poffefs the brain,

It fo disturbs and blots the forms of things, As fantafy proves altogether vain,

And to the wit no true relation brings.