Chapter IV: Introduction (3)

And as MINERVA is, in fables, said,
From JOVE, without a mother, to proceed;
So our true JOVE, without a mother's aid,
Doth, daily, millions of MINERVAS breed.

[Sidenote: Erroneous opinions of the creation of souls.]

Then neither, from Eternity before,
Nor from the time, when time's first point began;
Made He all souls! which now He keeps in store,
Some in the moon, and others in the sun:

Nor in the secret cloister doth He keep,
These virgin spirits until their marriage day,
Nor locks them up in chambers, where they sleep,
Till they awake within these beds of clay.

Nor did He first a certain number make,
Infusing part in beasts, and part in men,
And as unwilling farther pains to take,
Would make no more, than those He framèd then.

So that the widow Soul, her Body dying,
Unto the next born Body married was;
And so by often changing and supplying,
Men's souls to beasts, and beasts' to men did pass.

(These thoughts are fond! for since the bodies born
Be more in number far than those that die;
Thousands must be abortive, and forlorn,
Ere others' deaths, to them their souls supply.)

But as GOD's handmaid, Nature, doth create
Bodies, in time distinct and order due;
So GOD gives souls the like successive date,
Which Himself makes in bodies formèd new.

Which Himself makes, of no material things,
For unto angels, He no power hath given,
Either to form the shape, or stuff to bring,
From air, or Fire, or substance of the heaven.

[Sidenote: That the Soul is not traduced from the parents.]

Nor He, in this, doth Nature's service use,
For though from bodies she can bodies bring;
Yet could she never, souls from souls traduce,
As fire from fire, or light from light doth spring.

Alas! that some that were great lights of old,
And in their hands the Lamp of GOD did bear,
Some reverend Fathers did this error hold,
Having their eyes dimmed with religious fear.

"For when," say they, "by rule of faith we find,
That every soul unto her body knit,
Brings from the mother's womb, the Sin of Kind,
The root of all the ill She doth commit."

"How can we say, that GOD, the Soul doth make,
But we must make Him author of her sin;
Then from man's soul, She doth beginning take,
Since in man's soul, corruption did begin."

"For if GOD make her, first he makes her ill,
(Which GOD forbid! our thoughts should yield unto)
Or makes the body, her fair form to spill;
Which, of itself, it hath no power to do."

"Not Adam's Body, but his Soul did sin,
And so herself unto corruption brought:
But our poor Soul corrupted is within,
Ere She hath sinned, either in act or thought";
"And yet we see in her such powers divine,
As we could gladly think, from GOD she came;
Fain would we make Him author of the wine,
If for the dregs, we could some other blame."

[Sidenote: The Answer to the Objection.]

Thus these good men, with holy zeal were blind,
When on the other part the truth did shine,
Whereof we do clear demonstrations find,
By light of Nature, and by light Divine.

None are so gross, as to contend for this,
That Souls from Bodies may traducèd be;
Between whose natures no proportion is,
When root and branch in nature still agree.

But many subtle wits have justified
That Souls from Souls, spiritually may spring;
Which (if the nature of the Soul be tried)
Will even, in Nature, prove as gross a thing.

[Sidenote: Reasons derived from Nature.]

For all things made, are either made of nought,
Or made of stuff that ready made doth stand:
Of nought, no creature ever formed ought,
For that is proper to th'Almighty's hand.

If then the Soul, another soul do make;
Because her power is kept within a bound,
She must some former stuff or matter take;
But in the Soul, there is no matter found.

Then if her heavenly Form do not agree,
With any matter which the world contains;
Then She of nothing must created be,
And to Create, to GOD alone, pertains!

Again, if Souls do other Souls beget,
'Tis by themselves, or by the Body's power!
If by themselves! what doth their working let,
But they might Souls engender every hour?

If by the Body! how can Wit and Will,
Join with the body, only in this act?
Since when they do their other works fulfil,
They from the Body, do themselves abstract!

Again, if Souls, of Souls begotten were,
Into each other they should change and move;
And Change and Motion still corruption bear;
How shall we then, the Soul immortal prove?

If, lastly, Souls did generation use,
Then should they spread incorruptible seed:
What then becomes of that which they to lose,
When the acts of generation do not speed?

And though the Soul _could_ cast spiritual seed,
Yet _would_ She not, because She never dies;
For mortal things desire, their like to breed;
That so they may their kind immortalise.

Therefore the angels, Sons of God are named,
And marry not, nor are in marriage given;
Their spirits and ours are of one Substance framed,
And have one Father, even the Lord of heaven:

Who would at first, that in each other thing,
The earth and water, living souls should breed;
But that Man's Soul (whom He would make their king)
Should from Himself immediately proceed.

And when He took the woman from man's side,
Doubtless Himself inspired her soul alone;
For 'tis not said, he did, Man's _soul_ divide,
But took _flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone_.

Lastly, GOD, being made Man, for man's own sake,
And being like man in all, except in sin:
His Body, from the Virgin's womb did take;
But all agree, _GOD formed His soul within_.

Then is the Soul from God? So Pagans say,
Which saw by Nature's light, her heavenly kind,
Naming her "Kin to God!" and "GOD's bright ray,"
"A citizen of heaven, to earth confined!"

But now I feel they pluck me by the ear,
(Whom my young Muse so boldly termed blind)
And crave more heavenly light; that cloud to clear,
Which makes them think GOD doth not make the Mind!

[Sidenote: Reasons drawn from divinity.]

GOD doubtless makes her! and doth make her good!
And grafts her in a Body, there to spring;
Which though it be corrupted, flesh and blood,
Can no way to the Soul, corruption bring.

And yet this Soul (made good by GOD at first,
And not corrupted by the Body's ill)
Even in the womb, is sinful and accurst,
Ere she can judge by Wit, or choose by Will.

Yet is not GOD, the author of her Sin;
Though author of her Being, and being there;
And if we dare to judge our Judge therein;
He can condemn us, and Himself can clear.

First, GOD, from infinite eternity
Decreed what hath been, is, or shall be done;
And was resolved that every man should Be
And, in his turn, his race of life should run.

And so did purpose all the souls to make,
That ever have been made, or ever shall;
And that their Being, they should only take
In human bodies, or not Be at all.

Was it then fit, that such a weak event
(Weakness, itself! the sin and fall of Man)
His counsel's execution should prevent?
Decreed and fixed before the world began.

Or that one penal law, by ADAM broke,
Should make GOD break His own eternal law;
The settled order of the world revoke,
And change all forms of things, which He foresaw.

Could EVE'S weak hand, extended to the tree,
In sunder rent that Adamantine Chain,
Whose golden links, Effects and Causes be;
And which to GOD's own chair, doth fixt remain?

O could we see! how Cause from Cause doth spring!
How mutually they linked and folded are!
And hear how oft one disagreeing string,
The harmony doth rather make, than mar!

And view at once, how Death by sin is brought!
And how from Death a better Life doth rise;
How this, GOD's Justice and his Mercy taught;
We, this decree, would praise, as right and wise!

But we (that measure times, by First and Last)
The sight of things successively do take;
When GOD, on all at once, His view doth cast;
And of all times, doth but one instant make.

All in Himself, as in a glass, He sees,
And from Him, by Him, through Him, all things be;
His sight is not discursive, by degrees;
But seeing the whole, each single part doth see.

He looks on ADAM, as a root, or well,
And on his heirs, as branches, and as streams;
He sees all men as one man! though they dwell
In sundry cities, and in sundry realms.

And as the root and branch are but one tree,
And well and stream do but one river make;
So, if the root and well corrupted be;
The stream and branch the same corruption take

So when the root and fountain of Mankind;
Did draw corruption, and GOD's curse by sin:
This was a charge that all his heirs did bind;
And all his offspring grew corrupt therein!

And as when th' hand doth strike, the man offends,
(For part from whole, Law severs not in this!)
So ADAM'S sin to the whole Kind extends,
For all their natures are but part of his.

Therefore, this sin, of Kind, not personal;
But real, and hereditary was:
The guilt whereof, and punishment to all,
By Course of Nature, and of Law doth pass.

For as that easy law was given to all!
To ancestor and heir! to first and last!
So was the first transgression general;
And All did pluck the fruit! and All did taste!

Of this, we find some footsteps in our Law,
Which doth her root from GOD and Nature take.
Ten thousand men she doth together draw,
And of them all, one Corporation make!

Yet these and their successors are but One;
And if they gain or lose their liberties;
They harm or profit not themselves alone,
But such, as in succeeding time, shall rise!

And so the ancestor and all his heirs,
(Though they in number pass the stars of heaven)
Are still but One! His forfeitures are theirs!
And unto them, are his advancements given!

His civil acts to bind and bar them all!
And as from ADAM, all corruption take;
So if the father's crime be capital;
In all the blood, Law doth _corruption_ make!

Is it, then, just with us, to disinherit
The unborn nephews, for the father's fault?
And to advance again, for one man's merit,
A thousand heirs that have deserved nought?

And is not GOD's decree as just as ours,
If He, for ADAM'S sins, his sons deprive
Of all those native virtues, and those powers;
Which He to him, and to his race did give?

For what is this contagious Sin of Kind,
But a privation of that grace within,
And of that great rich dowry of the mind;
Which all had had, but for the first man's sin?

If then a man, on light conditions, gain
A great estate, to him and his, for ever;
If wilfully, he forfeit it again:
Who doth bemoan his heir? or blame the giver?

So, though GOD make the Soul good, rich, and fair;
Yet when her form is to the Body knit,
Which makes the Man: which Man is ADAM'S heir;
Justly, forthwith, he takes his grace from it.

And then the Soul, being first from nothing brought,
When GOD's grace fails her, doth to nothing fall;
And this _declining Proneness unto nought_,
Is even that Sin, that we are born withal.

Yet not, alone, the first good qualities,
Which in the first Soul were, deprivèd are;
But in their place the contrary do rise,
And real spots of sin, her beauty mar.

Nor is it strange that ADAM'S ill desert,
Should be transferred unto his guilty race;
When CHRIST, His grace and justice doth impart
To men unjust! and such as have no grace!

Lastly, the Soul were better so to be
Born slave to sin, than not to Be at all!
Since, if She do believe, One sets her free,
That makes her mount the higher, from her fall.

Yet this, the curious Wits will not content!
They yet will know (since GOD foresaw this Ill)
Why His high providence did not prevent
The declination of the first Man's will.

If by His word, He had the current stayed,
Of Adam's will, which was by nature free;
It had been one as if His word had said,
"I will, henceforth, that man, no Man shall be!"

For what is Man, without a moving Mind;
Which hath a judging Wit, and choosing Will?
Now, if GOD's power should her election bind;
Her motions then would cease, and stand all still.

And why did GOD in Man this Soul infuse;
But that he should his Maker know and love?
Now if love be compelled, and cannot choose;
How can it grateful, or thankworthy prove?

Love must free hearted be, and voluntary,
And not enchanted, or by Fate constrained:
Not like that love, which did ULYSSES carry
To CIRCE'S isle, with mighty charms enchained

Besides! Were we unchangeable in Will,
And of a Wit, that nothing could misdeem;
Equal to GOD (whose wisdom shineth still,
And never errs) we might ourselves esteem.

So that if Man would be unvariable;
He must be GOD! or like a rock, or tree!
For even the perfect angels were not stable;
But had a fall, more desperate than we.

Then let us praise that Power, which makes us be
Men, as we are! and rest contented so!
And knowing man's fall was Curiosity,
Admire GOD's counsels! which we cannot know.

And let us know that GOD, the Maker is
Of all the Souls, in all the men that be:
Yet their corruption is no fault of His;
But the first man's, that broke GOD's first decree

[Sidenote: Why the Soul is united to the Body.]

This Substance, and this Spirit, of God's own making,
Is in the Body placed, and planted there:
That both of GOD, and of the world partaking;
Of all that is, Man might the Image bear!

GOD, first, made Angels! bodiless pure minds!
Then, other things, which mindless bodies be.
Last, He made Man, the Horizon 'twixt both kinds,
In whom, we do the World's Abridgement see.

Besides! This world below did need one wight,
Which might thereof, distinguish every part;
Make use thereof, and take therein delight;
And order things with industry and Art.

Which, also, GOD, might (in His works) admire,
And here, beneath, yield Him both prayer and praise;
As there, above, the holy Angels' Quire
Doth spread His glory, with spiritual lays.

Lastly, the brute unreasonable wights,
Did want a Visible King, on them to reign;
And GOD Himself, thus to the world unites,
That so the world might endless bliss obtain.

[Sidenote: In what manner the Soul is united to the Body.]

But how shall we this Union well express?
Nought ties the Soul, her subtility is such:
She moves the body, which She doth possess;
Yet no part toucheth, but by virtue's touch!

Then dwells She _not_ therein, as in a tent,
Nor as a pilot, in his ship doth sit,
Nor as a spider, in her web is pent,
Nor as the wax retains the print in it:

Nor as a vessel, water doth contain,
Nor as one liquor, in another shed,
Nor as the heat doth in the fire remain,
Nor as a voice, throughout the air is spread.

But as the fair and cheerful Morning Light
Doth, here and there, her silver beams impart:
And, in an instant, doth herself unite
To the transparent air, in all and part.

Still resting whole, when blows, the air divide,
Abiding pure, when th'air is most corrupted;
Throughout the air, her beams dispersing wide;
And, when the air is tost, not interrupted!

So doth the piercing Soul, the Body fill,
Being all in all, and all in part diffused?
Indivisible! incorruptible still!
Not forced! encountered! troubled! or confused!

And as the Sun above, the light doth bring,
Though we behold it in the air below;
So from th' Eternal Light, the Soul doth spring,
Though in the body, She her powers do show.

[Sidenote: How the Soul doth exercise her powers in the Body.]

But as this world's sun doth effects beget,
Diverse in divers places, every day,
Here, Autumn's temperature! there, Summer's heat!
Here, flowery Spring-tide! and there, Winter grey!

Here, Even! there, Morn! here, Noon! there, Day! there, Night!
Melts wax! dries clay! makes flowers some quick, some dead!
Makes the Moor black! and th'European, white!
Th'American tawny! and th'East Indian red!

So in our little world, this Soul of ours,
Being only One, and to one Body tied,
Doth use on divers objects, diverse powers,
And so are her effects diversified.

[Sidenote: The Vegetative or Quickening Power.]

Her Quick'ning Power in every living part,
Doth as a Nurse, or as a Mother serve;
And doth employ her economic art,
And busy care, her household to preserve.

Here, She attracts! and there, She doth retain,
There, She decocts, and doth the food prepare,
There, She distributes it to every vein,
There, She expels, what She may fitly spare.

This power to MARTHA, may compared be,
Which busy was, the household things to do;
Or to a Dryas living in a tree,
For even to trees, this power is proper too.

And though the Soul may not this power extend
Out of the body, but still use it there;
She hath a Power, which she abroad doth send,
Which views and searcheth all things everywhere.

[Sidenote: The power of Sense.]

This Power is Sense, which from abroad doth bring,
The Colour, Taste, and Touch, and Scent, and Sound,
The Quantity, and shape of everything
Within th'earth's centre or heaven's circle found.

This Power, in parts made fit, fit objects takes,
Yet not the Things, but Forms of Things receives:
As when a seal in wax impression makes,
The print therein, but not itself, it leaves:

And though things sensible be numberless,
But only five the Sense's organs be;
And in those five, All Things their Forms express,
Which we can Touch, Taste, Feel, or Hear, or See.

These are the Windows, through the which She views
The Light of Knowledge, which is Life's Load-star;
And yet whiles She, these spectacles doth use,
Oft, worldly things seem greater than they are.

[Sidenote: Sight.]

First, the two Eyes, which have the Seeing Power,
Stand as one Watchman, Spy, or Sentinel,
Being placed aloft within the head's high Tower
And though both see, yet both but one thing tell.

These Mirrors take into their little space,
The Forms of moon, and sun, and every star;
Of every body, and of every place,
Which, with the world's wide arms, embracèd are.

Yet their best object, and their noblest use,
Hereafter in another world will be;
When GOD in them, shall heavenly light infuse,
That face to face, they may their Maker see.

Here are they guides, which do the Body lead,
Which else would stumble in eternal night:
Here in this world, they do much knowledge _read_,
And are the Casements, which admit most light.

They are her farthest-reaching instrument;
Yet they no beams unto their objects send:
But all the rays are from their objects sent;
And in the Eyes, with pointed angles end.

If th'objects be far off, the rays do meet
In a sharp point, and so things seem but small;
If they be near, their rays do spread and fleet,
And make broad points, that things seem great withal.

Lastly. Nine things to Sight requirèd are.
The Power to see! the Light! the Visible thing!
Being not too small! too thin! too nigh! too far!
Clear space! and Time, the Form distinct to bring.

Thus see we, how the Soul doth use the Eyes,
As instruments of her quick power of sight;
Hence do th'Arts Optic, and fair Painting rise.
Painting, which doth all gentle minds delight!

[Sidenote: Hearing.]

Now let us hear, how She the Ears employs:
Their office is the troubled air to take,
Which in their mazes, forms a sound or noise;
Whereof herself doth true distinction make.

These Wickets of the Soul are placed on high,
Because all sounds do lightly mount aloft;
And that they may not pierce too violently;
They are delayed with turns and windings oft.

For should the voice directly strike the brain,
It would astonish and confuse it much;
Therefore these plaits and folds the sound restrain,
That it, the Organ may more gently touch!

As streams, which, with their winding banks, do play,
Stopt by their creeks, run softly through the plain;
So in the Ear's labyrinth, the voice doth stray,
And doth, with easy motion, touch the brain!

It is the slowest, yet the daintiest Sense!
For even the ears of such as have no skill,
Perceive a discord, and conceive offence,
And knowing not what's good, yet find the ill!

And though this Sense, first, gentle Music found;
Her proper object is the Speech of Man!
But that speech chiefly which GOD's heralds sound,
When their tongues utter, what his Spirit did pen.

Our Eyes have lids, our Ears still ope we see!
Quickly to hear, how every tale is proved;
Our Eyes still move, our Ears unmoved be!
That though we hear quick, we be not quickly moved.

Thus by the organs of the Eye and Ear,
The Soul with knowledge doth herself endue!
Thus She her prison, may with pleasure bear;
Having such prospects, all the world to view!

These Conduit Pipes of Knowledge feed the Mind:
But th'other three attend the Body still;
For by their services the Soul doth find
What things are to the Body, good or ill.

[Sidenote: Taste.]

The Body's life, with meats and air is fed,
Therefore the Soul doth use the Tasting power!
In veins, which through the tongue and palate spread,
Distinguish every relish, sweet and sour.

This is the Body's Nurse! But since Man's wit
Found th'art of cookery to delight his Sense:
More bodies are consumed and killed with it!
Than with the sword, famine, or pestilence.

[Sidenote: Smell.]

Next, in the nostrils, She doth use the Smell,
As GOD the breath of life in them did give;
So makes He, now, His power in them to dwell;
To judge all airs, whereby we breath and live.

This Sense is also mistress of an Art,
Which to soft people, sweet perfumes doth sell;
Though this dear Art doth little good impart,
Since "they smell best; that do of nothing smell!"

And yet good scents do purify the Brain,
Awake the Fancy, and the Wits refine.
Hence Old Devotion, incense did ordain,
To make men's spirits more apt for thoughts divine.

[Sidenote: Feeling.]

Lastly, the Feeling power, which is Life's Root,
Through every living part itself doth shed;
By sinews, which extend from head to foot,
And like a net, all o'er the Body spread.

Much like a subtle spider, which doth sit
In middle of her web, which spreadeth wide;
If ought do touch the utmost thread of it;
She feels it, instantly, on every side!

By touch; the first pure qualities we learn,
Which quicken all things, Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry!
By touch; Hard, Soft, Rough, Smooth, we do discern!
By touch; sweet Pleasure, and sharp Pain we try!

These are the outward instruments of Sense!
These are the Guards, which every thing must pass;
Ere it approach the Mind's intelligence!
Or touch the Phantasy "Wits Looking Glass!"

[Sidenote: The Imagination, or Common Sense.]

And yet these Porters which all things admit,
Themselves perceive not, nor discern the things;
One Common Power doth in the forehead sit,
Which all their proper forms together brings.

For all those Nerves, which spirits of Sense do bear,
And to those outward organs spreading go,
United are as in a centre there!
And, there, this power, those sundry forms doth know!

Those outward Organs present things receive;
This inward Sense doth absent things retain!
Yet, straight, transmits all Forms she doth perceive,
Unto a higher region of the brain;

[Sidenote: The Phantasy.]

Where Phantasy (near handmaid to the Mind!)
Sits and beholds, and doth discern them all;
Compounds in one, things diverse in their kind,
Compares the black and white, the great and small.

Besides those single forms, She doth esteem,
And in her balance doth their values try;
Where some things good, and some things ill do seem,
And neutral some in her Phantastic eye.

This busy power is working day and night,
For when the outward senses rest do take;
A thousand dreams, phantastical and light,
With fluttering wings, do keep her still awake!

[Sidenote: The sensitive Memory.]

Yet, always, all may not afore her be;
Successively, she this, and that intends:
Therefore such forms as she doth cease to see,
To Memory's large volume she commends!

The Ledger Book lies in the brain behind,
Like JANUS' eye, which in his poll was set;
The Layman's Tables! Storehouse of the Mind!
Which doth remember much, and much forget.

Here, Sense's Apprehensions end doth take;
As, when a stone is into water cast,
One circle doth another circle make,
Till the last circle touch the bank at last!

[Sidenote: The Passions of Sense.]

But though the Apprehensive Power do pause,
The Motive Virtue then begins to move!
Which in the heart below, doth Passions cause,
Joy, Grief, and Fear, and Hope, and Hate, and Love

These Passions have a free commanding might,
And divers actions in our life do breed;
For all acts done without true Reason's light,
Do from the Passion of the Sense proceed.

But sith the Brain doth lodge these powers of Sense,
How makes it, in the Heart those passions spring?
The mutual love, the kind intelligence
'Twixt heart and brain, this Sympathy doth bring.

From the kind heat, which in the heart doth reign,
The spirits of Life do their beginning take!
These spirits of Life ascending to the brain,
When they come there, the spirits of Sense do make

These spirits of Sense in Phantasy's high court,
Judge of the Forms of Objects, ill or well!
And so, they send a good or ill report
Down to the heart, where all Affections dwell.

If the report be good; it causeth love!
And longing hope! and well assured joy!
If it be ill; then doth it hatred move!
And trembling fear! and vexing griefs annoy!

Yet were these natural affections good
(For they which want them, blocks or devils be!);
If Reason in her first perfection stood,
That she might Nature's Passions rectify.

[Sidenote: The motion of Life.]

Besides, another Motive Power doth rise
Out of the heart: from whose pure blood do spring
The Vital Spirits, which born in arteries,
Continual motion to all parts do bring.

[Sidenote: The local motion.]

This makes the pulses beat, and lungs respire,
This holds the sinews, like a bridle's reins;
And makes the body to advance, retire,
To turn or stop, as she them slacks or strains!

Thus the Soul tunes the Body's instrument;
These harmonies She makes with Life and Sense:
The organs fit, are by the Body lent;
But th'actions flow from the Soul's influence.

[Sidenote: The Intellectual Powers of the Soul.]

But now I have a Will, yet want a Wit,
To express the workings of the Wit and Will;
Which, though their root be to the body knit,
Use not the Body, when they use their skill.

These powers the nature of the Soul declare,
For to Man's Soul, these only proper be!
For on the earth, no other wights there are,
Which have these heavenly powers, but only

[Sidenote: The Wit or Understanding.]

The Wit (the pupil of the Soul's clear eye!
And in Man's world, th'only shining star!)
Looks in the Mirror of the Phantasy,
Where all the gatherings of the senses are

From thence this Power, the Shapes of things abstracts,
And them within her _Passive_ part receives;
Which are enlightened by that part which _Acts_,
And so the Forms of single things perceives.

But after, by discoursing to and fro,
Anticipating, and comparing things;
She doth all universal natures know,
And all Effects into their Causes brings.

[Sidenote: Reason.]

[Sidenote: Understanding.]

When She rates things, and moves from ground to ground,
The name of Reason, She obtains by this!
But when, by reasons, She the truth hath found,
And standeth fixt, She, Understanding is!

[Sidenote: Opinion.]

[Sidenote: Judgement.]

When her assent, She lightly doth incline
To either part, She is Opinion light!
But when She doth by principles define
A certain truth, She hath true Judgement's sight.

And as from senses, Reason's work doth spring;
So many reasons, Understanding gain:
And many understandings, Knowledge bring,
And by much knowledge, Wisdom we obtain

So, many stairs we must ascend upright,
Ere we attain to Wisdom's high degree:
So doth this earth eclipse our Reason's light,
Which else (in instants) would like angels see.

Yet hath the Soul a dowry natural,
And Sparks of Light some common things to see;
Not being a blank, where nought is writ at all,
But what the writer will, may written be.

For Nature, in man's heart her laws doth pen,
Prescribing Truth to Wit! and Good to Will!
Which do accuse, or else excuse all men,
For every thought or practice, good or ill!

And yet these sparks grow almost infinite,
Making the world and all therein, their food;
As fire so spreads, as no place holdeth it,
Being nourished still with new supplies of wood.

And though these sparks were almost quenched with sin,
Yet they, whom that Just One hath justified,
Have them increased, with Heavenly Light within!
And, like the Widow's oil, still multiplied!

[Sidenote: The power of Will.]

And as this Wit should goodness truly know,
We have a Wit which that true good should choose!
Though Will do oft (when Wit, false Forms doth show)
Take Ill, for Good; and Good, for Ill refuse.

[Sidenote: The relations betwixt Wit and Will.]

Will puts in practice what the Wit deviseth;
The Will ever acts, and Wit contemplates still:
And as from Wit the power of Wisdom riseth;
All other virtues, daughters are of Will!

Will is the Prince! and Wit, the Councillor!
Which doth for common good in council sit;
And when Wit is resolved; Will lends her power
To execute what is advised by Wit.

Wit is the Mind's Chief Judge! which doth control,
Of Fancy's Court, the judgements false and vain!
Will holds the royal sceptre in the Soul;
And on the Passions of the Heart doth reign!

Will is as free as any Emperor,
Nought can restrain her gentle liberty;
No tyrant, nor no torment hath the power
To make us will; when we unwilling be!

[Sidenote: The intellectual Memory.]

To these high powers, a Storehouse doth pertain;
Where they, all Arts and general reasons lay!
Which in the Soul (even after death!) remain,
And no Lethean flood can wash away!

This is the Soul! and those, her virtues be!
Which, though they have their sundry proper ends,
And one exceeds another in degree;
Yet each on other mutually depends.

Our Wit is given, Almighty GOD to know!
Our Will is given to love Him, being known!
But GOD could not be _known_ to us below,
But by His works, which through the Sense are shown.

And as the Wit doth reap the fruits of Sense;
So doth the Quick'ning Power, the Senses feed!
Thus while they do their sundry gifts dispense,
The best, the service of the least doth need!

Even so, the King, his magistrates do serve;
Yet Commons feed both magistrate and King!
The Commons' peace, the magistrates preserve
By borrowed power, which from the Prince doth spring.

The Quickening Power would _be_, and so would rest!
The Sense would not _be_ only, be _be well_!
But Wit's ambition longeth to _be best_!
For it desires in endless bliss, to dwell.

And these three Powers, three sorts of men do make.
For some, like plants, their veins do only fill;
And some, like beasts, their senses' pleasure take,
And some, like angels, do contemplate still.

Therefore the fables turned some men to flowers,
And others, did with brutish forms invest;
And did of others, make celestial powers
Like angels! which still travail, yet still rest!

Yet these three Powers are not three Souls but one,
As one and two are both contained in three;
Three being one number by itself alone.
A shadow of the blessed Trinity!

[Sidenote: An acclamation.]

O what is Man! (Great Maker of mankind!)
That Thou to him so great respect dost bear!
That Thou adorn'st him with so bright a Mind!
Mak'st him a king! and even an angel's peer!

O what a lively life! what heavenly power!
What spreading virtue! what a sparkling fire!
How great! how plentiful! how rich a dower!
Dost Thou, within this dying flesh inspire!

Thou leav'st Thy Print in other works of Thine!
But Thy whole Image, Thou, in Man hast 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 raised Man, since GOD, a man became:
The angels do admire this mystery,
And are astonished when they view the same!

[Sidenote: That the Soul is immortal, and cannot die.]

Nor hath He given these blessings for a day,
Nor made them on the Body's life depend,
The Soul, though made in Time, survives for Aye;
And though it hath beginning, sees no end!

Her only end, in never-ending bliss;
Which is, th'eternal face of GOD to see:
Who Last of Ends and First of Causes is,
And to do this, She must Eternal be!

How senseless then, and dead a Soul hath he,
Which thinks his soul doth with his body die:
Or thinks not so, but so would have it be,
That he might sin with more security!

For though these light and vicious persons say,
"Our Soul is but a smoke! or airy blast!
Which, during life, doth in our nostrils play;
And when we die, doth turn to wind at last!"

Although they say, "Come, let us eat, and drink!
Our life is but a spark, which quickly dies!"
Though thus they _say_, they know not what to _think_,
But in their minds, ten thousand doubts arise.

Therefore no heretics desire to spread
Their light opinions, like these Epicures;
For so their staggering thoughts are comforted,
And other men's assent, their doubt assures.

Yet though these men against their conscience strive,
There are some sparkles in their flinty breasts,
Which cannot be extinct, but still revive,
That (though they would) they cannot, quite be beasts!

But whoso makes a Mirror of his Mind;
And doth, with patience, view himself therein;
His Soul's _eternity_ shall clearly find,
Though th'other beauties be defaced with sin.

[Sidenote: 1 _Reason_. Drawn from the Desire of Knowledge.]

First, In man's mind, we find an appetite
To Learn and Know the Truth of everything:
Which is connatural, and born with it;
And from the essence of the Soul doth spring.

With this Desire, She hath a native Might,
To find out every truth, if She had time
Th'innumerable effects to sort aright;
And, by degrees, from cause to cause to climb!

But since our life so fast away doth slide!
(As doth a hungry eagle through the wind,
Or as a ship transported with the tide;
Which in their passage, leave no print behind.)

Of which swift little time, so much we spend,
While some few things, we, through the Sense, do strain;
That our short race of life is at an end,
Ere we, the Principles of Skill attain:

Or GOD (which to vain ends, hath nothing done)
In vain, this Appetite and Power hath given;
Or else our knowledge, which is here begun,
Hereafter must be perfected in heaven.

GOD never gave a Power to one whole Kind;
But most of that Kind did use the same!
Most eyes have perfect sight! though some be blind;
Most legs can nimbly run! though some be lame.

But in this life, _no_ Soul, the Truth can know
So perfectly, as it hath power to do!
If then perfection be not found below,
A higher place must make her mount thereto.

[Sidenote: 2 _Reason_. Drawn from the motion of the Soul.]

Again, how can She but immortal be?
When with the motions of both Will and Wit,
She still aspireth to Eternity,
And never rests, till she attain to it.

Water in conduit pipes can rise no higher
Than the well head, from whence it first doth spring!
Then since to eternal GOD, She doth aspire;
She cannot be but an eternal thing.

"All moving things to other things do move
Of the same kind," which shows their natures such;
So earth falls down, and fire doth mount above,
Till both their proper Elements do touch.

[Sidenote: The soul compared to a river.]

And as the moisture which the thirsty earth
Sucks from the sea, to fill her empty veins;
From out her womb at last doth take a birth,
And runs, a Nymph! along the grassy plains:

Long doth she stay, as loath to leave the land,
From whose soft side, she first did issue make:
She tastes all places! turns to every hand!
Her flow'ry banks unwilling to forsake:

Yet Nature, so her streams doth lead and carry,
As that her course doth make no final stay
Till she, herself unto the Ocean marry;
Within whose watry bosom first she lay.

Even so the Soul, which in this earthy mould,
The Spirit of GOD doth secretly infuse;
Because, at first, She doth the earth behold,
And only this material world She views!

At first, our Mother Earth, She holdeth dear!
And doth embrace the World, and worldly things!
She flies close by the ground, and hovers here!
And mounts not up with her celestial wings!

Yet, under heaven, She cannot light on ought,
That with her heavenly nature doth agree:
She cannot rest! She cannot fix her thought!
She cannot in this world contented be!

For who did ever yet in Honour, Wealth,
Or Pleasure of the Sense, contentment find?
Who ever ceased to _wish_, when he had Health?
Or having Wisdom, was not _vext in mind_?

Then as a bee, which among weeds doth fall,
Which seem sweet flowers, with lustre fresh and gay;
She lights on that! and this! and tasteth all;
But pleased with none, doth rise and soar away!

So, when the Soul finds here no true content,
And, like NOAH'S dove, can no sure footing take;
She doth return from whence She first was sent,
And flies to Him, that first her wings did make!

Wit seeking Truth, from Cause to Cause ascends;
And never rests, till it the First attain;
Will seeking Good, finds many middle Ends,
But never stays, till it the Last do gain.

Now, GOD, the Truth! and First of Causes is!
GOD is the Last Good End! which lasteth still:
Being _Alpha_ and _Omega_ named for this,
_Alpha_ to Wit! _Omega_ to the Will!

Since then, her heavenly kind She doth bewray,
In that to GOD, She doth directly move:
And on no mortal thing can make her stay;
She cannot be from hence, but from _above_.

And yet this First True Cause and Last Good End,
She cannot hear so _well_, and _truly_ see;
For this perfection, She must yet attend,
Till to her Maker, She espousèd be.

As a King's daughter, being in person sought
Of divers Princes, which do neighbour near;
On none of them can fix a constant thought,
Though she to all do lend a gentle ear.

Yet can she love a foreign Emperor!
Whom, of great worth and power, she hears to be;
If she be wooed but by Ambassador;
Or but his letters, or his picture see.

For well she knows, that when she shall be brought
Into the kingdom, where her Spouse doth reign;
Her eyes shall see what she conceived in thought,
Himself! his State! his glory! and his train!

So while the virgin Soul on earth doth stay
She wooed and tempted is, ten thousand ways,
By these great Powers, which on the earth bear sway;
The WISDOM OF THE WORLD, WEALTH, PLEASURE, PRAISE.

With these, sometime, She doth her time beguile.
These do, by fits, her Phantasy possess,
But She distastes them all, within a while;
And in the sweetest, finds a tediousness:

But if, upon the world's Almighty King,
She once do fix her humble loving thought;
Which, by his Picture drawn in everything,
And sacred Messages, her love hath sought,

Of Him, She thinks She cannot think too much.
This honey tasted, still is ever sweet;
The pleasure of her ravished thought is such,
As almost here, She, with her bliss doth meet.

But when in heaven, She shall His Essence see,
This is her Sovereign Good! and Perfect Bliss!
Her longings, wishings, hopes, all finished be!
Her joys are full! her motions rest in this!

There, is She crowned with Garlands of Content,
There, doth She manna eat, and nectar drink,
That Presence doth such high delights present,
As never tongue could speak, nor heart could think!

[Sidenote: 3 _Reason._ From contempt of death in the better sort of spirits.]

For this! the better Souls do oft despise
The body's death, and do it oft desire;
For when on ground, the burdened balance lies;
The empty part is lifted up the higher!

But if the body's death, the Soul should kill?
Then death must needs _against her nature_ be;
And were it so, all Souls would fly it still,
"For Nature hates, and shuns her contrary."

For all things else, which Nature makes to be;
Their Being to preserve, are chiefly taught!
For though some things desire a change to see,
"Yet never thing did long to turn to _nought_!"

If then, by death, the Soul were quenchèd quite,
She could not thus against her nature run!
Since every senseless thing, by Nature's light,
Doth _preservation_ seek! _destruction_ shun!

Nor could the world's best spirits so much err,
(If Death took all!) that they should _all_ agree,
Before this life, their Honour to prefer!
For what is praise, to things that nothing be?

Again, if by the body's prop, She stand?
If on the body's life, her life depend?
As MELEAGER's on the fatal brand!
The body's good, She only would intend!

We should not find her half so brave and bold,
To lead it to the wars, and to the seas!
To make it suffer watchings! hunger! cold!
When it might feed with plenty! rest with ease!

Doubtless, _all_ Souls have a surviving thought;
Therefore of Death, we think with quiet mind;
But if we think of being _turned to nought_,
A trembling horror in our Souls we find!

[Sidenote: 4. _Reason._ From the fear of death in the wicked souls.]

And as the better spirit, when She doth bear
A scorn of death, doth shew She cannot die;
So when the wicked Soul, Death's face doth fear,
Even then, She proves her own eternity!

For, when Death's form appears, She feareth not
An utter quenching or extinguishment!
She would be glad to meet with such a lot!
That so She might all future ill prevent.

But She doth doubt what after may befall,
For Nature's law accuseth her within,
And saith, "'Tis true, that is affirmed by all,
That after death, there is a pain for sin!"

Then She, which hath been hoodwinked from her birth,
Doth first herself within Death's Mirror see;
And when her body doth return to earth,
She first takes care, how She alone shall be.

Whoever sees these irreligious men,
With burden of a sickness, weak and faint;
But hears them talking of religion then,
And vowing of their souls to every saint?

When was there ever cursed atheist brought
Unto the gibbet, but he did adore
That blessed Power! which he had set at nought,
Scorned, and blasphemed, all his life before?

These light vain persons, still are drunk and mad,
With surfeitings and pleasures of their youth;
But, at their deaths, they are fresh! sober! sad!
Then, they discern! and then, they speak the truth!

If then, all souls, both good and bad, do teach
With general voice, that souls can never die;
'Tis not Man's flattering Gloss, but Nature's Speech,
Which, like GOD's Oracle, can never lie.

[Sidenote: 5. _Reason._ From the general desire of Immortality.]

Hence, springs that _universal_ strong desire,
Which all men have, of Immortality:
Not some few spirits unto this thought aspire,
But all men's minds in this, united be.

Then this desire of Nature is not vain!
"She covets not impossibilities!"
"Fond thoughts may fall into some idle brain;
But one Assent of All, is ever true!"

From hence, that general care and study springs,
That _launching_ and _progression_ of the Mind,
Which all men have, so much of Future things,
As they no joy, do in the Present find.

From this desire, that main Desire proceeds,
Which all men have, surviving Fame to gain;
By tombs, by books, by memorable deeds;
For She that this desires, doth still remain.

Hence, lastly, springs Care of Posterities!
For things, their kind would everlasting make!
Hence is it, that old men do plant young trees,
The fruit whereof, another age shall take!

If we these rules unto ourselves apply,
And view them by reflection of the mind;
All these True Notes of Immortality,
In our hearts' tables, we shall written find!

[Sidenote: 6. _Reason._ From the very doubt and disputation of immortality.]

And though some impious wits do questions move,
And doubt "if souls immortal be or no?"
That _doubt_, their immortality doth prove!
Because they seem immortal things to know.

For he which reasons, on both parts doth bring,
Doth some things mortal, some 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 those glasses, which material be,
Forms of material things do only take
(For Thoughts or Minds in them, we cannot see);

So when we GOD and Angels do conceive,
And think of Truth (which is eternal too),
Then do our Minds, immortal Forms receive,
Which if they mortal were, they could not do.

And as if beasts conceived what Reason were,
And that conception should distinctly shew;
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, She _doubts_ can move,
She, proofs of her eternity doth bring;
Even when She strives the contrary to prove.

For even 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.

And if herself She can so lively move,
And never need a foreign help to take,
Then must her motion everlasting prove,
"Because her self She never can forsake."

[Sidenote: That the Soul cannot be destroyed.]

"But though Corruption cannot touch the Mind,
By any cause, that from itself may spring;
Some Outward Cause, Fate hath perhaps designed,
Which to the Soul, may utter quenching bring?"

[Sidenote: Her Cause ceaseth not.]

"Perhaps her Cause may cease, and She may die!"
GOD is her Cause! His WORD, her Maker was!
Which shall stand fixed for all eternity!
When heaven and earth shall like a shadow pass.

[Sidenote: She hath no contrary.]

"Perhaps something repugnant to her kind,
By strong antipathy, the Soul may kill!"
But what can be contrary to the Mind,
Which holds all contraries in concord still?

She lodgeth heat, and cold! and moist, and dry!
And life, and death! and peace, and war together:
Ten thousand fighting things in her do lie,
Yet neither troubleth or disturbeth either.

[Sidenote: She cannot die for want of food.]

"Perhaps, for want of food, the Soul may pine!"
But that were strange! since all things bad and good,
Since all GOD's creatures, mortal and divine;
Since GOD Himself is her eternal food.

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.

[Sidenote: Violence cannot destroy her.]

"Yet violence perhaps the Soul destroys,
As lightning or the sunbeams dim the sight;
Or as a thunder-clap or cannon's noise,
The power of hearing doth astonish quite?"

But high perfection to the Soul it brings,
T'encounter things most excellent and high;
For when She views the best and greatest things,
They do not hurt, but rather clear the eye.

Besides as HOMER's gods 'gainst armies stand;
Her subtle form can through all dangers slide;
Bodies are captive, Minds endure no band,
"And Will is free, and can no force abide!"

[Sidenote: Time cannot destroy her.]

"But lastly, Time perhaps, at last, hath power,
To spend her lively powers, and quench her light?"
But old god SATURN, which doth all devour,
Doth cherish her, and still augment her might

Heaven waxeth old; and all the spheres above
Shall, one day, faint, and their swift motion stay;
And Time itself, in time, shall cease to move,
Only the Soul survives, and lives for aye.

Our bodies, every footstep that they make,
March towards death, until at last they die:
Whether we work, or play, or sleep, or wake,
Our life doth pass, and with Time's wings doth fly

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

The more She lives, the more She feeds on Truth;
The more She feeds, her Strength doth more increase:
And what is Strength, but an effect of Youth!
Which if Time nurse, how can it ever cease?

[Sidenote: Objections against the Immortality of the Soul.]

But now these Epicures begin to smile,
And say, "My doctrine is more safe, than true!"
And that "I fondly do myself beguile,
While these received opinions I ensue."

[Sidenote: Objection.]

"For what!" they say, "doth not the Soul wax old?
How comes it, then, that aged men do dote,
And that their brains grow sottish, dull, and cold;
Which were in youth, the only spirits of note?"

"What! are not Souls within themselves corrupted?
How can there idiots then by Nature be?
How is it that some wits are interrupted,
That now they dazzled are, now clearly see?"

[Sidenote: Answer.]

These questions make a subtle argument
To such as think both Sense and Reason one:
To whom, nor Agent, from the Instrument;
Nor Power of Working, from the Work is known

But they that know that Wit can show no skill,
But when she things in Sense's glass doth view;
Do know, if accident this glass do spill,
It _nothing_ sees! or sees the _false_ for _true_.

For if that region of the tender brain,
Wherein th'inward sense of Phantasy should sit,
And th'outward senses' gatherings should retain,
By Nature, or by chance become unfit.

Either at first uncapable it is;
And so few things or none at all receives;
Or marred by accident which haps amiss,
And so amiss it everything perceives;

Then as a cunning Prince that useth spies;
If they return no news, doth nothing know;
But if they make advertisement of lies,
The Prince's Council all awry do go.

Even so, the Soul, to such a Body knit,
Whose inward senses undisposèd be,
And to receive the Forms of things unfit;
Where nothing is brought in, can nothing see.

This makes the Idiot, which hath yet a mind,
Able to know the Truth, and choose the Good;
If she such figures in the brain did find,
As might be found, if it in temper stood.

But if a frenzy do possess the brain;
It so disturbs and blots the forms of things,
As Phantasy proves altogether vain,
And to the Wit, no true relation brings.

Then doth the Wit, admitting all for true,
Build fond conclusions on those idle grounds;
Then doth it fly the Good, and Ill pursue,
Believing all that this false spy propounds.

But purge the humours, and the rage appease;
Which this distemper in the Fancy wrought:
Then will the Wit, which never had disease,
Discourse and judge discreetly, as it ought.

So though the clouds eclipse the Sun's fair light,
Yet from his face they do not take one beam:
So have our eyes their perfect power of sight,
Even when they look into a troubled stream.

Then these defects in Sense's organs be,
Not in the Soul, or in her working might;
She cannot lose her perfect Power to See,
Though mists and clouds do choke her window light.

These imperfections then we must impute,
Not to the Agent, but the Instrument;
We must not blame APOLLO, but his Lute,
If false accords from her false strings be sent