When she rates things, and moves from ground to ground,

The name of Reafon fhe obtains by this: But when by Reafon fhe the truth hath found, And standeth fix'd, she Understanding is.

When her affent fhe lightly doth incline
To either part, fhe his opinion's light:
But when the doth by principles define

A certain truth, the hath true Judgment's fight.

And as from fenfes Reafon's work doth spring,
So many Reasons Understanding gain;
And many Understandings knowledge bring;
And by much knowledge, Wifdom we obtain.
So, many stairs we must afcend upright,

Ere we attain to Wildom's high degree:
So doth this earth eclipfe our Reafon's light,
Which elle (in inflants) would like angels fee,

SECTION XXVI.

Innate Ideas in the Soul.

YET hath the Soul a dowry natural,
And sparks of light, fome common things to fee;
Not being a blank where naught is writ at all,
But what the writer will, may written be.

For Nature in man's heart her laws doth pen, Prefcribing truth to wit, and good to will; Which do accufe, or elfe excufe all men,

For ev'ry thought or practice, good or ill:

And yet thefe fparks grow almost infinite, Making the world, and all therein, their food; As fire fo fpreads, as no place holdeth it,

Being nourish'd fill with new fupplics of wood. And though these sparks were almost quench'd with fin,

Yet they whom that just One hath justify'd, Have them increas'd with heav'nly light within, And like the widow's oil, ftill multiply'd,

SECTION XXVII.

The Power of Will, and Relation between the Wit and Will.

AND as this Wit fhould goodnefs truly know, We have a Will, which that true good should

choofe [fhew) Though Will do oft (when Wit falfe forms doth Take ill for good, and good for ill refufe.

Will puts in practice what the Wit deviseth:

Will ever acts, and Wit contemplates ftill: And as from Wit the pow'r of Wisdom rifeth, All other virtues daughters are of Will.

Therefore no hereticks defire 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 sparkles in their flinty breasts, Which cannot be extinct, but ftill revive; [beats. 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. Firft, 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, fhe hath a native might

To find out ev'ry truth, if she 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 slide,

As doth a hungry eagle 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 fkill attain.

Or God (who to vain ends hath nothing done) In vain this appetite and pow'r hath giv'n; Or else our 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;

Moft 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.

Drazon from the Motion of the Soul.

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

And never rests, till she attain to it?

Water in conduit pipes can rife no higher

Than the well-head, from whence it first doth fpring:

Then fiuce no eternal God she doth afpire,
She cannot be but an eternal thing.

« All moving things to other things do nove,
"Of the fame kind which fhews their nature
"fuch."

So earth falls down, and fire doth mount above, Till-both their proper elements do touch.

And as the moisture, which the thirsty earth

Sucks from the fea, to all her empty veins, From out her womb at last doth take a birth,

And runs a lymph along the graffy plains :

Long doth fhe fay, as loth to leave the land, From whofe foft fide the first did issue make: She taftes all places, turns to every hand,

Her flow'ry banks unwilling to forfake:

Yet nature fo her ftreams doth lead and carry, As that her course doth make no final stay, Till the herself unto the ocean marry,

Within whofe wat'ry bofom firft the lay.

E'en fo the foul, which in this earthly mould
The Spirit of God doth fecretly infufe,
Becaufe at firft fhe doth the earth behold,
And only this material world the views:

At first her mother-earth the holdeth dear,

And doth embrace the world, and worldly

ow God the Truth, and first of Causes is; God is the last good end, which lasteth still; eing Alpha and Omega nam'd for this; Alpha to Wit, Omega to the Will.

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

nd yet this firft true caufe, and laft good end, She cannot here fo well, and truly fee; or this perfection fhe must yet attend, Till to her Maker the efpoufed be.

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

et the can love a foreign emperor,

Whom of great worth and pow'r fhe hears to be,'

fhe be woo'd but by ambaffador,

Or but his letters, or his pictures fee:

or well fhe knows, that when she shall be brought Into the kingdom where her spouse doth reign; er eyes fhall fee what she conceiv'd in thought, Himself, his state, his glory, and his train.

> while the virgin-foul on earth doth stay, She woo'd and tempted is ten thousand ways, y thefe great pow'rs, which on the earth bear fway;

The wifdom of the world, wealth, pleasure, praise :

With these fometimes fhe doth her time beguile,
Thefe do by fits her fantasy poffefs;
ut fhe diftaftes them all within a while,
And in the fweetest finds a tedioufnels.

ut 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 sought;

Of him he thinks the cannot think too much;
This honey tafted ftill, is ever fweet;
The pleasure of her ravish'd thought is such,
As almost here the with her blifs doth meet:

But when in heaven fhe fhall his effence fee,
This is her fov'reign good, and perfect blifs;
Her longing, wifhings, 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 the manna eat, and nectar drink :
That prefence doth fuch high delights prefent,
As never tongue could fpeak, nor heart could
think.

REASON III.

From Contempt of Death in the better Sort of Spirits.

For this, the better fouls do oft defpife
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 should kill, Then death muft needs against her nature be; And were it so, all Souls would fly it ftill,

For nature hates and fhuns her contrary.

For all things else, which nature makes to be, Their being to preserve 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, destruction shun.

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

For what is praise to things that nothing be?

Again, if by the Body's prop fhe ftand;

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 cafe,

Doubtless, 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 fpirit, when fhe 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 extinguishment;
She would be glad to meet with fuch a lot,
That fo the 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. 1

Then fhe 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 firft takes care, how the 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 saint?

When was there ever curfed atheist brought

Unto the gibbet, but he did adore That bleffed pow'r, which he had fet at nought, Scorn'd and blafphemed all his life before?

These light vain persons still are drunk and mad, With furfeitings and pleasures of their youth; But at their death they are fresh, fober, fad; 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 fpeech,

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

REASON V.

From the general Defire of Immortality. Hence fprings that univerfal 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 impoflibilities; "Fond thoughts may fall into fome idle brain, "But one affent of all, is ever wife."

From hence that gen'ral çare and study springs, That launching, and progreflion 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 dcfires, doth still 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 these rules unto ourselves 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 glasses which material be,
Formis 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 immortal forms receive, Which if they mortal were, they could not dø.

And as if beafts conceiv'd what reason were, And that conception fhould diftin&ly shew, They fhould the name of reafonable bear;

For without reason, none could reafon know: So when the Soul moants with so high a wing, As of eternal things the doubts can move; She proofs of her eternity doth bring,

Ev'n when the strives the contrary to prove.

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 dfireyed.

AND if herself she can fo lively move.

And never need a foreign help to take; Then must her motion everlafting prove, "Because herself the never can foríake.”

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

Which to the Soul may utter quenching bring.

Perhaps her caufe may ceafe t, 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 like a fhadow
pafs.

Her caufe ceafeth not. + Sho hath no contrary,