Will is the prince, and wit the counsellor, Which doth for common good in council sit; And when wit is resolv'd, will lends her pow'r To execute what is advis'd by wit. Wit is the mind's chief judge, which doth control Will is as free as any emperor, Nought can restrain her gentle liberty : No tyrant, nor no torment hath the pow'r To make us will, when we unwilling be. SECTION XXVIII. THE INTELLECTUAL MEMORY. To these high pow'rs a store-house doth pertain, SECTION XXIX. THE DEPENDENCY OF THE SOUL'S FACULTIES UPON EACH OTHER. This is the soul, and these her virtues be; [ends, Which, though they have their sundry proper And one exceeds another in degree, Yet each on other mutually depends. Our wit is giv'n Almighty God to know; Our will is giv'n to love him, being known: But God could not be known to us below, [shown. But by his works, which through the sense are And as the wit doth reap the fruits of sense, So doth the quick'ning pow'r the senses feed: Thus while they do their sundry gifts dispense, "The best the service of the least doth need." Ev'n so the king his magistrates do serve, Yet commons feed both magistrates and king: The common's peace the magistrates preserve, By borrow'd pow'r, which from the prince doth spring. The quick'ning power would be, and so would rest, The sense would not be only, but be well: But wit's ambition longeth to the best, For it desires in endless bliss to dwell, And these three pow'rs 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 turn'd some men to flow'rs, Yet these three pow'rs are not three souls, but one; As one and two are both contain'd in three ; Oh! what is man, great Maker of mankind! Oh! what a lively life, what heav'nly pow'r, Thou leav'st thy print in other works of thine; But it exceeds man's thought, to think how high. God hath rais'd man, since God a man became : The angels do admire this mystery, And are astonish'd when they view the same. Nor hath he giv'n these blessings for a day, SECTION XXX. THAT THE SOUL IS IMMORTAL, PROVED BY SEVERAL REASONS. HER only end is never-ending bliss, Which is, the 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, For though these light and vicious persons say, 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 stagg'ring 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 defac'd with sin. REASON I. Drawn from the desire of knowledge. FIRST, in man's mind we find an appetite And from the essence of the soul doth spring. With this desire, she hath a native might To find out ev'ry 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, |