A work for none but angels & men. That is to be able to look into, and to know our selves. Or a book shewing what the soule is, subsisting and having its operations without the body; its more th[e]n a perfection or reflection of the sense, or teperature of humours: how she exercises her powers of vegetative or quickening power of the senses. Of the imaginations or common sense, the phantasie, sensative memory, passions motion of life, local motion, and intellectual powers of the soul. Of the wit, understanding, reason, opinion, judgement, power of will, and the relations betwixt wit & wil. Of the intellectual memory, that the soule is immortall, and cannot dye, cannot be destroyed, her cause ceaseth not, violence nor time cannot destroy her; and all objections answered to the contrary. — Nosce teipsum. Selections

A work for none but angels & men. That is to be able to look into, and to know our selves. Or a book shewing what the soule is, subsisting and having its operations without the body; its more th[e]n a perfection or reflection of the sense, or teperature of humours: how she exercises her powers of vegetative or quickening power of the senses. Of the imaginations or common sense, the phantasie, sensative memory, passions motion of life, local motion, and intellectual powers of the soul. Of the wit, understanding, reason, opinion, judgement, power of will, and the relations betwixt wit & wil. Of the intellectual memory, that the soule is immortall, and cannot dye, cannot be destroyed, her cause ceaseth not, violence nor time cannot destroy her; and all objections answered to the contrary. — Nosce teipsum. Selections

A work for none but angels & men. That is to be able to look into, and to know our selves. Or a book shewing what the soule is, subsisting and having its operations without the body; its more th[e]n a perfection or reflection of the sense, or teperature of humours: how she exercises her powers of vegetative or quickening power of the senses. Of the imaginations or common sense, the phantasie, sensative memory, passions motion of life, local motion, and intellectual powers of the soul. Of the wit, understanding, reason, opinion, judgement, power of will, and the relations betwixt wit & wil. Of the intellectual memory, that the soule is immortall, and cannot dye, cannot be destroyed, her cause ceaseth not, violence nor time cannot destroy her; and all objections answered to the contrary. — Nosce teipsum. Selections

Table of contents

Title page

Of the Soule of Man, and the Immortality thereof.

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Of the Soule of Man, and the Immortality thereof.

THe lights of Heaven (which are the worlds faire eyes)

Look down into the world, the world to see:

And as they run or wander in the skies,

Surveigh all things that on this Center be.

And yet the lights which in my Towre do shine,

Mine Eyes, which all objects both nigh and farre,

Look not into this little world of mine,

Nor see my face, wherein they fixed are.

Since Nature fails us in no needfull thing,

Why want I meanes mine in ward self to see?

Which sight the knowledge of my self might bring,

Which to true wisedome is the first degree.

That Powre which gave me eyes the world to view,

To view my selfe infus'd an inward light,

Whereby my Soule as by a mirror true,

Of her owne forme may take a perfect sight.

But as the sharpest eye discerneth nought,

Except the Sun-beames in the aire do shine:

So the best Sense with her reflecting thought,

Seeks not her selfe without some light Divine.

O Light which mak'st the Light, which makes the Day,

Which set'st the Eye without, and Mind within,

Lighten my spirit with one clear heavenly ray,

Which now to view it self doth first begin.

For her true forme how can my Spark discerne?

Which dim by Nature, Art did never clear;

When the great Wits, of whom all skill we learne,

Are ignorant both what she is, and where?

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One thinks the Soule is Aire, another Fire,

Another Blood diffus'd about the heart;

Another s [...]th, the Elements conspire,

And to her Essence each doth give a part.

Musi [...]ians think our Souls are Harmonies;

Physitians hold that they Complexions be;

Epicures make them swarmes of Atomies,

Which doe by chance into our Bodies flee.

Some think one generall Soule fils every braine,

As the bright Sun sheds light in every Starre:

And others think the name of Soule is vaine,

And that we onely well-mixt bodies are.

In judgement of her substance thus they vary;

And thus they varie in judgement of her seat:

For some her Chaire up to the brain do carry,

Some thrust it downe into the stomachs heat.

Some place it in the Root of life, the Heart,

Some in the Liver, fountaine of the Veines;

Some say, she is all in all, and all in part:

Some say, she's not contain'd, but all contains.

Thus these great Clerks their little wisedome show,

While with their Doctrines they at Hazard play,

Tossing their light opinions to and fro,

To mock the Lewd, as learn'd in this as they.

For no craz'd braine could ever yet propound,

Touching the Soule so vaine and fond a thought,

But some among these Masters have been found,

Which in their Schools the self-same thing have taut.

God onely Wise, to punish pride of Wit,

Among mens Wits hath this confusion wrought,

As the proud Towre whose points the Clouds did hit,

By Tongues Confusion was to ruine brought.

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VNDERSTANDING.

I once was AEgle ey'ed full of all light.

Am owle eyd now as dim as derke [...]s night

As through a glasse or Cloud I all thinges vew.

Shall on day see them in there proper hue

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But (thou) which did'st Mans Soule of nothing make,

And when to nothing it was fallen agen,

To make it new, the Forme of Man did'st take,

And God with God becam'st a Man with Men.

Thou, that hast fashion'd twice this Soule of ours,

So that she is by double title thine,

Thou onely knowest her nature and her powers,

Her subcile form thou onely canst define.

To judge her selfe she must her selfe transcend,

As greater Circles comprehend the lesse,

But she wants pow'r her own pow'r to extend,

As fettred men cannot their strength expresse.

But thou bright morning Starre, thou rising Sun,

Which in these later times hast brought to light

Those Mysteries, that since the world begun,

Lay hid in darknesse, and in eternal night.

Thou (like the Sun) dost with indifferent ray,

Into the Pallace and the Cottage shine,

And shew'st the Soule, both to the Clerk and Lay,

By the clear Lamp of thy Oracle Divine.

This Lamp through all the Regions of mv braine,

Where my Soul sits,doth spread her beams of grace,

As now, me thinks, I do distinguish plaine,

Each subtil line of her immortal face.

The Soule a Substance and a Spirit is,

Which God himselfe doth in the Body make,

What the Soule is.

Which makes the man, for every man from this,

The Nature of a Man, and name doth take.

And though the Spirit be to the Body knit,

As an apt meane her powers to exercise,

Which are Life, Motion, Sense, and Will and Wit,

Yet she survives, although the Body dies.

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She is a substance, and a real thing,

That the soul is a thing subsisting by it selse without the body.

Which hath it selfe an actuall working might,

Which neither from the Senses power doth spring,

Nor from the Bodies humours tempered right.

She is a Vine, which doth no propping need,

To make her spread her selfe, or spring upright;

She is a Starre whose beams do not proceed

From any Sun, but from a Native light.

For when she sorts things present with things past,

That the soul hath a proper Operation without the body.

And thereby things to come doth oft foresee;

When she doth doubt at first, and choose at last,

These acts her owne without the Body be.

When of the dew which th'Eye and Eare doth take

From flowers abroad, and bring into the braine,

She doth within both wax and honey make;

This work is hers, this is her proper paine.

When she from sundry Acts one skill doth draw,

Gath'ring from diverse Fights one act of Warre,

From many Cases like, one Rule of Law;

These her Collections, not the Senses are.

When in th'effects she doth the Causes know,

And seeing the stream, thinks where the spring doth rise,

And seeing the branch, conceiv'th the root below;

These things she viewes without the Bodies eyes.

When she without a Pegasus doth flie,

Swifter then lightnings fire to East to West,

About the Center and about the skie,

She travels then, although the Body rest.

When all her works she formeth first within,

Proportions them, and sees their perfect end,

Ere she in act doth any part begin:

What instruments doth then the Body lend?

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When without hands she thus doth Castles build,

Sees without eyes, and without feet doth run,

When she digests the World, yet is not fild,

By her owne power these miracles are done.

When she defines, argues, divides, compounds,

Considers vertue, vice, and generall things,

And marrying divers principles and grounds,

Out of their match a true Conclusion brings.

These Actions in her Closet all alone,

(Retir'd within her selfe) she doth fulfil;

Use of her Bodies Organs she hath none,

When she doth use the powers of Wit and Will.

Yet in the Bodies prison so she lyes,

As through the Bodies windowes she must look,

Her diverse powers of Sense to exercise,

By gathering Notes out of the Worlds great Book.

Nor can her selfe discourse, or judge of ought,

But what the sense Collects, and home doth bring;

And yet the power of her discoursing thought,

From these Collections, is a diverse thing.

For though our eyes can nought but Colours see,

Yet Colours give them not their power of sight:

So, though these fruits of Sense her objects be,

Yet she discernes them by her proper light.

The work-man on his stuffe his skill doth show,

And yet the stuffe gives not the man his skil;

States their affairs do by their servants know,

But order them by their owne royal wil.

So thongh this cunning Mistresse and this Queen,

Doth as her instruments the Senses use,

To know all things that are felt, heard, or seen,

Yet she her selfe doth onely judge and choose.

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Right so the Soule, which is a Lady free,

And doth the justice of her State maintaine,

Because the Senses ready servants be,

Attending nigh about her Court, the braine.

By them the formes of outward things she learnes,

(For they returne into the fantasie)

Whatever each of them abroad discernes,

And there enrol it for the mind to see.

But when she fits to judge the good and ill,

And to discerne betwixt the false and true,

She is not guided by the Senses skill,

But doth each thing in her owne Mirror view.

Then she the Senses checks, which oft do erre,

And even against their false reports decrees:

And oft she doth condemne what they prefer,

For with a powre above the Sense, she sees:

Therefore no Sense the precious joyes conceives,

Which in her private Contemplations be;

For then the ravisht spirit the Senses leaves,

Hath her owne powers, and proper actions free.

Her harmonies are sweet, and full of skill,

When on the bodies instrument she playes:

But the proportions of the wit and will,

Those sweet accords, are even the Angels layes.

Doubtlesse in man there is a nature found,

Beside the Senses, and above them farre;

"Though most men being in sensual pleasures drownd,

"It seems their souls but in the Senses are.

If we had nought but Sense, then onely they

Should have found minds, which have their Senses sound;

But wisdome growes, when Senses do decay,

And folly most in quickest Sense is found.

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If we had nought but Sense, each living wight,

Which we call brute, would be more sharp then we;

As having Senses apprehensive might,

In a more clear, and excellent degree.

But they do want that quick discoursing power,

Which doth in us the erring Sense correct;

Therefore the Bee did suck the painted flower,

And birds of Grapes the cunning shadow peckt.

Sense outside knows, the Soule through all things seet,

Sense Circumstance, she doth the substance view;

Sense sees the bark, but she the life of Trees;

Sense hears the sounds, but she the Concords true.

But why doe I the Soule and Sense divide?

When Sense is but a powre, which she extends,

Which being in diverse parts diversified,

The diverse formes of objects apprehends?

This powre spreads outward, but the root doth grow

In th'inward Soule, which onely doth perceive;

For th'eyes and ears no more their objects know,

Then glasses know what faces they receive.

For if we chance to fix our thoughts elsewhere,

Although our eyes be ope, we do not see,

And if one power did not both see and heare,

Our fights and sounds would alwayes double be.

Then is the Soule a nature, which containes,

The powre of Sense, within a greater powre;

Which doth employ, and use the Senses paines,

That the soul is more then the temperatures of the humours of the Bodie.

But sits and rules within her private bowre.

If she doth then the subtill Sense excel,

How grosse are they that drowne her in the blood?

Or in the bodies humours tempred well,

As if in them such high perfection stood?

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As if most skil in that Mositian were,

Which had the best, and best ruin'd instrument;

As if the Pensil neat, and Colours cleare,

Had powre to make the Painter excellent.

Why doth not Beauty then refine the wit?

And good Complection rectifie the will?

Why doth not Health bring wisdome still with it?

Why doth not Sicknesse make men brutish still?

Who can in Memory, or Wit, or Will,

Or aire, or fire, or earth, or water find;

What Alchymist can d [...]aw with all his skil,

The Quintessence of these out of the mind?

If th'Elements which have nor life, nor sense,

Can breed in us so great a powre as this,

Why give they not themselves like excellence,

Or other things wherein their mixture is?

If she were but the Bodies quality,

Then would she be, with it sick, maim'd, and blind;

But we perceive, where these privations be,

A healthy perfect, and sharp-sighted mind.

If she were but the bodies accident,

And her sole being did in it subsist,

As white in snow, she might her selfe absent,

And in the bodies substance not be mist.

But it on her, not she on it depends;

For [...]ne the body doth sustaine and cherish,

Such secret powers of life to it she lends,

That when they faile, then doth the body perish.

Since then the Soule works by her selfe alone,

Springs not from sense, nor humours well agreeing,

Her nature is peculiar, and her owne,

She is a substance, and a perfect being.

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But though this substance be the root of Sense,

Sense knowes her not, which doth but bodies know,

That the soul is a Spirit.

She is a spirit, and heavenly influence,

Which from the fountaine of Gods spirit doth flow.

She is a spirit, yet not like aire or wind,

Nor like the spirits about the heart or braine,

Nor like those spirits which Alchymists do find,

When they in every thing seek gold in vaine.

For she all natures under heaven doth passe,

Being like those spirits, which Gods bright face doe see,

Or like himselfe, whose image once she was,

Though now (alas) she scarce his shadow be.

Yet of the formes she holds the first degree,

That are to grosse materiall bodies knit;

Yet she her selfe is bodilesse and free,

And though confin'd, is almost infinit.

Were she a body, how could she remaine

That it cannot be a Body.

Within this Body, which is lesse then she?

Or how could she the worlds great shape containe,

And in our narrow breasts contained be?

All Bodies are confin'd within some place;

But she all place within her selfe confines;

All Bodies have their measure and their space,

But who can draw the Soules dimensive lines?

No Body can at once two formes admit,

Except the one the other do deface;

But in the Soule ten thousand formes do sit,

And none intrudes into her neighbours place.

All Bodies are with other Bodies fild;

But she receives both heaven and earth together,

Nor are their formes by rash incounter spild,

For there they stand, and neither toncheth either.

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MEMORIE.

A com̄on June all com̄ers to reteyne.

A Siue where good run̄e out & bad remayne.

A Burrow with a thousand vermine hydes.

A Den where nothinge that is good abides

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Nor can her wide Embracements filled bee;

For they'that most, and greatest things embrace,

Enlarge thereby their minds Capacitie,

As streames enlarg'd, enlarge the Channels space.

All things receiv'd do such proportion take,

As those things have wherein they are receiv'd:

So little glasses little faces make,

And narrow webs on narrow frames be weav'd;

Then what vast Body must we make the mind?

Wherein are men, beasts, trees, towns, seas, and lands,

And yet each thing a proper place doth find,

And each thing in the true proportion stands?

Doubtlesse this could not be, but that she turnes

Bodies to spirits by sublimation strange;

As fire converts to fire the things it burnes,

As we our meats into our nature change.

From their grosse matter she abstracts the formes,

And drawes a kind of Quintessence from things,

Which to her proper nature she trans formes,

To beare them light on her celestiall wings.

This doth she when, from things particular,

She doth abstract the universall kinds,

Which bodilesse, and immateriall are,

And can be lodg'd but onely in our minds.

And thus from diverse accidents and acts,

Which doe within her observation fall,

She goddestes, and powers divine abstracts,

As nature, fortune, and the vertues all.

Againe, how can she severall Bodies know,

If in her selfe a Bodies forme she bear?

How can a Mirror sundry faces show,

If from all shapes and formes it be not clear?

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Nor could we by our eyes all colours learn,

Except our eyes were of all colours voyd;

Nor sundry tasts can any tongue discerne,

Which is with grosse, and bitter humours cloyd.

Nor may a man of passions judge aright,

Except his mind be from all passions free;

Nor can a Judge his office well acquite,

If he possest of either party be.

If lastly this quick powre a Body were,

Were it as swift as is the wind, or fire,

(Whose Atomies do th'one downe sidewayes beare,

And make the other in Pyramids aspire.

Her nimble Body yet in time must move,

And not in instants through all places slide;

But she is nigh, and far, beneath, above,

In point of time, which thought can not divide.

She's sent as soon to China, as to Spaine,

And thence returnes, as soon as she is sent;

She measures with one time, and with one paine,

An ell of Silk, and heavens wide-spreading Tent.

As then the Soule a substance hath alone,

Besides the Body, in which she is confin'd:

So hath she not a Body of her owne,

But is a spirit, and immateriall mind.

Since Body and Soule have such diversities,

That the soul is created immediately by God, Zech. 12.1.

Well might we muse, how first their match began;

But that we learn, that he that spread the skies,

And fixt the earth, first form'd the Soule in man.

'Tis true Prometheus first made man of earth,

And shed in him a beam of heavenly fire;

Now in their mothers wombs before their birth,

Doth in all sons of men their Souls inspire.

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And as Minerva is in Fables said,

From Jove without a mother to proceed,

So our true Jove without a mothers aid,

Doth daily millions of Minerva's breed.

Then neither from eternity before,

Erronious opinions of the creation of Soules.

Nor from the time, when times first point begun,

Made he all Souls, which now he keeps in store,

Some in the Moon, and others in the Sun.

Nor in a secret Cloister doth he keep

These virgin spirits, untill 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 certaine number make,

Infusing part in beasts, and part in men,

And as unwilling farther paines to take,

Would make no more, then those he framed then.

So that the widow Soule, her Body dying,

Unto the next born Body married was,

And so by often changing and supplying,

Mens souls to beasts, and beasts to men did passe.

These thoughts are fond: for since the Bodies borne

Be more in number far, then those that die,

Thousands must be abortive, and forlorne,

Ere others deaths to them their souls supply.)

But as Gods handmaid nature doth create

Bodies, in time distinct, and order due:

So God gives soules the like successive date,

Which himselfe makes, in bodies formed new.

Which himselfe makes, of no materiall thing,

For unto Angels he no power hath given,

Either to forme the shape, or stuffe to bring,

From aire, or fire, or substance of the Heaven.

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Nor he in this doth Natures service use,

For though from Bodies she can Bodies bring,

That the soul is not traduced from the parents.

Yet could she never Soules from Soules traduce,

As fire from fire, or light from light doth spring.

But many subtill wits have justifi'd,

That Souls from Souls spiritually may spring,

Which (if the nature of the Soul be try'd)

Will even in nature prove as grosse a thing.

For all things made, are either made of nought,

Or made of stuffe that ready made doth stand;

Reasons drawn from nature.

Of nought no creature ever formed ought,

For that is proper to th'Almighties hand.

If then the Soule another Soule do make,

Because her power is kept within a bound,

She must some former stufle or matter take,

But in the Soule there is no matter found.

Then if her heavenly Forme do not agree

With any matter, which the world containes,

Then she of nothing must created be,

And to create, to God alone pertaines.

Againe, if Soules doe other Soules beget,

'Tis by themselves, or by the Bodies power,

If by themselves, what doth their working let,

But they might Soules engender every houre?

If by the Body, how can wit and will

Joyne with the Body onely in this act?

Since when they do their other works fulfil,

They from the Body do themselves abstract?

Againe, if Soules of Soules begotten were,

Into each other they should change and move;

And change and motion still corruption beare;

How shall we then the Soule immortall prove?

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If lastly Soules did generation use.

Then should they spread incorruptible seed;

What then becomes of that which they doe loose

When th'acts of generation doe not speed?

And though the Soule could cast spirituall seed;

Yet would she not, because she never dies;

For mortall things desire their like to breed,

That so they may their kind immortalize.

Therefore the Angels, sons of God are nam'd,

And marry not, nor are in marriage given,

Their spirits and ours are of one substance fram'd,

And have one Father even the Lord of Heaven.

Who would at first, that in each other thing,

The earth, and water living Soules should breed;

But that Mans Soule, whom he would make their king,

Should from himselfe immediatly proceed.

And when he took the woman from mans side,

Doubtlesse himselfe in spir'd her Soule alone;

For 'tis not sayd, he did mans Soul divide,

But took flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone.

Lastly, God, being made Man for Mans owne sake,

And being like Man in all, except in sin,

His Body from the Virgins womb did take,

But all agree, God from'd his Soule within,

Then is the Soule from God; so Pagans say,

Which saw by natures light, her heavenly kind,

Naming her kin to God, and Gods bright ray,

A Citizen of heaven, to earth consin'd.

And then the Soule, being first from nothing brought,

When Gods grace failes her, doth to nothing fall,

And this declining Pronesse unto nought,

Is even that sin that we are born withall,

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Yet not alone the first good qualities,

Which in the first Soule were, deprived are,

But in their place the contrary do rise,

And reall spots of sin her beauty marre.

Nor is it strange, that Adams ill desert,

Should be transfer'd unto his guilty race,

When Christ his grace and justice doth impart

To men unjust, and such as have no grace.

Lastly, the Soule were better so to be

Borne slave to sin, then not to be at all,

Since (if she do beleeve) 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 mans will.

If by his word he had the current stayd,

Of Adams will, which was by nature free,

It had been one, as if his word had sayd,

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 Gods power should her election bind,

Her motions then would cease, and stand all still.

And why did God in man this Soule infuse,

But that he should his maker know and love?

Now if love be compel'd, and cannot chuse,

How can it gratefull, or thank-worthy prove?

Love must free-hearted be, and voluntary,

And not enchaunted, or by fate constrained;

Not like that love which did Ulysses carry

To Circes Isle, with mighty charmes enchained,

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Besides, were we unchangeable in will,

And of a wit that nothing doth misdeem,

Equall to God, whose wisedome shineth still,

And never erres, we might our selves 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 then we.

Then let us praise that Power, which makes us be

Men as we are, and rest contented so;

And knowing mans fall was curiositie

Admire Gods counsels, which we cannot know.

And let us know that God the marker is,

Of all the Soules, in all the men that be,

Yet their Corruption is no fault of his,

But the first Mans, that broke Gods first decree.

This substance and this spirit ofGods owne making,

Is in the Body plac't, and planted here,

Why the soul is united to the body

That both of God, and of the world partaking,

Of all that is, man might the image beare.

God first made Angels bodilesse pure minds,

Then other things, which mindlesse Bodies be;

Last he made man th'Horizon 'twixtboth kinds,

In whom we do the worlds abridgement see.

Besides, this world below did need one wight,

Which might thereof distinguish every part,

Make use thertof, 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 spirituall layes.

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When Hearing, Seeing, Tasting, Smelling's past:

Feeling (as long as life remaines) doth last.

Mayde reach my Lute, I am not well indeede:

O pitty-mee, my Bird hath made mee bleede.

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Lastly, the bruite unreasonable wights,

Did want a visible King on them to raigne;

And God himselfe thus to the world unites,

That so the world might endlesse blisse obtaine.

But how shall we this union well expresse?

In what manner the Soule is united to the Body.

Nought ties the Soule, her subtilty is such;

She moves the Body, which she doth possesse,

Yet no part toucheth but by vertues touch.

Then dwels 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 containe,

Nor as one liquor in another shed;

Nor as the heat doth in the fire remaine,

Nor as a voyce throughout the aire is spread.

But as a faire, and cheerfull morning light,

Doth here and there her silver beames impart,

And in an instant doth her selfe unite

To the transparent Aire, in all and part.

Still resting whole, when blowes the Aire divide;

Abiding pure, when th'Aire is most corrupted,

Throughout the Aire her beams dispersing wide,

And, when the aire is tost, not interrupted.

So doth the piercing Soule the Body fill,

Being all in all, and all in part diffus'd

Indivisible, uncorrnptible still,

Not forc't, encountred, troubled, or confus'd.

And as the Sun above, the light doth bring,

Though we behold it in the aire below:

So from th'eternall light the Soule doth spring,

Though in the Body she her powres do show.

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But as the worlds Sun doth effects beget,

Diverse, in diverse places every day,

How the soul doth exercise her powers in the Body.

Here Autumnes temperature, there Summers heat,

Here flowry Spring-tide, and there Winter-gray.

Here even, there morn, here noon, there day, there night,

Melts wax, dries clay, makes flours, some quick, some dead,

Makes the More black, & th'Ethiopian white

Th'American tawny, and th'East Indian red;

So in onr little world this Soule of ours,

Being onely one, and to one Body tyed,

Doth use on diverse objects diverse powers,

And so are her effects diversified.

Her quickning power in every living part,

Doth as a Nurse, or as a Mother serve,

The vegetative or quickning power.

And doth employ her oeconomick Art,

And busie care, her houshold to preserve.

Here she attracts, and there she doth retaine,

There she decocts, and doth the food prepare,

There she distributes it to every vaine,

There she expels what she may fitly spare.

This power to Martha may compared be,

Which busie was, the houshold things to do;

Or to a Dryas living in a Tree,

For even to Trees this power is proper too.

And though the Soule may not this power extend

Out of the Body, but still use it there,

She hath a power, which she abroad doth send,

Which viewes and searcheth all things every where.

This power is Sense, which from abroad doth bring

The colour, tast, and touch, and sent, and found,

The power of Sense.

The quantity, and shape of every thing,

Within th'earths Center, or heavens Circle found.

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This power in parts made fit, fit objects takes,

Yet not the things, but formes of things receives;

As when a Seale in Wax impression makes,

The print therein, but not it selfe, it leaves.

And though things sensible be numberlesse,

But onely five the Senses Organs be;

And in those five All things their formes expresse,

Which we can Touch, Tast, Feele, or Hear, or See.

These are the windows through the which she viewes

The light of knowledge which is lifes load-starre;

"And yet while she these spectacles doth use,

Oft worldly things seen greater then they are.

First the two Eyes, which have the Seeing power,

Stand as one Watchman, Spie, or Sentinell,

Sight.

Being plac'd alost within the Heads high Tower;

And though both see, yet both but one thing tell.

These Mirrors take into their little space

The formes of Moon and Sun, and every Star,

Of every body, and of every place,

Which with the worlds wide Armes embraced are

Yet their best object, and their noblest use,

Hereafter in another world will be,

When God in them shall heavenly light insuse,

That face to face they may their Maker see.

Here are they guides, which do the body lead,

Which else would stumble in eternall 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 rayes are from their objects sent,

And in the Eyes with pointed Angels end.

[...]

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Where Phantasie, neare handmaid to the mind,

Sits, and beholds, and doth discern them all,

The Phantasie.

Compounds in one, things diverse in their kind,

Compares the black and white, the great and small.

Besides those single formes, she doth esteem,

And in her ballance doth their values try,

Where some things good, and some things ill do seem,

And neutrall some in her phantastick eye.

This busie power is working day and night;

For when the outward Senses rest do take,

A thousand Dreames phantasticall and light,

With fluttering wings do keep her still awake.

Yet alwayes all may not afore her be,

Successively she this, and that intends;

The sensative Memory.

Therefore such formes as she doth cease to see,

To Memories large volume she commends.

This Lidger Book lyes in the braine behind,

Like Janus eye, which in his pole was set;

The Lay-mans Tables, Storehouse of the mind,

Which doth remember much, and much forget.

Here Senses Apprehension 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.

But though the apprehensive power do pawse,

The Motive vertue then begins to move,

The passions of Sense.

Which in the heart below doth passions cause,

Joy, griefe, and feare, and hope, and hate, and love.

These passions have a free commanding might,

And diverse Actions in our life do breed;

For all acts done without true reasons light,

Do from the passion of the Sense proceed.

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But sith the Braine doth lodge these powers of Sense,

How makes it in the heart those passions spring?

The mutuall love, the kind intelligence

'Twixt heart and braine, this sympathy doth bring.

From the kind heat, which in the heart doth raigne,

The spirits of life doe their begining take;

These spirits of life ascending to the braine,

When they come there, the Spirits of Sense do make,

These spirits of Sense in Phantasies high Court,

Judge of the formes 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 griess, annoy.

Yet were these naturall affections good;

(For they which want them blocks or divels be)

If reason in her first perfection stood,

That she might Natures passions rectifie.

Besides, another Motive power doth rise

Out of the heart: from whose pure blood do spring

The vitall Spirits, which borne in Arteries,

The motion of life.

Continuall motion to all parts doe bring.

This makes the pulses beat, and lungs respire,

This holds the sinews like a bridles Raines,

The locall motion.

And makes the body to advance, retire,

To turne, or stop, as she them slacks, or straincs.

Thus the Soule tunes the Bodies instrument;

These harmonies she makes with life and sense,

The Organs fit are by the Body lent,

But th' actions flow from the Soules influence

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But now I have a Will, yet want a Wit,

The intellectuall powers of the Soule.

To expresse the working 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 Soule declare,

For to mans Soule these onely proper be;

For on the earth no other wights there are,

Which have these heavenly powers, but only we.

The wit, the pupil of the Soules clear eye,

The Wit, or understanding.

And in mans world the onely shining Starre;

Looks in the mirrour of the Phantasie,

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 enlightned by that part which acts,

And so the formes of single things perceives.

But after by discoursing to and fro,

Anticipating, and comparing things;

She doth all universall natures know,

And all effects into their causes brings.

When she rates things, & moves from ground to ground

Reason

The name of Reason she obtains by this:

But when by Reasons she the truth hath found,

Understanding.

And standeth sixt, she Understanding is.

When her assent she lightly doth enclins

To either part, she is opinion light:

Opinion.

But when she doth by principles define

A Certaine truth, she hath true Judgements sight.

Judgement.

And as from Senses Reasons work doth spring,

So many Reasons understanding gaine,

And many understandings knowledge oring,

And by much knowledge, wisdome we obtain.

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So many staires we must ascend upright,

Ere we attain to wisdomes high degree;

So coth this earth eclipse our reasons light,

Which else (in instants) would like Angels see.

Yet hath the Soule a dowry naturall,

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 mens heart her lawes doth pen,

Prescribing truth to wit, and good to will;

Which do accuse, or else excuse all men,

For every thought, or practise, 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 nourisht still, with new supplies of wood.

And though these sparks were almost quencht with sin,

Yet they whom that just one hath justified,

Note,

Have them encreasd, with heavenly light within,

And like the widowes oyle still multiplide.

And as this wit should goodnesse truly know,

The Power or Will.

We have a wit which that true good should chuse:

Though will do oft (when wit false forms doth show)

Take ill for good, and good for ill refuse.

Will puts in practice what the wit deviseth;

The relations betwixt Wit and Will.

Will ever acts, and wit contemplates still,

And as from wit the power of wisdome riseth,

All other vertues daughters are of will.

Will is the Prince, and wit the Counsellour,

Which doth for common good in Councel fit,

And when wit is resolv'd, will lends her power,

To execute what is advisd by wit.

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WILL.

Free to all ill. till freed to none but ill,

Now this I will anon the same I [...]ill

Appetite ere while, ere while Reason may,

Nere good but when Gods Sperit beares [...]ay

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Wit is the minds chief Judge, which doth Comptroul

Of fancies Court the judgements false and vaine;

Will holds the Royall Scepter in the Soule,

And on the passions of the heart doth raigne.

Will is as Free as any Emperour;

Nought can restraine her gentle liberty,

No Tyrant, nor no Torment hath the power,

To make us will, when we unwilling be.

To these high powers a Store-house doth pertaine,

The Intellectual Memory

Where they all Arts and generall Reasons lay,

Which in the Soule, even after death remaine,

And no Lethoean flood can wash away.

This is the Soule, and those her Vertues 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 knowne;

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 quickning power the Senses feed;

Thus while they do their sundry gifts dispence,

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 Pr. doth spring.

The quickning power would be, and so would rest,

The Sense would not be onely, but be well;

But Wits ambition longeth to be best,

For it desires in endlesse blisse to dwell.

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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 turn'd some men to Flowers,

And others did with brutish formes invest,

And did of others make celestiall powers,

Like Angels, which still travell, yet still rest.

Yet these three powres are not three Soules, but one;

As one and two are both contain'd in three,

Three being one number by it selfe alone;

A shadow of the blessed Trinitie.

O what is man (greater maker of mankind)

An Acclamation.

That thou to him so great respect dost bear?

That thou adornst him with so bright a mind,

Mak'st him a King, and even an Angels peer?

O what a lively life, what heavenly power,

What spreading vertue, what a sparkling fire,

How great, how plentifull, how rich a dowre,

Do'st 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 infinit.

But it exceeds mans thought, to think how high

God hath raisd man, since God a man became;

The Angels do admire this mystery,

And are astonisht when they view the same.

Nor hath he given these blessings for a day,

That the soul is immortal & cannot dye.

Nor made them on the bodies life depend;

The Soule, though made in time, survives for aye,

And though it hath beginning, sees no end.

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Her onely end, is never ending blisse;

Which is, th'eternall face of God to see;

Who last of ends, and first of causes is,

And to do this, she must eternall be.

How senslesse then and dead a Soule hath he,

Which thinks his Soule doth with his body dye?

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 Soule is but a smoak, 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 dyes;

Though thus they say, they know not what to think

But in their minds ten thousand doubts arise.

Therefore no hereticks desire to spread

Their light opinions, like these Epicures;

For so their staggering thoughts are comforted,

And other mens 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 who so makes a mirror of his mind,

And doth with patience view himselfe therein,

His Soules eternity shall clearly find,

Though th'other beauties be defac't with sin.

First in mans mind we find an appetite

1 Reason. Drawne from the desire of Knowledge.

To learne and know the truth of every thing,

Which is connaturall, and borne with it,

And from the Essence of the Soule doth spring.

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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 clime.

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 skil 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 part 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 Soule the truth can know

So perfectly, as it hath power to do;

If then perfection be not found below,

An higher place must make her mount thereto.

Againe, how can she but immortall be?

When with the motions of both will and wit,

2 Reason. Drawne from the Motion of the Soule.

She still aspireth to eternity,

And never rests, till she attain to it?

Water in Conduit pipes can rise no higher

Then the wel-head from whence it first doth spring,

Then since to eternall God she doth aspire,

She cannot be but an eternall thing.

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"All moving things to other things do move

"Of the same kind, which shewes their nature such;

So earth fals down, and fire doth mount above,

Till both their proper Elements do touch.

And as the moysture which the thirsty earth,

The Soule compared to a River.

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 grassie plaines.

Long doth she stay, as loath to leave the land,

From whose soft side she first did issue make;

She tasts all places, turnes to every hand,

Her flowry banks unwilling to forsake.

Yet nature so her streams doth lead and carry,

As that her course doth make no finall stay,

Till she her selfe unto the Ocean marry,

Within whose watry bosome first she lay.

Even so the Soule, which in this earthly mould

The Spirit of God doth secretly infuse;

Because at first she doth the earth benold,

And onely this materiall world she viewes.

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 celestiall 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 [...]ver [...]ea [...]d to wish, when he had health,

Or having wisdome, was not vext in mind?

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Then as a Bee which ammong weeds doth fall

Which seem sweet flowers, with lustre fresh and gay,

She lights on that, and this, and tasteth all,

But pleasd with none, doth rise, and sore away.

So when the Soule finds here no true content,

And like Noahs Dove can no sure sooting take,

She doth returne from whence she first was sent,

And flyes to him that first her wings did make.

Wit seeking truth from cause to cause ascends,

And never rests, till it the first attaine;

Will, seeking good, finds many middle ends,

But never stayes, till it the last do gaine.

Now God the Truth and first of Causes is,

God is the last good end, which lasteth still,

Being Alpha and Omega nam'd for this,

Alpha to Wit, Omega to the will.

Sith then her heavenly kind she doth bewray,

In that to God she doth directly move,

And on no mortail thing can make her stay,

She cannot be from hence, but from aboue.

And yet this first true cause, and last good end,

She cannot hear so well, and truely see;

For this perfection she must yet attend,

Till to her maker she espoused be.

As a Kings daughter being in person sought

Of diverse 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 Forraigne Emperour,

Whom of great worth and power she hears to be,

If she be woo'd but by Embassadour,

Or but his Letters, or his picture see.

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For well she knowes, that when she shall be brought

Into the Kingdome, where her Spouse doth raigne.

Her eyes shall see, what she conceiv'd in thought,

Himself, his state, his glory, and his traine.

So while the Virgin Soule on earth doth stay,

She woo'd and tempted is ten thousand wayes.

By these great powers, which on the earth bear sway,

The wisedome of the world, wealth, pleasure, praise.

With these sometime she doth her time beguile,

These do by fits her phantasie possesse;

But she distaits them all within a while,

And in the sweetest finds a tediousnesse.

But if upon the worlds Almighty King,

She once do fix her humble loving thought,

Which by his picture drawne in every thing,

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 ravisht thought is such,

At almost here, she with her blisse doth meet.

But when in Heaven she shall his Essence see,

This is her soveraigne good, and perfect blisse,

Her longings, wishings, hopes, all finisht be,

Her joyes are full, her motions rest in this.

There is she Crown'd 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,

For this the better Soules do oft despise

4 Reason. From contempt of death in the better fort of [...]

The Bodies d [...]ath and do it oft desire:

For when on ground the burthened ballance lyes,

The empty part is listed up the higher.

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FANCIE.

Apelike I all thinges imitate.

New proiects fashions I inuent.

Dreame-like I them vary-straite.

All Shapes to head & harte present.

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But if the Bodies death the Soule should kill,

Then death must needs Against her nature be;

And were it so, all Soules would flye 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 Soule were quenched quite,

She could not thus against her nature run;

Since every senslesse thing by Natures light,

Doth preservation seek, destruction shun.

Nor could the worlds best spirits so much erre,

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?

Againe, if by the Bodies prop she stand,

If on the Bodies life, her life depend,

As Meleagers on the fatall brand,

The Bodies good she onely would intend.

We should not find her halfe 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,

Doubtlesse all Soules have a surviving thought,

Therefore of death we think with quiet mind,

But if we think of being turn'd to nought,

A trembling horror in our Soules we find,

And as the better spirit, when she doth bear

4 Reason. From the fear of death i'the wicked souls.

A scorne of death, doth shew she cannot dye:

So when the wicked Soule deaths face doth fear,

Even then she proves her owne Eternity.

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For when deaths from 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 natures law accuseth her within,

And saith, 'tis true that is affirm'd by all,

That after death there is a pain for sin,

Then she which hath been hoodwinckt from her birth

Doth first her selfe within Deaths mirror see;

And when her Body doth returne to earth,

She first takes care, how she alone shall be.

Whoever sees these irreligious men,

With burthen of a sicknesse weak and faint;

But hears them talking of Religion then,

And vowing of their Soules 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,

Scorn'd and blasphemed, all his life before?

These light vaine persons still are drunk and mad,

With surfetings, and pleasures of their youth;

But at their deaths they are fresh, sober, sad,

Then they discerne, and then they speak the truth.

If then all Soules both good and bad do teach,

With generall voyce that Soules can never dye;

Tis not mans flattering glose, but Natures speech,

Which like Gods Oracle, can never lye.

Hence springs that universall strong desire,

5 Reason. From the generall desire of imortality.

Which all men have of Immortality;

Not some few spirits unto this thought aspire,

But all mens minds in this united be.

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Then this desire of Nature is not vaine,

"She covets not impossibilities;

"Fond thoughts may fall into some idle braine,

"But one Assent of all, is ever wise.

From hence that generall care and study springs,

That lanching 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 maine desire proceeds,

Which all men have, surviving fame to gaine,

By Tombes, by Books, by memorable Deeds,

For she that this desires, doth still remaine.

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 our selves apply,

And view them by reflection of the mind;

All these true notes of immortality,

In our Hearts Tables we shall written find.

And though some impious wits do questions move,

6 Reason. From the very doubt and dispuration of immortality.

And doubt if Soules immortall 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 mortall, some immortall call;

Now if himselfe were but a mortall thing,

He could not judge immortall things at all.

For when we judge, our minds we mirrours make;

And as those glasses which material be,

Formes of materiall things do onely take;

For thoughts or minds in them we cannot see.

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So when we God and Angles do conceive,

And think of truth, which is eternal to;

Then do our minds immortal forms receive,

Which if they mortall were, they could not do.

And as if Beasts conceiv'd what Reason were,

And that conception should distinctly show,

They should the name of reasonable bear;

For without Reason none could Reason know.

So when the Soule 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 Bodies aid,

Shewes that her selfe alone could move, and be,

Although the body in the grave were laid.

And if her selfe she can so lively move,

And never need a forraigne help to take,

Then must her motion everlasting prove,

Because her selfe she never can forsake.

But though corruption cannot touch the mind,

That the soul cannot be destroyed.

By any cause that from it selfe may spring;

Some outward cause fate hath perhaps design'd,

Which to the Soule may utter quenching bring.

Perhaps her cause may cease, and she may die;

God is her cause, his word her maker was,

Which shall stand fixt for all eternity,

Her cause ceaseth not.

When heaven and earth shall like a shadow passe,

Perhaps some thing repugnant to her kind,

She hath no contrary.

By strong Antipathy the Soule may kill;

But what can be contrary to the mind,

Which holds all contraries in concord still?

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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 lye,

Yet neither troubleth or disturbeth either.

Perhaps for want of food the Soule may pine;

She can't dye for want of food.

But that were strange, since all things bad and good,

Since all Gods creatures mortall and divine,

Since God himselfe is her eternall 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 dye.

Yet violence perhaps the Soul destroyes;

Violence cannot destroy her.

As lightning or the Sun-beams dim the sight;

Or as a thunder-clap or Cannons noyse,

The power of hearing doth astonish quite.

But high perfection to the Soule it brings,

T'encounter things most excellent and high;

For when she viewes the best and greatest things,

They do not hurt, but rather clear her eye.

But lastly, Time perhaps at last hath power

Time cannot destroy her.

To spend her lively powers, and quench her light;

But old God Saturne which doth all devour,

Doth cherish her, and still augment her might.

Heaven waxeth old, and all the Spheares above

Shall one day faint, and their swift motion stay,

And Time it selfe in time shall cease to move;

Onely the Soule survives, and lives for aye.

"Our Bodies every footstep that they make,

"March towards death, untill at last they dye;

Whether we work, or play, or sleep, or wake,

"Our life doth passe, and with times wings doth flye.

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But to the Soule 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 God, doth full.

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?

But now these Epicures begin to smile,

Objections against the immortality of the Soule.

And say, my doctrine is more safe then true,

And that I fondly do my selfe beguile,

While these receiv'd opinions I ensue.

For what, say they, doth not the Soule wax old ?

1 Objection.

How comes it then, that aged men do dote?

And that their braines grow sottish, dull, and cold,

Which were in youth the onely spirits of note?

What? are not Soules within themselves corrupted?

How can there Idiots then by Nature be?

How is it that some wits are interrupted,

That now they dazled are, now clearly see?

These Questions make a subtile Argument,

Answer.

To such as think both Sense and Reason one;

To whom nor agent from the instrument,

Nor power of working, from the work is knowne,

For if that region of the tender braine,

Wherein th'inward sense of phantasie should sit,

And th'outward senses gatherings should retaine,

By nature, or by chance, become unfit.

Either at first uncapable it is,

And so few things or none at all receives,

Or mar'd by accident, which haps amisse,

And so amisse it every thing perceives.

Then as a cunning Prince that useth Spies,

If they returne no newes, doth nothing know;

But if they make advertizement of Lyes;

The Princes Counsel all awry do go.

Even so the Soule to such a Body knit,

Whose inward senses undisposed be,

[Page]And to receive the formes of things unfit,

Where nothing is brought in, can nothing see.

But if a Phrensie do possesse the braine,

It so disturbs and blots the formes of things,

As phantasie proves altogether vaine,

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 flie the good, and ill pursue,

Beleeving all that this false Spie 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.

Then these defects in Senses Organs be,

Not in the Soule, or in her working might;

She cannot loose her perfect power to see,

Though mists, & clouds, do choke her window light,

The Soule in all hath one Intelligence;

Though too much moisture in an Infants braine,

And too much drinesse in an old mans sense,

Cannot the prints of outward things retaine,

Then doth the Soule want work, and idle sit,

And this we childishnesse, and dotage call;

Yet hath she then a quick and active wit,

If she had stuffe and tools to work withall.

As a good Harper stricken far in years,

Into whose cunning hands the Gout doth fall;

All his old Crotchets in his braine he bears,

But on his Harp playes ill, or not at all.

Then dotage is no weaknesse of the mind,

But of the Sense: for if the mind did wast,

In all old men we should this wasting find,

When they some certaine terme of years had past.

But most of them even to their dying hour,

Retaine a mind more lively, quick, and strong,

And better use their understanding power,

Then when their brains were warm, and limbs were young.

[Page]

Yet say these men, if all her Organs dye,

Then hath the Soule no power her powers to use;

2 Objection.

So in a sort her powers extinct do lye,

When unto act she cannot them reduce.

And if her powers be dead, then what is she?

For since from every thing some powers do spring,

And from those powers some acts proceeding be,

Then kill both power, and act, and kill the thing.

Doubtles the bodies death, when once it dies,

The instruments of sense and life doth kill;

Answer.

So that she cannot use those faculties,

Although their root restin her substance still.

But (as the body living) wit and will

Can judge and chuse, without the bodies aid;

Though on such objects they are working still,

As through the bodies Organs are conveyd.

So when the body serves her turne no more,

And all her Senses are extinct and gone,

She can discourse of what she learn'd before,

In heavenly contemplations all alone.

And (though the Instruments by which we live,

And view the world, the bodies death to kill)

Yet with the body they shall all revive,

And all their wonted offices fulfill.

But how till then shall she her selfe imploy?

3 Objection.

Her spies are dead, which brought home news before,

What she hath got and keeps, she may enjoy,

But she hath means to understand no more.

Then what do those poor Soules which nothing get?

Or what do those which get and cannot keep?

Like Buckets bottomlesse, which all out let;

Those Soules for want of exercise must sleep.

See how mans Soule against it selfe doth strive,

Answer.

Why should we not have other means to know?

As children while within the womb they live

Feed by the navil; here they feed not so.

These children, if they had some use of sense,

And should by chance their mothers talking heare,

[Page]That in short time they shall come forth from thence,

Would fear their birth, more then our death we feare.

They would cry out, if we this place shall leave,

Then shall we break our tender navil strings;

How shall we then our nourishment receive,

Since our sweet food no other conduit brings?

And if a man should to these babes reply,

That into this faire world they shal be brought,

Where they shal see the earth, the sea, the sky;

The glorious Sun, and all that God hath wrought.

That there ten thousand dainties they shal meet,

Which by their mouths they shal with pleasure take,

Which shal be cordial too, aswel as sweet,

And of their little limbs tall bodies make.

This would they think a fable, even as we

Do think the story of the golden age;

Or as some sensual spirits amongst us be,

Which hold the world to come, a faigned stage.

Yet shall these infants after find all true,

Though then thereof they nothing could conceive,

Assoon as they are borne the world they view,

And with their mouths the Nurses milk receive.

So when the Soule is borne (for death is nought,

But the Soules birth, and so we should it call)

Ten thousand things she sees beyond her thought,

And in an unknown manner knowes them all.

Then doth she see by Spectacles no more,

She hears not by report of double spies;

Her selfe in instants doth all things explore,

For each thing present, and before her lyes.

But still this Crew with Questions me pursues:

4 Objection.

If Soules deceasd (say they) still living be,

Why do they not return, to bring us newes

Of that strange world, where they such wonders see?

The Soule hath here on earth no more to do,

Answer.

Then we have businesse in our mothers womb:

What child doth covet to returne thereto?

Although all children first from thence do come?

[Page]

And doubtlesse such a Soule as up doth mount,

And doth appear before her Makers face,

Holds this vile world in such a base account,

As she looks down, and scorns this wretched place.

But such as are detruded downe to Hell,

Either for shame they still themselves retire;

Or tyed in chaines, they in close Prison dwell,

And cannot come, although they much desire.

Well well say these vaine spirits, though vain it is

5 Objection.

To think our Soules to heaven or hel do go,

Politick men have thought it not amisse,

To spread this lye, to make men vertuous so.

Do you then think this moral vertue good?

Answer.

I think you do, even for your private gain;

For Common-wealths by vertue ever stood,

And common good the private doth contain.

Oh how can that be false, which every tongue

The generall consent of all

Of every mortal man, affirmes for true?

Which truth hath in all ages been so strong,

As load-stone like all hearts it ever drew.

For not the Christian, or the Jew alone,

The Persian, or the Turk, acknowledge this,

This mystery to the wild Indian knowne,

And to the Cannibal and Tartar is.

None that acknowledge God, or providence,

Their Soules eternity did ever doubt,

For all Religion takes her root from hence,

Which no poor naked Nation lives without.

If death do quench us quite, we have great Wrong,

Since for our service all things else were wrought,

That Dawes, & Trees, and Rocks, should last so long,

When we must in an instant passe to nought.

But blest be that great power, that hath us blest,

With longer life then heaven or earth can have;

Which hath enfusd into one mortal brest

Immortal powers, not subject to the grave.

For though the Soule do seem her grave to bear,

And in this world is almost buried quick,

[Page]We have no cause the bodies death to fear,

For when the shel is broke, ou [...] comes a Chick.

For as the Soules Essential powers are three,

Three kinds of life answerable to the three powers of the Soule.

The quickning power, the power of Sense and Reason,

Three kinds of life to her designed be,

Which perfect these three powers in their due season.

The fi [...]st life in the mothers womb is spent,

Where she her nursing power doth onely use;

Where when she finds defects of nourishment,

Sh'expels her body, and this world she viewes.

This we call Birth, but if the Child could speake,

He Death would call it, and of nature plaine,

Tha she would thrust him out naked and weak,

And in h [...]s passage pinch him with such paine,

Yet out he comes, and in this world is plac't,

Where all his Senses in perfection be,

Where he finds flowers to smel, and truits to tast,

And sounds to hear, and sundry formes to see.

When he hath past some time upon this stage,

His Reason then a little seems to wake;

Which though she spring when sense doth fade with age,

Yet can she here, no perfect practise make.

Then doth th'aspiring Soule the body leave,

Which we call death, but were it known to all,

What life our Soules do by this death receive,

Men would it Birth, or Gaole-delivery call.

In this third life Reason will be so bright,

As that her spark will like the Sun-beams shine,

And shall of God enjoy the real sight,

Being still increast by influence Divine.

O ignorant poor man, wha [...] d [...]st thou bear,

An Acclamation.

Lock't up within the Casket of thy breast?

What Jewels, and what riches hast thou there?

What heavenly treasure in so weak a chest?

Look in thy Soule, and thou shalt beauties find,

Like those which drown'd Narcissus in the flood,

Honour and Pleasure, both are in thy mind,

And all that in the world is counted good.

[Page]

[figure]

There are a Crew of fellowes of suppose,

That angle for their victualls with their nose

As quick as Beagles in the smelling sence

To smell a feast in Pauses 2 miles from thence.

[Page]

Think of her worth, and think that God did mean

This worthy mind should worthy things embrace;

Blot not her beauties with thy thoughts unclean,

Nor her dishonour with thy passions base.

Kill not her quickning power with surfettings,

Mar not her sense with Sensuality,

Cast not her serious wit on idle things,

Make not her free-will slave to vanity.

And when thou think'st of her eternity,

Think not that death against her nature is,

Think it a birth: and when thou goest to dye,

Sing like a Swan, as if thou went'st to bliss.

And if thou like a Child didst fear before,

Being in the dark, where thou did'st nothing see;

Now I have brought thee Torch-light, fear no more,

Now when thou diest, thou canst not hoodwinkt be,

Take heed of over-weening, and compare

Thy Peacocks feet with thy gay Peacocks train,

Study the best, and highest things that are,

But of thy self an humble thought retain.

Cast down thy selfe, and only strive to raise

The glory of thy Makers sacred name;

Use all thy powers, that blessed power to praise,

Which gives thee power to be, and use the same.

FINIS.

§

§

[Page]

A WORK For none but ANGELS & MEN.

THAT IS, To be able to look into, and to know our selves.

OR A BOOK Shewing what the SOULE Is, Subsisting and having its operations without the Body; its more then a perfection or reflection of the the Sense, or Temperature of Humours: How she exercises her powersof vegetative or quickning power of the Senses.

Of the Imaginations or Common sense, the Phantasie, Sensative Memory, Passions, Motion of Life, the Local Motion, and Intellectual Powers of the soul.

Of the Wit, Understanding, Reason, Opinion, Judgement, Power of Will, and the Relations betwixt Wit & Wil.

Of the Intellectuall Memory, that the soule is Immortall, and cannot dye, cannot be destroyed, her cause ceaseth not, violence nor time cannot destroy her; and all Objections Answered to the contrary.

O thou my Soule, which turn'st thy curious eye

To view the beames of thine owne forme Divine:

Know that thou canst know nothing perfectly,

Whil'st thou art clouded with this flesh of mine.

Such knowledge is too wonderfull for me, it is high, I cannot attaine unto it, Psal. 139. 6.

LONDON: Printed by M. S. for Tho: Jenner, at the South-Entrance of the Royall EXCHANGE. 1653.

Information about this book

Title statement

A work for none but angels & men. That is to be able to look into, and to know our selves. Or a book shewing what the soule is, subsisting and having its operations without the body; its more th[e]n a perfection or reflection of the sense, or teperature of humours: how she exercises her powers of vegetative or quickening power of the senses. Of the imaginations or common sense, the phantasie, sensative memory, passions motion of life, local motion, and intellectual powers of the soul. Of the wit, understanding, reason, opinion, judgement, power of will, and the relations betwixt wit & wil. Of the intellectual memory, that the soule is immortall, and cannot dye, cannot be destroyed, her cause ceaseth not, violence nor time cannot destroy her; and all objections answered to the contrary.Nosce teipsum. Selections

Davies, John, Sir, 1569-1626.

Edition statement

1653

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2009-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A37242

ID [STC]

Wing D409

ID [STC]

ESTC R207134

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99866205

ID [PROQUEST]

99866205

ID [VID]

118469

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Series

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Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A37242)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 118469)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Thomason Tracts ; 109:E708[6])

Source

— A work for none but angels & men. That is to be able to look into, and to know our selves. Or a book shewing what the soule is, subsisting and having its operations without the body; its more th[e]n a perfection or reflection of the sense, or teperature of humours: how she exercises her powers of vegetative or quickening power of the senses. Of the imaginations or common sense, the phantasie, sensative memory, passions motion of life, local motion, and intellectual powers of the soul. Of the wit, understanding, reason, opinion, judgement, power of will, and the relations betwixt wit & wil. Of the intellectual memory, that the soule is immortall, and cannot dye, cannot be destroyed, her cause ceaseth not, violence nor time cannot destroy her; and all objections answered to the contrary., Nosce teipsum. Selections, Davies, John, Sir, 1569-1626..

Extent

[2], 54 (i.e. 48) p. : ill.

Printed by M.S. for Tho: Jenner, at the South-Entrance of the Royall Exchange.,. London :: 1653.. (In verse.) (Signatures D1-D3 blank.) (Originally published in 1599 as "Of the soule of man, and the immortalitie thereof", the main constituent of: Davies, Sir John. Nosce teipsum.) (Annotation on Thomason copy: "July: 30".) (Reproduction of the original in the British Library.)

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