And shed in him a beame of heauenly fire;
Now in their mother's wombs before their birth,
Doth in all sonnes of men their _soules_ inspire.
And as _Minerua_ is in fables said,
From _Ioue_, without a mother to proceed;
So our true _Ioue_, without a mother's ay'd,
Doth daily millions of _Mineruas_ breed.
ERRONIOUS OPINIONS OF THE CREATION OF SOULES.
Then neither from eternitie before,
Nor from the time when _Time's_ first point begun;
Made He all _souls_: which now He keepes in store,
Some in the moone, and others in the sunne:
Nor in a _secret cloyster_ doth Hee keepe
These virgin-spirits, vntill their marriage-day;
Nor locks them vp 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 vnwilling further paines to take,
Would make no more then those He framèd then.
So that the widow _Soule_ her _body_ dying,
Vnto the next-borne _body_ married was;
And so by often changing and supplying,
Mens' _soules_ to beasts, and beasts to men did passe.
(These thoughts are fond; for since the bodies borne
Be more in number farre then those that dye;
Thousands must be abortiue, and forlorne,
Ere others' deaths to them their _soules_ supply.)
But as _God's handmaid_, _Nature_, doth create
Bodies in time distinct, and order due;[105]
So God giues _soules_ the like successiue date,
Which _Himselfe_ makes, in bodies formèd new:
Which _Him selfe_ makes, of no materiall thing;
For vnto angels He no power hath giuen,
Either to forme the shape, or stuffe to bring
From _ayre_ or _fire_, or _substance of the heauen_.
Nor He in this doth _Nature's_ seruice vse;
For though from bodies, she can bodies bring,
Yet could she neuer soules from Soules _traduce_,
As fire from fire, or light from light doth spring.
OBJECTION:--THAT THE SOULE IS EXTRADUCE.
Alas! that some, that were great lights of old,
And in their hands the _lampe_ of God did beare;[106]
Some reuerend Fathers did this error hold,
Hauing their eyes dim'd with religious feare!
For when (say they) by Rule of Faith we find,
That euery _soule_ vnto her _body_ knit,
Brings from the mother's wombe, the _sinne of kind_,
The roote of all the ill she doth commit.
How can we say that God the _Soule_ doth make,
But we must make Him author of her sinne?
Then from man's soule she doth beginning take,
Since in man's soule corruption did begin.
For if God make her, first He makes her ill,
(Which God forbid our thoghts should yeeld vnto!)
Or makes the body her faire forme to spill,[107]
Which, of it selfe it had no power to doe.
Not _Adam's body_ but his _soule_ did sinne
And so her selfe vnto corruption brought;
But the poore _soule_ corrupted is within,
Ere shee had sinn'd, either in act, or thought:
And yet we see in her such powres diuine,
As we could gladly thinke, _from God she came_;
Faine would we make Him Author of the wine,
If for the dregs we could some other blame.
[Footnote 105: Misprinted in 1608 and 1622 edition 'other:' correctly,
as above, in 1599 edition. G.]
[Footnote 106: Holy Scriptures. G.]
[Footnote 107: = Spoil. G.]
THE ANSWERE TO THE OBIECTION.
_Thus these_ good men with holy zeale were blind,
When on the other part the truth did shine;
Whereof we doe cleare demonstrations find,
By light of _Nature_, and by light _Diuine_
None are so grosse as to contend for this,
That soules from bodies may traducèd bee;
Betweene whose natures no proportion is,
When roote and branch in nature still agree.
But many subtill wits haue iustifi'd,
That _soules_ from _soules_ spiritually may spring;
Which (if the nature of the _soule_ be tri'd)
Will euen in Nature proue as grosse a thing.
REASONS DRAWNE FROM NATURE.
For all things made, are either made of nought,
Or made of stuffe that ready made doth stand;
Of nought no creature euer formèd ought,
For that is proper to th' Almightie's hand.
If then the _soule_ another _soule_ doe make,
Because her power is kept within a bound,
Shee must some former stuffe or _matter_ take;
But in the soule there is no _matter_ found.
Then if her heauenly Forme doe not agree
With any _matter_ which the world containes;
Then she of nothing must created bee,
And to _create_, to God alone pertaines.
Againe, if _soules_ doe other _soules_ beget,
'Tis by themselues, or by the bodie's power;
If by themselues, what doth their working let,
But they might _soules_ engender euery houre?
If by the body, how can _wit_ and _will_
Ioyne with the body onely in this act?
Sith[108] when they doe their other works fulfill,
They from the body doe themselues _abstract_?
Againe, if _soules_ of _soules_ begotten were,
Into each other they should change and moue;
And _change_ and _motion still corruption_ beare;
How shall we then the _soule_ immortall proue?
If lastly, _soules_ doe[109] generation vse,
Then should they spread incorruptible seed;
What then becomes of that which they doe lose,
When th' acts of generation doe not speed?
And though the _soule_ could cast spirituall seed,
Yet _would_ she not, because she _neuer dies_;
For mortall things desire their _like_ to breed,
That so they may their kind immortalize.
Therefore the angels, sonnes of God are nam'd,
And marry not, nor are in marriage giuen;
Their spirits and ours are of one _substance_ fram'd,
And haue one Father, euen the _Lord of heauen_:
Who would at first, that in each other thing,
The _earth_ and _water_ liuing _soules_ should breed;
But that _man's soule_ whom He would make their king,
Should from Himselfe immediatly proceed.
And when He took the _woman_ from _man's_ side,
Doubtlesse Himselfe inspir'd her _soule_ alone;
For 'tis not said, He did _man's soule_ diuide,
But took _flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone_.
Lastly, God being made Man for man's owne sake,
And being like Man in all, except in sin,
His body from the _virgin's_ wombe did take;
But all agree, _God form'd His soule within_.
Then is the _soule_ from God; so _Pagans_ say,
Which saw by _Nature's_ light her heauenly kind;
Naming her _kin to God, and God's bright ray_,
A citizen of Heauen to Earth confined.
But now, I feele, they plucke me by the eare
Whom my young _Muse_ so boldly termèd blind;
And craue more heauenly light, that cloud to clear,
Which makes them think God doth not make the mind.
[Footnote 108: Here and elsewhere, the 1622 edn. alters 'since' of the
1599 and 1608 edns. to the earlier form 'sith': on which see Wright's
Bible Word-Book. _s.v._ G.]
[Footnote 109: In 1599 and 1608 edns., 'did.' G.]
REASONS DRAWNE FROM DIUINITY.
God doubtlesse makes her, and doth make her good,
And graffes her in the body, there to spring;
Which, though it be corrupted, flesh and blood
Can no way to the _Soule_ corruption bring:
And yet this _Soule_ (made good by God at first,[110]
And not corrupted by the bodie's ill)
Euen in the wombe is sinfull, and accurst,
Ere shee can _iudge_ by _wit_ or _chuse_ by _will_.[111]
[Footnote 110: By an unhappy oversight, the whole of this stanza is
dropped out of 1697 edition: and thence, by Davies, and generally. G.]
[Footnote 111: Davies and Southey, as before, substitute 'ill.' G.]
Yet is not God the Author of her sinne
Though Author of her _being_, and _being there_;
And if we dare to iudge our _Iudge_ herein,[112]
He can condemne vs, and Himselfe can cleare.
[Footnote 112: Davies and Southey, as before, substitute 'Maker's
will.' G.]
First, God from infinite eternitie
_Decreed_, what _hath beene_, _is_, or _shall bee_ done;
And was resolu'd, that euery man should bee,
And in his turne, his race of life should run:
And so did purpose all the _soules_ to make,
That euer _have beene_ made, or _euer shall_;
And that their _being_ they should onely take
In humane bodies, or not _bee_ at all.
Was it then fit that such a weake euent
(_W[e]aknesse it selfe_,--the sinne and fall of Man)
His counsel's execution should preuent,
Decreed and fixt before the World began?
Or that one _penall law_ by _Adam_ broke,
Should make God breake His owne _eternall Law_;
The setled order of the World reuoke,
And change all forms of things, which He foresaw?
Could _Eue's_ weake hand, extended to the tree,
In sunder rend that _adamantine chaine_,
Whose golden links, _effects_ and causes be,
And which to God's owne chair doth fixt remaine.[113]
O could we see, how cause from cause doth spring!
How mutually they linkt and folded are!
And heare how oft one disagreeing string
The harmony doth rather make then marre?
And view at once, how _death_ by _sinne_ is brought,
And how from _death_, a better _life_ doth rise,
How this God's _iustice_, and His _mercy_ tought:
We this decree would praise, as right and wise.
But we that measure times by first and last,
The sight of things successiuely, doe take;
When God on all at once His view doth cast,
And of all times doth but one _instant_ make.
All in _Himselfe_ as in a _glasse_ Hee sees,
For _from Him, by Him, through Him, all things bee_:
His sight is not discoursiue, by degrees,
But seeing the whole, each single part doth see.[114]
[Footnote 113: Homer, Iliad, VIII. 19: and _cf._ Tennyson ('Morte d'
Arthur,' p. 200: edition 1848.)
'For so the whole round world is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.' G.]
[Footnote 114: It is noticeable that the supreme Divine and Thinker of
America--Jonathan Edwards--accepts this symbol of the 'Tree,' and works
it out marvellously in his great treatise on 'Original Sin.' G.]
He lookes on _Adam_, as a _root_, or _well_,
And on his heires, as _branches_, and as _streames_;
He sees _all_ men as _one_ Man, though they dwell
In sundry cities, and in sundry realmes:
And as the _roote_ and _branch_ are but one _tree_,
And _well_ and _streame_ doe but one _riuer_ make;
So, if the _root_ and _well_ corrupted bee,
The _streame_ and _branch_ the same corruption take:
So, when the root and fountaine of Mankind
Did draw corruption, and God's curse, by sin;
This was a charge that all his heires did bind,
And all his offspring grew corrupt therein.
And as when the hand doth strike, the Man offends,
(For _part from whole, Law seuers not in this_)
So _Adam's_ sinne to the whole kind extends;
For all their natures are but part of his.
Therefore this _sinne of kind_, not personall,
But reall and hereditary was;
The guilt whereof, and punishment to all,
By course of Nature, and of Law doth passe.
For as that easie Law was giuen to all,
To ancestor and heire, to first and last;
So was the first transgression generall,
And all did plucke the fruit and all did tast.
Of this we find some foot-steps 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 gaine or lose their liberties;
They harme, or profit not themselues alone,
But such as in succeeding times shall rise.
And so the ancestor, and all his heires,
Though they in number passe the stars of heauen,
Are still but one; his forfeitures are theirs,
And vnto them are his aduancements giuen:
His ciuill acts doe binde and bar them all;
And as from _Adam_, all corruption take,
So, if the father's crime be _capitall_
In all the _bloud_, Law doth _corruption_ make.
Is it then iust with vs, to dis-inherit
The vnborn nephewes for the father's fault?
And to aduance againe for one man's merit,
A thousand heires, that have deservèd nought?
And is not God's decree as iust as ours,
If He, for _Adam's_ sinne, his sonnes depriue,
Of all those natiue vertues, and those powers,
Which He to him, and to his race did giue?
For what is this contagious sinne of kinde
But a priuation of that grace within?
And of that great rich dowry of the minde
Which all had had, but for the first man's sin?
If then a man, on light conditions gaine
A great estate, to him and his, for euer;
If wilfully he forfeit it againe
Who doth bemone his heire or blame the giuer?
So, though God make the _Soule_ good, rich and faire,
Yet when her forme is to the body knit,
Which makes the Man, which man is _Adam's heire_
Iustly forth-with He takes His grace from it:
And then the soule being first from nothing brought,
When God's grace failes her, doth to nothing fall;
And this _declining pronenesse unto nought_,
Is euen that sinne that we are borne withall.
Yet not alone the first good qualities,
Which in the first _soule_ were, depriuèd are;
But in their place the contrary doe rise,
And reall spots[115] of sinne her beauty marre.
Nor is it strange, that Adam's ill desart
Should be transferd vnto his guilty Race;
When Christ His grace and iustice doth impart
To men vniust, and such as haue no grace.
Lastly, the _Soule_ were better so to bee
Borne slaue to sinne, then not to be at all;
Since (if she do belieue) One sets her free,
That makes her mount the higher for her fall.
_Yet this_ the curious wits will not content;
They yet will know (sith[116] God foresaw this ill)
Why His high Prouidence did not preuent
The declination of the first man's will.
If by His Word He had the current staid
Of _Adam's_ will, which was by nature free;
It had bene one, as if His Word had said,
I will henceforth that _Man no man shall bee_.
For what is Man without a moouing mind,
Which hath a iudging _wit_, and chusing _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 _soule_ infuse,
But that he should his Maker _know_ and _loue_?
Now, if _loue_ be compeld and cannot chuse,
How can it gratefull or thankeworthy proue?
Loue must free-hearted be, and voluntary,
And not enchanted, or by Fate constraind;
Nor like that loue, which did _Ulisses_ carry,
To _Circe's_ ile, with mighty charmes enchaind.
Besides, were we vnchangeable in _will_,
And of a _wit_ that nothing could mis-deeme;
Equall to God, Whose wisedome shineth still,
And neuer erres, we might our selues esteeme.
So that if Man would be vnuariable,
He must be God, or like a rock or tree;
For euen the perfect Angels were not stable,
But had a fall more desperate then wee.
Then let vs praise that Power, which makes vs be
_Men_ as we are, and rest contented so;
And knowing Man's fall was curiositie,
Admire God's counsels, which we cannot know.
And let vs know that God the Maker is
Of all the _Soules_, 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.
[Footnote 115: Misprinted in 1622 'sports:' 'spots' from 1599, 1602 and
1608. G.]
[Footnote 116: 'Since,' as before in 1599 and 1608 editions. G.]
WHY THE SOULE IS UNITED TO THE BODY.
_This substance_, and this _spirit of God's owne making_,
Is in the body plact, and planted heere;
"That both of God, and of the world partaking,
"Of all that is, Man might the image beare.
Then other things, which mindlesse bodies be;
Last, He made Man, th' _horizon_ 'twixt both kinds,
In whom we doe the World's abridgement see.[117]
Besides, this World below did need _one wight_,
Which might thereof distinguish euery part;
Make vse thereof, and take therein delight,
And order things with industry and art:
Which also God might in His works admire,
And here beneath, yeeld Him both praier and praise;
As there, aboue, the holy angels quire
Doth spread His glory[118] with spirituall layes.
Lastly, the bruite, unreasonable wights,
Did want a _visible king_ on[119] them to raigne:
And God, Himselfe thus to the World vnites,
That so the World might endlesse blisse obtaine.
[Footnote 117: One of Heylin's numerous books is called
'_Microcosmus_:' a little Description of the great World. Oxon: 1st
edn., 1622. The word is met with in other old title-pages and in
theological (Puritan) writings. G.]
IN WHAT MANNER THE SOULE IS UNITED TO THE BODY.
"But how shall we this _union_ well expresse?
Nought ties the _soule_; her subtiltie is such
She moues the bodie, which she doth possesse,
Yet no part toucheth, but by _Vertue's_ touch.
Then dwels shee not therein as in a tent,
Nor as a pilot in his ship doth sit;
Nor as the spider in his[120] web is pent;
Nor as the waxe retaines the print in it;
Nor as a vessell water doth containe;
Nor as one liquor in another shed;
Nor as the heat doth in the fire remaine;
Nor as a voice throughout the ayre is spread:
But as the faire and cheerfull _Morning light_,
Doth here and there her siluer beames impart,
And in an instant doth herselfe vnite
To the transparent ayre, in all, and part:
Still resting whole, when blowes th' ayre diuide;
Abiding pure, when th' ayre is most corrupted;
Throughout the ayre, her beams dispersing wide,
And when the ayre is tost, not interrupted:
So doth the piercing _Soule_ the body fill,
Being all in all, and all in part diffus'd;
Indiuisible, incorruptible[121] still,
Not forc't, encountred, troubled or confus'd.
And as the _sunne_ aboue, the light doth bring,
Though we behold it in the ayre below;
So from th' Eternall Light the _Soule_ doth spring,
Though in the body she her powers doe show.
[Footnote 118: Davies and Southey, as before, insert 'forth' here. G.]
[Footnote 119: Davies and Southey, as before, substitute 'o'er:' but
'on' is the Poet's own word here and elsewhere. G.]
[Footnote 120: In 1599 and 1608 editions, 'her.' G.]
[Footnote 121: In 1598 and 1608 editions, 'vncorruptible.' G.]
HOW THE SOUL DOTH EXERCISE HER POWERS IN THE BODY.
_But as_ the[122] world's _sunne_ doth effects beget,
Diuers, in diuers places euery day;
Here _Autumnes_ temperature, there _Summer's_ heat,
Here flowry _Spring-tide_, and there _Winter_ gray:
Eere _Euen_, there _Morne_, here _Noone_, there _Day_, there _Night_;
Melts wax, dries clay, mak[e]s flowrs, som quick,[123] som dead;
Makes the _More_ black, and th' _Europ[oe]an_ white,
Th' _American_ tawny, and th' _East-Indian_ red:
So in our little World: this _soule_ of ours,
Being onely one, and to one body tyed,
Doth vse, on diuers obiects diuers powers,
And so are her effects diuersified.
THE VEGETATIUE OR QUICKENING POWER.
_Her quick'ning_ power in euery lining part,
Doth as a nurse, or as a mother serue;
And doth employ her _oeconomicke art_,
And busie care, her houshold to preserue
Here she _attracts_, and there she doth _retaine_,
There she _decocts_, and doth the food prepare;
There she _distributes_ it to euery vaine,
There she _expels_ what she may fitly spare.
This power to _Martha_ may comparèd be,[124]
Which busie was, the _houshold-things_ to doe;
Or to a _Dryas_, liuing in a tree:[125]
For euen to trees this power is proper too.
And though the Soule may not this power extend
Out of the body, but still vse it there;
She hath a power which she abroad doth send,
Which views and searcheth all things euery where.
[Footnote 122: 'This' in 1599 edition. G.]
[Footnote 123: Living. G.]
THE POWER OF SENSE.
_This power is Sense_, which from abroad doth bring[126]
The _colour_, _taste_, and _touch_, and _sent_,[127] and _sound_;
The _quantitie_, and _shape_ of euery thing
Within th' Earth's center, or Heauen's circle found.
This power, in parts made fit, fit obiects takes,
Yet not the things, but forms of things receiues;
As when a seale in waxe impression makes,
The print therein, but not it selfe it leaues.
And though things sensible be numberlesse,
But onely fiue the _Senses'_ organs be;
And in those fiue, all things their formes expresse,
Which we can _touch_, _taste_, _feele_, or _heare_, or _see_.
These are the windows throgh the which she views
The _light of knowledge_, which is life's loadstar:
"And yet while she these spectacles doth vse,
"Oft worldly things seeme greater then they are.
[Footnote 124: St. Luke, x. 40, 41. G.]
[Footnote 125: On the Dryads Cf. Paus. viii. 4. § 2 Apollon. Rhod. ii.
447, &c. G.]
[Footnote 126: Misprinted 'spring,' but corrected in the errata of 1622
edition, as above. G.]
[Footnote 127: Scent. G.]
SIGHT.
First, the two _eyes_ that haue the _seeing_ power,
Stand as one watchman, spy, or sentinell;
Being plac'd 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 formes of _moone_ and _sun_, and euery _starre_;
Of euery body and of euery place,
Which with the World's wide armes embracèd are:
Yet their best obiect, and their noblest vse,
Hereafter in another World will be;
When God in them shall heauenly light infuse,
That face to face they may their _Maker_ see.
Here are they guides, which doe 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 beames vnto their obiects send;
But all the rays are from their obiects sent,
And in the _eyes_ with pointed angles end:
If th' obiects be farre off, the rayes doe meet
In a sharpe point, and so things seeme but small;
If they be neere, their rayes doe spread and fleet,
And make broad points, that things seeme great withall.
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 _farre_,
_Cleare_ space, and _time_, the forme distinct to bring.
Thus we see how the _Soule_ doth vse the eyes,
As instruments of her quicke power of sight;
Hence do th' Arts _opticke_ and faire _painting_ rise:
_Painting_, which doth all gentle minds delight.
HEARING.
Now let vs heare how she the _Eares_ imployes:
Their office is the troubled ayre to take,
Which in their mazes formes a sound or noyse,
Whereof her selfe doth true distinction make.
These wickets of the _Soule_ are plac't on hie
Because all sounds doe lightly mount aloft;
And that they may not pierce too violently,
They are delaied with turnes, and windings oft.
For should the voice directly strike the braine,
It would astonish and confuse it much;
Therfore these plaits and folds the sound restraine,
That it the organ may more gently touch.
As streames, which with their winding banks doe play,
Stopt by their creeks, run softly through the plaine;
So in th' Eares' labyrinth the voice doth stray,
And doth with easie motion touch the braine.
It is the slowest, yet the daintiest _sense_;
For euen the _Eares_ of such as haue no skill,
Perceiue a discord, and conceiue offence;
And knowing not what is good, yet find the ill.
And though this _sense_ first gentle _Musicke_ found,
Her proper obiect is _the speech of men_;
But that speech chiefely which God's heraulds sound,
When their tongs vtter what His Spirit did pen.
Our _Eyes_ haue lids, our _Eares_ still ope we see,
Quickly to heare how euery tale is proouèd;
Our _Eyes_ still moue, our _Eares_ vnmouèd bee,
That though we hear quick we be not quickly mouèd.
Thus by the organs of the _Eye_ and _Eare_,
The _Soule_ with knowledge doth her selfe endue;
"Thus she her prison, may with pleasure beare,
"Hauing 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 seruices the _Soule_ doth find,
What things are to the body, good or ill.
TASTE.
The _bodie's_ life with meats and ayre is fed,
Therefore the _soule_ doth vse the _tasting_ power,
In veines, which through the tongue and palate spred,
Distinguish euery relish, sweet and sower.
This is the bodie's _nurse_; but since man's wit
Found th' art of _cookery_, to delight his _sense_;
More bodies are consum'd and kild with it,
Then with the sword, famine, or pestilence.
SMELLING.
_Next_, in the nosthrils she doth vse the _smell_:
As God the _breath of life_ in them did giue,
So makes He now this power in them to dwell,
To iudge all ayres, whereby we _breath_ and _liue_.
This _sense_ is also mistresse of an Art,
Which to soft people sweete perfumes doth sell;
Though this deare Art doth little good impart,
"Sith[128] they smell best, that doe of nothing smell.
And yet good _sents_[129] doe purifie the braine,
Awake the fancie, and the wits refine;
Hence old _Deuotion_, _incense_ did ordaine
To make mens' spirits apt for thoughts diuine.
[Footnote 128: In 1599 and 1608 editions, 'since,' as before. G.]
[Footnote 129: Scents. G.]
FEELING.
_Lastly, the feeling power_, which is Life's root,
Through euery liuing part it selfe doth shed;
By sinewes, which extend from head to foot,
And like a net, all ore the body spred.