_And as_ the better spirit, when shee doth beare A scorne of death, doth shew she cannot die; So when the wicked _Soule_ Death's face doth feare, Euen then she proues her owne eternitie. For when Death's forme appeares, she feareth not An vtter quenching or extinguishment; She would be glad to meet with such a lot, That so she might all future ill preuent: But shee doth doubt what after may befall; For Nature's law accuseth her within; And saith, 'Tis true that is affirm'd by all, _That after death there is a paine for sin_. Then she which hath bin hud-winkt from her birth, Doth first her selfe within Death's mirror see; And when her body doth returne to earth, She first takes care, how she alone shall bee. Who euer sees these irreligious men, With burthen of a sicknesse weake and faint; But heares them talking of Religion then, And vowing of their _soules_ to euery saint? When was there euer cursèd _atheist_ brought Vnto the _gibbet_,[147] but he did adore That blessed Power, which he had set at nought, Scorn'd and blasphemèd all his life before? These light vaine persons still are drunke and mad, With surfettings and pleasures of their youth; But at their deaths they are fresh,[148] sober, sad Then they discerne, and then they speake the truth. If then all _Soules_, both good and bad, doe teach, With generall voice, that _soules_ can neuer die; 'Tis not man's flattering glosse, but _Nature's speech_, Which, like _God's_ Oracle, can neuer lie. REASON V. FROM THE BENERALL DESIRE OF IMMORTALITIE. _Hence springs_ that vniuersall strong desire, Which all men haue of Immortalitie: Not some few spirits vnto this thought aspire, But all mens' minds in this vnited be. Then this desire of Nature is not vaine, "She couets not impossibilities; "Fond thoughts may fall into some idle braine, "But one _assent_ of all, is euer wise. From hence that generall care and study springs, That _launching_ and _progression of the mind_; Which all men haue so much, of future things, That they no ioy doe in the present find. From this desire, that maine desire proceeds, Which all men haue suruiuing Fame to gaine; By _tombes_, by _bookes_, by memorable _deeds_: For she that this desires, doth still remaine. Hence lastly, springs care of posterities, For things their kind would euerlasting make; Hence is it that old men do plant young trees, The fruit whereof another age shall take. If we these rules vnto our selues apply, And view them by reflection of the mind; All these true notes of immortalitie In our _heart's tables_ we shall written find. [Footnote 147: Spelled in 1622 edition 'Iiebbet,' but in 1599 and 1608 as above. G.]