“This is the state of th’ ever-moving soul, Whirling about upon its circling wheel; Certes to sight it variously doth roll, And as men deem full dangerously doth reel, But oft when men fear most, itself doth feel In happiest plight conjoin’d with that great Sun Of lasting blisse, that doth himself reveal More fully then, by that close union, Though men, that misse her here, do think her quite undone.” (I. ii. 8.) When in the course of his argument he arrives at a discussion of the rational power of the soul, he launches out into a treatment of the vast scope of man’s will and mind which “should bring forth that live Divinity Within ourselves, if once God would consent To shew his specious form and nature eminent: “For here it lies like colours in the night Unseen and unregarded, but the sunne Displayes the beauty and the gladsome plight Of the adorned earth, while he doth runne His upper stage. But this high prize is wonne By curbing sense and the self seeking life (True Christian mortification) Thus God will his own self in us revive, If we to mortifie our straightened selves do strive.” (II. iii. 12, 13.) Again, when his argument brings him to the point at which the independence of soul from body is to be proved, he breaks out with an exclamation of the bliss of that union of soul with God, when “reason shines out bright, And holy love with mild serenity Doth hug her harmlesse self in this her purity;” (III. ii. 28.) and passes on to a description of The One as seen in the vision “Unplac’d, unparted, one close Unity, Yet omnipresent; all things, yet but one; Not streak’d with gaudy multiplicity, Pure light without discolouration, Stable without circumvolution, Eternal rest, joy without passing sound.” (III. ii. 36.) Finally in the last canto of his third book he testifies to the vanity of that knowledge of the reasons for the soul’s immortality, even as he had given them (III. ii. 11), and confesses that the only sure stay in the storm of life is a faith in “the first Good.” “But yet, my Muse, still take an higher flight, Sing of Platonick Faith in the first Good, That Faith that doth our souls to God unite So strongly, tightly, that the rapid floud Of this swift flux of things, nor with foul mud Can stain, nor strike us off from th’ unity, Wherein we steadfast stand, unshak’d, unmov’d, Engrafted by a deep vitality The prop and stay of things is Gods benignity.” (III. iv. 14.)