Here sense's 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.

SECTION XXII.

THE PASSION OF THE SENSE.

BUT though the apprehensive pow'r do pause,
The motive virtue then begins to move;
Which in the heart below doth passions cause,
Joy, grief, and fear, and hope, and hate, and love.

These passions have a free commanding might,
And divers actions in our life do breed;
For all acts done without true reason's light,
Do from the passion of the sense proceed.

But since the brain doth lodge the pow'rs of sense, How makes it in the heart those passions spring? The mutual love, the kind intelligence

'Twixt heart and brain, this sympathy doth bring.

From the kind heat, which in the heart doth reign, The spirits of life do their beginning take; These spirits of life ascending to the brain, [make. When they come there, the spirits of sense do

These spirits of sense, in fantasy's high court,
Judge of the forms 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 griefs annoy.

Yet were these natural affections good,

(For they which want them, blocks or devils be) If reason in her first perfection stood, That she might Nature's passions rectify.

SECTION XXIII.

LOCAL MOTION.

BESIDES, another motive-power doth 'rise

Out of the heart, from whose pure blood do spring The vital spirits; which, born in arteries, Continual motion to all parts do bring.

This makes the pulses beat, and lungs respire;
This holds the sinews like a bridle's reins;
And makes the body to advance, retire,

To turn, or stop, as she them slacks or strains.

Thus the soul tunes the body's instruments,

These harmonies she makes with life and sense;

The organs fit are by the body lent,

But th' actions flow from the soul's influence.

F 2

SECTION XXIV.

THE INTELLECTUAL POWERS OF THE SOUL.

BUT now I have a will, yet want a wit,
T' express 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 pow'rs the nature of the soul declare,
For to man's soul these only proper be;
For on the Earth no other wights there are
That have these heavenly powers, but only we.

SECTION XXV.

WIT, REASON, UNDERSTANDING, OPINION, JUDGMENT,

WISDOM.

THE wit, the pupil of the soul's clear eye,
And in man's world the only shining star,
Looks in the mirror of the fantasy,

Where all the gath'rings of the senses are.

From thence this pow'r the shapes of things abstracts,

And them within her passive part receives, Which are enlight'ned by that part which acts; And so the forms of single things perceives.

But after, by discoursing to and fro,
Anticipating and comparing things,

She doth all universal natures know,

And all effects into their causes brings.

When she rates things, and moves from ground to ground,

The name of reason she obtains by this: But when by reason she the truth hath found, And standeth fix'd, she understanding is.

When her assent she lightly doth incline
To either part, she is opinion's light:
But when she doth by principles define

A certain truth, she hath true judgment's sight.

And as from senses, reason's work doth spring,
So many reasons understanding gain;
And many understandings, knowledge bring,
And by much knowledge, wisdom we obtain.

So, many stairs we must ascend upright
Ere we attain to wisdom's high degree:
So doth this earth eclipse our reason's light,
Which else (in instants) would like angels see.

SECTION XXVI.

INNATE IDEAS IN THE SOUL.

YET hath the soul a dowry natural,

And sparks of light, some common things to see; Not being a blank where naught is writ at all, But what the writer will, may written be.

For Nature in man's heart her laws doth pen,
Prescribing truth to wit, and good to will;
Which do accuse, or else excuse all men,

For ev'ry thought or practice, 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 nourish'd still with new supplies of wood.

And though these sparks were almost quench'd with sin,

Yet they whom that just One hath justify'd, Have them increas'd with heav'nly light within; And, like the widow's oil, still multiply'd.

SECTION XXVII.

THE POWER OF WILL, AND RELATION BETWEEN THE WIT AND WILL.

AND as this wit should goodness truly know, We have a will, which that true good should choose,

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 :
Will ever acts, and wit contemplates still :
And as from wit the pow'r of wisdom riseth,
All other virtues daughters are of will.