Page:The Bible of Nature, and Substance of Virtue.djvu/37

And since our minds as well as bodies feel
The powers of medicines, that change or heal,
They must be mortal, for to change the soul,
You must or change the order of the whole;
Take off some old, or add some parts anew—
Now what's immortal, common sense hath told,
Can gain not one new part, nor lose one old;
For whatsoever suffers change, unties
Its union, is not what it was, but dies:
Therefore the mind, or by diseases griev'd,
Or by the power of medicines, reliev'd,
Shews herself mortal.
But if you think the soul, by fate opprest,
Can to one limb retire, and leave the rest;
That part, where so much soul hath residence,
A greater must enjoy, and quicker sense:
But since none such appears, 'tis plain it flies
By piece-meal through the air, and therefore dies.
But grant, what's false the soul can backward fly,
And huddled up within one member lie,
Yet this infers the soul's mortality.
For what's the difference, if by latest breath
Expell'd or huddled up, 'tis crush't to death?
Whilst from the limbs the senses steal away,
And by degrees the powers of life decay.
And since the soul is part, and since it lies
Fixt in one certain place, as ears, or eyes;
So like as those when from the body gone,
Perceive not, nor endure, but perish soon;
The mind can't live divided from the whole,
The limbs, which seem the vessel of the soul.
Again, both soul and body join'd perceive,
Exert their natural powers, endure, and live;
Nor can the soul without the limbs dispense
Her vital powers, nor limbs without the soul have sense:
For as the eye grows stiff, and dark, and blind,
When torn from off her seat; so soul and mind
Lose all their powers, when from the limbs disjoin'd;
Because 'tis spread o'er all, and there preserves
Her life, by vital union with the nerves.