* * * * *

So that if Man would be unvariable,
He must be God, or like a rock or tree;
For ev'n the perfect angels were not stable,
But had a fall more desperate than we.

The poem contains much excellent argument in mental science as well as in
religion and metaphysics; but with that department I have nothing to do.

I shall now give an outlook from the highest peak of the poem--to any who
are willing to take the trouble necessary for seeing what another would
show them.

The section from which I have gathered the following stanzas is devoted
to the more immediate proof of the soul's immortality.

Her only end is never-ending bliss,
Which is the eternal face of God to see,
Who last of ends and first of causes is;
And to do this, she must eternal be.

Again, how can she but immortal be,
When with the motions of both will and wit,
She still aspireth to eternity,
And never rests till she attains to it?

Water in conduit-pipes can rise no higher
Than the well-head from whence it first doth spring;
Then since to eternal God she doth aspire,