The strongest and the noblest argument
To proue the soule immortall, rests in this:
That in no mortall thing it finds content,
But seekes an object that æternall is.
If any soule hath this immortall signe,
(As every soule doth show it, more or lesse),
It is your spirit, heröick and diuine;
Which this true noate most liuely doth expresse;
For being a prince, and hauing princely blood,
The noblest of all Europe in your vaines;
Having youth, wealth, pleasure, and every good,
Which all the world doth seek, with endlesse paynes.
Yet can you never fixe y^{r} thoughts on these,
These cannot with your heavenly mind agree;
These momentary objects cannot please,
Your wingèd spirit, which more aloft doth flee.
It only longs to learne and know the truth,
The truth of every thing, which never dies;
The nectar which præserves the soule in youth;
The manna which doth minds immortalize.
These noble studdies, more ennoble you,
And bring more honor to your race and name
Than Hotspur's fier, which did the Scots subdew,
Then Brabant's scion, or great Charles his name.
Then to what spirit shall I these noates commend,
But unto that which doth them best expresse;
Who will to them more kind protection lend,
Then Hee which did protect me in distresse?