THE CONCLVSIQN. 



wafting the exiftences of all corporall things from nothing to no- 

 thing, in a perpetuall ftreame : and thou fecure,and out of the reach 

 of its venimous and all deftroying truth. Let me call to minde, all 

 the violent pleafures of my heady youth : let mee fumme up their 

 extent according to thofe deceitfull meafures I then rated happi- 

 nefieby: let me in my fancy chew over againe the exctflive good, 

 I then fondly imagined in them : and to all this, let mee adde as 

 much more joy and felicity, as in my weake thoughts, I am able to 

 facidome or but aime at : and then let me fay ( and with rigorous 

 t; ur.h I (lull fay it) all this excefTe of blifle, will be refumed, will be 

 enjoyed to the full* in one indivisible moment : let mee thinke with 

 my felfe, if then, when pleafure was the Idolll facrificed all my 

 though tsunto., I might in one quarter of an houre have enjoyed a 

 pleafure, or at the lealt, have hoped for one, that (hould haveequa- 

 lifed ,at once all thofe, that in my life I ever tafted : whit would not 

 I have beene content to give in purchafe of that fingfe quarter of an 

 houre ? and in (lead of this pleafant dreame s ,1 now fee that one re- 

 all moment., will truly and folidely give to thee and me , the quin- 

 tefTence, the Elixir of content and happinefle; notdrawneout of 

 fuch 40 yeares , as I have ftruggled through the world in various 

 fortune?-,'but out of agesand ages of pleafure,greater farre then can 

 be conceived by a heart of flefh , and multiplyed beyond the A- 

 rithmeticke of intelligences. And this happie moment , ftall noc 

 be of their foddaine fleeting and expiring nature, that are affigned 

 to time ; but mail endure beyond the extent of that time,which fur- 

 padeth al multiplication. I fee plainly thar I mult multiply eternity, 

 by eternity , to frame a fcantling of that blifie,which a wel pafied life 

 in this world,fhall bring me to in the next. And yet it will be as farre 

 ftioit, and as much beneath the felfe-bleflednefTe of him that giveth 

 one this, as nothing i? mort of all that is. For my blifle (hall have 

 a beginning j and though it never (hall have end , yet that belon- 

 geth not to it for its owne fake , but proceedeth meerely from the 

 bounteous hand of the nothing annihilating felfe eflence : from 

 whom there is no more feare of the faylingof his|liberall fuperf- 

 fluence ofBeiiig upon me, then there is of his own deficiency from 

 bei ng felfe 'Being. But how can thefe things ftand' together f That 

 indi vifibly I (hall poflefle a tenure beyond all poifible time ? and 

 ^evenhelefle^T^/^, notwithftanding my pofleflion, J may bee be- 

 Tsfc of what I enjoy ? who can reade this riddle ? who can dive 



into 



