(seq. 56)

50

Remain, & give thy soul the brutal life,

That must to dissolution dwindle down,

And insusceptive & unthinking sleep,

Till chance perhaps shall bid its life begin,

And heave the breath that gives the brute a being,

Thy better thot would better hopes approve,

And startle at annihilations sound,

That reads a lesson horrid & abhord,

To which thy better part would ne'er concede,

Till harder fate shall damn thy unbelief in hell,

Where an eternity would be too short,

To mourn thy unbelief & make thee wise;

Where chance will never quench the vital spark

That lights up reason in the breast of man

And makes him shine immortal & divine,

Detested thot to drop to instant death!

And in that death forever to remain ~

Aspatius, were your grovling notions true