The Generall Consent of All

For how can that be false, which euery tongueOf euery mortall man affirmes for true?Which truth hath in all ages been so strong,As lodestone-like, all hearts it euer drew.

For, not the Christian, or the Iew alone,The Persian, or the Turke, acknowledge this;This mysterie to the wild Indian knowne,And to the Canniball and Tartar is.

This rich Assyrian drugge growes euery where;As common in the North, as in the East;This doctrine does not enter by the eare,But of it selfe is natiue in the breast.

None that acknowledge God, or prouidence,Their Soule's eternitie did euer doubt;For all Religion takes her root from hence,Which no poore naked nation liues without.

For sith the World for Man created was,(For onely Man the vse thereof doth know)If man doe perish like a withered grasse,How doth God's Wisedom order things below?

And if that Wisedom still wise ends propound,Why made He man, of other creatures King?When (if he perish here) there is not foundIn all the world so poor and vile a thing?

If death do quench vs quite, we haue great wrong,Sith for our seruice all things else were wrought;That dawes, and trees, and rocks, should last so long,When we must in an instant passe to nought.

But blest be that Great Power, that hath vs blestWith longer life then Heauen or Earth can haue;Which hath infus'd into our mortall breastImmortall powers, not subiect to the graue.

For though the Soule doe seeme her graue to beare,And in this world is almost buried quick;We haue no cause the bodie's death to feare,For when the shell is broke, out comes a chick.