REFLECTIONS.

Yet should anyone dare to deny the existence of the wind,
He would be either mad or foolish, and his reason quite dead.
The soul is invisible, and is known by its works.

The wisest of men stand still before the essence of the soul;
Yet one knows it by the understanding, memory, and will,
Wherever these appear to us externally in their works.
Thus invisibility allows itself to be noticed through the visible.
This is evident to us from the radiance that shines from this being.
Human knowledge goes out to graze, unbounded,
In an ocean of every science
And art; stepping wider than the celestial animals original: "hemeldieren". This refers to the constellations of the Zodiac, suggesting that human thought can travel further than the stars themselves.,
The spirits swarm and soar. It penetrates
Nature even to the source from which it flows and springs;
It contemplates universal and singular matters,
Separated from their matter, and those which touch no ages Vondel is referring to abstract truths or eternal concepts that exist independently of time and physical substance..
It polishes and investigates the reason, cause, deed,
And property of each; it examines nature and character,
Shape and form, and method—so shrewd in its evaluation.
No experience can satisfy its desire for learning,
And the strong contemplation of every kind of good:
That it kisses, that it embraces, and flies to meet.
It knows how to weigh the unequal, to compare,
And to find the proportion, and to ground
Its conclusion upon evidence. It takes its delight and light
In virtue, godliness, and rational duty,
In fame, and praise, and honor, and the benefit of sovereignty.
It has its own inclination, and hates the slavery
And the yoke of the body, which oppresses its heavenly nature.
It shuns with zeal whatever drags the free will
Into slavish servitude, and regards neither pain nor sorrow,
Nor adversity, in order to aim with a pure heart
At the target it is meant to hit,
Even without looking back at pleasure, luxury, or profit.
Now, if anyone wishes to deny the soul and its essence,
Because it is invisible: what medicinal herb original: "kruit". While it literally means "herb," it refers here to a cure or medicine for the person's ignorance. can cure him?