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"O be thou pleas'd to purge away my dross: / Calcine my soul; obliterate my sins; / And make me pure against that day begins."

— Billingsley, Nicholas (bap. 1633, d. 1709)

Author

Billingsley, Nicholas (bap. 1633, d. 1709)

Work Title

Brachy-Martyrologia: Or, A Brewery of all the greatest Persecutions Which have befallen the Saints and People of God From the Creation to our present Times: Paraphras'd, By Nicholas Billingsly

Place of Publication

London

Publisher

Printed by J. Cottrel [etc.]

Date

1657

Metaphor

"O be thou pleas'd to purge away my dross: / Calcine my soul; obliterate my sins; / And make me pure against that day begins."

Metaphor in Context

Next, Toby Steffick's brought, a man whose heart
Walk'd upright with his God; though like a cart
Press'd with afflictions sheaves, to heaven he heav'd
His wasted eyes, and said, I have receiv'd
From the beginning of my life till now,
Good things of God, and shall not I then bow
My will to his, but his chastisements shun?
I will not; no, God's holy will be done.
Can I, poor dust and ashes, have the face
To plead with God? I chearfully embrace
Thy pleasure, Lord; I come to bear the cross;
O be thou pleas'd to purge away my dross:
Calcine my soul; obliterate my sins;
And make me pure against that day begins.
He pray'd; and having drunke the lethal cup,
His spirit into heaven ascended up.