"When God had framed man with wondrous art, / He after made his soul the nobler part; / He did his dross with sacred fire refine / And breath'd in him a soul, a soul divine."
— Billingsley, Nicholas (bap. 1633, d. 1709)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Robert Crofts
Date
1658
Metaphor
"When God had framed man with wondrous art, / He after made his soul the nobler part; / He did his dross with sacred fire refine / And breath'd in him a soul, a soul divine."
Metaphor in Context
When God had framed man with wondrous art,
He after made his soul the nobler part;
He did his dross with sacred fire refine
And breath'd in him a soul, a soul divine.
A soul immortal; death with all its power,
Nor Satans fiery darts can't it devour.
God to the soul eternal essence gave,
It had beginning, but no end shall have.
Wit, Understanding, Memory, and Will,
The pallace of the soul inhabit still:
How circular, how speedy is hir motion?
She roundeth in a trice the Heav'n, Earth, Ocean:
She scales heav'ns tower with her Eagles wings;
Finds out th'obstruce Originals of things;
As raine, hail, snow, ice, winds, nor doth she wonder
At flash of lightning, nor at claps of thunder.
He after made his soul the nobler part;
He did his dross with sacred fire refine
And breath'd in him a soul, a soul divine.
A soul immortal; death with all its power,
Nor Satans fiery darts can't it devour.
God to the soul eternal essence gave,
It had beginning, but no end shall have.
Wit, Understanding, Memory, and Will,
The pallace of the soul inhabit still:
How circular, how speedy is hir motion?
She roundeth in a trice the Heav'n, Earth, Ocean:
She scales heav'ns tower with her Eagles wings;
Finds out th'obstruce Originals of things;
As raine, hail, snow, ice, winds, nor doth she wonder
At flash of lightning, nor at claps of thunder.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "dross" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Kosmobrephia, or the Infancy of the World: With an Appendix of Gods Resting Day, Eden Garden; Mans Happiness Before, Misery After, His Fall. Whereunto Is Added, the Praise of Nothing; Divine Ejaculations; the Four Ages of the World; the Birth of Christ; Also a Century of Historical Applications; With a Taste of Poetical Fictions. Written Some Years Since by N.B. then of Eaton School; and Now Published at the Request of His Friends. (London: Printed for Robert Crofts, and are to be sold at his shop at the Crown in Chancery Lane, under Sergeants Inn, 1658).
Date of Entry
07/19/2005
