Date: 1685

A "heaven-born mind" may have "no dross to purge from [its] rich ore"

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1686

"Charm her with tender and obliging words, and make her heart like Gold within a Furnace; Melt down before the Language of my Love."

— D'Urfey, Thomas (1653?-1723)

Date: 1686, 1689, 1697

"Now these Imperfections are not intrinsick, but accidental to the Soul, nor do they argue its corruptibility or mortality, any more than the spots and clouds we see in some Diamonds, do prove them to be less durable then others which are more limpid and transparent."

— Nourse, Timothy (c.1636–1699)

Date: 1686, 1689, 1697

"THE Pearl has this Prerogative above all other Jewels, that whereas they require form and lustre from Art, the Pearl only is perfected by Nature. Its colour, roundness, smoothness and bigness (in which consists its whole beauty) are all fram'd in its Mothers womb; but Man is a Jewel of another N...

— Nourse, Timothy (c.1636–1699)

Date: 1686, 1689, 1697

"'Tis so many times in the capacities of Youth: they who can receive any impression like the Virgin-wax, will as easily suffer a defacement unless it be hardned and matur'd by Time: whereas others who are hard to be wrought upon like Steel, retain the Images which are Engraven on them with much m...

— Nourse, Timothy (c.1636–1699)

Date: 1687

"Each Note tun'd up the Soul, calcin'd the Mind, / Commenc'd them something more than humane kind; / Their very Bodies into-Souls refin'd."

— Heyrick, Thomas (bap. 1649. d. 1694)

Date: 1687

"Thou hast a Heart of Iron."

— Sedley, Sir Charles (1639-1701)

Date: 1687

"Souls that can scarce ferment their mass of clay; / So drossy, so divisible are they, / As would but serve pure bodies for allay."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1687

The true christian's " Soul [is] by Grace refin'd from drossie Earth, / From sordid Lusts and love of Sin / Made mindful of its own high Birth; / It will not be confin'd within / These narrow bounds of Matter and of Time"

— Rawlet, John (bap. 1642, d. 1686)

Date: 1688

"None of this ages iron-hearted wretches, / That rather part with God, then Gold, or riches."

— Paterson, Ninian (fl.1678-1696)