Date: 1654

"We often see stones hang with drops not from any innate moisture, but from a thick air about them; so may we sometime see marble-hearted sinners seem full of contrition, but it is not from any dew of grace within but from some black clouds that impends them, which produces these sweating effects."

— Bradstreet, Anne (1612-1672)

Date: 1667, 1710

"And there are very few that have any true Kindness for it, and thou knowest not the Worth of that Jewel, thy Soul; but here, here's a Friend, if thou wilt but leave it with him, he will take care of it, it shall not be marted away for nothing."

— Janeway, James (1636?-1674)

Date: 1697

"The Soul is placed in the Body like a rough Diamond and must be polish'd, or the lustre of it will never appear."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)