Melting crucible

Meaning

The melting crucible first belongs to the main treatise’s account of a later preparation of tincture for metallic use. Its function is containment during melting, not the initial glass-vessel of the whole work. Part Four then invokes an earthly crucible in a scriptural comparison: God’s Word is pure like gold and silver tried in it. The apparatus-word thereby becomes an image of tested purity. The English distinguishes “melting crucible” from the unqualified “crucible” in the comparison. The latter passage does not teach that Scripture is physically refined, and its sevenfold trial should not be imported as an operating schedule for the material passage.