3.24.2012 THIS MORNING..PSALM 66.10

..'Thou hast tried us, O God; Thou hast refined us as silver is refined'.

'Thou, O God, has proved us..' it is not known what corn will yield, till it come to the flail; nor what grapes, till they come to the press. grace is hid in nature, as sweet water in rose-leaves; the fire of affliction fetcheth it out. - 'thou hast tried us as silver'..the wicked also are tried ('because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth' revelation 3.10), but they prove reprobate silver ('all of them are stubbornly rebellious, going about as a talebearer. they are bronze and iron; they, all of them, are corrupt. the bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain the refining goes on, but the wicked are not separated. they call them refected silver, because the Lord has rejected them'. jeremiah 6.28-30), or at best, as ALCHYMY gold, that will not bear the seventh fire, as Job did ('but He knows the way i take; when He has tried me, i shall come forth as gold'.
- THE MORE SUBLIME AND DIFFICULT PARTS OF CHIMISTRY and chiefly such as
a. relate to the transmutation of metals into gold
b.the finding of a universal remedy for diseases and
c. an alkahest or universal solvent
and other things now (this from websters dictionary, 1828) treated as ridiculous. this pretended science was much cultivated in the 16th and 17th centuries but is now held in contempt.
- CHIMISTRY - (the part of the definition that is needed to understand in this context is) 'THE ART OF MAKING GOLD AND SILVER'
john trapp

'..as silver is tried..' convinced from the frequent use of this illustration, that there was something more than usually instructive in the processes of assaying and purifying silver, i have collected some few facts upon the subject. the hackneyed story of the refiner seeing his image in the molten silver while in the fire, has so charmed most of us, that we have not looked further; yet, with more careful study, much could be brought out.

1.to ASSAY silver requires great personal care in the operator.
-THE TRIAL OF THE GOODNESS, PURITY, WEIGHT, VALUE OF METALS, etc

'the principle of assaying gold and silver is very simple theoretically, but in practice great experience is necessary to insure accuracy; and there is no branch of business which demands more personal and undivided attention. the result is liable to the influence of so many contingencies, that no assayer who regards his reputation will delegate the principal processes to one not equally skilled with himself. besides the result ascertainable by weight, there are allowances and compensations to be made, which are known only to an experienced assayer, and if these were disregarded, as might be the case with the mere novice, the report would be wide from the truth.' (encyclopaedia britanica)

pagnini's version reads: 'thou hast melted us by blowing upon us', and in the monuments of egypt, artificers are seen with the blowpipe operating with small fireplaces, with CHEEKS
-IN MECHANICS 'SIDES'..here, sides of the fireplace
to confine and reflect the heat; the worker evidently paying personal attention, which is evident also in malachi 3.3, 'He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver'.

2. to assay silver requires a skillfully constructed furnace.
the description of this furnace would only weary the reader, but it is evidently a work of art in itself. even the trial of our faith is much more precious than that of gold which perisheth. he has refined us...the furnace of affliction is far more skilfully arranged than that.

3. to assay silver the heat must be nicely regulated.
during the operation, the assayer's attention should be directed to the heat of the furnace, which must be neither too hot nor too cold: if too hot, minute portions of silver will be carried off with the lead, and so VITIATE the assay;
- TO INJURE THE SUBSTANCE OR QUALITIES OF A THING
moreover, the pores of the CUPEL being more open, greater absorption will ensue, and there

- latin, cupella - little cup; A SMALL CUP/VESSEL USED IN REFINING METALS. it retains them in a metallic state but when changed by fire into a fluid scoria, it absorbs them. thus when a mixture of lead with gold or silver is heated in a strong fire, the lead is oxidized & VITRIFIED - CHANGED INTO GLASS
and sinks into the substance of the cupel, while the gold and silver remains pure.

is liability to loss from that cause. one indication of an excess of heat in the furnace, is the rapid and perpendicular rising of the fumes to the ceiling of the MUFFLE
,
-A SMALL OVEN, placed in a furnace, which protects its contents (ie. metals being purified in cupels/crucibles) from coming in contact with fuel, smoke and ashes)

the mode of checking and controlling which has been pointed out in the description of the improved furnace. when the fumes are observed to fall to the bottom of the muffle, the furnace is then too cold; and, if left unaltered, it will be found that the cupellation has been imperfectly performed, and the silver will not have entirely freed itself from the base metals'.

4. the assayer repeats his trying processes. usually two or more trials of the same piece are made, so that great accuracy may be secured. seven times silver is said to be purifid