Tenth Stanza

Lord take thy sword: these Anakims destroy:                                  55

Then soak my soul in Zion’s bucking tub:

With holy soap and nitre, and rich lye

From all defilement me cleanse, wash, and rub.

Then rinse and wring me out till th’water fall

As pure as in the well: not foul at all.                                              60

Eleventh Stanza

And let thy sun shine on my head out clear

And bathe my heart within its radiant beams:

Thy Christ make my propitiation dear.

Thy praise shall from my heart break forth in streams.

This reaching virtue of Christ’s blood will quench                         65

Thy wrath, slay sin, in thy love me bench.

Notes

These two stanzas should be taken together for they concern the resolution of the whole. Since there is hope, the poet presses his case. In this he makes three interrelated petitions.

First, there is the petition to kill his devilish enemy:

Lord take thy sword: these Anakims destroy:

Anakim is a reference to an enemy of Israel whom God destroyed to save the people. Deut. 2:21.  The Devils are here referred to as “Anakims.” References to the destruction of Anakim, used as a figure or illustration was not uncommon among the Puritans, for instance: “Jesus doth not free us from Egypt, but from wrath to come: 1 Thes. 1:10, ‘To wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.’ He doth not vanquish Anakims, but the devil; to deliver us from the hurt and fear of him: Heb. 2:14, ‘That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.’ He doth not only lead us into Canaan, but into heaven, into a better land of promise.” Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, vol. 19 (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1874), 455.

Second, is the petition to be cleansed from sin:

Then soak my soul in Zion’s bucking tub:

With holy soap and nitre, and rich lye

From all defilement me cleanse, wash, and rub.

Then rinse and wring me out till th’water fall

As pure as in the well: not foul at all.

Buck here refers to alkaline lye used to bleach linen or yarn. This was referred as “buck washing.” Nitre is potassium nitrate, used for washing. The plea here is for every sort of bleach and cleanser to be used on his heart and to make him clean from all sin.

The biblical allusion which seems closest comes David’s prayer of repentance in Psalm 51”

Psalm 51:1–12 (ESV)

            ¹           Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

                        according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

            ²           Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!

            ³           For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

            ⁴           Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

                        so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

            ⁵           Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

            ⁶           Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

            ⁷           Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

            ⁸           Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

            ⁹           Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

            ¹⁰          Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

            ¹¹          Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

            ¹²          Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

The prayer for cleansing continues into the next stanza where he prays that having been scrubbed he may be set out to dry, like washed clothes.

And let thy sun shine on my head out clear

And bathe my heart within its radiant beams:

The third petition is for forgiveness of his sin, “propitiation”:

Thy Christ make my propitiation dear.

“Thy Christ” comes from Psalm 2:2

Psalm 2:2 (ESV)

            ²           The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,

Anointed is “Christ” (κατὰ τοῦ χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ)

The poem then ends with the praise for what God has done for him:

Thy praise shall from my heart break forth in streams.

This reaching virtue of Christ’s blood will quench                         65

Thy wrath, slay sin, in thy love me bench.

The last line explains that the blood of Christ will turn away judgment (thy wrath), turn his heart from sin (slay sin), and will leave him resting in the love of God (in thy love me bench).