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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05312	An herbal for the Bible Containing a plaine and familiar exposition of such similitudes, parables, and metaphors, both in the olde Testament and the newe, as are borrowed and taken from herbs, plants, trees, fruits and simples, by obseruation of their vertues, qualities, natures, properties, operations, and effects: and by the holie prophets, sacred writers, Christ himselfe, and his blessed Apostles vsually alledged, and into their heauenly oracles, for the better beautifieng and plainer opening of the same, profitably inserted. Drawen into English by Thomas Newton.; Herbarum atque arborum quæ in Bibliis passim obviæ sunt. English	Lemnius, Levinus, 1505-1568.; Newton, Thomas, 1542?-1607.	1587 (1587)	STC 15454; ESTC S108475	134,297	304

asketh and the Iudge iudgeth for a reward that is he yeeldeth in al respects to such things as he knoweth will please the Prince he feedeth his humour and obeieth his requests without any regarde at all either of Lawe Reason or Conscience he suffereth him to ouerrule all matters after his owne will to oppresse the poore people and wring from them what he listeth or to practise tyrannie ouer them according to his owne lawlesse lust and imperious sensualitie The best of them is as a Prickle or Brier and the most righteous of them is sharper than a Thorne hedge And therfore where such kinde of persons beare rule and be placed in office his meaning is that there the state of things is such by meanes of whispering Talecariers and secret priers into euery mans life maners trade that no man can safelie trust an other nor reueale his secrets and open his counsell no not to his familiar friende and knowne acquaintance For where such disorder reigneth that mens cases and estates be so narrowly sifted and their deeds and words so vndermininglie searched the harts of many doe quayle their courages be daunted their mindes be dismaied and they brought euen to their wits ende insomuch that they not onely forsake and mistrust their friendes but manie times bewray betray them which things Christ himselfe foretolde shoulde come to passe Therefore in this so dangerous doubtful and wauering trust and faithfulnes the Prophet further warneth vs what to do saieng Trust ye not a friend neither put ye confidence in a counsellour Keepe the doores of thy mouth from hir that lieth in thy bosome that is disclose not thy minde no not to thine owne wife For the Sonne reuileth the Father the Daughter riseth vp against hir Mother the Daughter in law against hir Mother in law and a mans enimies are the men of his owne house In this so lamentable a garboyle and disordered state of the common wealth he teacheth euery man which way to worke and whereunto hee may best and safest betake himselfe saieng Therefore will I looke vnto the Lord I will waite for God my Sauiour My God will heare me Heere he hauing his full hope and assured confidence grounded vppon God resteth vndoubtedly perswaded that God will deliuer and preserue him against al the violent proude and cruel rage of all wicked oppressours For whereas God is gentle milde and exorable they on the other side be raging fierce cruell spightfull churlish vncurteous and like thornes brembles and briers armed with sharp prickles and poynant ends whereby they hurt wounde and damnifie those that be innocent harmelesse helplesse and comfortlesse We see therefore how heere from Prickly plants the Prophet borroweth a Similitude whereby aptly to expresse and exactly to set downe the nature propertie and condition of wilfull and wicked men For the Furze Bryer Bremble Eglentine Berberie bush if we onely respect their flowers and berries are to the eie right pleasant and delightsome and in cases of Physicke and medieine haue their profitable and necessarie vses but in handling they are dangerous and like ynough to gash split and wound the hand of a man that rashly and vnaduisedly toucheth them And in like sort there be some slie persons craftie shifters subtill mates double dealing dissemblers who at the first blush do outwardly in shew pretend much friendship and speake smoothly but if they may once vpon any light occasion espie occasion and oportunitie to vtter foorth their inward spight or where to worke their diuelish and cankred malice they will be found I warrant you readie ynough both to prick sting and wound to the vttermost Now this Paliurus being as hath afore been said a kinde of sharpe prickly Furze or Brier is described by Theophrastus Virgil Plinie Dioscorides Columella and others with general consent to be sharpe thornie and dangerous to the handler howbeit they do not all agree about the description of his forme and fashion Not much vnlike is it to that which we commonly call Berberies termed in Greeke Oxyacantha where with some for the gallant beautie and seemely shewe vse to decke and adorne their doores and to keepe the slips and boughes thereof in Pots for the longer keeping thereof in their flourishing hue and greenenes When the flowring and blowing time is past it bringeth foorth berries being at the first greene and in fashion somewhat long which when they be ripe become red of colour and haue within a harde stone enuironed and encompassed with a small slender and thin skin or rind The inyce thereof being fattie and vnctuous is vsed in Physicke as a right soueraigne remedie against the Stone and Grauell The thirteenth Chapter Of Gith called in Greeke Melanthion and with vs commonly Nigella and of certaine other sorts of Plants and Graine beside I Saiah the Prophet was as afore hath beene shewed most excellently seeme in the Secrets of Nature and most skilfull in the qualities and operations of Plants Which may easily be prooued by the manifolde Similitudes which he taketh for the garnishing of his Themes and Argumentes from Herbes Plants Flowers and Seedes inserting the same into his diuine Sermons As namely Gith or Nigella Cumine Wheat Barley Millet and Fitches all which be things well knowne affoording both fodder for Cattell and nourishment for men This Gith called commonly Nigella is growing in the Gardens of many Herbaristes a cubite high or sometimes more accordingly as the ground is in ranknes whose leaues be much like to Fenell or Fumiterrie all too cut and iagged the flowers of a light blew which being once past there commeth vp on the top small knops or heades as in Popie with little sharpe hornes vppon them longwise wherein be certaine small cels chambers or huskes containing the seede which is somewhat blacke much like vnto Onion or Leeke seede in taste sharpe and of a strong pleasant and fragrant sauor which in some places they vse to mixe with their Paste or Dough before it be put into the Ouen to make it haue the better relish and delicater taste But specially Physicions vse the Seede heereof as right commodious to helpe Catarrhes Murres and Poses to kill and driue away wormes being either droonken with wine or water or else laid to the nauell of the bellie to take away the toothach to bring downe womens naturall diseases to prouoke vrine to take away lentils freckles spots and other blemishes deforming the skin and outward parts of the bodie Cumine is good to scatter and breake the windinesse of the Stomacke Bellie and Matrix and to alay and helpe the griping torments and the gnawings and frettings of the Entrailes It is also excellent good to slake and dissolue the blasting and swelling of the Cods and Genitories being laid thervnto For which purpose my order and custome is to mingle vnto it some Nigella Bay-berries and Millet meale Barlie is a graine generally well knowen and the vses

of great height doe many times oppresse and hinder the growth and encrease of low shrubs growing vnder them euen as we see the great rich and mightie men of the world do keepe vnder awe and subiection the poore and needie Againe as Tempests when they arise and lightening when it pleaseth God to send either the one or the other quicklie and with a tryce hurleth downe and ouerturneth mountains and the highest trees according to that saieng of the Psalmist The voice of the Lord breaketh the Cedar trees c euen so doth he bring downe with a breakenecke fall the proude hauty arrogant and insolent which set themselues against God and seeke the spoyle of those that be quiet and godly To the same effect also is that saieng of the Prophet Isaiah The day of the Lord of hostes is vpon all the proude and hautie and vpon all that is exalted and he shall be brought low And vpon all high and stout Cedar trees of Libanus that are high and exalted and vpon all the Okes of Basan Whereby he declareth that God is able easily to bring downe and ouerthrowe all Fortresses Bulwarkes and Castles be they neuer so strong and all the wealth riches and power of the stately and loftie minded and that nothing is any way able to withstande his force and might when it pleaseth him to strike To the same purpose and effect doth Zacharie likewise aduise the people not rashly and vainly to put their trust in any walled townes or helpe of man bicause no strength seeme it neuer so impregnable and inuincible can protect or deliuer out of the hand of the Lord. These wofull words therefore vseth he vnto Israel denouncing vnto them as an Herault at Armes sent from God to sommon them grieuous destruction and lamentable desolation Open saith he thy doores O Lebanon and the fire shall deuoure thy Cedars Howle ye Fir trees by the which he meaneth the inferiour Magistrates bicause the Cedar is fallen that is bicause thy chiefe Rulers and soueraigne Gouernors be destroied Howle O ye Okes of Basan that is yee stiffe-necked froward and intractable persons bicause the mightie defenced forest is cut downe The like dismall day doth he there likewise threaten to the Shepheards which being puffed vp with pride in themselues little cared for the welfare of the poore flock but raigned as Lords ouer them practising rigor tyrannie crueltie and austeritie as Lions vpon them Which miserable abuse Ezechiel in his time doth also greatly bewaile The 23. Chapter Of Heath Tamariske Ling and Broome HEath or Tamariske is a little small Tree or Plant of lowe growth as Virgil well noted bearing a rugged or rough leafe not much vnlike to Sauine and a flower of a browne purple color withall somwhat mossie or woollie Bees delight very much therein The grounde where it commonly groweth is drie hungrie barren waste and vnfruitfull From these doe the Prophets in manie places alledge sundrie Similitudes whensoeuer they denounce and notifie vnto men what heauie haps afflictions and calamities shall befall them As namely Ieremiah Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arme and withdraweth his hart from the Lord. In which words he pronounceth that man accursed whosoeuer he be that reposeth his confidence and trust in any bodily earthly and fraile thing whatsoeuer it be or that in his distresse and danger seeketh helpe and succour at the hands of any sauing of God alone For he that so doth shall be like the Heath which receiueth no benefite by the temperate and milde disposition of the aire but cumberously occupieth the soile and for a small time continueth growing no where else but in barren hungrie drie salt parched rugged and vnfertile grounds But blessed and happie is the man that putteth his trust in the Lord for he shall be like a tree that is planted by the water side which being continually watered spreadeth out hir rootes and boughes and shal not feele when the heate commeth but hir leafe shall be still greene and shall not care for the yeere of drought neither shall cease from yeelding fruit Againe where God threateneth ruine destruction spoile and desolation to hang ouer the heads of the Moabites who lineally descending from the Iewes namely from Lot the brother of Abraham were still notwithstanding their professed enimies hee biddeth them to Flee and saue their liues and to be like the Heath in the wildernes Whereby he aduiseth them with speede to withdrawe themselues out of their Holds and by hastie flight to prouide for the safetie of their liues bicause their Cities shoulde shortly bee destroied ransacked and desolated and their people and citizens spoiled and depriued of all honor dignitie and estimation so that they should no more be accounted of or regarded than the base Ling and baggage Heath in the wildernes The 24. Chapter Of Rosen in generall ROsen is all that Oylie fatnesse and gummie substance which with the heate of the Sun runneth out of the Pyne tree Pitch tree Firre Larch Lentiske and Terebinth With vs also heere in these Countries there issueth and sweateth out of the Cherie tree and Damson tree a rosen or gum of the colour of honie which is verie good against the grauel and stone The white Popler also yeeldeth a certaine gummy iuice or liquor like Ambre out at the clifts of the rinde But of all others the Terebinth rosen which wee call Turpentine is the chiefest next wherevnto is the rosen of the Lentiske which we tearme Masticke After it in goodnes is the Pine the Firre and the Pitch Rosen next The worst and last be those that run out of the wild Pine and out of the roote of Scammonie which are tearmed Stroblina and Colophonia And there be of Rosen as there is likewise of pitch two differences or sorts the one liquide and currant the other drie and cleere The vertue effect both of the one of the other is to asswage paine to lenifie greefes to binde and close vp woundes specially the Turpentine that runneth out of the Terebinth whose operations and effects the prophet Ieremiah metaphorically applieth to the inwarde woundes of the minde which with the soueraigne emplaister and liniment of the word of God be recured and healed Thus therefore doth he expostulate with the Israelites Is there no Rosen or Balme in Gilead Is there no Physition there Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recouered As though he shoulde saie There is a soueraigne salue to be had and a present remedie is readily prepared able to heale the wounded minde and brused conscience but the daughter of my people carelesse of hir recouerie and forgetfull of hir saluation and health refuseth to apply the same remedies vnto hir filthy stinking mattery wounds she passeth not a whit for the wholsome Cataplasmes and suppling salues of the worde of God she discouereth not hir botches boiles

and Spouse so that betweene them twaine there is no apt proper and resembling Similitude to bee conueniently gathered either out of the Heauens Stars Planets Mountaines Hils Woods Groues Fields Herbes Flowers Trees Wine or Vine out of which any sweet pleasant delectable or wholesome smell sauour or sent proceedeth but that the same be most pithily and according to the honorable dignitie of either partie most fitly applied and vpon occasion most orderly and learnedly alledged Thus is the Bridegroome there aptly compared to sweete Spikenard to a bundle of Mirrhe to a bunch or cluster of pleasant Grapes The same Bridegroome also compareth his beloued for hir excellent whitenes and sweete smell to a Lillie insomuch that if hir handmaids or those of hir traine should be compared vnto hir they should seeme to be but thornes and mungrels without honor beautie estimation or dignitie These and such like Metaphors are most plentifully to be read and seene not in this Song or Canticle onely but in all the rest of the sacred Scripture also so that there is offered vnto each diligent Reader and industrious Student matter ynough wherwith to delight himselfe and to recreate his minde at least way if he attentiuely bende himselfe in feruent desire entire care and aduised cogitation to consider heerein the excellencie of Nature and the incomprehensible maiestie of the Maker and Creator There are founde I say in this Song or Canticle very elegant similitudes taken from such things as are knowen to be cordial and soueraigne remedies against the debilitie of the vital spirits Sounding extasies or Traunces as namely sweete smelling and redolent wine delightfull and comfortable Nosegaies of fragrant Herbs and pleasant Flowers So likewise the Bride being now readie to faint and languish and as it were at the point to quaile and shrinke downe through immoderate loue toward hir husbande and Spouse commandeth hir handmaids to bring some comfortable Restoratiues to apply sweet sented odours to hir nose Staie me saith she with flowers and comfort me with apples least I faint for I am loue sicke So also doe we vse when anie fall into a sounding or traunce to giue vnto them Cinamome Cloues Vineger Citrons Lymons Myrtle Narde and other soote Simples to smell vnto which by the Scriptures and ordinarie experience are knowen to be for that purpose good cordiall and soueraigne The third Chapter Of Manna and first of that which rained downe from Heauen and next of that which is vsuall in Physicke WHereas the children of Israel in the wildernes were fed with Manna it may not be thought to proceede from anie naturall cause but euen from the diuine power and miraculous handie worke of almightie GOD who yet notwithstanding vsed the ministerie of nature in the doing thereof as he likewise did in the Quailes which he sent among them into the Campe and as he also did when as the Rock being smitten yeelded foorth water abundantly for the refreshing of the drie and thirstie people or as when by the casting in of a peece of wood the bitter waters became sweete or as finally when by a most strong East winde the red Sea was dried vp and gaue free passage vnto the Hebrewes all the Aegyptians pursuing them being vtterly swallowed vp and drowned The like reason is to bee giuen of the Meale and of the Oile which was still increased without wasting at the praier of Elijah and of Elisha of the Rauen that brought bread and flesh to Elijah of the Angell that broght vnto him a cake baked on the coles and a pot of water in the strength whereof he iournied fortie daies and fortie nights without any other foode vntill he came to Horeb the Mount of God where he found a caue in the which he safely hid himselfe from the tyrannie of wicked Iezebel who cruelly persecuted and hunted all the Prophets of the Lord to death These and such like admirable woonderfull and miraculous workes could the Lord euen with a worde or a becke without the helpe of any thing haue brought to passe but yet his diuine will and pleasure was to vse naturall thinges whereof he is both the worker and gouernour as the meanes or instrument whereby to atchieue and worke the same strange effects to the reliefe of his children and comfort to their distressed mindes The like haue we to obserue and note also in Hezekiah being sick and by the doome of God himselfe appointed to die whose boyle was cured by a lumpe of drie figs which in operation are maturatiue laide plaisterwise to the same Out of the which wee are to learne this most profitable lesson that albeit God bee able to heale without any medicines yet his pleasure is that in the time of sicknes we shoulde not contemne Physicke as the meanes whereby our recouerie is wrought but to vse the same in the feare of God for the restoring of our health and prolongation of our life The like meanes did Christ himselfe also vse in restoring sight vnto a poore blinde man when as hee spat on the grounde and made claie of the spettle with the which he annointed his eies with further commandement to him to go and wash himselfe in the poole of Siloam In like sort also cured he a dumbe man restored vnto him his speech by putting his fingers into his eares and touching his toong with spettle These kindes of miracles did the Lorde worke some while with onelie touching and some while with onely a word requiring nothing else at their hands that were cured but onelie firme and stedfast faith and vndoubted confidence to obtaine their requestes as namelie in poore blinde Bartimaeus faithfully crieng vnto Christ notwithstanding the churlish rebukes and checkes that he sustained for so doing at the hands of some of the companie appeereth But albeit Almightie God for his great mercie sake and for the inestimable loue wherewith he most bountifully loued mankind did many and sundry waies signifie his infinite goodnes toward them yet most singularly and notably did he testifie and make apparant his woonderfull power and heauenly might in working most strange most supernaturall and inimitable miracles Among the which being innumerable the raining and sending downe of Manna so copiouslie and aboundantly from heauen to suffice such an huge and populous multitude is namely and speciallie to be remembred For when as the people being a confused multitude to the number of sixe hundreth thousand persons repiningly murmured against God and Moses his seruant for bringing them out of Aegypt into that waste Wildernes to be as they seditiouslie muttered there sterued and famished God in the euening of the same daie sent into their Campe an incredible multitude of Quailes and in the morning the Dewe lay rounde about the Hoste vpon the grounde and when the Dew that was fallen was ascended the●● appeered vpon the face of the Wildernes a small round thing thinne as the hoare frost vpon the

if they should be corpulent or fat they should be accounted great Roils or championlike Fustiluggesses Chaerea therefore bearing great affection to his Darling whose face was beautiful whose complexion and colour was true and naturall not painted nor with slib bersauces procured whose bodie was sound wholesome and full of good blood and being also in the very prime of flourishing age commenteth hir aboue others which being nothing so handsome and faire do deuise to amend nature by Art and Diet. And as heere with vs there groweth abundance of Rushes Reedes Typh Cats taile Water torch so in the bogs of Aegypt neere the riuer Nilus there groweth a kinde of big Rush called Papyrus whereof in the old time they made Paper as they doe now in Europe of linnen cloutes chopped small and stieped in water which for that it serueth to the same vse purpose and commoditie that the Paper in the olde time did retaineth still the same name This Paper rush is eight or ten cubits high as the Reede is in Spaine iointed and triangled and as thicke and big as a man can well gripe in his fist When they be drie they are good to make sine smooth walking staues of a darke browne colour like the vtter rinde of a Chestnut which aged Gentlemen delight much to haue for staie of their weake and feeble bodies The pith of this Rush yeeldeth foorth a kinde of sweetish and toothsome licour like as doth the white roote of our Reede Of this big Paper Rush they vsed in the old time to make boates punts lighters and other engins of carriage being pitched ●●st togither as not onely Plinie but the holie Prophet of God Isaiah also testifieth who threateneth the land which is beyond the riuers of Aethiopia that is the borderers vpon Nilus bicause they sent Ambassadours by the Sea in vessels of Reedes or Rushes to make league and ioine togither in confederacie with other nations for the ouerthrow and conquest of the Israelites But to go on with our purposed Argument In the Bible there be taken from these aboue named shutes and Rushes sundry proper Similitudes and fit Metaphores As when the holie man Iob discoursed with the Nobles and Gentlemen that came for curtesie to visite him and to bewaile with him his sore and greeuous calamity where there were among them many notable points to and fro canuassed argued and disputed of the frailtie and miserie of mans life of the prouidence and great goodnes of God towards man of afflictions troubles griefes and vexations which are common aswell to the good as to the bad of prosperitie and worldly welfare which the bad and wicked as well as the good and godly do enioy one of the companie named Bildad the Shuhite brought certaine strong and waightie argumentes grounded vppon naturall reasons whereby he went about to prooue that wicked godlesse infamous persons slanderers and Hypocrites which dissemble with God and thinke to please him with their counterfait mawmetrie cannot long continue and that although for a time they seem to florish yet by Gods iust iudgement they quicklie wither away and are brought to nothing euen as Rushes Sedge grasse or greene herbes being not moistened with water For the wicked when they are assailed with dangers afflictions and calamities a little afore their death are greeuously troubled in their inward consciences for that they are not vpholden with an assured trust and comfort in the mercies of God whereby they are lamentably tumbled headlong into plain distrust and desperation Not vnlike vnto this is the Prophecie of Isaiah against the Aegyptians whom he pronounceth shoulde be greeuously distressed and brought to extreeme penurie and that all such trades wherein their chiefe commodities consisted shoulde faile and be taken from them as namely their traffike fishing other handy crafts which brought vnto them large gaine and profit The waters saith he of the Sea shall faile and the riuers shall be dried vp and wasted and the riuers shall go far away and the riuers of defence shall be emptied and dried vp the reedes and the rushes shall wither and all the greene grasse about the riuer banke shall perish In which words he foretelleth of a maruelous great barrennes scarcitie dearth and sterilitie that should light among them that they shoulde haue among them no store of fishermen no traffique nor entercourse of merchandise nor any resort of chapmen and buiers God likeneth the prosperous successe of the godlie with their vertuous proceeding and going forward in the race of grace and goodnes sometimes vnto fresh springing waters and pleasant running riuers sometimes to greene herbes and flourishing flowers and sometimes to gallant medowes and delightfull Arbors And the Prophet Isaiah promiseth fruitefulnes and fertilitie to the barren vnfruitful and drie fields saieng that they shoulde be watred with most holesome liuely springing waters be adorned with store of most faire flowers and beautifull Herbes Wherby he meaneth that the drie and hungrie soules of the people shoulde be moystened with the fruitfull worde of God and plentifullie bedewed with his holesome doctrine and heauenly spirit His words be these The desert and the wildernes shall reioice and the waste grounde shall be glad and flourish as the Lillie The drie ground shall be as a poole and the thirstie as springs of water in the habitation of dragons where they lay shall be a place for reedes and rushes As if he should haue saide in steede of vglie vices and monstruous enormities there shall appeere vertue and godlines and there shall be sowed and planted in mens harts the seedes of Loue and charitie both towardes God and man there shall be setled in their mindes and consciences an vndoubted hope and assured trust of their saluation So that they which afore were as barren yeelding foorth no fruite shall nowe being watered and moistened with the liuely fountaine of Gods worde and inuinciblie strengthened with the strong staffe of firme faith begin to fructifie like a well manured field that yeeldeth foorth aboundant store of ranke corne and gallant Herbes The 17. Chapter Of Woormewood THere be three sorts of Wormwood The first is called Wormwoode Romane or Ponticum which is planted in Gardens and hath somewhat a pleasaunt smell The seconde is Sea Wormewoode growing in Salt water creeks and Sea shores The third is our common Woormewood being exceeding bitter in taste and is a most soueraigne and present remedie against woorms But being remooued into Gardens it maruellously altereth both in nature taste sauor smel yea in the colour of his leaues also For of grayish ashe colour it becommeth greene yeelding smell neither loathsome nor altogither vnpleasant From this most bitter herbe the sacred writers doe in many places fetch sundrie Similitudes which they most fitlie applie against the wicked So when as God by his Prophet Ieremiah threateneth and denounceth dolefull heauy and bitter calamities to the stubborne disobedient and wicked