decision; That the biggest of Vegetables exceedeth the biggest of
Animals, in full bulk, and all dimensions, admits exception in the
Whale, which in length and above ground measure, will also contend with
tall Oakes. That the richest odour of plants surpasseth that of Animals,
may seem of some doubt, since animall-musk, seems to excell the
vegetable, and we finde so noble a scent in the Tulip-Fly, and
Goat-Beetle.[155]
[155] _The long and tender green_ Capricornus _rarely found, we could
never meet with but two._
Now whether seminall nebbes hold any sure proportion unto seminall
enclosures, why the form of the germe doth not answer the figure of the
enclosing pulp, why the nebbe is seated upon the solid, and not the
channeld side of the seed as in grains, why since we often meet with two
yolks in one shell, and sometimes one Egge within another, we do not
oftener meet with two nebbes in one distinct seed: why since the Egges
of a Hen laid at one course, do commonly outweigh the bird, and some
moths coming out of their cases, without assistance of food, will lay so
many Egges as to outweigh their bodies, trees rarely bear their fruit,
in that gravity or proportion: Whether in the germination of seeds
according to _Hippocrates_, the lighter part ascendeth, and maketh the
sprout, the heaviest tending downward frameth the root; Since we observe
that the first shoot of seeds in water, will sink or bow down at the
upper and leafing end: Whether it be not more rational Epicurisme to
contrive whole dishes out of the nebbes and spirited particles of
plants, then from the Gallatures and treddles of Egges; since that part
is found to hold no seminall share in Oval Generation, are quæries which
might enlarge but must conclude this digression.
And though not in this order, yet how nature delighteth in this number,
and what consent and coordination there is in the leaves and parts of
flowers, it cannot escape our observation in no small number of plants.
For the calicular or supporting and closing leaves, do answer the number
of the flowers, especially in such as exceed not the number of Swallows
Egges; as in Violets, Stichwort, Blossomes, and flowers of one leaf
have often five divisions, answered by a like number of calicular
leaves; as _Gentianella, Convolvulus_, Bell-flowers. In many the
flowers, blades, or staminous shoots and leaves are all equally five, as
in cockle, mullein and _Blattaria_; Wherein the flowers before
explication are pentagonally wrapped up, with some resemblance of the
_blatta_ or moth from whence it hath its name; But the contrivance of
nature is singular in the opening and shutting of Bindeweeds, performed
by five inflexures, distinguishable by pyramidicall figures, and also
different colours.
The rose at first is thought to have been of five leaves, as it yet
groweth wilde among us; but in the most luxuriant, the calicular leaves
do still maintain that number. But nothing is more admired then the five
Brethren of the Rose, and the strange disposure of the Appendices or
Beards, in the calicular leaves thereof, which in despair of resolution
is tolerably salved from this contrivance, best ordered and suited for
the free closure of them before explication. For those two which are
smooth, and of no beard are contrived to lye undermost, as without
prominent parts, and fit to be smoothly covered, the other two which are
beset with Beards on either side, stand outward and uncovered, but the
fifth or half-bearded leaf is covered on the bare side but on the open
side stands free, and bearded like the other.
Besides a large number of leaves have five divisions, and may be
circumscribed by a _Pentagon_ or figure of five Angles, made by right
lines from the extremity of their leaves, as in Maple, Vine, Figge-Tree:
But five-leaved flowers are commonly disposed circularly about the
_Stylus_; according to the higher Geometry of Nature, dividing a circle
by five _Radii_, which concurre not to make Diameters, as in
Quadrilaterall and sexangular Intersections.
Now the number of five is remarkable in every Circle, not only as the
first sphærical Number, but the measure of sphærical motion. For
sphærical bodies move by fives, and every globular Figure placed upon a
plane, in direct volutation, returns to the first point of contaction in
the fift touch, accounting by the Axes of the Diameters or Cardinall
points of the four quarters thereof. And before it arriveth unto the
same point again, it maketh five circles equall unto it self, in each
progresse from those quarters, absolving an equall circle.
By the same number doth nature divide the circle of the Sea-starre, and
in that order and number disposeth those elegant Semi-circles, or
dentall sockets and egges in the Sea Hedge-hogge. And no mean
Observations hereof there is in the Mathematicks of the neatest Retiary
Spider, which concluding in fourty four Circles, from five Semidiameters
beginneth that elegant texture.
And after this manner doth lay the foundation of the Circular branches
of the Oak, which being five-cornered, in the tender annual sprouts, and
manifesting upon incision the signature of a Starre, is after made
circular, and swel'd into a round body: Which practice of nature is
become a point of art, and makes two Problemes in _Euclide_.[156] But
the Bryar which sends forth shoots and prickles from its angles,
maintains its pentagonall figure, and the unobserved signature of a
handsome porch within it. To omit the five small buttons dividing the
Circle of the Ivy-berry, and the five characters in the Winter stalk of
the Walnut, with many other Observables, which cannot escape the eyes of
signal discerners; Such as know where to finde _Ajax_ his name in
_Gallitricum_, or _Arons_ Mitre in Henbane.
[156] Elem. _li._ 4.
Quincuncial forms and ordinations are also observable in animal
figurations. For to omit the hioides or throat bone of animals, the
_furcula_ or _merry-thought_ in birds; which supporteth the _scapulæ_,
affording a passage for the winde-pipe and the gullet, the wings of
Flyes, and disposure of their legges in their first formation from
maggots, and the position of their horns, wings and legges, in their
_Aurelian_ cases and swadling clouts: The back of the _Cimex Arboreus_,
found often upon Trees and lesser plants, doth elegantly discover the
_Burgundian_ decussation; And the like is observable in the belly of the
_Notonecton_, or water-Beetle, which swimmeth on its back, and the
handsome Rhombusses of the Sea-poult, or Weazell, on either side the
Spine.
The sexangular Cels in the Honey-combs of Bees are disposed after this
order, much there is not of wonder in the confused Houses of Pismires;
though much in their busie life and actions, more in the edificial
Palaces of Bees and Monarchical spirits; who make their combs
six-corner'd, declining a circle, whereof many stand not close together,
and compleatly fill the _area_ of the place; But rather affecting a
six-sided figure, whereby every cell affords a common side unto six
more, and also a fit receptacle for the Bee it self, which gathering
into a Cylindrical Figure, aptly enters its sexangular house, more
nearly approaching a circular figure, then either doth the Square or
Triangle. And the Combes themselves so regularly contrived, that their
mutual intersections make three Lozenges at the bottom of every Cell;
which severally regarded make three Rows of neat Rhomboidall Figures,
connected at the angles, and so continue three several chaines
throughout the whole comb.
As for the _Favago_ found commonly on the Sea-shoar, though named from
an honey-comb, it but rudely makes out the resemblance, and better
agrees with the round Cels of humble Bees. He that would exactly discern
the shop of a Bees mouth, need observing eyes, and good augmenting
glasses; wherein is discoverable one of the neatest peeces in nature,
and must have a more piercing eye then mine; who findes out the shape of
Buls heads, in the guts of Drones pressed out behinde, according to the
experiment of _Gomesius_[157]; wherein notwithstanding there seemeth
somewhat which might incline a pliant fancy to credulity of similitude.
[157] Gom. de Sale.
A resemblance hereof there is in the orderly and rarely disposed Cels,
made by Flyes and Insects, which we have often found fastened about
small sprigs, and in those cottonary and woolly pillows, which sometimes
we meet with fastened unto Leaves, there is included an elegant Net-work
Texture, out of which come many small Flies. And some resemblance there
is of this order in the Egges of some Butterflies and moths, as they
stick upon leaves, and other substances; which being dropped from
behinde, nor directed by the eye, doth neatly declare how nature
Geometrizeth, and observeth order in all things.
A like correspondency in figure is found in the skins and outward
teguments of animals, whereof a regardable part are beautiful by this
texture. As the backs of several Snakes and Serpents, elegantly
remarkable in the _Aspis_, and the Dart-snake, in the Chiasmus, and
larger decussations upon the back of the Rattlesnake, and in the close
and finer texture of the _Mater formicarum_, or snake that delights in
Anthils; whereby upon approach of outward injuries, they can raise a
thicker Phalanx on their backs, and handsomely contrive themselves into
all kindes of flexures: Whereas their bellies are commonly covered with
smooth semicircular divisions, as best accommodable unto their quick and
gliding motion.
This way is followed by nature in the peculiar and remarkable tayl of
the Bever, wherein the scaly particles are disposed, somewhat after this
order, which is the plainest resolution of the wonder of _Bellonius_,
while he saith, with incredible Artifice hath Nature framed the tayl or
Oar of the Bever: where by the way we cannot but wish a model of their
houses, so much extolled by some Describers: wherein since they are so
bold as to venture upon three stages, we might examine their Artifice in
the contignations, the rule and order in the compartitions; or whether
that magnified structure be any more then a rude rectangular pyle or
meer hovell-building.
Thus works the hand of nature in the feathery plantation about birds.
Observable in the skins of the breast,[158] legs and Pinions of Turkies,
Geese, and Ducks, and the Oars or finny feet of Water-Fowl: And such a
naturall net is the scaly covering of Fishes, of Mullets, Carps,
Tenches, _etc._ even in such as are excoriable and consist of smaller
scales, as Bretts, Soals, and Flounders. The like Reticulate grain is
observable in some _Russia_ Leather. To omit the ruder Figures of the
ostracion, the triangular or cunny fish, or the pricks of the
Sea-Porcupine.
[158] _Elegantly conspicuous on the inside of the striped skins of
Dive-Fowl, of the cormorant, Goshonder, Weasell, Loon_, etc.
The same is also observable in some part of the skin of man, in habits
of neat texture, and therefore not unaptly compared unto a Net: We
shall not affirm that from such grounds, the Ægyptian Embalmers imitated
this texture, yet in their linnen folds the same is still observable
among their neatest Mummies, in the figures of _Isis_ and _Osyris_, and
the Tutelary spirits in the Bembine Table. Nor is it to be over-looked
how _Orus_, the Hieroglyphick of the world is described in a Net-work
covering, from the shoulder to the foot. And (not to enlarge upon the
cruciated Character of _Trismegistus_, or handed crosses, so often
occurring in the Needles of _Pharaoh_, and Obelisks of Antiquity) the
_Statuæ Isiacæ_, Teraphims, and little Idols, found about the Mummies,
do make a decussation or _Jacobs_ Crosse, with their armes, like that on
the head of _Ephraim_ and _Manasses_, and this _decussis_ is also
graphically described between them.
This Reticulate or Net-work was also considerable in the inward parts of
man, not only from the first _subtegmen_ or warp of his formation, but
in the netty _fibres_ of the veines and vessels of life; wherein
according to common Anatomy the right and transverse _fibres_ are
decussated by the oblique _fibres_; and so must frame a Reticulate and
Quincuncial Figure by their Obliquations, Emphatically extending that
Elegant expression of Scripture. Thou hast curiously embroydered me,
thou hast wrought me up after the finest way of texture, and as it were
with a Needle.
Nor is the same observable only in some parts, but in the whole body of
man, which upon the extension of arms and legges, doth make out a
square, whose intersection is at the genitals. To omit the phantastical
Quincunx, in _Plato_ of the first Hermaphrodite or double man, united at
the Loynes, which _Jupiter_ after divided.
A rudimental resemblance hereof there is in the cruciated and rugged
folds of the _Reticulum_, or Net-like Ventricle of ruminating horned
animals, which is the second in order, culinarily called the Honey-comb.
For many divisions there are in the stomack of severall animals; what
number they maintain in the _Scarus_ and ruminating Fish, common
description, or our own experiment hath made no discovery. But in the
Ventricle of _Porpuses_ there are three divisions. In many Birds a crop,
Gizard, and little receptacle before it; but in Cornigerous animals,
which chew the cudd, there are no lesse then four of distinct position
and office.
The _Reticulum_ by these crossed cels, makes a further digestion, in the
dry and exuccous part of the Aliment received from the first Ventricle.
For at the bottome of the gullet there is a double Orifice; What is
first received at the mouth descendeth into the first and greater
stomack, from whence it is returned into the mouth again; and after a
fuller mastication, and salivous mixture, what part thereof descendeth
again, in a moist and succulent body, it slides down the softer and more
permeable Orifice, into the Omasus or third stomack; and from thence
conveyed into the fourth, receives its last digestion. The other dry and
exuccous part after rumination by the larger and stronger Orifice
beareth into the first stomack, from thence into the _Reticulum_, and so
progressively into the other divisions. And therefore in Calves newly
calved, there is little or no use of the two first Ventricles, for the
milk and liquid aliment slippeth down the softer Orifice, into the third
stomack; where making little or no stay, it passeth into the fourth, the
seat of the _Coagulum_, or Runnet, or that division of stomack which
seems to bear the name of the whole, in the Greek translation of the
Priests Fee, in the Sacrifice of Peace-offerings.
As for those Rhomboidal Figures made by the Cartilagineous parts of the
Wezon, in the Lungs of great Fishes, and other animals, as _Rondeletius_
discovered, we have not found them so to answer our Figure as to be
drawn into illustration; Something we expected in the more discernable
texture of the lungs of frogs, which notwithstanding being but two
curious bladders not weighing above a grain, we found interwoven with
veins, not observing any just order. More orderly situated are those
cretaceous and chalky concretions found sometimes in the bignesse of a
small fech on either side their spine; which being not agreeable unto
our order, nor yet observed by any, we shall not here discourse on.
But had we found a better account and tolerable Anatomy of that
prominent jowle of the _Sperma Ceti_ Whale,[159] then questuary
operation, or the stench of the last cast upon our shoar, permitted, we
might have perhaps discovered some handsome order in those Net-like
seases and sockets, made like honey-combs, containing that medicall
matter.
[159] 1652. _described in our_ Pseudo Epidem. _Edit._ 3.
Lastly, The incession or locall motion of animals is made with analogy
unto this figure, by decussative diametrals, Quincunciall Lines and
angles. For to omit the enquiry how Butterflies and breezes move their
four wings, how birds and fishes in ayre and water move by joynt stroaks
of opposite wings and Finnes, and how salient animals in jumping forward
seem to arise and fall upon a square base; As the station of most
Quadrupeds is made upon a long square, so in their motion they make a
Rhomboides; their common progression being performed Diametrally, by
decussation and crosse advancement of their legges, which not observed
begot that remarkable absurdity in the position of the legges of
_Castors_ horse in the Capitoll. The Snake which moveth circularly makes
his spires in like order, the convex and concave spirals answering each
other at alternate distances; In the motion of man the armes and legges
observe this thwarting position, but the legges alone do move
Quincuncially by single angles with some resemblance of an V measured by
successive advancement from each foot, and the angle of indenture great
or lesse, according to the extent or brevity of the stride.
Studious Observators may discover more analogies in the orderly book of
nature, and cannot escape the Elegancy of her hand in other
correspondencies. The Figures of nails and crucifying appurtenances, are
but precariously made out in the _Granadilla_ or flower of Christs
passion; And we despair to behold in these parts that handsome draught
of crucifixion in the fruit of the _Barbado_ Pine. The seminal Spike of
_Phalaris_, or great shaking grasse, more nearly answers the tayl of a
Rattle-Snake, then many resemblances in Porta: And if the man
_Orchis_[160] of _Culumna_ be well made out, it excelleth all analogies.
In young Wall-nuts cut athwart, it is not hard to apprehend strange
characters; and in those of somewhat elder growth, handsome ornamental
draughts about a plain crosse. In the root of _Osmond_ or Water-fern,
every eye may discern the form of a Half Moon, Rain-bow, or half the
character of _Pisces_. Some finde Hebrew, Arabick, Greek, and Latine
Characters in Plants; In a common one among us we seem to reade _Acaia_,
_Viviu_, _Lilil_.
[160] Orchis Anthropophora, Fabii Columnæ.
Right lines and circles make out the bulk of plants; In the parts
thereof we finde Helicall or spirall roundles, voluta's, conicall
Sections, circular Pyramids, and frustums of _Archimedes_; And cannot
overlook the orderly hand of nature, in the alternate succession of the
flat and narrower sides in the tender shoots of the Ashe, or the regular
inequality of bignesse in the five leaved flowers of Henbane, and
something like in the calicular leaves of _Tutson_. How the spots of
_Persicaria_ do manifest themselves between the sixth and tenth ribbe.
How the triangular capp in the stemme or _stylus_ of Tuleps doth
constantly point at three outward leaves. That spicated flowers do open
first at the stalk. That white flowers have yellow thrums or knops. That
the nebbe of Beans and Pease do all look downward, and so presse not
upon each other; And how the seeds of many pappous or downy flowers
lockt up in sockets after a gomphosis or _mortis_-articulation, diffuse
themselves circularly into branches of rare order, observable in
_Tragopogan_ or Goats-beard, conformable to the Spiders web, and the
_Radii_ in like manner telarely inter-woven.
And how in animall natures, even colours hold correspondencies, and
mutuall correlations. That the colour of the Caterpillar will shew again
in the Butterfly, with some latitude is allowable. Though the regular
spots in their wings seem but a mealie adhesion, and such as may be
wiped away, yet since they come in this variety, out of their cases,
there must be regular pores in those parts and membranes, defining such
Exudations.
That _Augustus_[161] had native notes on his body and belly, after the
order and number in the Starre of _Charles wayne_, will not seem strange
unto astral Physiognomy, which accordingly considereth moles in the body
of man, or Physicall Observators, who from the position of moles in the
face, reduce them to rule and correspondency in other parts. Whether
after the like method medicall conjecture may not be raised, upon parts
inwardly affected; since parts about the lips are the criticall seats of
Pustules discharged in Agues; And scrophulous tumours about the neck do
so often speak the like about the Mesentery, may also be considered.
[161] Suet. in vit. Aug.
The russet neck in young Lambs seems but adventitious, and may owe its
tincture to some contaction in the womb; But that if sheep have any
black or deep russet in their faces, they want not the same about their
legges and feet; That black Hounds have mealy months and feet; That
black Cows which have any white in their tayls, should not misse of some
in their bellies; and if all white in their bodies, yet if
black-mouth'd, their ears and feet maintain the same colour, are
correspondent tinctures not ordinarily failing in nature, which easily
unites the accidents of extremities, since in some generations she
transmutes the parts themselves, while in the _Aurelian Metamorphosis_
the head of the canker becomes the Tayl of the Butterfly. Which is in
some way not beyond the contrivance of Art, in submersions and Inlays,
inverting the extremes of the plant, and fetching the root from the top,
and also imitated in handsome columnary work, in the inversion of the
extremes; wherein the Capitel, and the Base, hold such near
correspondency.
In the motive parts of animals may be discovered mutuall proportions;
not only in those of Quadrupeds, but in the thigh-bone, legge,
foot-bone, and claws of Birds. The legs of Spiders are made after a
sesquitertian proportion, and the long legs of some locusts, double unto
some others. But the internodial parts of Vegetables, or spaces between
the joints, are contrived with more uncertainty; though the joints
themselves in many Plants, maintain a regular number.
In vegetable composure, the unition of prominent parts seems most to
answer the _Apophyses_ or processes of Animall bones, whereof they are
the produced parts or prominent explantations. And though in the parts
of plants which are not ordained for motion, we do not expect
correspondent Articulations; yet in the setting on of some flowers, and
seeds in their sockets, and the lineall commissure of the pulp of
severall seeds, may be observed some shadow of the Harmony; some show of
the _Gomphosis_ or _mortis_-articulation.
As for the _Diarthrosis_ or motive Articulation, there is expected
little Analogy, though long-stalked leaves doe move by long lines, and
have observable motions, yet are they made by outward impulsion, like
the motion of pendulous bodies, while the parts themselves are united by
some kinde of _symphysis_ unto the stock.
But standing Vegetables, void of motive-Articulations, are not without
many motions. For beside the motion of vegetation upward, and of
radiation unto all quarters, that of contraction, dilatation,
inclination, and contortion, is discoverable in many plants. To omit the
rose of _Jericho_, the ear of Rye, which moves with change of weather,
and the Magical spit, made of no rare plants, which windes before the
fire, and rosts the bird without turning.
Even Animals near the Classis of plants, seem to have the most restlesse
motions. The Summer-worm of Ponds and plashes makes a long waving
motion; the hair-worm seldome lies still. He that would behold a very
anomalous motion, may observe it in the Tortile and tiring stroaks of
Gnatworms.[162]
[162] _Found often in some form of redmaggot in the standing waters of
Cisterns in the Summer._
CHAPTER IV
As for the delights, commodities, mysteries, with other concernments of
this order, we are unwilling to fly them over, in the short deliveries
of _Virgil_, _Varro_, or others, and shall therefore enlarge with
additionall ampliations.
By this position they had a just proportion of Earth, to supply an
equality of nourishment. The distance being ordered, thick or thin,
according to the magnitude or vigorous attraction of the plant, the
goodnesse, leannesse, or propriety of the soyl, and therefore the rule
of _Solon_, concerning the territory of _Athens_, not extendible unto
all; allowing the distance of six foot unto common Trees, and nine for
the Figge and Olive.
They had a due diffusion of their roots on all or both sides, whereby
they maintained some proportion to their height, in Trees of large
radication. For that they strictly make good their profundeur or depth
unto their height, according to common conceit, and that expression of
_Virgil_,[163] though confirmable from the plane Tree in _Pliny_, and
some few examples, is not to be expected from the generation of Trees
almost in any kinde, either of side-spreading or tap-roots: Except we
measure them by lateral and opposite diffusions; nor commonly to be
found in _minor_ or hearby plants; If we except Sea-holly, Liquorish,
Sea-rush, and some others.
[163] Quantum vertice ad auras Æthereas, tantum radice ad tartara
tendit.
They had a commodious radiation in their growth; and a due expansion of
their branches, for shadow or delight. For trees thickly planted, do
runne up in height and branch with no expansion, shooting unequally or
short, and thinne upon the neighbouring side. And therefore Trees are
inwardly bare, and spring, and leaf from the outward and Sunny side of
their branches.
Whereby they also avoided the perill of +synolethrismos+ or one tree
perishing with another, as it happeneth ofttimes from the sick
_effluviums_ or entanglements of the roots, falling foul with each
other. Observable in Elmes set in hedges, where if one dieth the
neighbouring Tree prospereth not long after.
In this situation divided into many intervals and open unto six
passages, they had the advantage of a fair perflation from windes,
brushing and cleansing their surfaces; relaxing and closing their pores
unto due perspiration. For that they afford large _effluviums_
perceptible from odours, diffused at great distances, is observable from
Onyons out of the Earth; which though dry, and kept until the spring, as
they shoot forth large and many leaves, do notably abate of their
weight. And mint growing in glasses of water, until it arriveth unto the
weight of an ounce, in a shady place, will sometimes exhaust a pound of
water.
And as they send forth much, so may they receive somewhat in: For beside
the common way and road of reception by the root, there may be a
refection and imbibition from without; For gentle showrs refresh plants,
though they enter not their roots; And the good and bad _effluviums_ of
Vegetables, promote or debilitate each other. So _Epithymum_ and
_Dodder_, rootlesse and out of the ground, maintain themselves upon
Thyme, Savory, and plants, whereon they hang. And _Ivy_ divided from the
root, we have observed to live some years, by the cirrous parts commonly
conceived but as tenacles and holdfasts unto it. The stalks of mint
cropt from the root stripped from the leaves, and set in _glasses_ with
the root end upward, and out of the water, we have observed to send
forth sprouts and leaves without the aid of roots, and _scordium_ to
grow in like manner, the leaves set downward in water. To omit severall
Sea-plants, which grow on single roots from stones, although in very
many there are side-shoots _fibres_, beside the fastening root.
By this open position they were fairly exposed unto the rayes of Moon
and Sunne, so considerable in the growth of Vegetables. For though
Poplars, Willows, and severall Trees be made to grow about the brinks of
_Acharon_, and dark habitations of the dead; Though some plants are
content to grow in obscure Wells; wherein also old Elme pumps afford
sometimes long bushy sprouts, not observable in any above ground: And
large fields of Vegetables are able to maintain their verdure at the
bottome and shady part of the Sea; yet the greatest number are not
content without the actual rayes of the Sun, but bend, incline, and
follow them; As large lists of solisequious and Sun-following plants.
And some observe the method of its motion in their own growth and
conversion twining towards the West by the South, as Bryony, Hops,
Woodbine, and several kindes of Bindeweed, which we shall more admire;
when any can tell us, they observe another motion, and Twist by the
North at the _Antipodes_. The same plants rooted against an erect
North-wall full of holes, will finde a way through them to look upon the
Sun. And in tender plants from mustard-seed, sown in the winter, and in
a plot of earth placed inwardly against a South-window, the tender
stalks of two leaves arose not erect, but bending towards the window,
nor looking much higher then the Meridian Sun. And if the pot were
turned they would work themselves into their former declinations, making
their conversion by the East. That the Leaves of the Olive and some
other Trees solstitially turn, and precisely tell us, when the Sun is
entred _Cancer_, is scarce expectable in any Climate; and _Theophrastus_
warily observes it; Yet somewhat thereof is observable in our own, in
the leaves of Willows and Sallows, some weeks after the Solstice. But
the great _Convolvulus_ or white-flower'd _Bindweed_ observes both
motions of the Sunne, while the flower twists Æquinoctionally from the
left hand to the right according to the daily revolution; The stalk
twineth ecliptically from the right to the left, according to the annual
conversion.
Some commend the exposure of these orders unto the Western gales, as the
most generative and fructifying breath of heaven. But we applaud the
Husbandry of _Solomon_, whereto agreeth the doctrine of _Theophrastus_.
Arise O North-winde, and blow thou South upon my garden, that the spices
thereof may flow out; For the North-winde closing the pores, and
shutting up the _effluviums_, when the South doth after open and relax
them; the Aromatical gummes do drop, and sweet odours fly actively from
them. And if his garden had the same situation, which mapps and charts
afford it, on the East side of _Jerusalem_, and having the wall on the
West; these were the winds, unto which it was well exposed.
By this way of plantation they encreased the number of their trees,
which they lost in _Quaternio's_, and square-orders, which is a
commodity insisted on by _Varro_, and one great intent of nature, in
this position of flowers and seeds in the elegant formation of plants,
and the former Rules observed in naturall and artificiall Figurations.
Whether in this order and one Tree in some measure breaking the cold,
and pinching gusts of windes from the other, trees will not better
maintain their inward circles, and either escape or moderate their
excentricities, may also be considered. For the circles in Trees are
naturally concentricall, parallel unto the bark, and unto each other,
till frost and piercing windes contract and close them on the
weatherside, the opposite semi-circle widely enlarging, and at a comely
distance, which hindreth oftentimes the beauty and roundnesse of Trees,
and makes the Timber lesse serviceable; whiles the ascending juyce not
readily passing, settles in knots and inequalities. And therefore it is
no new course of Agriculture, to observe the native position of Trees
according to North and South in their transplantations.
The same is also observable underground in the circinations and
sphærical rounds of Onyons, wherein the circles of the Orbes are
ofttimes larger, and the meridionall lines stand wider upon one side
then the other. And where the largenesse will make up the number of
planetical Orbes, that of _Luna_, and the lower planets excede the
dimensions of _Saturne_, and the higher: Whether the like be not
verified in the Circles of the large roots of Briony and Mandrake, or
why in the knotts of Deale or Firre the Circles are often eccentrical,
although not in a plane, but vertical and right position, deserves a
further enquiry.
Whether there be not some irregularity of roundnesse in most plants
according to their position? Whether some small compression of pores be
not perceptible in parts which stand against the current of waters, as
in Reeds, Bull-rushes, and other vegetables toward the streaming
quarter, may also be observed, and therefore such as are long and weak,
are commonly contrived into a roundnesse of figure, whereby the water
presseth lesse, and slippeth more smoothly from them, and even in flags
or flat-figured leaves, the greater part obvert their sharper sides unto
the current in ditches.
But whether plants which float upon the surface of the water, be for the
most part of cooling qualities, those which shoot above it of heating
vertues, and why? whether _Sargasso_ for many miles floating upon the
Western Ocean, or Sea-lettuce, and Phasganium at the bottome of our
Seas, make good the like qualities? Why Fenny waters afford the hottest
and sweetest plants, as Calamus, Cyperus, and Crowfoot, and mudd cast
out of ditches most naturally produceth Arsmart? Why plants so greedy of
water so little regard oyl? Why since many seeds contain much oyl within
them, they endure it not well without, either in their growth or
production? Why since Seeds shoot commonly under ground, and out of the
aire, those which are let fall in shallow glasses, upon the surface of
the water, will sooner sprout then those at the bottom? And if the water
be covered with oyle, those at the bottome will hardly sprout at all, we
have not room to conjecture.
Whether Ivy would not lesse offend the Trees in this clean ordination,
and well kept paths, might perhaps deserve the question. But this were a
quæry only unto some habitations, and little concerning _Cyrus_ or the
Babylonian territory; wherein by no industry _Harpalus_ could make Ivy
grow: And _Alexander_ hardly found it about those parts to imitate the
pomp of _Bacchus_. And though in these Northern Regions we are too much
acquainted with one Ivy, we know too little of another, whereby we
apprehend not the expressions of Antiquity, the Splenetick[164] medicine
of _Galen_, and the Emphasis of the Poet, in the beauty of the white
Ivy.[165]
[164] Galen. de med. secundum loc.
[165] Hedera formosior alba.
The like concerning the growth of Misseltoe, which dependeth not only
of the _species_, or kinde of Tree, but much also of the Soil. And
therefore common in some places, not readily found in others, frequent
in _France_, not so common in _Spain_, and scarce at all in the
Territory of _Ferrara_: Nor easily to be found where it is most required
upon Oakes, lesse on trees continually verdant. Although in some places
the Olive escapeth it not, requiting its detriment, in the delightful
view of its red Berries; as _Clusius_ observed in _Spain_, and
_Bellonius_ about _Hierusalem_. But this Parasitical plant suffers
nothing to grow upon it, by any way of art; nor could we ever make it
grow where nature had not planted it; as we have in vain attempted by
inocculation and incision, upon its native or forreign stock, and though
there seem nothing improbable in the seed, it hath not succeeded by
sation in any manner of ground, wherein we had no reason to despair
since we reade of vegetable horns [SN: Linschoten.], and how Rams horns
will root about _Goa_.
But besides these rural commodities, it cannot be meanly delectable in
the variety of Figures, which these orders open, and closed do make.
Whilest every inclosure makes a _Rhombus_, the figures obliquely taken a
Rhomboides, the intervals bounded with parallel lines, and each
intersection built upon a square, affording two Triangles or Pyramids
vertically conjoyned; which in the strict Quincuncial order do
oppositely make acute and blunt Angles.
And though therein we meet not with right angles, yet every Rhombus
containing four Angles equal unto two right, it virtually contains two
right in every one. Nor is this strange unto such as observe the natural
lines of Trees, and parts disposed in them. For neither in the root doth
nature affect this angle, which shooting downward for the stability of
the plant, doth best effect the same by Figures of Inclination; Nor in
the Branches and stalky leaves, which grow most at acute angles; as
declining from their head the root, and diminishing their Angles with
their altitude: Verified also in lesser Plants, whereby they better
support themselves, and bear not so heavily upon the stalk: So that
while near the root they often make an Angle of seventy parts, the
sprouts near the top will often come short of thirty. Even in the nerves
and master veines of the leaves the acute angle ruleth; the obtuse but
seldome found, and in the backward part of the leaf, reflecting and
arching about the stalk. But why ofttimes one side of the leaf is
unequal unto the other, as in Hazell and Oaks, why on either side the
master vein the lesser and derivative channels stand not directly
opposite, nor at equal angles, respectively unto the adverse side, but
those of one part do often exceed the other, as the Wallnut and many
more, deserves another enquiry.
Now if for this order we affect coniferous and tapering Trees,
particularly the Cypresse, which grows in a conical figure; we have
found a tree not only of great Ornament, but in its Essentials of
affinity unto this order. A solid Rhombus being made by the conversion
of two Equicrural Cones, as _Archimedes_ hath defined. And these were
the common Trees about _Babylon_, and the East, whereof the Ark was
made; and _Alexander_ found no Trees so accommodable to build his Navy;
And this we rather think to be the tree mentioned in the Canticles,
which stricter Botanology will hardly allow to be Camphire.
And if delight or ornamentall view invite a comely disposure by circular
amputations, as is elegantly performed in Hawthorns; then will they
answer the figures made by the conversion of a Rhombus, which maketh two
concentrical Circles; the greater circumference being made by the lesser
angles, the lesser by the greater.
The Cylindrical figure of trees is virtually contained and latent in
this order. A Cylinder or long round being made by the conversion or
turning of a Parallelogram, and most handsomely by a long square, which
makes an equal, strong, and lasting figure in trees, agreeable unto the
body and motive parts of animals, the greatest number of Plants, and
almost all roots, though their stalks be angular, and of many corners,
which seem not to follow the figure of their Seeds; Since many angular
Seeds send forth round stalks, and sphæricall seeds arise from angular
spindles, and many rather conform unto their roots, as the round stalks
of bulbous Roots, and in tuberous Roots stemmes of like figure. But why
since the largest number of Plants maintain a circular Figure, there are
so few with teretous or long round leaves; why coniferous Trees are
tenuifolious or narrow leafed, why Plants of few or no joynts have
commonly round stalks, why the greatest number of hollow stalks are
round stalks; or why in this variety of angular stalks the quadrangular
most exceedeth, were too long a speculation; Mean while obvious
experience may finde, that in Plants of divided leaves above, nature
often beginneth circularly in the two first leaves below, while in the
singular plant of Ivy, she exerciseth a contrary Geometry, and beginning
with angular leaves below, rounds them in the upper branches.
Nor can the rows in this order want delight, as carrying an aspect
answerable unto the _dipteros hypoethros_, or double order of columns
open above; the opposite ranks of Trees standing like pillars in the
_Cavedia_ of the Courts of famous buildings, and the _Portico's_ of the
_Templa subdialia_ of old; Somewhat imitating the _Peristylia_ or
Cloyster buildings, and the _Exedræ_ of the Ancients, wherein men
discoursed, walked and exercised; For that they derived the rule of
Columnes from trees, especially in their proportionall diminutions, is
illustrated by _Vitruvius_ from the shafts of Firre and Pine. And though
the inter-arboration do imitate the _Areostylos_, or thin order, not
strictly answering the proportion of intercolumniations; yet in many
trees they will not exceed the intermission of the Columnes in the court
of the Tabernacle; which being an hundred cubits long, and made up by
twenty pillars, will afford no lesse then intervals of five cubits.
Beside, in this kinde of aspect the sight being not diffused but
circumscribed between long parallels and the +episkiasmos+ and
adumbration from the branches, it frameth a penthouse over the eye, and
maketh a quiet vision: And therefore in diffused and open aspects, men
hollow their hand above their eye, and make an artificiall brow, whereby
they direct the dispersed rayes of sight, and by this shade preserve a
moderate light in the chamber of the eye; keeping the _pupilla_ plump
and fair, and not contracted or shrunk as in light and vagrant vision.
And therefore providence hath arched and paved the great house of the
world, with colours of mediocrity, that is, blew and green, above and
below the sight, moderately terminating the _acies_ of the eye. For most
plants, though green above-ground, maintain their original white below
it, according to the candour of their seminall pulp, and the rudimental
leaves do first appear in that colour; observable in Seeds sprouting in
water upon their first foliation. Green seeming to be the first
supervenient, or above-ground complexion of Vegetables, separable in
many upon ligature or inhumation, as Succory, Endive, Artichoaks, and
which is also lost upon fading in the Autumn.
And this is also agreeable unto water it self, the alimental vehicle of
plants, which first altereth into this colour; And containing many
vegetable seminalities, revealeth their Seeds by greennesse; and
therefore soonest expected in rain or standing water, not easily found
in distilled or water strongly boiled; wherein the seeds are
extinguished by fire and decoction, and therefore last long and pure
without such alteration, affording neither uliginous coats, gnatworms,
Acari, hairworms, like crude and common water; And therefore most fit
for wholsome beverage, and with malt makes Ale and Beer without boyling.
What large water-drinkers some Plants are, the Canary-tree and Birches
in some Northern Countries, drenching the fields about them do
sufficiently demonstrate. How water it self is able to maintain the
growth of Vegetables, and without extinction of their generative or
medicall vertues; Beside the experiment of _Helmonts_ tree, we have
found in some which have lived six years in glasses. The seeds of
Scurvy-grasse growing in water-pots, have been fruitful in the Land;
and _Asarum_ after a years space, and once casting its leaves in water
in the second leaves, hath handsomely performed its vomiting operation.
Nor are only dark and green colours, but shades and shadows contrived
through the great Volume of nature, and trees ordained not only to
protect and shadow others, but by their shades and shadowing parts, to
preserve and cherish themselves. The whole radiation or branchings
shadowing the stock and the root, the leaves, the branches and fruit,
too much exposed to the windes and scorching Sunne. The calicular leaves
inclose the tender flowers, and the flowers themselves lye wrapt about
the seeds, in their rudiment and first formations, which being advanced
the flowers fall away; and are therefore contrived in variety of
Figures, best satisfying the intention; Handsomely observable in hooded
and gaping flowers, and the Butterfly bloomes of leguminous plants, the
lower leaf closely involving the rudimental Cod, and the alary or wingy
divisions embracing or hanging over it.
But Seeds themselves do lie in perpetual shades, either under the leaf,
or shut up in coverings; and such as lye barest, have their husks,
skins, and pulps about them, wherein the nebbe and generative particle
lyeth moist and secured from the injury of Aire and Sunne. Darknesse and
light hold interchangeable dominions, and alternately rule the seminal
state of things. Light unto _Pluto_[166] is darknesse unto _Jupiter_.
Legions of seminall _Idæa's_ lye in their second Chaos and _Orcus_ of
_Hippocrates_; till putting on the habits of their forms, they shew
themselves upon the stage of the world, and open dominion of _Jove_.
They that held the Stars of heaven were but rayes and flashing glimpses
of the Empyreall light, through holes and perforations of the upper
heaven, took of the natural shadows of stars, while according to better
discovery the poor Inhabitants of the Moon[167] have but a polary life,
and must passe half their dayes in the shadow of that Luminary.
[166] Lux orco, tenebræ Jovi, tenebræ orco, lux Jovi. _Hippocr._ de
diæta.
[167] S. Hevelii Selenographia.
Light that makes things seen, makes some things invisible, were it not
for darknesse and the shadow of the earth, the noblest part of the
Creation had remained unseen, and the Stars in heaven as invisible as on
the fourth day, when they were created above the Horizon, with the Sun,
or there was not an eye to behold them. The greatest mystery of Religion
is expressed by adumbration, and in the noblest part of Jewish Types, we
finde the Cherubims shadowing the Mercy-seat: Life it self is but the
shadow of death, and souls departed but the shadows of the living: All
things fall under this name. The Sunne it self is but the dark
_simulachrum_, and light but the shadow of God.
Lastly, It is no wonder that this Quincunciall order was first and still
affected as gratefull unto the Eye: For all things are seen
Quincuncially; For at the eye the Pyramidal rayes from the object,
receive a decussation, and so strike a second base upon the _Retina_ or
hinder coat, the proper organ of Vision; wherein the pictures from
objects are represented, answerable to the paper, or wall in the dark
chamber; after the decussation of the rayes at the hole of the
hornycoat, and their refraction upon the Christalline humour, answering
the _foramen_ of the window, and the _convex_ or burning-glasses, which
refract the rayes that enter it. And if ancient Anatomy would hold, a
like disposure there was of the optick or visual nerves in the brain,
wherein Antiquity conceived a concurrence by decussation. And this not
only observable in the Laws of direct Vision, but in some part also
verified in the reflected rayes of sight. For making the angle of
incidence equal to that of reflexion, the visuall ray returneth
Quincuncially, and after the form of a V, and the line of reflexion
being continued unto the place of vision, there ariseth a
semi-decussation which makes the object seen in a perpendicular unto it
self, and as farre below the reflectent, as it is from it above,
observable in the Sun and Moon beheld in water.
And this is also the law of reflexion in moved bodies and sounds, which
though not made by decussation, observe the rule of equality between
incidence and reflexion; whereby whispering places are framed by
Elliptical arches laid side-wise; where the voice being delivered at the
_focus_ of one extremity, observing an equality unto the angle of
incidence, it will reflect unto the _focus_ of the other end, and so
escape the ears of the standers in the middle.
A like rule is observed in the reflection of the vocall and sonorous
line in Ecchoes, which cannot therefore be heard in all stations. But
hapning in woody plantations, by waters, and able to return some words;
if reacht by a pleasant and well-dividing voice, there may be heard the
softest notes in nature.
And this not only verified in the way of sense, but in animall and
intellectual receptions. Things entring upon the intellect by a Pyramid
from without, and thence into the memory by another from within, the
common decussation being in the understanding as is delivered by
_Bovillus_.[168] Whether the intellectual and phantastical lines be not
thus rightly disposed, but magnified, diminished, distorted, and ill
placed in the Mathematicks of some brains, whereby they have irregular
apprehensions of things, perverted notions, conceptions, and incurable
hallucinations, were no unpleasant speculation.
[168] Car. Bovillus de intellectu.
And if Ægyptian Philosophy may obtain, the scale of influences was thus
disposed, and the geniall spirits of both worlds, do trace their way in
ascending and descending Pyramids, mystically apprehended in the Letter
X, and the open Bill and stradling Legges of a Stork, which was imitated
by that Character.
Of this Figure _Plato_ made choice to illustrate the motion of the soul,
both of the world and man; while he delivered that God divided the whole
conjunction length-wise, according to figure of a Greek X, and then
turning it about reflected it into a circle; By the circle implying the
uniform motion of the first Orb, and by the right lines, the planetical
and various motions within it. And this also with application unto the
soul of man, which hath a double aspect, one right, whereby it beholdeth
the body, and objects without; another circular and reciprocal, whereby
it beholdeth it self. The circle declaring the motion of the indivisible
soul, simple, according to the divinity of its nature, and returning
into it self; the right lines respecting the motion pertaining unto
sense, and vegetation, and the central decussation, the wonderous
connexion of the severall faculties conjointly in one substance. And so
conjoyned the unity and duality of the soul, and made out the three
substances so much considered by him; That is, the indivisible or
divine, the divisible or corporeal, and that third, which was the
_Systasis_ or harmony of those two, in the mystical decussation.
And if that were clearly made out which _Justin Martyr_ took for
granted, this figure hath had the honour to characterise and notifie our
blessed Saviour, as he delivereth in that borrowed expression from
_Plato: Decussavit eum in universo_, the hint whereof he would have
_Plato_ derive from the figure of the brazen Serpent, and to have
mistaken the Letter X for T, whereas it is not improbable, he learned
these and other mystical expressions in his Learned Observations of
Ægypt, where he might obviously behold the Mercurial characters, the
handed crosses, and other mysteries not throughly understood in the
sacred Letter X, which being derivative from the Stork, one of the ten
sacred animals, might be originally Ægyptian, and brought into _Greece_
by _Cadmus_ of that Countrey.
CHAPTER V
To enlarge this contemplation unto all the mysteries and secrets,
accommodable unto this number, were inexcusable Pythagorisme, yet cannot
omit the ancient conceit of five surnamed the number of justice[169]; as
justly dividing between the digits, and hanging in the centre of Nine,
described by square numeration, which angularly divided will make the
decussated number; and so agreeable unto the Quincunciall Ordination,
and rowes divided by Equality, and just _decorum_, in the whole
complantation; And might be the Originall of that common game among us,
wherein the fifth place is Soveraigne, and carrieth the chief intention.
The Ancients wisely instructing youth, even in their recreations unto
virtue, that is, early to drive at the middle point and Central Seat of
justice.
[169] +dikê+
. . .
. . .
. . .
Nor can we omit how agreeable unto this number an handsome division is
made in Trees and Plants, since _Plutarch_ and the Ancients have named
it the Divisive Number, justly dividing the Entities of the world, many
remarkable things in it, and also comprehending the generall[170]
division of Vegetables. And he that considers how most blossomes of
Trees, and greatest number of Flowers, consist of five Leaves; and
therein doth rest the setled rule of nature; So that in those which
exceed there is often found, or easily made a variety; may readily
discover how nature rests in this number, which is indeed the first rest
and pause of numeration in the fingers, the natural Organs thereof. Nor
in the division of the feet of perfect animals doth nature exceed this
account. And even in the joynts of feet, which in birds are most
multiplied, surpasseth not this number; So progressionally making them
out in many, that from five in the foreclaw she descendeth unto two in
the hindemost. And so in fower feet makes up the number of joynts, in
the five fingers or toes of man.
[170] +Dendron, Thamnos, Phryganon, Poa+, Arbor, frutex, suffrutex,
herba, _and that fifth which comprehendeth the_ fungi _and_
tubera, _whether to be named_ +Aschion+ _or_ +gymnon+,
_comprehending also_ conserva marina salsa, _and Sea-cords, of so
many yards length_.
Not to omit the Quintuple Section of a Cone,[171] of handsome practise
in Ornamentall Garden-plots, and in some way discoverable in so many
works of Nature; In the leaves, fruits, and seeds of Vegetables, and
scales of some Fishes, so much considerable in glasses, and the optick
doctrine; wherein the learned may consider the Crystalline humour of the
eye in the cuttle-fish and _Loligo_.
[171] Elleipsis, parabola, Hyperbole, Circulus, Triangulum.
He that forgets not how Antiquity named this the Conjugall or wedding
Number, and made it the Embleme of the most remarkable conjunction, will
conceive it duely appliable unto this handsome Oeconomy, and vegetable
combination; May hence apprehend the allegoricall sence of that obscure
expression of _Hesiod_,[172] and afford no improbable reason why _Plato_
admitted his Nuptiall guests by fives, in the kindred of the
married[173] couple.
[172] +pemptas+ id est nuptias multas. _Rhodig._
[173] _Plato_ de leg. 6.
And though a sharper mystery might be implied in the Number of the five
wise and foolish Virgins, which were to meet the Bridegroom, yet was the
same agreeable unto the Conjugall Number, which ancient Numerists made
out by two and three, the first parity and imparity, the active and
passive digits, the materiall and formall principles in generative
Societies. And not discordant even from the customes of the _Romans_,
who admitted but five[174] Torches in their Nuptiall Solemnities.
Whether there were any mystery or not implied, the most generative
animals were created on this day, and had accordingly the largest
benediction; And under a Quintuple consideration, wanton Antiquity
considered the Circumstances of generation, while by this number of five
they naturally divided the Nectar of the fifth Planet.
[174] Plutarch problem. Rom. 1.
The same number in the Hebrew Mysteries and Cabalistical Accounts was
the Character[175] of Generation; declared by the Letter _He_, the fifth
in their Alphabet; According to that Cabalisticall _Dogma_: If _Abram_
had not had this Letter added unto his Name, he had remained fruitlesse,
and without the power of Generation: Not onely because hereby the number
of his Name attained two hundred fourty eight, the number of the
affirmative precepts, but because as in created natures there is a male
and female, so in divine and intelligent productions, the mother of Life
and Fountain of souls in Cabalisticall Technology is called _Binah_;
whose Seal and Character was _He._ So that being sterill before, he
received the power of generation from that measure and mansion in the
Archetype; and was made conformable unto _Binah._ And upon such involved
considerations, the ten[176] of _Sarai_ was exchanged into five. If any
shall look upon this as a stable number, and fitly appropriable unto
Trees, as Bodies of Rest and Station, he hath herein a great Foundation
in nature, who observing much variety in legges and motive Organs of
Animals, as two, four, six, eight, twelve, fourteen, and more, hath
passed over five and ten, and assigned them unto none.[177] And for the
stability of this Number, he shall not want the sphericity of its
nature, which multiplied in it self, will return into its own
denomination, and bring up the reare of the account. Which is also one
of the Numbers that makes up the mysticall Name of God, which consisting
of Letters denoting all the sphæricall Numbers, ten, five, and six;
Emphatically sets forth the notion of _Trismegistus_, and that
intelligible Sphear which is the Nature of God.
[175] Archang. dog. Cabal.
[176] Jod _into_ He.
[177] Or very few, as the _Phalangium monstrosum Brasilianum, Clusii et
Jac de Laet. Cur. poster. Americæ, Descript._ If perfectly
described.
Many Expressions by this Number occurre in Holy Scripture, perhaps
unjustly laden with mysticall Expositions, and little concerning our
order. That the Israelites were forbidden to eat the fruit of their new
planted Trees, before the fifth yeare, was very agreeable unto the
naturall Rules of Husbandry; Fruits being unwholsome, and lash, before
the fourth, or fifth Yeare. In the second day or Feminine part of five,
there was added no approbation. For in the third or masculine day, the
same is twice repeated; and a double benediction inclosed both
Creations, whereof the one in some part was but an accomplishment of the
other. That the Trespasser[178] was to pay a fifth part above the head
or principall, makes no secret in this Number, and implied no more then
one part above the principall; which being considered in four parts, the
additionall forfeit must bear the Name of a fift. The five golden mice
had plainly their determination from the number of the Princes; That
five should put to flight an hundred might have nothing mystically
implyed; considering a rank of Souldiers could scarce consist of a
lesser number. Saint _Paul_ had rather speak five words in a known then
ten thousand in an unknown tongue: That is as little as could well be
spoken. A simple proposition consisting of three words, and a complexed
one, not ordinarily short of five.
[178] Lev. 6.
More considerable there are in this mysticall account, which we must not
insist on. And therefore why the radicall Letters in the Pentateuch
should equall the number of the Souldiery of the Tribes; Why our Saviour
in the Wildernesse fed five thousand persons with five Barley Loaves,
and again, but four thousand with no lesse then seven of Wheat? Why
_Joseph_ designed five changes of Rayment unto _Benjamin_? and _David_
took just five pibbles[179] out of the Brook against the Pagan Champion?
We leave it unto Arithmeticall Divinity, and Theologicall explanation.
[179] +tessara en ke+ _four and one, or five_. Scalig.
Yet if any delight in new Problemes, or think it worth the enquiry,
whether the Criticall Physician hath rightly hit the nominall notation
of Quinque; Why the Ancients mixed five or three but not four parts of
water unto their Wine: And _Hippocrates_ observed a fifth proportion in
the mixture of water with milk, as in _Dysenteries_ and bloudy fluxes.
Under what abstruse foundation Astrologers do figure the good or bad
Fate from our Children, in good Fortune,[180] or the fifth house of
their Celestial Schemes. Whether the Ægyptians described a Starre by a
Figure of five points, with reference unto the five[181] Capitall
aspects, whereby they transmit their Influences, or abstruser
Considerations? Why the Cabalisticall Doctors, who conceive the whole
_Sephiroth_, or divine Emanations to have guided the ten-stringed Harp
of _David_, whereby he pacified the evil spirit of _Saul_, in strict
numeration doe begin with the Perihypate Meson, or ff fa ut, and so
place the Tiphereth answering C sol fa ut, upon the fifth string: Or
whether this number be oftner applied unto bad things and ends, then
good in holy Scripture, and why? He may meet with abstrusities of no
ready resolution.
[180] +Agathê tychê+, _or_ bona fortuna _the name of the fifth house_.
[181] _Conjunct, opposite, sextile, trigonal, tetragonal._
If any shall question the rationality of that Magick, in the cure of the
blinde man by _Serapis_, commanded to place five fingers on his Altar,
and then his hand on his Eyes? Why since the whole Comoedy is
primarily and naturally comprised in four[182] parts; and Antiquity
permitted not so many persons to speak in one Scene, yet would not
comprehend the same in more or lesse then five acts? Why amongst
Sea-starres nature chiefly delighteth in five points? And since there
are found some of no fewer then twelve, and some of seven and nine,
there are few or none discovered of six or eight? If any shall enquire
why the Flowers of Rue properly consist of four Leaves, The first and
third Flower have five? Why since many Flowers have one leaf or
none,[183] as _Scaliger_ will have it, diverse three, and the greatest
number consist of five divided from their bottomes; there are yet so few
of two: or why nature generally beginning or setting out with two
opposite leaves at the Root, doth so seldome conclude with that order
and number at the Flower? he shall not passe his hours in vulgar
speculations.
[182] +Protasis, epítasis, katastasis, katastrophê+.
[183] Unifolium nullifolima.
If any shall further quæry why magneticall Philosophy excludeth
decussations, and needles transversly placed do naturally distract their
verticities. Why Geomancers do imitate the Quintuple Figure, in their
Mother Characters of Acquisition and Amission, _etc._ somewhat answering
the Figures in the Lady or speckled Beetle? With what Equity,
Chiromantical conjecturers decry these decussations in the Lines and
Mounts of the hand? What that decussated Figure intendeth in the medall
of _Alexander_ the Great? Why the Goddesses sit commonly crosse-legged
in ancient draughts, Since _Juno_ is described in the same as a
venefical posture to hinder the birth of _Hercules_? If any shall doubt
why at the Amphidromicall Feasts, on the fifth day after the Childe was
born, presents were sent from friends, of _Polipusses_, and Cuttle
fishes? Why five must be only left in that Symbolicall mutiny among the
men of _Cadmus_? Why _Proteus_ in _Homer_ the Symbole of the first
matter, before he setled himself in the midst of his Sea-Monsters, doth
place them out by fives? Why the fifth years Oxe was acceptable
Sacrifice unto _Jupiter_? Or why the Noble _Antoninus_ in some sence
doth call the soul it self a Rhombus? He shall not fall on trite or
triviall disquisitions. And these we invent and propose unto acuter
enquirers, nauseating crambe verities and questions over-queried. Flat
and flexible truths are beat out by every hammer; But _Vulcan_ and his
whole forge sweat to work out _Achilles_ his armour. A large field is
yet left unto sharper discerners to enlarge upon this order, to search
out the _quaternio's_ and figured draughts of this nature, and
moderating the study of names, and meer nomenclature of plants, to erect
generalities, disclose unobserved proprieties, not only in the
vegetable shop, but the whole volume of nature; affording delightfull
Truths, confirmable by sense and ocular Observation, which seems to me
the surest path, to trace the Labyrinth of truth. For though discursive
enquiry and rationall conjecture, may leave handsome gashes and
flesh-wounds; yet without conjunction of this expect no mortal or
dispatching blows unto errour.
But the Quincunx[184] of Heaven runs low, and 'tis time to close the
five ports of knowledge; We are unwilling to spin out our awaking
thoughts into the phantasmes of sleep, which often continueth
præcogitations; making Cables of Cobwebbes and Wildernesses of handsome
Groves. Beside _Hippocrates_[185] hath spoke so little and the
Oneirocriticall Masters,[186] have left such frigid Interpretations from
plants, that there is little encouragement to dream of Paradise it self.
Nor will the sweetest delight of Gardens afford much comfort in sleep;
wherein the dulnesse of that sense shakes hands with delectable odours;
and though in the Bed[187] of _Cleopatra_, can hardly with any delight
raise up the ghost of a Rose.
[184] Hyades _near the Horizon about midnight, at that time._
[185] De insomniis.
[186] Artemodorus et Apomazar.
[187] _Strewed with roses._
Night, which Pagan Theology could make the daughter of _Chaos_, affords
no advantage to the description of order: Although no lower then that
Masse can we derive its Genealogy. All things began in order, so shall
they end, and so shall they begin again; according to the ordainer of
order and mystical Mathematicks of the City of heaven.
Though _Somnus_ in _Homer_ be sent to rowse up _Agamemnon_, I finde no
such effects in the drowsy approaches of sleep. To keep our eyes open
longer were but to act our _Antipodes_. The Huntsmen are up in
_America_, and they are already past their first sleep in _Persia_. But
who can be drowsie at that howr which freed us from everlasting sleep?
or have slumbring thoughts at that time, when sleep it self must end,
and as some conjecture all shall awake again?
_FINIS_
THE STATIONER TO THE READER
I cannot omit to advertise, that a Book was published not long since,
Entituled, _Natures Cabinet Unlockt_, bearing the Name of this Authour:
If any man have been benefited thereby this Authour is not so ambitious
as to challenge the honour thereof, as having no hand in that Work. To
distinguish of true and spurious Peeces was the Originall Criticisme,
and some were so handsomely counterfeited, that the Entitled Authours
needed not to disclaime them. But since it is so, that either he must
write himself, or Others will write for him, I know no better Prevention
then to act his own part with lesse intermission of his Pen.
CERTAIN
MISCELLANY
TRACTS.
Written by
_THOMAS BROWN_, K^t,
and Doctour of Physick;
late of _NORWICH_.
_LONDON_,
Printed for _Charles Mearne_, and are to be sold
by _Henry Bonwick_, at the _Red Lyon_,
in St. _Paul's_ Church-Yard,
MDCLXXXIV.
THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER
The Papers from which these _Tracts_ were printed, were, a while since,
deliver'd to me by, those worthy persons, the _Lady_ and _Son_ of the
excellent Authour. He himself gave no charge concerning his
_Manuscripts_, either for the suppressing or the publishing of them.
Yet, seeing he had procured _Transcripts_ of them, and had kept those
_Copies_ by him, it seemeth probable that He designed them for publick
use.
Thus much of his Intention being presumed, and many who had tasted of
the fruits of his former studies being covetous of more of the like
kind; Also these _Tracts_ having been perused and much approv'd of by
some Judicious and Learned men; I was not unwilling to be instrumental
in fitting them for the Press.
To this end, I selected them out of many disordred Papers, and dispos'd
them into such a method as They seem'd capable of; beginning first with
_Plants_, going on to _Animals_, proceeding farther to things relating
to _Men_, and concluding with _matters_ of a _various nature_.
Concerning the _Plants_, I did, on purpose, forbear to range them (as
some advised) according to their _Tribes_ and _Families_; because, by so
doing, I should have represented that as a studied and formal work,
which is but a Collection of _occasional Essaies_. And, indeed, both
this _Tract_, and those which follow, were rather the _diversions_ than
the _Labours_ of his Pen: and, because He did, as it were, drop down his
Thoughts of a sudden, in those little spaces of vacancy which he
snatch'd from those very many occasions which gave him hourly
interruption; If there appears, here and there, any uncorrectness in the
style, a small degree of Candour sufficeth to excuse it.
If there be any such errours in the words, I'm sure the Press has not
made them fewer; but I do not hold my self oblig'd to answer for That
which I could not perfectly govern. However, the matter is not of any
great moment: such errours will not mislead a Learned Reader; and He who
is not such in some competent degree, is not a fit Peruser of these
LETTERS. Such these _Tracts_ are; but, for the Persons to whom they were
written, I cannot well learn their _Names_ from those few obscure marks
which the Authour has set at the beginning of them. And these Essaies
being _Letters_, as many as take offence at some few familiar things
which the Authour hath mixed with them, find fault with decence. Men are
not wont to set down Oracles in every line they write to their
Acquaintance.
There, still, remain other brief Discourses written by this most Learned
and ingenious Authour. Those, also, may come forth, when some of his
Friends shall have sufficient leisure; and at such due distance from
these Tracts, that They may follow rather than stifle them.
Amongst these Manuscripts there is one which gives a brief Account of
all the _Monuments_ of the _Cathedral_ of _Norwich_. It was written
merely for private use: and the Relations of the Authour expect such
Justice from those into whose hands some imperfect Copies of it are
fallen; that, without their Consent first obtain'd, they forbear the
publishing of It.
The truth is, matter equal to the skill of the Antiquary was not, there,
afforded: had a fit Subject of that nature offer'd it self, He would
scarce have been guilty of an oversight like to that of _Ausonius_, who,
in the description of his native City of _Burdeaux_, omitted the two
famous Antiquities of it, _Palais de Tutele_, and, _Palais de Galien_.
Concerning the _Authour himself_, I chuse to be silent, though I have
had the happiness to have been, for some years, known to him. There is
on foot a design of writing his _Life_: and there are, already, some
Memorials collected by one of his ancient Friends. Till that work be
perfected, the Reader may content himself with these present _Tracts_;
all which commending themselves by their _Learning_, _Curiosity_ and
_Brevity_, if He be not pleased with them, he seemeth to me to be
distemper'd with such a niceness of Imagination as no wise man is
concern'd to humour.
_THO. TENISON._
OBSERVATIONS
Upon several
PLANTS mention'd in SCRIPTURE.
TRACT I
[Sidenote: _The Introduction._]
SIR,
Though many ordinary Heads run smoothly over the Scripture, yet I must
acknowledge, it is one of the hardest Books I ever met with: and
therefore well deserveth those numerous Comments, Expositions and
Annotations which make up a good part of our Libraries.
However so affected I am therewith, that I wish there had been more of
it: and a larger Volume of that Divine Piece which leaveth such welcome
impressions, and somewhat more, in the Readers, than the words and sense
after it. At least, who would not be glad that many things barely hinted
were at large delivered in it? The particulars of the Dispute between
the Doctours and our Saviour could not but be welcome to them, who have
every word in honour which proceeded from his mouth, or was otherwise
delivered by him: and so would be glad to be assured what he wrote with
his Finger on the ground: But especially to have a particular of that
instructing Narration or Discourse which he made unto the Disciples
after his resurrection, where 'tis said [SN: Luke 24. 27.]: _And
beginning at Moses, and all the Prophets, he expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning himself._
But to omit Theological obscurities, you must needs observe that most
Sciences do seem to have something more nearly to consider in the
expressions of the Scripture.
Astronomers find therein the Names but of few Stars, scarce so many as
in _Achilles_ his _Buckler_ in _Homer_, and almost the very same. But in
some passages of the Old Testament they think they discover the Zodiacal
course of the Sun: and they, also, conceive an Astronomical sense in
that elegant expression of S. _James_[SN: Jam. 1. 17.] concerning _the
father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of
turning_: and therein an allowable allusion unto the tropical conversion
of the Sun, whereby ensueth a variation of heat, light, and also of
shadows from it. But whether the _Stellæ erraticæ_, or wandring Stars in
S. _Jude_, may be referr'd to the celestial Planets, or some
meteorological wandring Stars, _Ignes fatui, Stellæ cadentes et
erraticæ_, or had any allusion unto the Impostour _Barchochebas_, or
_Stellæ Filius_, who afterward appeared, and wandred about in the time
of _Adrianus_, they leave unto conjecture.
Chirurgions may find their whole Art in that one passage, concerning the
Rib which God took out of _Adam_, that is their +diairesis+ in opening
the Flesh, +exairesis+ in taking out the Rib, and +synthesis+ in closing
and healing the part again.
Rhetoricians and Oratours take singular notice of very many excellent
passages, stately metaphors, noble tropes and elegant expressions, not
to be found or parallel'd in any other Authour.
Mineralists look earnestly into the twenty eighth of _Job_, take special
notice of the early artifice in Brass and Iron under _Tubal-Cain_: And
find also mention of Gold, Silver, Brass, Tin, Lead, Iron; beside
Refining, Sodering, Dross, Nitre, Saltpits, and in some manner also of
Antimony.[188]
[188] _Depinxit oculos stibio._ 2 Kings 9. 30. Jerem. 4. 30. Ezek. 23.
40.
Gemmarie Naturalists reade diligently the pretious Stones in the holy
City of the _Apocalypse_: examine the Breast-plate of _Aaron_, and
various Gemms upon it, and think the second Row the nobler of the four:
they wonder to find the Art of Ingravery so ancient upon pretious Stones
and Signets; together with the ancient use of Ear-rings and Bracelets.
And are pleased to find Pearl, Coral, Amber and Crystal in those sacred
Leaves, according to our Translation. And when they often meet with
Flints and Marbles, cannot but take notice that there is no mention of
the Magnet or Loadstone, which in so many similitudes, comparisons, and
allusions, could hardly have been omitted in the Works of _Solomon_: if
it were true that he knew either the attractive or directive power
thereof, as some have believed.
Navigatours consider the Ark, which was pitched without and within, and
could endure the Ocean without Mast or Sails: They take special notice
of the twenty seventh of _Ezekiel_; the mighty Traffick and great
Navigation of _Tyre_, with particular mention of their Sails, their
Masts of Cedar, Oars of Oak, their skilfull Pilots, Mariners and
Calkers; as also of the long Voyages of the Fleets of _Solomon_; of
_Jehosaphat's_ Ships broken at _Ezion-Geber_; of the notable Voyage and
Shipwreck of S. _Paul_, so accurately delivered in the _Acts_.
Oneirocritical Diviners apprehend some hints of their knowledge, even
from Divine Dreams; while they take notice of the Dreams of _Joseph_,
_Pharaoh_, _Nebuchadnezzar_, and the Angels on _Jacob's_ Ladder; and
find, in _Artemidorus_ and _Achmetes_, that Ladders signifie Travels,
and the Scales thereof Preferment; and that Oxen Lean and Fat naturally
denote Scarcity or Plenty, and the successes of Agriculture.
Physiognomists will largely put in from very many passages of Scripture.
And when they find in _Aristotle_, _quibus frons quadrangula,
commensurata, fortes, referuntur ad leones_, cannot but take special
notice of that expression concerning the Gadites; _mighty men of war,
fit for battel, whose faces were as the faces of lyons_.
Geometrical and Architectonical Artists look narrowly upon the
description of the Ark, the fabrick of the Temple, and the holy City in
the _Apocalypse_.
But the Botanical Artist meets every where with Vegetables, and from the
Figg Leaf in _Genesis_ to the Star Wormwood in the _Apocalypse_, are
variously interspersed expressions from Plants, elegantly advantaging
the significancy of the Text: Whereof many being delivered in a
Language proper unto _Judæa_ and neighbour Countries are imperfectly
apprehended by the common Reader, and now doubtfully made out, even by
the Jewish Expositour.
And even in those which are confessedly known, the elegancy is often
lost in the apprehension of the Reader, unacquainted with such
Vegetables, or but nakedly knowing their natures: whereof holding a
pertinent apprehension, you cannot pass over such expressions without
some doubt or want of satisfaction in your judgment. Hereof we shall
onely hint or discourse some few which I could not but take notice of in
the reading of holy Scripture.
Many Plants are mention'd in Scripture which are not distinctly known in
our Countries, or under such Names in the Original, as they are fain to
be rendred by analogy, or by the name of Vegetables of good affinity
unto them, and so maintain the textual sense, though in some variation
from identity.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: _The Observations. Kikaion._]
1. The Plant which afforded a shade unto _Jonah_,[189] mention'd by the
name of Kikaion, and still retained at least marginally in some
Translations, to avoid obscurity _Jerome_ rendred _Hedera_ or Ivy; which
notwithstanding (except in its scandent nature) agreed not fully with
the other, that is, to _grow up in a night_, or be consumed with a Worm;
Ivy being of no swift growth, little subject unto Worms, and a scarce
Plant about _Babylon_.
[189] Jona 4. 6. _a Gourd_.
[Sidenote: _Hyssope._]
2. That Hyssope is taken for that Plant which cleansed the Leper, being
a well scented, and very abstersive Simple, may well be admitted; so we
be not too confident, that it is strictly the same with our common
Hyssope: The Hyssope of those parts differing from that of ours; as
_Bellonius_ hath observed in the Hyssope which grows in _Judæa_, and the
Hyssope of the Wall mention'd in the Works of _Solomon_, no kind of our
Hyssope; and may tolerably be taken for some kind of minor Capillary,
which best makes out the Antithesis with the Cedar. Nor when we meet
with _Libanotis_, is it to be conceived our common Rosemary, which is
rather the first kind thereof among several others, used by the
Ancients.
[Sidenote: _Hemlock._ Hosea 10. 4. Amos 6. 2.]
3. That it must be taken for Hemlock, which is twice so rendred in our
Translation, will hardly be made out, otherwise than in the intended
sense, and implying some Plant, wherein bitterness or a poisonous
quality is considerable.
[Sidenote: Paliurus.]
4. What _Tremelius_ rendreth _Spina_, and the Vulgar Translation
_Paliurus_, and others make some kind of _Rhamnus_, is allowable in the
sense; and we contend not about the species, since they are known Thorns
in those Countries, and in our Fields or Gardens among us: and so common
in _Judæa_, that men conclude the thorny Crown of our Saviour was made
either of _Paliurus_ or _Rhamnus_.
[Sidenote: Rubus.]
5. Whether the Bush which burnt and consumed not, were properly a
_Rubus_ or Bramble, was somewhat doubtfull from the Original and some
Translations, had not the Evangelist, and S. _Paul_ express'd the same
by the Greek word +Batos+, which from the description of _Dioscorides_,
Herbarists accept for _Rubus_; although the same word +Batos+ expresseth
not onely the _Rubus_ or kinds of Bramble, but other Thorn-bushes, and
the Hipp-briar is also named +Kynosbatos+, or the Dog-briar or Bramble.
[Sidenote: Myrica. Cant. 1. 14.]
6. That _Myrica_ is rendred, Heath, sounds instructively enough to our
ears, who behold that Plant so common in barren Plains among us: But you
cannot but take notice that _Erica_, or our Heath is not the same Plant
with _Myrica_ or Tammarice, described by _Theophrastus_ and
_Dioscorides_, and which _Bellonius_ declareth to grow so plentifully
in the Desarts of _Judæa_ and _Arabia_.
[Sidenote: _Cypress._ Cant. 1. 14.]
7. That the +botrys tês Kyprou+, _botrus Cypri_, or Clusters of Cypress,
should have any reference to the Cypress Tree, according to the original
_Copher_, or Clusters of the noble Vine of _Cyprus_, which might be
planted into _Judæa_, may seem to others allowable in some latitude. But
there seeming some noble Odour to be implied in this place, you may
probably conceive that the expression drives at the +Kypros+ of
_Dioscorides_, some oriental kind of _Ligustrum_ or _Alcharma_, which
_Dioscorides_ and _Pliny_ mention under the name of +Kypros+ and
_Cyprus_, and to grow about _Ægypt_ and _Ascalon_, producing a sweet and
odorate bush of Flowers, and out of which was made the famous _Oleum
Cyprinum_.
But why it should be rendred Camphyre your judgment cannot but doubt,
who know that our Camphyre was unknown unto the Ancients, and no
ingredient into any composition of great Antiquity: that learned men
long conceived it a bituminous and fossile Body, and our latest
experience discovereth it to be the resinous substance of a Tree, in
_Borneo_ and _China_; and that the Camphyre that we use is a neat
preparation of the same.
[Sidenote: _Shittah Tree_, etc. Isa. 41. 19.]
8. When 'tis said in _Isaiah 41. I will plant in the wilderness the
Cedar, the Shittah Tree, and the Myrtle and the Oil Tree, I will set in
the Desart, the Firre Tree, and the Pine, and the Box Tree_: Though some
doubt may be made of the Shittah Tree, yet all these Trees here
mentioned being such as are ever green, you will more emphatically
apprehend the mercifull meaning of God in this mention of no fading, but
always verdant Trees in dry and desart places.
[Sidenote: _Grapes of_ Eshcol. Num. 13. 23.]
9. _And they cut down a Branch with one cluster of Grapes, and they bare
it between two upon a Staff, and they brought Pomegranates and Figgs._
This cluster of Grapes brought upon a Staff by the Spies, was an
incredible sight, in _Philo Judæus_,[190] seem'd notable in the eyes of
the Israelites, but more wonderfull in our own, who look onely upon
Northern Vines. But herein you are like to consider, that the Cluster
was thus carefully carried to represent it entire, without bruising or
breaking; that this was not one Bunch but an extraordinary Cluster, made
up of many depending upon one gross stalk. And however, might be
parallel'd with the Eastern Clusters of _Margiana_ and _Caramania_, if
we allow but half the expressions of _Pliny_ and _Strabo_, whereof one
would lade a Curry or small Cart; and may be made out by the clusters of
the Grapes of _Rhodes_ presented unto Duke _Radzivil_[191] each
containing three parts of an Ell in compass, and the Grapes as big as
Prunes.
[190] +apistos thea+. Philo.
[191] Radzivil _in his Travels_.
[Sidenote: _Ingred. of holy Perfume._ _Stacte_, etc. Exod. 30.34, 35.]
10. Some things may be doubted in the species of the holy Ointment and
Perfume. With Amber, Musk and Civet we meet not in the Scripture, nor
any Odours from Animals; except we take the Onycha of that Perfume for
the Covercle of a Shell-fish called _Unguis Odoratus_, or _Blatta
Byzantina_, which _Dioscorides_ affirmeth to be taken from a Shell-fish
of the Indian Lakes, which feeding upon the Aromatical Plants is
gathered when the Lakes are drie. But whether that which we now call
_Blatta Byzantina_, or _Unguis Odoratus_, be the same with that odorate
one of Antiquity, great doubt may be made; since _Dioscorides_ saith it
smelled like _Castoreum_, and that which we now have is of an
ungratefull odour.
No little doubt may be also made of Galbanum prescribed in the same
Perfume, if we take it for Galbanum which is of common use among us,
approaching the evil scent of _Assa Foetida_; and not rather for
Galbanum of good odour, as the adjoining words declare, and the original
_Chelbena_ will bear; which implies a fat or resinous substance, that
which is commonly known among us being properly a gummous body and
dissoluble also in Water.
The holy Ointment of Stacte or pure Myrrh, distilling from the Plant
without expression or firing, of Cinnamon, Cassia and Calamus,
containeth less questionable species, if the Cinnamon of the Ancients
were the same with ours, or managed after the same manner. For thereof
_Dioscorides_ made his noble Unguent. And Cinnamon was so highly valued
by Princes, that _Cleopatra_ carried it unto her Sepulchre with her
Jewels; which was also kept in wooden Boxes among the rarities of Kings:
and was of such a lasting nature, that at his composing of Treacle for
the Emperor _Severus_, _Galen_ made use of some which had been laid up
by _Adrianus_.
[Sidenote: _Husks eaten by the Prodigal._ Luke 15. 16.]
11. That the Prodigal Son desired _to eat of Husks_ given unto Swine,
will hardly pass in your apprehension for the Husks of Pease, Beans, or
such edulious Pulses; as well understanding that the textual word
+Keration+ or _Ceration_, properly intendeth the Fruit of the
_Siliqua_ Tree so common in _Syria_, and fed upon by Men and Beasts;
called also by some the Fruit of the Locust Tree, and _Panis Sancti
Johannis_, as conceiving it to have been part of the Diet of the
_Baptist_ in the Desart. The Tree and Fruit is not onely common in
_Syria_ and the Eastern parts, but also well known in _Apuglia_, and the
Kingdom of _Naples_, growing along the _Via Appia_, from _Fundi_ unto
_Mola_; the hard Cods or Husks making a rattling noise in windy weather,
by beating against one another: called by the Italians _Carobe_ or
_Carobole_, and by the French _Carouges_. With the sweet Pulp hereof
some conceive that the Indians preserve Ginger, Mirabolans and Nutmegs.
Of the same (as _Pliny_ delivers) the Ancients made one kind of Wine,
strongly expressing the Juice thereof; and so they might after give the
expressed and less usefull part of the Cods, and remaining Pulp unto
their Swine: which being no gustless or unsatisfying Offal, might be
well desired by the Prodigal in his hunger.
[Sidenote: _Cucumbers_ etc. _of_ Ægypt.]
12. No marvel it is that the Israelites having lived long in a well
watred Country, and been acquainted with the noble Water of _Nilus_,
should complain for Water in the dry and barren Wilderness. More
remarkable it seems that they should extoll and linger after the
Cucumbers and Leeks, Onions and Garlick in _Ægypt_: wherein
notwithstanding lies a pertinent expression of the Diet of that Country
in ancient times, even as high as the building of the Pyramids, when
_Herodotus_ delivereth, that so many Talents were spent in Onions and
Garlick, for the Food of Labourers and Artificers; and is also
answerable unto their present plentifull Diet in Cucumbers, and the
great varieties thereof, as testified by _Prosper Alpinus_, who spent
many years in _Ægypt_.
[Sidenote: _Forbidden Fruit._ Gen. 2. 17. etc.]
13. What Fruit that was which our first Parents tasted in Paradise, from
the disputes of learned men seems yet indeterminable. More clear it is
that they cover'd their nakedness or secret parts with Figg Leaves;
which when I reade, I cannot but call to mind the several considerations
which Antiquity had of the Figg Tree, in reference unto those parts,
particularly how Figg Leaves by sundry Authours are described to have
some resemblance unto the Genitals, and so were aptly formed for such
contection of those parts; how also in that famous Statua of
_Praxiteles_, concerning _Alexander_ and _Bucephalus_, the Secret Parts
are veil'd with Figg Leaves; how this Tree was sacred unto _Priapus_,
and how the Diseases of the Secret Parts have derived their Name from
Figgs.
[Sidenote: _Balsam. Oil._ Luke 10. 34.]
14. That the good Samaritan coming from _Jericho_ used any of the Judean
Balsam upon the wounded Traveller, is not to be made out, and we are
unwilling to disparage his charitable Surgery in pouring Oil into a
green Wound; and therefore when 'tis said he used Oil and Wine, may
rather conceive that he made an _Oinelæum_ or medicine of Oil and Wine
beaten up and mixed together, which was no improper Medicine, and is an
Art now lately studied by some so to incorporate Wine and Oil that they
may lastingly hold together, which some pretend to have, and call it
_Oleum Samaritanum_, or Samaritans Oil.
[Sidenote: _Pulse of_ Daniel. Dan. 1. 12.]
15. When _Daniel_ would not pollute himself with the Diet of the
Babylonians, he probably declined Pagan commensation, or to eat of Meats
forbidden to the Jews, though common at their Tables, or so much as to
taste of their Gentile Immolations, and Sacrifices abominable unto his
Palate.
But when 'tis said that he made choice of the Diet of Pulse and Water,
whether he strictly confined unto a leguminous Food, according to the
Vulgar Translation, some doubt may be raised, from the original word
_Zeragnim_, which signifies _Seminalia_, and is so set down in the
Margin of _Arias Montanus_; and the Greek word _Spermata_, generally
expressing Seeds, may signifie any edulious or cerealious Grains besides
+ospria+ or leguminous Seeds.
Yet if he strictly made choice of a leguminous Food, and Water instead
of his portion from the King's Table, he handsomely declined the Diet
which might have been put upon him, and particularly that which was
called the _Potibasis_ of the King, which as _Athenæus_ informeth
implied the Bread of the King, made of Barley, and Wheat, and the Wine
of _Cyprus_, which he drank in an oval Cup. And therefore distinctly
from that he chose plain Fare of Water, and the gross Diet of Pulse, and
that perhaps not made into Bread, but parched, and tempered with Water.
Now that herein (beside the special benediction of God) he made choice
of no improper Diet to keep himself fair and plump and so to excuse the
Eunuch his Keeper, Physicians will not deny, who acknowledge a very
nutritive and impinguating faculty in Pulses, in leguminous Food, and in
several sorts of Grains and Corns, is not like to be doubted by such who
consider that this was probably a great part of the Food of our
Forefathers before the Floud, the Diet also of _Jacob_: and that the
Romans (called therefore _Pultifagi_) fed much on Pulse for six hundred
years; that they had no Bakers for that time: and their Pistours were
such as, before the use of Mills, beat out and cleansed their Corn. As
also that the Athletick Diet was of Pulse, _Alphiton_, _Maza_, Barley
and Water; whereby they were advantaged sometimes to an exquisite state
of health, and such as was not without danger. And therefore though
_Daniel_ were no Eunuch, and of a more fatning and thriving temper, as
some have phancied, yet was he by this kind of Diet, sufficiently
maintained in a fair and carnous state of Body, and accordingly his
Picture not improperly drawn, that is, not meagre and lean, like
_Jeremy's_, but plump and fair, answerable to the most authentick
draught of the _Vatican_, and the late German _Luther's_ Bible.
The Cynicks in _Athenæus_ make iterated Courses of Lentils, and prefer
that Diet before the Luxury of _Seleucus_. The present Ægyptians, who
are observed by _Alpinus_ to be the fattest Nation, and Men to have
breasts like Women, owe much, as he conceiveth, unto the Water of
_Nile_, and their Diet of Rice, Pease, Lentils and white Cicers. The
Pulse-eating Cynicks and Stoicks, are all very long livers in
_Laertius_. And _Daniel_ must not be accounted of few years, who, being
carried away Captive in the Reign of _Joachim_, by King
_Nebuchadnezzar_, lived, by Scripture account, unto the first year of
_Cyrus_.
[Sidenote: Jacob's _Rods_. Gen. 30. 31.]
16. _And Jacob took Rods of green Poplar, and of the Hazel and the
Chesnut Tree, and pilled white streaks in them, and made the white
appear which was in the Rods_, etc. Men multiply the Philosophy of
_Jacob_, who, beside the benediction of God, and the powerfull effects
of imagination, raised in the Goats and Sheep from pilled and
party-coloured objects, conceive that he chose out these particular
Plants above any other, because he understood they had a particular
virtue unto the intended effects, according unto the conception of
_Georgius Venetus_.[192]
[192] G. Venetus _Problem_ 200.
Whereto you will hardly assent, at least till you be better satisfied
and assured concerning the true species of the Plants intended in the
Text, or find a clearer consent and uniformity in the Translation: For
what we render Poplar, Hazel and Chesnut, the Greek translateth _Virgam
styracinam, nucinam, plataninam_, which some also render a Pomegranate:
and so observing this variety of interpretations concerning common and
known Plants among us, you may more reasonably doubt, with what
propriety or assurance others less known be sometimes rendred unto us.
[Sidenote: _Lilies of the Field._ Matt. 6. 28.]
17. Whether in the Sermon of the Mount, the _Lilies of the Field_ did
point at the proper Lilies, or whether those Flowers grew wild in the
place where our Saviour preached, some doubt may be made: because
+Krinon+ the word in that place is accounted of the same signification
with +Leirion+, and that in _Homer_ is taken for all manner of specious
Flowers: so received by _Eustachius_, _Hesychius_, and the Scholiast
upon _Apollonius Rhodius_, +Katholou ta anthê Leiria legetai+. And
+Krinon+ is also received in the same latitude, not signifying onely
Lilies, but applied unto Daffodils, Hyacinths, Iris's, and the Flowers
of _Colocynthis_.
Under the like latitude of acception, are many expressions in the
_Canticles_ to be received. And when it is said _he feedeth among the
Lilies_, therein may be also implied other specious Flowers, not
excluding the proper Lilies. But in that expression, _the Lilies drop
forth Myrrhe_, neither proper Lilies nor proper Myrrhe can be
apprehended, the one not proceeding from the other, but may be received
in a Metaphorical sense: and in some latitude may be also made out from
the roscid and honey drops observable in the Flowers of Martagon, and
inverted flowred Lilies, and, 'tis like, is the standing sweet Dew on
the white eyes of the Crown Imperial, now common among us.
And the proper Lily may be intended in that expression of 1 _Kings_ 7.
that the brazen Sea was of the thickness of a hand breadth, and the brim
like a Lily. For the figure of that Flower being round at the bottom,
and somewhat repandous, or inverted at the top, doth handsomely
illustrate the comparison.
But that the Lily of the Valley, mention'd in the _Canticles_[SN: Cant.
2.], _I am the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Valleys_, is that
Vegetable which passeth under the same name with us, that is _Lilium
convallium_, or the _May_ Lily, you will more hardly believe, who know
with what insatisfaction the most learned Botanists reduce that Plant
unto any described by the Ancients; that _Anguillara_ will have it to be
the _Oenanthe_ of _Athenæus_, _Cordus_ the _Pothos_ of _Theophrastus_;
and _Lobelius_ that the Greeks had not described it; who find not six
Leaves in the Flower agreeably to all Lilies, but onely six small
divisions in the Flower, who find it also to have a single, and no
bulbous Root, nor Leaves shooting about the bottom, nor the Stalk round,
but angular. And that the learned _Bauhinus_ hath not placed it in the
Classis of Lilies, but nervifolious Plants.
[Sidenote: _Fitches_, _Cummin_, &c. _in_ Isa. 28. 25]
18. _Doth he not cast abroad the Fitches, and scatter the Cummin Seed,
and cast in the principal Wheat, and the appointed Barley, and the Rye
in their place_: Herein though the sense may hold under the names
assigned, yet is it not so easie to determine the particular Seeds and
Grains, where the obscure original causeth such differing Translations.
For in the Vulgar we meet with _Milium_ and Gith, which our Translation
declineth, placing Fitches for Gith, and Rye for _Milium_ or Millet,
which notwithstanding is retained by the Dutch.
That it might be _Melanthium_, _Nigella_, or Gith, may be allowably
apprehended, from the frequent use of the Seed thereof among the Jews
and other Nations, as also from the Translation of _Tremellius_; and
the Original implying a black Seed, which is less than Cummin, as, out
of _Aben Ezra_, _Buxtorfius_ hath expounded it.
But whereas _Milium_ or +Kenchros+ of the Septuagint is by ours
rendred Rye, there is little similitude or affinity between those
Grains; For _Milium_ is more agreeable unto _Spelta_ or Espaut, as the
Dutch and others still render it.
That we meet so often with Cummin Seed in many parts of Scripture in
reference unto _Judæa_, a Seed so abominable at present unto our Palates
and Nostrils, will not seem strange unto any who consider the frequent
use thereof among the Ancients, not onely in medical but dietetical use
and practice: For their Dishes were filled therewith, and the noblest
festival preparations in _Apicius_ were not without it: And even in the
_Polenta_, and parched Corn, the old Diet of the Romans, (as _Pliny_
recordeth) unto every Measure they mixed a small proportion of Lin-seed
and Cummin-seed.
And so Cummin is justly set down among things of vulgar and common use,
when it is said in _Matthew_ 23. v. 23. _You pay Tithe of Mint, Annise
and Cummin_: but how to make out the translation of Annise we are still
to seek, there being no word in that Text which properly signifieth
Annise: the Original being +Anêthon+, which the Latins call _Anethum_,
and is properly englished Dill.
That among many expressions, allusions and illustrations made in
Scripture from Corns, there is no mention made of Oats, so usefull a
Grain among us, will not seem very strange unto you, till you can
clearly discover that it was a Grain of ordinary use in those parts; who
may also find that _Theophrastus_, who is large about other Grains,
delivers very little of it. That _Dioscorides_ is also very short
therein. And _Galen_ delivers that it was of some use in _Asia minor_,
especially in _Mysia_, and that rather for Beasts than Men: And _Pliny_
affirmeth that the _Pulticula_ thereof was most in use among the
Germans. Yet that the Jews were not without all use of this Grain seems
confirmable from the Rabbinical account, who reckon five Grains liable
unto their Offerings, whereof the Cake presented might be made; that is,
Wheat, Oats, Rye, and two sorts of Barley.
[Sidenote: _Ears of Corn._ Matt. 12. 1.]
19. Why the Disciples being hungry pluck'd the Ears of Corn, it seems
strange to us, who observe that men half starved betake not themselves
to such supply; except we consider the ancient Diet of _Alphiton_ and
_Polenta_, the Meal of dried and parched Corn, or that which was
+Ômêlysis+, or Meal of crude and unparched Corn, wherewith they being
well acquainted, might hope for some satisfaction from the Corn yet in
the Husk; that is, from the nourishing pulp or mealy part within it.
[Sidenote: _Stubble of_ Ægypt Exod. 5.7, etc.]
20. The inhumane oppression of the Ægyptian Task-masters, who, not
content with the common tale of Brick, took also from the Children of
Israel their allowance of _Straw_, and forced them to gather _Stubble_
where they could find it, will be more nearly apprehended, if we
consider how hard it was to acquire any quantity of Stubble in _Ægypt_,
where the Stalk of Corn was so short, that to acquire an ordinary
measure, it required more than ordinary labour; as is discoverable from
that account, which _Pliny_[193] hath happily left unto us. In the Corn
gather'd in _Ægypt_ the Straw is never a Cubit long: because the Seed
lieth very shallow, and hath no other nourishment than from the Mudd and
Slime left by the River; For under it is nothing but Sand and Gravel.
[193] _Lib. 18. Nat. Hist._
So that the expression of Scripture is more Emphatical than is commonly
apprehended, when 'tis said, _The people were scattered abroad through
all the Land of Ægypt to gather Stubble instead of Straw_. For the
Stubble being very short, the acquist was difficult; a few Fields
afforded it not, and they were fain to wander far to obtain a sufficient
quantity of it.
[Sidenote: _Flowers of the Vine._ Cant. 2. 13.]
21. It is said in the _Song of Solomon_, that _the Vines with the tender
Grape give a good smell_. That the Flowers of the Vine should be
Emphatically noted to give a pleasant smell, seems hard unto our
Northern Nostrils, which discover not such Odours, and smell them not in
full Vineyards; whereas in hot Regions, and more spread and digested
Flowers, a sweet savour may be allowed, denotable from several humane
expressions, and the practice of the Ancients, in putting the dried
Flowers of the Vine into new Wine to give it a pure and flosculous race
or spirit, which Wine was therefore called +Oinathinon+, allowing unto
every _Cadus_ two pounds of dried Flowers.
And, therefore, the Vine flowering but in the Spring, it cannot but seem
an impertinent objection of the Jews, that the Apostles were _full of
new Wine_ at _Pentecost_ when it was not to be found. Wherefore we may
rather conceive that the word +Gleuky+[194] in that place implied
not _new Wine_ or _Must_, but some generous strong and sweet Wine,
wherein more especially lay the power of inebriation.
[194] Acts 2. 13.
But if it be to be taken for some kind of _Must_, it might be some kind
of +Aeigleukos+, or long-lasting _Must_, which might be had at any time
of the year, and which, as _Pliny_ delivereth, they made by hindring,
and keeping the _Must_ from fermentation or working, and so it kept soft
and sweet for no small time after.
[Sidenote: _The Olive Leaf in_ Gen. 8. 11.]
22. When the _Dove_, sent out of the Ark, return'd with _a green Olive
Leaf_, according to the Original: how the Leaf, after ten Months, and
under water, should still maintain a verdure or greenness, need not much
amuse the Reader, if we consider that the Olive Tree is +Aeiphyllon+, or
continually green; that the Leaves are of a bitter taste, and of a fast
and lasting substance. Since we also find fresh and green Leaves among
the Olives which we receive from remote Countries; and since the Plants
at the bottom of the Sea, and on the sides of Rocks, maintain a deep and
fresh verdure.
How the Tree should stand so long in the Deluge under Water, may partly
be allowed from the uncertain determination of the Flows and Currents of
that time, and the qualification of the saltness of the Sea, by the
admixture of fresh Water, when the whole watery Element was together.
And it may be signally illustrated from the like examples in
_Theophrastus_[195] and _Pliny_[196] in words to this effect: Even the
Sea affordeth Shrubs and Trees; In the red Sea whole Woods do live,
namely of Bays and Olives bearing Fruit. The Souldiers of _Alexander_,
who sailed into _India_, made report, that the Tides were so high in
some Islands, that they overflowed, and covered the Woods, as high as
Plane and Poplar Trees. The lower sort wholly, the greater all but the
tops, whereto the Mariners fastned their Vessels at high Waters, and at
the root in the Ebb; That the Leaves of these Sea Trees while under
water looked green, but taken out presently dried with the heat of the
Sun. The like is delivered by _Theophrastus_, that some Oaks do grow and
bear Acrons under the Sea.
[195] Theophrast. _Hist. Lib. 4. Cap. 7. 8._
[196] Plin. _lib. 13. cap. ultimo._
[Sidenote: _Grain of Mustard-seed in S._ Matt 13. 31, 32.]
23. _The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of Mustard-seed, which a
Man took and sowed in his Field, which indeed is the least of all Seeds;
but when 'tis grown is the greatest among Herbs, and becometh a Tree, so
that the Birds of the Air come and lodge in the Branches thereof._
Luke 13. 19. _It is like a grain of Mustard-seed, which a Man took and
cast it into his Garden, and it waxed a great Tree, and the Fowls of the
Air lodged in the Branches thereof._
This expression by a grain of Mustard-seed, will not seem so strange
unto you, who well consider it. That it is simply the least of Seeds,
you cannot apprehend, if you have beheld the Seeds of _Rapunculus_,
Marjorane, Tobacco, and the smallest Seed of _Lunaria_.
But you may well understand it to be the smallest Seed among Herbs which
produce so big a Plant, or the least of herbal Plants, which arise unto
such a proportion, implied in the expression; _the smallest of Seeds_,
and _becometh the greatest of Herbs_.
And you may also grant that it is the smallest of Seeds of Plants apt to
+dendrizein+, _arborescere_, _fruticescere_, or to grow unto a ligneous
substance, and from an herby and oleraceous Vegetable, to become a kind
of Tree, and to be accounted among the _Dendrolachana_, or
_Arboroleracea_; as upon strong Seed, Culture and good Ground, is
observable in some Cabbages, Mallows, and many more, and therefore
expressed by +ginetai to dendron+, and +ginetai eis to dendron+, it
becometh a Tree, or _arborescit_, as _Beza_ rendreth it.
Nor if warily considered doth the expression contain such difficulty.
For the Parable may not ground it self upon generals, or imply any or
every grain of Mustard, but point at such a grain as from its fertile
spirit, and other concurrent advantages, hath the success to become
arboreous, shoot into such a magnitude, and acquire the like tallness.
And unto such a Grain the Kingdom of Heaven is likened which from such
slender beginnings shall find such increase and grandeur.
The expression also that it might grow into such dimensions that Birds
might lodge in the Branches thereof, may be literally conceived; if we
allow the luxuriancy of plants in _Judæa_, above our Northern Regions;
If we accept of but half the Story taken notice of by Tremellius, from
the _Jerusalem Talmud_, of a Mustard Tree that was to be climbed like a
Figg Tree; and of another, under whose shade a Potter daily wrought: and
it may somewhat abate our doubts, if we take in the advertisement of
_Herodotus_ concerning lesser Plants of _Milium_ and _Sesamum_ in the
Babylonian Soil: _Milium ac Sesamum in proceritatem instar arborum
crescere, etsi mihi compertum, tamen memorare supersedeo, probè sciens
cis qui nunquam Babyloniam regionem adierunt perquam incredibile visum
iri._ We may likewise consider that the word +kataskênôsai+ doth
not necessarily signifie _making a Nest_, but rather sitting, roosting,
covering and resting in the Boughs, according as the same word is used
by the _Septuagint_ in other places[197] as the Vulgar rendreth it in
this, _inhabitant_, as our Translation, _lodgeth_, and the Rhemish,
_resteth_ in the Branches.
[197] Dan. 4. 9. Ps. 1. 14. 12.
[Sidenote: _The Rod of_ Aaron. Numb. 17. 8.]
24. _And it came to pass that on the morrow Moses went into the
Tabernacle of witness, and behold the Rod of Aaron for the House of Levi
was budded, and brought forth Buds, and bloomed Blossomes, and yielded
Almonds._ In the contention of the Tribes and decision of priority and
primogeniture of _Aaron_, declared by the Rod, which in a night budded,
flowred and brought forth Almonds, you cannot but apprehend a propriety
in the Miracle from that species of Tree which leadeth in the Vernal
germination of the year, unto all the Classes of Trees; and so apprehend
how properly in a night and short space of time the Miracle arose, and
somewhat answerable unto its nature the Flowers and Fruit appeared in
this precocious Tree, and whose original Name[198] implies such speedy
efflorescence, as in its proper nature flowering in _February_, and
shewing its Fruit in _March_.
[198] Sbacher _from_ Sbachar festinus fuit _or_ maturuit.
This consideration of that Tree maketh the expression in _Jeremy_[SN:
Jer. 1. 11.] more Emphatical, when 'tis said, _What seest thou? and he
said, A Rod of an Almond Tree. Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast
well seen, for I will hasten the Word to perform it._ I will be quick
and forward like the Almond Tree, to produce the effects of my word, and
hasten to display my judgments upon them.
And we may hereby more easily apprehend the expression in _Ecclesiastes_
[SN: Eccles. 12. 5.]; _When the Almond Tree shall flourish_. That is
when the Head, which is the prime part, and first sheweth it self in the
world, shall grow white, like the Flowers of the Almond Tree, whose
Fruit, as _Athenæus_ delivereth, was first called +Karênon+, or the
Head, from some resemblance and covering parts of it.
How properly the priority was confirmed by a Rod or Staff, and why the
Rods and Staffs of the Princes were chosen for this decision,
Philologists will consider. For these were the badges, signs and
cognisances of their places, and were a kind of Sceptre in their hands,
denoting their supereminencies. The Staff of Divinity is ordinarily
described in the hands of Gods and Goddesses in old draughts. Trojan and
Grecian Princes were not without the like, whereof the Shoulders of
_Thersites_ felt from the hands of _Ulysses_. _Achilles_ in _Homer_, as
by a desperate Oath, swears by his wooden Sceptre, which should never
bud nor bear Leaves again; which seeming the greatest impossibility to
him, advanceth the Miracle of _Aaron's_ Rod. And if it could be well
made out that _Homer_ had seen the Books of _Moses_, in that expression
of _Achilles_, he might allude unto this Miracle.
That power which proposed the experiment by Blossomes in the Rod, added
also the Fruit of Almonds; the Text not strictly making out the Leaves,
and so omitting the middle germination: the Leaves properly coming after
the Flowers, and before the Almonds. And therefore if you have well
perused Medals, you cannot but observe how in the impress of many
Shekels, which pass among us by the name of the _Jerusalem_ Shekels, the
Rod of _Aaron_ is improperly laden with many Leaves, whereas that which
is shewn under the name of the Samaritan Shekel seems most conformable
unto the Text, which describeth the Fruit without Leaves.
[Sidenote: _The Vine in_ Gen. 49. 11.]
25. _Binding his Foal unto the Vine, and his Asses Colt unto the choice
Vine._
That Vines, which are commonly supported, should grow so large and
bulky, as to be fit to fasten their Juments, and Beasts of labour unto
them, may seem a hard expression unto many: which notwithstanding may
easily be admitted, if we consider the account of _Pliny_, that in many
places out of _Italy_ Vines do grow without any stay or support: nor
will it be otherwise conceived of lusty Vines, if we call to mind how
the same Authour[199] delivereth, that the _Statua_ of _Jupiter_ was
made out of a Vine; and that out of one single Cyprian Vine a Scale or
Ladder was made that reached unto the Roof of the Temple of _Diana_ at
_Ephesus_.
[199] Plin. _lib. 14._
[Sidenote: _Rose of_ Jericho. Ecclus. 24. 14.]
26. _I was exalted as a Palm Tree in Engaddi, and as a Rose Plant in
Jericho._ That the Rose of _Jericho_, or that Plant which passeth among
us under that denomination, was signified in this Text, you are not like
to apprehend with some, who also name it the _Rose of S. Mary_, and
deliver, that it openeth the Branches, and Flowers upon the Eve of our
Saviour's Nativity: But rather conceive it some proper kind of Rose,
which thrived and prospered in _Jericho_ more than in the neighbour
Countries. For our Rose of _Jericho_ is a very low and hard Plant, a few
inches above the ground; one whereof brought from _Judæa_ I have kept by
me many years, nothing resembling a Rose Tree, either in Flowers,
Branches, Leaves or Growth; and so, improper to answer the Emphatical
word of exaltation in the Text: growing not only about _Jericho_, but
other parts of _Judæa_ and _Arabia_, as _Bellonius_ hath observed: which
being a drie and ligneous Plant, is preserved many years, and though
crumpled and furdled up, yet, if infused in Water, will swell and
display its parts.
[Sidenote: _Turpentine Tree in_ Ecclus. 24. 16.]
27. _Quasi Terebinthus extendi ramos_, when it is said in the same
Chapter, _as a Turpentine Tree have I stretched out my Branches_: it
will not seem strange unto such as have either seen that Tree, or
examined its description: For it is a Plant that widely displayeth its
Branches: and though in some European Countries it be but of a low and
fruticeous growth, yet _Pliny_[200] observeth that it is great in
_Syria_, and so allowably, or at least not improperly mentioned in the
expression of _Hosea_[201] according to the Vulgar Translation. _Super
capita montium sacrificant,_ etc. _sub quercu, populo et terebintho,
quoniam bona est umbra ejus._ And this diffusion and spreading of its
Branches, hath afforded the Proverb of _Terebintho stultior_, applicable
unto arrogant or boasting persons, who spread and display their own
acts, as _Erasmus_ hath observed.
[200] Terebinthus in Macedonia fruticat, in Syria, magna est. _Lib. 13._
Plin.
[201] Hosea. 4. 13.
[Sidenote: _Pomegranate in_ 1 Sam. 14. 2.]
28. It is said in our Translation. _Saul tarried in the uppermost parts
of Gibeah, under a Pomegranate Tree which is in Migron: and the people
which were with him were about six hundred men._ And when it is said in
some Latin Translations, _Saul morabatur fixo tentorio sub Malogranato_,
you will not be ready to take in the common literal sense, who know that
a Pomegranate Tree is but low of growth, and very unfit to pitch a Tent
under it; and may rather apprehend it as the name of a place, or the
Rock of _Rimmon_, or Pomegranate; so named from Pomegranates which grew
there, and which many think to have been the same place mentioned in
_Judges_.[202]
[202] Judges 20. 45, 47. _Ch._ 21. 13.
[Sidenote: _A Green Field in_ Wisd. 19. 7.]
29. It is said in the Book of _Wisedom_, _Where water stood before, drie
land appeared, and out of the red Sea a way appeared without impediment,
and out of the violent streams a green Field_; or as the Latin renders
it, _Campus germinans de profundo_: whereby it seems implied that the
Israelites passed over a green Field at the bottom of the Sea: and
though most would have this but a Metaphorical expression, yet may it be
literally tolerable; and so may be safely apprehended by those that
sensibly know what great number of Vegetables (as the several varieties
of _Alga's_, _Sea Lettuce_, _Phasganium_, _Conferua_, _Caulis Marina_,
_Abies_, _Erica_, _Tamarice_, divers sorts of _Muscus_, _Fucus_,
_Quercus Marina_ and _Corallins_) are found at the bottom of the Sea.
Since it is also now well known, that the Western Ocean, for many
degrees, is covered with _Sargasso_ or _Lenticula Marina_, and found to
arise from the bottom of that Sea; since, upon the coast of _Provence_
by the Isles of _Eres_, there is a part of the _Mediterranean Sea_,
called _la Prairie_, or the _Meadowy Sea_, from the bottom thereof so
plentifully covered with Plants: since vast heaps of Weeds are found in
the Bellies of some Whales taken in the Northern Ocean, and at a great
distance from the Shore: And since the providence of Nature hath
provided this shelter for minor Fishes; both for their spawn, and safety
of their young ones. And this might be more peculiarly allowed to be
spoken of the Red Sea, since the Hebrews named it _Suph_, or the _Weedy
Sea_: and, also, seeing _Theophrastus_ and _Pliny_, observing the growth
of Vegetables under water, have made their chief illustrations from
those in the Red Sea.
[Sidenote: _Sycamore._]
30. You will readily discover how widely they are mistaken, who accept
the Sycamore mention'd in several parts of Scripture for the Sycamore,
or Tree of that denomination, with us: which is properly but one kind or
difference of _Acer_, and bears no Fruit with any resemblance unto a
Figg.
But you will rather, thereby, apprehend the true and genuine Sycamore,
or _Sycaminus_, which is a stranger in our parts. A Tree (according to
the description of _Theophrastus_, _Dioscorides_ and _Galen_) resembling
a Mulberry Tree in the Leaf, but in the Fruit a Figg; which it produceth
not in the Twiggs but in the Trunck or greater Branches, answerable to
the Sycamore of _Ægypt_, the Ægyptian Figg or Giamez of the Arabians,
described by _Prosper Alpinus_, with a Leaf somewhat broader than a
Mulberry, and in its Fruit like a Figg. Insomuch that some have fancied
it to have had its first production from a Figg Tree grafted on a
Mulberry.
It is a Tree common in _Judæa_, whereof they made frequent use in
Buildings; and so understood, it explaineth that expression in
_Isaiah_:[203] _Sycamori excisi sunt, Cedros substituemus. The Bricks
are fallen down, we will build with hewen Stones: The Sycamores are cut
down, but we will change them into Cedars._
[203] Isa. 9. 10
It is a broad spreading Tree, not onely fit for Walks, Groves and Shade,
but also affording profit. And therefore it is said that King
_David_[204] appointed _Baalhanan_ to be over his Olive Trees and
Sycamores, which were in great plenty; and it is accordingly
delivered,[205] that _Solomon made Cedars to be as the Sycamore Trees
that are in the Vale for abundance_. That is, he planted many, though
they did not come to perfection in his days.
[204] 1 Chron. 27. 28.
[205] 1 King. 10. 27.
And as it grew plentifully about the Plains, so was the Fruit good for
Food; and, as _Bellonius_ and late accounts deliver, very refreshing
unto Travellers in those hot and drie Countries: whereby the expression
of _Amos_[206] becomes more intelligible, when he said he was _an
Herdsman, and a gatherer of Sycamore Fruit_. And the expression of
_David_[207] also becomes more Emphatical; _He destroyed their Vines
with Hail, and their Sycamore Trees with Frost_. That is, their
_Sicmoth_ in the Original, a word in the sound not far from the
Sycamore.
[206] Amos 7. 14.
[207] Psal. 78 47.
Thus when it is said,[208] _If ye had Faith as a grain of Mustard-seed,
ye might say unto this Sycamine Tree, Be thou plucked up by the roots,
and be thou placed in the Sea, and it should obey you_: it might be more
significantly spoken of this Sycamore; this being described to be _Arbor
vasta_, a large and well rooted Tree, whose removal was more difficult
than many others. And so the instance in that Text, is very properly
made in the Sycamore Tree, one of the largest and less removable Trees
among them. A Tree so lasting and well rooted, that the Sycamore which
_Zacheus_ ascended, is still shewn in _Judæa_ unto Travellers; as also
the hollow Sycamore at _Maturæa_ in _Ægypt_, where the blessed Virgin is
said to have remained: which though it relisheth of the Legend, yet it
plainly declareth what opinion they had of the lasting condition of that
Tree, to countenance the Tradition; for which they might not be without
some experience, since the learned describer of the _Pyramides_[209]
observeth, that the old Ægyptians made Coffins of this Wood, which he
found yet fresh and undecayed among divers of their Mummies.
[208] Luk. 17. 6.
[209] D. Greaves.
And thus, also, when _Zacheus_ climbed up into a Sycamore above any
other Tree, this being a large and fair one, it cannot be denied that he
made choice of a proper and advantageous Tree to look down upon our
Saviour.
[Sidenote: _Increase of Seed 100. fold in_ Matt. 13. 23.]
31. Whether the expression of our Saviour in the Parable of the Sower,
and the increase of the Seed _unto thirty, sixty and a hundred fold_,
had any reference unto the ages of Believers, and measures of their
Faith, as Children, Young and Old Persons, as to beginners, well
advanced and strongly confirmed Christians, as learned men have hinted;
or whether in this progressional assent there were any latent Mysteries,
as the mystical Interpreters of Numbers may apprehend, I pretend not to
determine.
But, how this multiplication may well be conceived, and in what way
apprehended, and that this centesimal increase is not naturally strange,
you that are no stranger in Agriculture, old and new, are not like to
make great doubt.
That every Grain should produce an Ear affording an hundred Grains, is
not like to be their conjecture who behold the growth of Corn in our
Fields, wherein a common Grain doth produce far less in number. For
barley consisting but of two _Versus_ or Rows, seldom exceedeth twenty
Grains, that is, ten upon each +Stoichos+, or Row; Rye, of a square
figure, is very fruitfull at forty: Wheat, besides the _Frit_ and
_Uruncus_, or imperfect Grains of the small Husks at the top and bottom
of the Ear, is fruitfull at ten treble _Glumæ_ or Husks in a Row, each
containing but three Grains in breadth, if the middle Grain arriveth at
all to perfection; and so maketh up threescore Grains in both sides.
Yet even this centesimal fructification may be admitted in some sorts of
_Cerealia_, and Grains from one Ear: if we take in the _Triticum
centigranum_, or _fertilissimum Plinii_, Indian Wheat, and _Panicum_;
which, in every Ear, containeth hundreds of Grains.
But this increase may easily be conceived of Grains in their total
multiplication, in good and fertile ground, since, if every Grain of
Wheat produceth but three Ears, the increase will arise above that
number. Nor are we without examples of some grounds which have produced
many more Ears, and above this centesimal increase: As _Pliny_ hath left
recorded of the _Byzacian_ Field in _Africa_. _Misit ex eo loco
Procurator ex uno quadraginta minus germina. Misit et Neroni pariter
tercentum quadraginta stipulos, ex uno grano. Cum centessimos quidem
Leontini Siciliæ campi fundunt, aliique, et tota Boetica, et imprimis
Ægyptus._ And even in our own Country, from one Grain of Wheat sowed in
a Garden, I have numbred many more than an hundred.
And though many Grains are commonly lost which come not to sprouting or
earing, yet the same is also verified in measure; as that one Bushel
should produce a hundred, as is exemplified by the Corn in _Gerar_;[210]
_Then Isaac sowed in that Land, and received in that year an hundred
fold_. That is, as the Chaldee explaineth it, _a hundred for one_, when
he measured it. And this _Pliny_ seems to intend, when he saith of the
fertile Byzacian Territory before mentioned, _Ex uno centeni
quinquaginta modii redduntur_. And may be favourably apprehended of the
fertility of some grounds in _Poland_; wherein, after the account of
_Gaguinus_, from Rye sowed in _August_, come thirty or forty Ears, and a
Man on Horseback can scarce look over it. In the Sabbatical Crop of
_Judæa_, there must be admitted a large increase, and probably not short
of this centesimal multiplication: For it supplied part of the sixth
year, the whole seventh, and eighth untill the Harvest of that year.
[210] Gen. 26. 12.
The _seven years of plenty in Ægypt_ must be of high increase; when, by
storing up but the fifth part, they supplied the whole Land, and many of
their neighbours after: for it is said,[211] the Famine was in all the
Land about them. And therefore though the causes of the Dearth in
_Ægypt_ be made out from the defect of the overflow of _Nilus_,
according to the Dream of _Pharaoh_; yet was that no cause of the
scarcity of the Land of _Canaan_, which may rather be ascribed to the
want of the former and latter rains, for some succeeding years, if their
Famine held time and duration with that of _Ægypt_; as may be probably
gather'd from that expression of _Joseph_,[212] _Come down unto me [into
Ægypt] and tarry not, and there will I nourish you: (for yet there are
five years of Famine) lest thou and thy Household, and all that thou
hast come to poverty_.
[211] Gen. 41. 56.
[212] Gen. 45. 9, 11.
How they preserved their Corn so long in _Ægypt_ may seem hard unto
Northern and moist Climates, except we consider the many ways of
preservation practised by antiquity, and also take in that handsome
account of _Pliny_; What Corn soever is laid up in the Ear, it taketh no
harm keep it as long as you will; although the best and most assured way
to keep Corn is in Caves and Vaults under ground, according to the
practice of _Cappadocia_ and _Thracia_.
In _Ægypt_ and _Mauritania_ above all things they look to this, that
their Granaries stand on high ground; and how drie so ever their Floor
be, they lay a course of Chaff betwixt it and the ground. Besides, they
put up their Corn in Granaries and Binns together with the Ear. And
_Varro_ delivereth that Wheat laid up in that manner will last fifty
years; Millet an hundred; and Beans so conserved in a Cave of
_Ambracia_, were known to last an hundred and twenty years; that is,
from the time of King _Pyrrhus_, unto the Pyratick War under the conduct
of _Pompey_.
More strange it may seem how, after seven years, the Grains conserved
should be fruitfull for a new production. For it is said that _Joseph
delivered Seed unto the Ægyptians, to sow their Land for the eighth
year_: and Corn after seven years is like to afford little or no
production, according to _Theophrastus_;[213] _Ad Sementem semen
anniculum optimum putatur, binum deterius et trinum; ultra sterile fermè
est, quanquam ad usum cibarium idoneum_.
[213] Theoph. _Hist. l. 8_.
Yet since, from former exemplifications, Corn may be made to last so
long, the fructifying power may well be conceived to last in some good
proportion, according to the region and place of its conservation, as
the same _Theophrastus_ hath observed, and left a notable example from
_Cappadocia_, where Corn might be kept sixty years, and remain fertile
at forty; according to his expression thus translated; _In Cappadociæ
loco quodam petra dicto, triticum ad quadraginta annos foecundum est,
at ad sementem percommodum durare proditum est, sexagenos aut
septuagenos ad usum cibarium servari posse idoneum._ The situation of
that Conservatory, was, as he delivereth, +hipsêlon, eupnoun, euauron+,
_high, airy and exposed to several favourable winds_. And upon such
consideration of winds and ventilation, some conceive the Ægyptian
Granaries were made open, the Country being free from rain. Howsoever it
was, that contrivance could not be without some hazard:[214] for the
great Mists and Dews of that Country might dispose the Corn unto
corruption.
[214] Ægypt +homichlôdês, kai droseros+ _Vid._ Theophrastum
More plainly may they mistake, who from some analogy of name (as if
_Pyramid_ were derived from +Pyron+, _Triticum_), conceive the
Ægyptian Pyramids to have been built for Granaries; or look for any
settled Monuments about the Desarts erected for that intention; since
their Store-houses were made in the great Towns, according to Scripture
expression,[215] _He gathered up all the Food of seven years, which was
in the Land of Ægypt, and laid up the Food in the Cities: the Food of
the Field which was round about every City, laid he up in the same_.
[215] Gen. 41. 48.
[Sidenote: _Olive Tree in_ Rom. 11. 24.]
32. _For if thou wert cut out of the Olive Tree, which is wild by
nature, and wert grafted, contrary to nature, into a good Olive Tree,
how much more shall these, which be the natural Branches, be grafted
into their own Olive Tree?_ In which place, how answerable to the
Doctrine of Husbandry this expression of S. _Paul_ is, you will readily
apprehend who understand the rules of insition or grafting, and that way
of vegetable propagation; wherein that is contrary to nature, or natural
rules which Art observeth: _viz._ to make use of a Cyons more ignoble
than the Stock, or to graft wild upon domestick and good Plants,
according as _Theophrastus_[216] hath anciently observed, and, making
instance in the Olive, hath left this Doctrine unto us; _Urbanum
Sylvestribus ut satis Oleastris inserere. Nam si è contrario Sylvestrem
in Urbanos severis, etsi differentia quædam erit, tamen[217] bonæ frugis
Arbor nunquam profecto reddetur_: which is also agreeable unto our
present practice, who graft Pears on Thorns, and Apples upon Crabb
Stocks, not using the contrary insition. And when it is said, _How much
more shall these, which are the natural Branches, be grafted into their
own natural Olive Tree?_ this is also agreeable unto the rule of the
same Author; +Esti de beltiôn enkentrismos, homoiôn eis homoia+,
_Insitio melior est similium in similibus_: For the nearer consanguinity
there is between the Cyons and the Stock, the readier comprehension is
made, and the nobler fructification. According also unto the later
caution of _Laurenbergius_;[218] _Arbores domesticæ insitioni destinatæ,
semper anteponendæ Sylvestribus_. And though the success be good, and
may suffice upon Stocks of the same denomination; yet, to be grafted
upon their own and Mother Stock, is the nearest insition: which way,
though less practised of old, is now much imbraced, and found a notable
way for melioration of the Fruit; and much the rather, if the Tree to be
grafted on be a good and generous Plant, a good and fair Olive, as the
Apostle seems to imply by a peculiar word[219] scarce to be found
elsewhere.
[216] De causis Plant. _Lib. 1. Cap. 7_.
[217] +Kallikarpein ouk exei+.
[218] De horticultura.
[219] +Kallielaion+ Rom. 11. 42.
It must be also considered, that the _Oleaster_, or wild Olive, by
cutting, transplanting and the best managery of Art, can be made but to
produce such Olives as (_Theophrastus_ saith) were particularly named
_Phaulia_, that is, but _bad Olives_; and that it was reckon'd among
Prodigies, for the _Oleaster_ to become an Olive Tree.
And when insition and grafting, in the Text, is applied unto the Olive
Tree, it hath an Emphatical sense, very agreeable unto that Tree which
is best propagated this way; not at all by surculation, as
_Theophrastus_ observeth, nor well by Seed, as hath been observed. _Omne
semen simile genus perficit, præter oleam, Oleastrum enim generat, hoc
est sylvestrem oleam, et non oleam veram._
"If, therefore, thou Roman and Gentile Branch, which wert cut from the
wild Olive, art now, by the signal mercy of God, beyond the ordinary and
commonly expected way, grafted into the true Olive, the Church of God;
if thou, which neither naturally nor by humane art canst be made to
produce any good Fruit, and, next to a Miracle, to be made a true Olive,
art now by the benignity of God grafted into the proper Olive; how much
more shall the Jew, and natural Branch, be grafted into its genuine and
mother Tree, wherein propinquity of nature is like, so readily and
prosperously, to effect a coalition? And this more especially by the
expressed way of insition or implantation, the Olive being not
successfully propagable by Seed, nor at all by surculation."
[Sidenote: _Stork nesting on Firre Trees in_ Psal. 104. 17.]
33. _As for the Stork, the Firre Trees are her House._ This expression,
in our Translation, which keeps close to the Original _Chasidah_, is
somewhat different from the Greek and Latin Translation; nor agreeable
unto common observation, whereby they are known commonly to build upon
Chimneys, or the tops of Houses, and high Buildings, which
notwithstanding, the common Translation may clearly consist with
observation, if we consider that this is commonly affirmed of the black
Stork, and take notice of the description of _Ornithologus_ in
_Aldrovandus_, that such Storks are often found in divers parts, and
that they do _in Arboribus nidulari, præsertim in abietibus_; Make their
Nests on Trees, especially upon Firre Trees. Nor wholly disagreeing unto
the practice of the common white Stork, according unto _Varro_,
_nidulantur in agris_: and the concession of _Aldrovandus_ that
sometimes they build on Trees: and the assertion of _Bellonius_,[220]
that men dress them Nests, and place Cradles upon high Trees, in Marish
regions, that Storks may breed upon them: which course some observe for
Herns and Cormorants with us. And this building of Storks upon Trees,
may be also answerable unto the original and natural way of building of
Storks before the political habitations of men, and the raising of
Houses and high Buildings; before they were invited by such conveniences
and prepared Nests, to relinquish their natural places of nidulation. I
say, before or where such advantages are not ready; when Swallows found
other places than Chimneys, and Daws found other places than holes in
high Fabricks to build in.
[220] Bellonius _de Avibus_.
[Sidenote: _Balm, in_ Gen. 43. 11.]
34. _And, therefore, Israel said carry down the man a present, a little
Balm, a little Honey, and Myrrhe, Nuts and Almonds._ Now whether this,
which _Jacob_ sent, were the proper Balsam extolled by humane Writers,
you cannot but make some doubt, who find the Greek Translation to be
+Rhêtinê+, that is, _Resina_, and so may have some suspicion that
it might be some pure distillation from the Turpentine Tree, which grows
prosperously and plentifully in _Judæa_, and seems so understood by the
Arabick; and was indeed esteemed by _Theophrastus_ and _Dioscorides_,
the chiefest of resinous Bodies, and the word _Resina_ Emphatically used
for it.
That the Balsam Plant hath grown and prospered in _Judæa_ we believe
without dispute. For the same is attested by _Theophrastus_, _Pliny_,
_Justinus_, and many more; from the commendation that _Galen_ affordeth
of the Balsam of _Syria_, and the story of _Cleopatra_, that she
obtain'd some Plants of Balsam from _Herod_ the Great to transplant into
_Ægypt_. But whether it was so anciently in _Judæa_ as the time of
_Jacob_; nay, whether this Plant was here before the time of _Solomon_,
that great collectour of Vegetable rarities, some doubt may be made from
the account of _Josephus_, that the Queen of _Sheba_, a part of
_Arabia_, among presents unto _Solomon_, brought some Plants of the
Balsam Tree, as one of the peculiar estimables of her Country.
Whether this ever had its natural growth, or were an original native
Plant of _Judæa_, much more that it was peculiar unto that Country, a
greater doubt may arise: while we reade in _Pausanias_, _Strabo_ and
_Diodorus,_ that it grows also in _Arabia_, and find in
_Theophrastus_,[221] that it grew in two Gardens about _Jericho_ in
_Judæa_. And more especially whiles we seriously consider that notable
discourse between _Abdella_, _Abdachim_ and _Alpinus_, concluding the
natural and original place of this singular Plant to be in _Arabia_,
about _Mecha_ and _Medina_, where it still plentifully groweth, and
Mountains abound therein. From whence it hath been carefully
transplanted by the _Basha's_ of _Grand Cairo_, into the Garden of
_Matarea_; where, when it dies, it is repaired again from those parts of
_Arabia_, from whence the _Grand Signior_ yearly receiveth a present of
Balsam from the _Xeriff_ of _Mecha_, still called by the Arabians
_Balessan_; whence they believe arose the Greek appellation _Balsam_.
And since these Balsam-plants are not now to be found in _Judæa_, and
though purposely cultivated, are often lost in _Judæa_, but
everlastingly live, and naturally renew in _Arabia_; They probably
concluded, that those of _Judæa_ were foreign and transplanted from
these parts.
[221] Theophrast. _l. 9. c. 6_.
All which notwithstanding, since the same Plant may grow naturally and
spontaneously in several Countries, and either from inward or outward
causes be lost in one Region, while it continueth and subsisteth in
another, the Balsam Tree might possibly be a native of _Judæa_ as well
as of _Arabia_; which because _de facto_ it cannot be clearly made out,
the ancient expressions of Scripture become doubtfull in this point. But
since this Plant hath not, for a long time, grown in _Judæa_, and still
plentifully prospers in _Arabia_, that which now comes in pretious
parcels to us, and still is called the Balsam of _Judæa_, may now
surrender its name, and more properly be called the Balsam of _Arabia_.
[Sidenote: _Barley Flax, &c. in_ Exod. 9. 31.]
35. _And the Flax and the Barley was smitten; for the Barley was in the
Ear, and the Flax was bolled, but the Wheat and the Rye was not smitten,
for they were not grown up._[222] How the Barley and the Flax should be
smitten in the plague of Hail in _Ægypt_, and the Wheat and Rye escape,
because they were not yet grown up, may seem strange unto English
observers, who call Barley Summer Corn sown so many months after Wheat,
and, beside _hordeum Polystichon_, or big Barley, sowe not Barley in the
Winter, to anticipate the growth of Wheat.
[222] Linum folliculos germinavit, +spermatizon+ _Septuag._ Serotina,
_Lat._ +opsima+, _Gr._
And the same may also seem a preposterous expression unto all who do
not consider the various Agriculture, and different Husbandry of
Nations, and such as was practised in _Ægypt_, and fairly proved to have
been also used in _Judæa_, wherein their Barley Harvest was before that
of Wheat; as is confirmable from that expression in _Ruth_, that she
_came into Bethlehem at the beginning of Barley Harvest_, and staid unto
the end of Wheat Harvest; from the death of _Manasses_ the Father of
_Judith_, Emphatically expressed to have happened in the Wheat Harvest,
and more advanced heat of the Sun; and from the custom of the Jews, to
offer the Barley Sheaf of the first fruits in _March_, and a Cake of
Wheat Flower but at the end of _Pentecost_. Consonant unto the practice
of the Ægyptians, who (as _Theophrastus_ delivereth) sowed their Barley
early in reference to their first Fruits; and also the common rural
practice, recorded by the same Authour, _Maturè seritur Triticum,
Hordeum, quod etiam maturius seritur; Wheat and Barley are sowed early,
but Barley earlier of the two_.
Flax was also an early Plant, as may be illustrated from the neighbour
Country of _Canaan_. For the Israelites kept the Passover in _Gilgal_ in
the fourteenth day of the first Month, answering unto part of our
_March_, having newly passed _Jordan_: And the Spies which were sent
from _Shittim_ unto _Jericho_, not many days before, were hid by _Rahab_
under the stalks of Flax, which lay drying on the top of her House;
which sheweth that the Flax was already and newly gathered. For this was
the first preparation of Flax, and before fluviation or rotting, which,
after _Pliny's_ account, was after Wheat Harvest.
_But the Wheat and the Rye were not smitten, for they were not grown
up._ The Original signifies that it was _hidden_, or _dark_, the Vulgar
and Septuagint that it was _serotinous_ or _late_, and our old
Translation that it was _late sown_. And so the expression and
interposition of _Moses_, who well understood the Husbandry of _Ægypt_,
might Emphatically declare the state of Wheat and Rye in that particular
year; and if so, the same is solvable from the time of the floud of
_Nilus_, and the measure of its inundation. For if it were very high,
and over-drenching the ground, they were forced to later Seed-time; and
so the Wheat and the Rye escaped; for they were more slowly growing
Grains, and, by reason of the greater inundation of the River, were sown
later than ordinary that year, especially in the Plains near the River,
where the ground drieth latest.
Some think the plagues of _Ægypt_ were acted in one Month, others but in
the compass of twelve. In the delivery of Scripture there is no account,
of what time of the year or particular Month they fell out; but the
account of these grains, which were either smitten or escaped, make the
plague of Hail to have probably hapned in _February_: This may be
collected from the new and old account of the Seed time and Harvest in
_Ægypt_. For, according to the account of _Radzevil_,[223] the river
rising in _June_, and the Banks being cut in _September_, they sow about
S. _Andrews_, when the Floud is retired, and the moderate driness of the
ground permitteth. So that the Barley anticipating the Wheat, either in
time of sowing or growing, might be in Ear in _February_.
[223] Radzevil's _Travels_.
The account of _Pliny_[224] is little different. They cast the Seed upon
the Slime and Mudd when the River is down, which commonly happeneth in
the beginning of _November_. They begin to reap and cut down a little
before the Calends of _April_, about the middle of _March_, and in the
Month of _May_ their Harvest is in. So that Barley anticipating Wheat,
it might be in Ear in _February_, and Wheat not yet grown up, at least
to the Spindle or Ear, to be destroyed by the Hail. For they cut down
about the middle of _March_, at least their forward Corns, and in the
Month of _May_ all sorts of Corns were in.
[224] Plin. _lib. 18. cap. 18_.
The _turning of the River into Bloud_ shews in what Month this happened
not. That is, not when the River had overflown; for it is said, _the
Ægyptians digged round about the River for Water to drink_, which they
could not have done, if the River had been out, and the Fields under
Water.
In the same Text you cannot, without some hesitation, pass over the
translation of Rye, which the Original nameth _Cassumeth_, the Greek
rendreth _Olyra_, the French and Dutch _Spelta_, the Latin _Zea_, and
not _Secale_ the known word for Rye. But this common Rye so well
understood at present, was not distinctly described, or not well known
from early Antiquity. And therefore, in this uncertainty, some have
thought it to have been the _Typha_ of the Ancients. _Cordus_ will have
it to be _Olyra_, and _Ruellius_ some kind of _Oryza_. But having no
vulgar and well known name for those Grains, we warily embrace an
appellation of near affinity, and tolerably render it _Rye_.
While Flax, Barley, Wheat and Rye are named, some may wonder why no
mention is made of Ryce, wherewith, at present, _Ægypt_ so much
aboundeth. But whether that Plant grew so early in that Country, some
doubt may be made: for Ryce is originally a Grain of _India_, and might
not then be transplanted into _Ægypt_.
[Sidenote: _Sheaves of Grass, in_ Psal. 12. 6, 7.]
36. _Let them become as the Grass growing upon the House top, which
withereth before it be plucked up, whereof the mower filleth not his
hand, nor he that bindeth Sheaves his bosome._ Though the _filling of
the hand_, and mention of _Sheaves of Hay_, may seem strange unto us,
who use neither handfulls nor Sheaves in that kind of Husbandry, yet may
it be properly taken, and you are not like to doubt thereof, who may
find the like expressions in the Authours _de Re rustica_, concerning
the old way of this Husbandry.
_Columella_,[225] delivering what Works were not to be permitted upon
the Roman _Feriæ_, or Festivals, among others sets down, that upon such
days, it was not lawfull to carry or bind up Hay, _nec foenum vincire
nec vehere, per religiones Ponteficum licet_.
[225] Columella _lib. 2 cap. 22_.
_Marcus Varro_[226] is more particular; _Primum de pratis herbarum cum
crescere desiit, subsecari falcibus debet, et quoad peracescat furcillis
versari, cum peracuit, de his manipulos fieri et vehi in villam_.
[226] Varro _lib. 1. cap. 49_.
And their course of mowing seems somewhat different from ours. For they
cut not down clear at once, but used an after section, which they
peculiarly called _Sicilitium_, according as the word is expounded by
_Georgius Alexandrinus_, and _Beroaldus_ after _Pliny_; _Sicilire est
falcibus consectari quæ foenisecæ præterierunt, aut ea secare quæ
foenisecæ præterierunt_.
[Sidenote: _Juniper Tree, in_ 1 King. 19. 5, etc.]
37. When 'tis said that _Elias_ lay and slept under a Juniper Tree,
some may wonder how that Tree, which in our parts groweth but low and
shrubby, should afford him shade and covering. But others know that
there is a lesser and a larger kind of that Vegetable; that it makes a
Tree in its proper soil and region. And may find in _Pliny_ that in the
Temple of _Diana Saguntina_ in _Spain_, the Rafters were made of
Juniper.
In that expression of _David_,[227] _Sharp Arrows of the mighty, with
Coals of Juniper_; Though Juniper be left out in the last Translation,
yet may there be an Emphatical sense from that word; since Juniper
abounds with a piercing Oil, and makes a smart Fire. And the rather, if
that quality be half true, which _Pliny_ affirmeth, that the Coals of
Juniper raked up will keep a glowing Fire for the space of a year. For
so the expression will Emphatically imply, not onely the _smart burning,
but the lasting fire of their malice_.
[227] Psal. 120. 4.
That passage of _Job_,[228] wherein he complains that poor and half
famished fellows despised him, is of greater difficulty; _For want and
famine they were solitary, they cut up Mallows by the Bushes, and
Juniper roots for meat_. Wherein we might at first doubt the
Translation, not onely from the Greek Text but the assertion of
_Dioscorides_, who affirmeth that the roots of Juniper are of a venomous
quality. But _Scaliger_ hath disproved the same from the practice of the
African Physicians, who use the decoction of Juniper roots against the
Venereal Disease. The Chaldee reads it _Genista_, or some kind of Broom,
which will be also unusual and hard Diet, except thereby we understand
the _Orobanche_, or Broom Rape, which groweth from the roots of Broom;
and which, according to _Dioscorides_, men used to eat raw or boiled in
the manner of _Asparagus_.
[228] Job 30. 3, 4.
And, therefore, this expression doth highly declare the misery, poverty
and extremity of the persons who were now mockers of him; they being so
contemptible and necessitous, that they were fain to be content, not
with a mean Diet, but such as was no Diet at all, the roots of Trees,
the roots of Juniper, which none would make use of for Food, but in the
lowest necessity, and some degree of famishing.
[Sidenote: _Scarlet Tincture, in_ Gen. 38. 28. Exod. 25. 4, etc.]
38. While some have disputed whether _Theophrastus_ knew the Scarlet
Berry, others may doubt whether that noble tincture were known unto the
Hebrews, which notwithstanding seems clear from the early and iterated
expressions of Scripture concerning the Scarlet Tincture, and is the
less to be doubted because the Scarlet Berry grew plentifully in the
Land of _Canaan_, and so they were furnished with the Materials of that
Colour. For though _Dioscorides_ saith it groweth in _Armenia_ and
_Cappadocia_, yet that it also grew in _Judæa_, seems more than probable
from the account of _Bellonius_, who observed it to be so plentifull in
that Country, that it afforded a profitable Commodity, and great
quantity thereof was transported by the Venetian Merchants.
How this should be fitly expressed by the word _Tolagnoth_, _Vermis_, or
_Worm_, may be made out from _Pliny_, who calls it _Coccus Scolecius_,
or the _Wormy Berry_; as also from the name of that Colour called
_Vermilion_, or the _Worm Colour_; and which is also answerable unto the
true nature of it. For this is no proper Berry containing the
fructifying part, but a kind of Vessicular excrescence, adhering
commonly to the Leaf of the _Ilex Coccigera_, or dwarf and small kind of
Oak, whose Leaves are always green, and its proper seminal parts
Acrons. This little Bagg containeth a red Pulp, which, if not timely
gathered, or left to it self, produceth small red Flies, and partly a
red powder, both serviceable unto the tincture. And therefore, to
prevent the generation of Flies, when it is first gathered, they
sprinkle it over with Vinegar, especially such as make use of the fresh
Pulp for the confection of _Alkermes_; which still retaineth the Arabick
name, from the _Kermesberry_; which is agreeable unto the description of
_Bellonius_ and _Quinqueranus_. And the same we have beheld in
_Provence_ and _Languedock_, where it is plentifully gathered, and
called _Manna Rusticorum_, from the considerable profit which the
Peasants make by gathering of it.
[Sidenote: _Oaks, in_ Gen. 35. 4, 8. Josh. 24. 26. Isa. 1. 29. Ezek. 27.
6. Hosea. 4. 13, etc.]
39. Mention is made of Oaks in divers parts of Scripture, which though
the Latin sometimes renders a Turpentine Tree, yet surely some kind of
Oak may be understood thereby; but whether our common Oak as is commonly
apprehended, you may well doubt; for the common Oak, which prospereth so
well with us, delighteth not in hot regions. And that diligent Botanist
_Bellonius_, who took such particular notice of the Plants of _Syria_
and _Judæa_, observed not the vulgar Oak in those parts. But he found
the _Ilex_, _Chesne Vert_, or Ever-green Oak, in many places; as also
that kind of Oak which is properly named _Esculus_: and he makes mention
thereof in places about _Jerusalem_, and in his Journey from thence unto
_Damascus_, where he found _Montes Ilice, et Esculo virentes_; which, in
his Discourse of _Lemnos_, he saith are always green. And therefore when
it is said[229] of _Absalom_, that his _Mule went under the thick Boughs
of a great Oak, and his Head caught hold of the Oak, and he was taken up
between the Heaven and the Earth_, that Oak might be some _Ilex_, or
rather _Esculus_. For that is a thick and bushy kind, in _Orbem comosa_,
as _Dale-champius_; _ramis in orbem dispositis comans_, as _Renealmus_
describeth it. And when it is said[230] that _Ezechias broke down the
Images, and cut down the Groves_, they might much consist of Oaks, which
were sacred unto Pagan Deities, as this more particularly, according to
that of _Virgil_,
_Nemorúmque Jovi quæ maxima frondet Esculus._
And, in _Judæa_, where no hogs were eaten by the Jews, and few kept by
others, 'tis not unlikely that they most cherished the _Esculus_, which
might serve for Food of men. For the Acrons thereof are the sweetest of
any Oak, and taste like Chesnuts; and so producing an edulious or
esculent Fruit, is properly named _Esculus_.
[229] 2 Sam. 18. 9, 14.
[230] 2 King. 18. 4.
They which know the _Ilex_, or Ever-green Oak, with somewhat prickled
leaves, named +Prinos+, will better understand the irreconcileable
answer of the two Elders, when the one accused _Susanna_ of incontinency
under a +Prinos+, or Ever-green Oak, the other under a +Schinos+,
_Lentiscus_, or Mastick Tree, which are so different in Bigness, Boughs,
Leaves and Fruit, the one bearing Acrons, the other Berries: And,
without the knowledge hereof, will not Emphatically or distinctly
understand that of the Poet,
_Flaváque de viridi stillabant Ilice mella._
[Sidenote: _Cedars of_ Libanus.]
40. When we often meet with the Cedars of _Libanus_, that expression may
be used not onely because they grew in a known and neighbour Country,
but also because they were of the noblest and largest kind of that
Vegetable, and we find the Phoenician Cedar magnified by the Ancients.
The Cedar of _Libanus_ is a _coniferous_ Tree, bearing _Cones_ or
Cloggs; (not Berries) of such a vastness, that _Melchior Lussy_, a great
Traveller, found one upon _Libanus_ as big as seven men could compass.
Some are now so curious as to keep the Branches and _Cones_ thereof
among their rare Collections. And, though much Cedar Wood be now brought
from _America_, yet 'tis time to take notice of the true Cedar of
_Libanus_, imployed in the Temple of _Solomon_; for they have been much
destroyed and neglected, and become at last but thin. _Bellonius_ could
reckon but twenty eight, _Rowolfius_ and _Radzevil_ but twenty four, and
_Bidulphus_ the same number. And a later account[231] of some English
Travellers saith, that they are now but in one place, and in a small
compass, in _Libanus_.
[231] _A journey to_ Jerusalem, 1672.
[Sidenote: _Uncircumcised Fruit, in_ Levit. 19. 23.]
_Quando ingressi fueritis terram, et Plantaveritis in illa ligna
Pomifera, auferetis præputia eorum. Poma quæ germinant immunda erunt
vobis, nec edetis ex eis. Quarto autem anno, omnis fructus eorum
sanctificabitur, laudabilis Domino. Quinto autem anno comedetis
fructus._ By this Law they were injoyned not to eat of the Fruits of the
Trees which they planted for the _first three years_: and, as the Vulgar
expresseth it, to take away the Prepuces, from such Trees, during that
time; the Fruits of _the fourth year being holy unto the Lord_, and
those of the fifth allowable unto others. Now if _auferre præputia_ be
taken, as many learned men have thought, to pluck away the bearing Buds,
before they proceed unto Flowers or Fruit, you will readily apprehend
the Metaphor, from the analogy and similitude of those Sprouts and Buds,
which, shutting up the fruitfull particle, resembleth the preputial
part.
And you may also find herein a piece of Husbandry not mentioned in
_Theophrastus_, or _Columella_. For by taking away of the Buds, and
hindering fructification, the Trees become more vigorous, both in growth
and future production. By such a way King _Pyrrhus_ got into a lusty
race of Beeves, and such as were desired over all _Greece_, by keeping
them from Generation untill the ninth year.
And you may also discover a physical advantage of the goodness of the
Fruit, which becometh less crude and more wholsome, upon the fourth or
fifth years production.
[Sidenote: _Partition of Plants into Herb and Tree, in_ Gen. 1. 11.]
41. While you reade in _Theophrastus_, or modern Herbalists, a strict
division of Plants, into _Arbor_, _Frutex_, _Suffrutex et Herba_, you
cannot but take notice of the Scriptural division at the Creation, into
_Tree_ and _Herb_: and this may seem too narrow to comprehend the
Classis of Vegetables; which, notwithstanding, may be sufficient, and a
plain and intelligible division thereof. And therefore in this
difficulty concerning the division of Plants, the learned Botanist,
_Cæsalpinus_, thus concludeth. _Clarius agemus si alterâ divisione
neglectâ, duo tantùm Plantarum genera substituamus, Arborem scilicet, et
Herbam, conjungentes cum Arboribus Frutices, et cum Herba Suffrutices_;
_Frutices_ being the lesser Trees, and _Suffrutices_ the larger, harder
and more solid Herbs.
And this division into Herb and Tree, may also suffice, if we take in
that natural ground of the division of perfect Plants, and such as grow
from Seeds. For Plants, in their first production, do send forth two
Leaves adjoining to the Seed; and then afterwards, do either produce two
other Leaves, and so successively before any Stalk; and such go under
the name of +Poa, Botanê+, or _Herb_; or else, after the first Leaves
succeeding to the Seed Leaves, they send forth a Stalk, or rudiment of a
Stalk before any other Leaves, and such fall under the Classis of
+Dendron+, or _Tree_. So that, in this natural division, there are but
two grand differences, that is, _Tree_ and _Herb_. The _Frutex_ and
_Suffrutex_ have the way of production from the Seed, and in other
respects the _Suffrutices_, or _Cremia_, have a middle and participating
nature, and referable unto Herbs.
[Sidenote: _The Bay Tree, in_ Psal. 37. 35]
42. _I have seen the ungodly in great power, and flourishing like a
green Bay Tree._ Both Scripture and humane Writers draw frequent
illustrations from Plants. _Scribonius Largus_ illustrates the old
Cymbals from the _Cotyledon Palustris_, or _Umbelicus Veneris_. Who
would expect to find _Aaron's_ Mitre in any Plant? yet _Josephus_ hath
taken some pains to make out the same in the seminal knop of
_Hyoscyamus_, or Henbane. The Scripture compares the Figure of Manna
unto the Seed of Coriander. In _Jeremy_[232] we find the expression,
_Streight as a Palm Tree_: And here the wicked in their flourishing
state are likened unto a Bay Tree. Which, sufficiently answering the
sense of the Text, we are unwilling to exclude that noble Plant from the
honour of having its name in Scripture. Yet we cannot but observe, that
the Septuagint renders it _Cedars_, and the Vulgar accordingly, _Vidi
impium superexaltatum, et elevatum sicut Cedros Libani_; and the
Translation of _Tremelius_ mentions neither Bay nor Cedar; _Sese
explicantem tanquam Arbor indigena virens_; which seems to have been
followed by the last Low Dutch Translation. A private Translation
renders it like _a green self-growing[233] Laurel_, The High Dutch of
_Luther's_ Bible, retains the word _Laurel_; and so doth the old Saxon
and Island Translation; so also the French, Spanish; and Italian of
_Diodati_: yet his Notes acknowledge that some think it rather a Cedar,
and others any large Tree in a prospering and natural Soil.
[232] Jer. 10. 5.
[233] Ainsworth.
But however these Translations differ, the sense is allowable and
obvious unto apprehension: when no particular Plant is named, any proper
to the sense may be supposed; where either Cedar or Laurel is
mentioned, if the preceding words [_exalted and elevated_] be used, they
are more appliable unto the Cedar; where the word [_flourishing_] is
used, it is more agreeable unto the Laurel, which, in its prosperity,
abounds with pleasant flowers, whereas those of the Cedar are very
little, and scarce perceptible, answerable to the Firre, Pine and other
coniferous Trees.
[Sidenote: _The Figg Tree, in_ S. Mark. 11. 13, etc.]
43. _And in the morning, when they were come from Bethany, he was
hungry; and seeing a Figg Tree afar off having Leaves, he came, if haply
he might find any thing thereon; and when he came to it, he found
nothing but leaves: for the time of Figgs was not yet._ Singular
conceptions have passed from learned men to make out this passage of S.
_Mark_, which S. _Matthew_[234] so plainly delivereth; most men doubting
why our Saviour should curse the Tree for bearing no Fruit, when the
time of Fruit was not yet come; or why it is said that _the time of
Figgs was not yet_, when, notwithstanding, Figgs might be found at that
season.
[234] Matt. 21. 19.
_Heinsius_,[235] who thinks that _Elias_ must salve the doubt, according
to the received Reading of the Text, undertaketh to vary the same,
reading +hou gar ên, kairos sykôn+, that is, _for where he was, it was
the season or time of Figgs_.
[235] Heinsius _in_ Nonnum.
A learned Interpreter[236] of our own, without alteration of accents or
words, endeavours to salve all, by another interpretation of the same,
+Hou gar kairos sykôn+, _For it was not a good or seasonable year for
Figgs_.
[236] D. Hammond.
But, because men part not easily with old beliefs, or the received
construction of words, we shall briefly set down what may be alledged
for it.
And, first, for the better comprehension of all deductions hereupon, we
may consider the several differences and distinctions both of Figg Trees
and their Fruits. _Suidas_ upon the word +Ischas+ makes four divisions
of Figgs, +Olynthos, Phêlêx, Sykon+ and +Ischas+. But because +Phêlêx+
makes no considerable distinction, learned men do chiefly insist upon
the three others; that is, +Olynthos+, or _Grossus_, which are the
Buttons, or small sort of Figgs, either not ripe, or not ordinarily
proceeding to ripeness, but fall away at least in the greatest part, and
especially in sharp Winters; which are also named +Sykades+, and
distinguished from the Fruit of the wild Figg, or _Caprificus_, which is
named +Erineos+, and never cometh unto ripeness. The second is called
+Sykon+, or _Ficus_, which commonly proceedeth unto ripeness in its due
season. A third the ripe Figg dried, which maketh the +Ischades+, or
_Carrier_.
Of Figg Trees there are also many divisions; For some are _prodromi_, or
precocious, which bear Fruit very early, whether they bear once, or
oftner in the year; some are _protericæ_, which are the most early of
the precocious Trees, and bear soonest of any; some are _æstivæ_, which
bear in the common season of the Summer, and some _serotinæ_ which bear
very late.
Some are _biferous_ and _triferous_, which bear twice or thrice in the
year, and some are of the ordinary standing course, which make up the
expected season of Figgs.
Again some Figg Trees, either in their proper kind, or fertility in some
single ones, do bear Fruit or rudiments of Fruit all the year long; as
is annually observable in some kind of Figg Trees in hot and proper
regions; and may also be observed in some Figg Trees of more temperate
Countries, in years of no great disadvantage, wherein, when the
Summer-ripe Figg is past, others begin to appear, and so, standing in
Buttons all the Winter, do either fall away before the Spring, or else
proceed to ripeness.
Now, according to these distinctions, we may measure the intent of the
Text, and endeavour to make out the expression. For, considering the
diversity of these Trees, and their several fructifications, probable or
possible it is, that some thereof were implied, and may literally afford
a solution.
And first, though it was not the season for Figgs, yet some Fruit might
have been expected, even in ordinary bearing Trees. For the _Grossi_ or
Buttons appear before the Leaves, especially before the Leaves are well
grown. Some might have stood during the Winter, and by this time been of
some growth: Though many fall off, yet some might remain on, and proceed
towards maturity. And we find that good Husbands had an art to make them
hold on, as is delivered by _Theophrastus_.
The +Sykon+ or common Summer Figg was not expected; for that is
placed by _Galen_ among the _Fructus Horarii_, or _Horæi_, which ripen
in that part of Summer, called +Hôra+, and stands commended by
him above other Fruits of that season. And of this kind might be the
Figgs which were brought unto _Cleopatra_ in a Basket together with an
Asp, according to the time of her death on the nineteenth of _August_.
And that our Saviour expected not such Figgs, but some other kind, seems
to be implied in the indefinite expression, _if haply he might find any
thing thereon_; which in that Country, and the variety of such Trees,
might not be despaired of, at this season, and very probably hoped for
in the first precocious and early bearing Trees. And that there were
precocious and early bearing Trees in _Judæa_, may be illustrated from
some expressions in Scripture concerning precocious Figgs;[237]
_Calathus unus habebat Ficus bonas nimis, sicut solent esse Ficus primi
temporis; One Basket had very good Figgs, even like the Figgs that are
first ripe_. And the like might be more especially expected in this
place, if this remarkable Tree be rightly placed in some Mapps of
_Jerusalem_; for it is placed, by _Adrichomius_, in or near _Bethphage_,
which some conjectures will have to be the _House of Figgs_: and at this
place Figg Trees are still to be found, if we consult the Travels of
_Bidulphus_.
[237] Jer. 24. 2.
Again, in this great variety of Figg Trees, as precocious, proterical,
biferous, triferous, and always bearing Trees, something might have been
expected, though the time of common Figgs was not yet. For some Trees
bear in a manner all the year; as may be illustrated from the Epistle of
the Emperour _Julian_, concerning his Present of _Damascus_ Figgs, which
he commendeth from their successive and continued growing and bearing,
after the manner of the Fruits which _Homer_ describeth in the Garden of
_Alcinous_. And though it were then but about the eleventh of _March_,
yet, in the Latitude of _Jerusalem_, the Sun at that time hath a good
power in the day, and might advance the maturity of precocious
often-bearing or ever-bearing Figgs. And therefore when it is said that
S. _Peter_[238] stood and warmed himself by the Fire in the Judgment
Hall, and the reason is added [_for it was cold_[239]] that expression
might be interposed either to denote the coolness in the Morning,
according to hot Countries, or some extraordinary and unusual coldness,
which happened at that time. For the same _Bidulphus_, who was at that
time of the year at _Jerusalem_, saith, that it was then as hot as at
_Midsummer_ in _England_: and we find in Scripture, that the first Sheaf
of Barley was offer'd in _March_.
[238] _S._ Mark 14. 67. _S._ Luke 22. 55, 56.
[239] _S._ John 18. 18.
Our Saviour therefore, seeing a Figg Tree with Leaves well spread, and
so as to be distinguished a far off, went unto it, and when he came,
found nothing but Leaves; he found it to be no precocious, or
always-bearing Tree: And though it were not the time for Summer Figgs,
yet he found no rudiments thereof: and though he expected not common
Figgs, yet something might happily have been expected of some other
kind, according to different fertility, and variety of production; but,
discovering nothing, he found a Tree answering the State of the Jewish
Rulers, barren unto all expectation.
And this is consonant unto the mystery of the Story, wherein the Figg
Tree denoteth the Synagogue and Rulers of the Jews, whom God having
peculiarly cultivated, singularly blessed and cherished, he expected
from them no ordinary, slow, or customary fructification, but an
earliness in good Works, a precocious or continued fructification, and
was not content with common after-bearing; and might justly have
expostulated with the Jews, as God by the Prophet _Micah_[240] did with
their Forefathers; _Præcoquas Ficus desideravit Anima mea, My Soul
longed for_, (or desired) _early ripe Fruits, but ye are become as a
Vine already gathered, and there is no cluster upon you_.
[240] Micah 7. 1.