A divine herbal together with a forrest of thorns In five sermons. ... By…A divine herball together with a forrest of thornes In five sermons. ... By…

2. That they taste well. Many a flower hath a sweet smell, but not so wholesome a taste. Your Pharisaical prayers and alms smelt sweetly in the vulgar nostrils: taste them, and they were but rue, or rather worm-wood. When the Pharisee saw the Publican in the lower part of the Temple, standing as it were in the Belfry; he could cry, Foh this Publican: but when they were both tasted, by his palate that could judge, the Publican hath an herb in his bosom, and ⟨p. 65⟩the Pharisee but a gay, gorgeous, stinking weed. The herbs, that the Passover were eaten with, were sour: yet they were enjoined with sweet bread. Sour they might be, but they were wholesome. Herbs have not only their savour, but their nutriment. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, ¹and herb for the service of man: that he may bring food out of the earth. Herbs then are food, and have an alimental virtue. So we may both with the herbs of charity feed mens bodies, and with the herbs of piety feed their souls. A good life is a good salad: and in the second place to precepts, are usefully necessary good examples. The blood of Martyrs is said to have nourished the Church. The patience of the Saints, in the hottest extremity of their afflictions, even when the flames of death hath clipped them in their arms; hath been no less then a kindly nourishment to many mens faith. It is expounded by an universal consent of Divines, that one of those 3. feedings, which Christ imposed on Peter, is Pasce exemplo; let thy life feed them. Blessed Gardens that yield herbs, like Jotham's vine, that cheer the heart of both God and man. ²The Poets feigned, that Nectar & Ambrosia were the food of their Gods. Jupiter Ambrosia satur est, est Nectare plenus. But the true Gods diet, is the virtues of his Saints, wherewith he promiseth to sup, when he comes into their hearts. Faith,³ love, patience, meekness, honesty; these dishes are his dainties.

2. That they taste well. Many a flower hath a sweet smell, but not so wholsome a taste. Your Pharisaicall prayers and almes smelt sweetly in the vulgar nosthrils: taste them, and they were but rue, or rather worme-wood. When the Pharise sawe the Publican in the lower part of the Temple, standing as it were in the Belfrey; he could cry, Foh this Publican: but when they were both tasted, by his palate that could iudge, the Publican hath an herbe in his bosome, and