Description.
THree Wormwoods are familiar with us; One I shall not descsrabe, another I shall describe, and the Third be Critical at. And I care not greatly if I begin with the last first.
Sea Wormwood hath gotten as many Names as Vertues (and perhaps one more) Scriphion, Santonicon, Belgicum, Narbonense, Xantomi∣cum, Misnense, and a matter of twenry more, which I will not blot Paper withal: A Papist got the Toy by the end, and he called it Holy Wormwood; and in truth I am of Opinion, Their giving so much holiness to Herbs is the Reason there remains so little in themselves.
The Seed of this Wormwood is that which usually Women give their Children for the Worms: Of all Wormwoods that grow here, this is the weakest; I but Doctors commend it, and Apothecaries sell it, the one must keep his Credit, and the other get Money, and that's the key of the work. The Herb is good for somthing, because God made nothing in vain; Will you give me leave to weigh things in the Ballance of Reason; Then thus, The Seeds of the common Wormwood are far more prevalent than the Seed of this, to expell Worms in Children, or People of ripe age: Of both, some are weak, some are strong. The Seriphian Wormseed is the weakest, & hap∣pily may prove to be fittest for weakest Bodies (for it is weak enough in all conscience) Let such as are strong take the common Worm∣seed, for the other will do but little good. A∣gain, neer the Sea many people live, and Seriphium grows neer them, and therfore is more fitting for their Bodies because nouri∣shed by the same Air; and this I had from Dr. Reason. In whose Body Dr. Reason dwels not, dwels Dr.Madness, and he brings in his Brethren, Dr. Ignorance, Dr. Folly, and Dr. Sickness, and these together make way for Dr. Death, and the latter end of that man is worse than the beginning. Pride was the cause of Adam's Fall, Pride begate a Daughter, I do not know the Father of it unless the Divil, but she christned it, and call'd it Appetite, and sent her Daughter to tast these Wormwoods, who finding this the least bitter, made the sqeamish Wench extol it to the Skies, though the Vertues of it never reached to the middle Region of the Air. Its due praise is this; It is weakest, therefore fitter for weak Bodies, and fitter for those Bodies that dwell neer it than those that live far from it: my reason is, The Sea (as those that live far from it, know when they comt neer it) casteth not such a smel as the Land doth: The tender Mercies of God being over all his Works, hath by his eternal Providence planted Seriphium by the Sea side, as a fit Medicine for the Bodies of those that live neer it. Lastly, It is known to all that know any thing in the Course of Nature, That the Liver delights in sweet things; if so, it abhors bitter; then if your Liver be weak, it is none of the wisest courses to plague it with an Enemy: if the Liver be weak a Consumption follows; Would you know the Reason? 'tis this, A mans Flesh is repaired by Blood, by a third concoction which transmutes Blood into Flesh ('tis well I said [Conction] for if I had said [Boyling] every Cook would have understood me.) The Liver makes Blood, and if it be weakned that it makes not enough the Flesh wasteth, and why must Flesh alwaies be renewed? Because the eternal God when he made the Creation, made one part of it in continual dependency upon another: And why did he so? Because Him∣self is only Permanent, to teach us, That we should not fix our affections upon what is transitory, but upon what endures for ever. The result of all is this, If the Liver be weak and cannot make Blood enonough (I would have said [Sanguifie] if I had written only to Schollers) The Seriphian which is the weakest of Wormwoods is better than the best. I have been Critical enonough (if not too much.