THE FOURTH ROW.
And in the fourth row a Chrysolite, an Onyx, and a Jasper.
A Jasper is a mixt stone, consisting at least of two kinds of gemmes; and therefore may not unfitly decipher our Saviour, consisting of two natures, who by inviting all to come unto him, animi constan∣tiam promovet, comforteth fainting spirits; which (as Rueus saith) is the vertue of the Chrysolite: after his invitation promising to secure and rest all burthened and weary soules, hee proveth himselfe an O∣nyx, wherewith (as Nilus saith) the Nobles of Egypt made suppor∣ters for their beds. If wee admit the Beryll into this fourth ranke, be∣cause it is mentioned with the rest in the Apocalypse, and set here in the first place by Saint Jerome, Junius, Tostatus, and the Kings Tran∣slatours, wee shall lose nothing by the change: for the Beryll (as Abu∣lensis and others affirme) is of singu•••••• ••ertue to cure waterish and run∣ning eyes. True it very well may bee in the stone, but true I am sure i•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••••e doctrine, which this stone (according to his ranke and my•••••• her division) standeth for. This promise of our Saviour, I will eas•• you, is the onely Beryll in the world, which can stay the water of their running eyes, who weep for, and sigh under the heavie bur∣then of sinne. Yee see this fourth order is not out of order, but sorteth well with the doctrine of the fourth Speaker; and doth it not as well sort with the parts of the Preacher? The Chrysolite is a so∣lid stone, not spangled or spotted with golden points, as other gems, but as it were gilt all over; which may well represent the solidity of his proofes, and uniformity of his whole discourse. The Onyx, a transparent gemme, resembleth the perspicuity of his stile; and the Ja∣sper, a stone full of veines, setteth before us the plenty of Scripture sentences, which (like little veines) were diffused through the whole body of his Sermon; and in respect of these we may more truly say of it, than To status of the Jasper, Quot venae, tot virtutes, so many veines, so many vertues.