144 scBiPTURE PLANTS. [May, 



William Coles^ in the year 1655^ wrote and published his ' Intro- 

 duction to the Knowledge of Plants ; ' and he has a chapter 

 headed^ " That the art of simpling is necessary for those that in- 

 tend to be divines." And he says, " It would be useful to many 

 professors, but because divinity is the noblest of them, he will 

 speak only to that at present. There are in Scripture several ex- 

 pressions and similitudes, either concerning plants, or derived from 

 them, which cannot thoroughly be understood without this art." 

 He then enumerates several plants which require explanation, and 

 tells us " that the Lilies amongst the Thorns were Woodbines, 

 is not known to every one, or that the husks which the Prodigal 

 Son did eat were the fruit of a tree. That if a divine were a 

 good herbalist, he might be much more accurate in the interpre- 

 tation of Scripture." 



Almost all the early writers on this subject speak of Solomon's 

 knowledge of plants. Gerarde, in the preface to his ' Herbal,' 

 says, " He was the first botanist ; he knew every plant, from the 

 cedar of Lebanon to the mosse that groweth on the wall." The 

 word Moss being here named by Gerarde, instead of Hyssop, as 

 translated in the fourth chapter of Kings, first book, I was led 

 to consider why Gerarde should make this distinction ; I found, in 

 referring to Cole's ' Simpling,' that he has the word Moss instead 

 of Hyssop ; and Walton, in his ' Angler,' calls it " the shrub that 

 groweth out of the wall." 



The references in Scripture to Hyssop are as follows : — Exodus 

 xii. 22, "Take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood, and 

 strike the lintel," etc. Leviticus xiv. 4 (upon the rites and sa- 

 crifices in cleansing the leper), " The priest shall command to be 

 taken, etc., two birds, cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop ; " the 

 6th verse says, " The scarlet, and the hyssop shaU be dipped in 

 the blood of the bird, and shall sprinkle upon him that is to be 

 cleansed from the leprosy ; " the 52nd verse says, " And he shall 

 cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, etc, and with the 

 hyssop, and with the scarlet." Numbers xix. 18, says, " A clean 

 person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, and sprinkle," 

 etc. In Psalm li. 7, David, in praying for deliverance from his 

 sins, says, " Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean." In 

 John xix. 29, it is said, "And there was set a vessel full 

 of vinegar; and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it 

 upon hysso|), and put it to his mouth." In Hebrews ix. 19, St. 



