Isatis herba

AD LECTOREM

does he illustrate the article concerning the resurrection of the dead, otherwise incomprehensible to human reason, by bringing forward a similitude from seeds? If any preacher wishes to explain these and other parables of both Testaments according to their dignity, it is necessary that he diligently examine the individual parts of the parable, dwell longer upon explaining them, and thus open the mind of Christ to the listeners, so that from the most well-known things, men, simple and to be imbued with the doctrine of the Gospel, may be led as if by the hand to the knowledge of hidden and abstruse things. Yet no one shall have done this with praise or admiration or applause, or, what should be primarily looked to, the correct instruction of these people, unless he is instructed in the knowledge of natural things, if not exact, at least mediocre. For this will easily supply arguments and the material for speaking, and will bring the most moment for persuasion, so that certain stings or sparks are left in the minds of the listeners. And to speak of the Isatis woad