"Quâ autem ratione eorundem aures obstruat, proposito hoc exemplo indicabo.
"Bombyces, hoc est vermes illi qui serica fìla nectunt, ita tonitruum sonitu gravantur, ut interduin moriantur. Quo fit, ut qui eos nutriunt tympana frequenter pulsent, ut sonitui molliori assueti a graviori tonitrui sono non lædantur. Tales mihi multi sacrarum concionum auditores hâc ætate esse videntur, qui quotidianis concionibus audiendis sine ullo animi motu assueti, si quis concionator, a Deo actus, gravius aliquid et formidibilius intonet, non idem magis animo permoveantur; utpote qui negligenter audiendi consuetudine pene insensibiles ad verbi Dei tonitrua affecti sint."
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Sermon 1.
"Again, others there are of whose breasts the enemy of mankind hath taken such possession, that they be terrified by the thunderbolts of no Divine voice, or are in mind only a little disturbed thereby.
"Now after what sort he stoppeth the ears of these same men I will, by this example, propound and set forth.
"The Bombyxes—that is to say, those worms which do spin the silk threads—are by peals of thunder so troubled that sometimes they die. Wherefore it comes to pass that the keepers of them do ofttimes beat drums, to the end that, being used to the softer noise, they may take no hurt from that sound of the thunder which is heavier. Of such a sort do seem to me to be nowadays many hearers of sacred discourses. For inasmuch as they be used to the hearing of common discourses, by which their minds are nothing moved, if a preacher, urged of God, do sound forth something in any wise solemn and dreadful, they are not, therefore, any the more moved in mind, seeing that by their custom of careless hearing they have grown well-nigh hardened to the thunders of God's Word."
About the correct reading of the Hebrew word gâzam, which is translated in the Authorized Version "palmer-worm," there has always been some difficulty. It only occurs in three passages of Scripture, and in each case reference is made to its destructive powers.
The first is in Joel i. 4: "That which the palmer-worm hath left, hath the locust eaten."
The second is in chap. ii. 25 of the same book: "I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you."