519 
tam concordiam cum luna ostendit, ut antequam luna nascatur, tribus 
diebus et duodecim horis semper incipiat, et post nascentis lune prin- 
cipia, alios tres dies, et duodecim horas consuescit habere : similiter et 
ante plenilunium tribus diebus et duodecim horis incipit, et post totidem 
temporis cursus sui terminum consumit. Sex vero uniuscujusque tem- 
poris Malinas, veris scilicet et cstatis, autumni et hyemis, secundum 
lunarem supputationem, hoc est, simul omnes viginti-quatuor unusquis- 
que communis annus habet, exceptis videlicet embolismis, qui viginti- 
sex Malinas retinent; et uniuscujusque de predictis temporibus mediz 
dus, videlicet eequinoctiales, et alie quando dies vel nox cursus sui 
terminum consumit, solito validior ac inundatione altior fieri consues- 
cit. Interpositis vero spatiis iterum tantumdem semper Ledo intermitti- 
tur. Ac vero rationabilis hujus perseverantiv inundatio, quo recedit, 
mentibus nostris occultata est; non minorem profectum nescientibus 
preparat scientia hominis. Nam qui veram sapientiam cupit, ad eter- 
num regnum, ubi nulla est ignorantia, festinare contendat, et interim 
cum insigni gentium magistro dicat, Ex parte cognoscimus, et ex parte 
prophetamus.”’ 
To-reconcile the transformation of Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt 
with his maxim that nothing is done against nature in any creature of 
God, he observes that the existence of salt in the human system is indi- 
cated by traces of it in tears, and other secretions ; adding, that the 
Ruler of the world, when He wishes to convert the whole into a part, in- 
fuses into the whole the principle which lay concealed in an inconsider- 
able part. And hence, when He desired to turn Lot’s wife into a pillar 
of salt, that exceedingly minute portion of salt which existed in the 
system overspread the whole body. 
In reference to the plague of blood, he answers the question, 
“‘Quomodo Deus nature gubernator naturaliter aquam in sanguinem 
mutavit?” by observing, that water, the material of all liquids, is con- 
verted by the vine into wine, by the olive into oil, by animal bodies 
into milk, blood, and the twenty-three fluids of the human frame; so 
that the only remarkable feature is, that what was usually performed 
by a slow process, was in the present instance executed in a moment 
according to the laws of nature by the order of the all-powerful Ruler. 
That an iron axe-head should swim in water* he endeavours 
to show is not contrary to nature, but only an unusual stretch of it. 
For if a stone, he observes, which two men cannot lift be immersed in 
water, one man can hold ‘it up with a rope. Whence it appears that, 
though water cannot entirely, yet it can, to some extent, support heavy 
bodies, and that therefore the power with which itis partially endowed 
God can increase to a greater degree. 
The preceding examples will serve to give an idea of the manner in 
which the writer deals with his subject. They are not characterized by 
the depth or acuteness of St. Augustine’s genius, and therefore have for 
i 
* 2 Kings, vi. 6. 
