3.
And while these things were taking place, his wife remained in [the territory of] Sodomm, no longer corruptible flesh, but a pillar of salt which endures for ever; 1 and by those natural processes 2 which appertain to the human race, indicating that the Church also, which is the salt of the earth, 3 has been left behind within the confines of the earth, and subject to human sufferings; and while entire members are often taken away from it, the pillar of salt still endures, 4 thus typifying the foundation of the faith which maketh strong, and sends forward, children to their Father.
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Comp. Clem. Rom., chap. xi. Josephus (Antiq., i. 11, 4) testifies that he had himself seen this pillar. ↩
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The Latin is "per naturalia," which words, according to Harvey, correspond to di emmenorrhoias. There is a poem entitled Sodoma preserved among the works of Tertullian and Cyprian which contains the following lines:-- "Dicitur et vivens, alio jam corpore, sexus Munificos solito dispungere sanguine menses." ↩
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Matt. v. 13. ↩
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The poem just referred to also says in reference to this pillar:-- "Ipsaque imago sibi formam sine corpore servans Durat adhuc, et enim nuda statione sub aethram Nec pluviis dilapsa situ, nec diruta ventis. Quin etiam si quis mutilaverit advena formam, Protinus ex sese suggestu vulnera complet." [That a pillar of salt is still to be seen in this vicinity, is now confirmed by many modern travellers (report of Lieut. Lynch, United States Navy), which accounts for the natural inference of Josephus and others on whom our author relied. The coincidence is noteworthy.] ↩
