" And we find
that Becher is absolutely turned away from his labours, and
obliged to devote himself to proving that Solomon used more
money than he possibly could have obtained from Ophir or his
subjects, and therefore that he must have possessed a knowledge
of chemical methods and the philosopher's stone as the result of
them.[399]
Of the general reasoning enforced by theology regarding physical
science, every age has shown examples; yet out of them all I
will select but two, and these are given because they show how
this mixture of theological with scientific ideas took hold upon
the strongest supporters of better reasoning even after the
power of medieval theology seemed broken.
The first of these examples is Melanchthon. He was the scholar
of the Reformation, and justly won the title "Preceptor of
Germany." His mind was singularly open, his sympathies broad,
and his usual freedom from bigotry drew down upon him that wrath
of Protestant heresy-hunters which embittered the last years of
his life and tortured him upon his deathbed.
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