In the ninth of these he
discusses "the _impelling cause_" of her looking back, and
introduces us to the question, formerly so often treated by
theologians, whether the soul of Lot's wife was finally saved. Here
we are glad to learn that the big, warm heart of Luther lifted him
above the common herd of theologians, and led him to declare that
she was "a faithful and saintly woman," and that she certainly was
not eternally damned. In justice to the Roman Church also it should
be said that several of her most eminent commentators took a similar
view, and insisted that the sin of Lot's wife was venial, and therefore,
at the worst, could only subject her to the fires of purgatory.
The eleventh chapter discusses at length the question _how_ she was
converted into salt, and, mentioning many theological opinions,
dwells especially upon the view of Rivetus, that a thunderbolt,
made up apparently of fire, sulphur, and salt, wrought her
transformation at the same time that it blasted the land; and he
bases this opinion upon the twenty-ninth chapter of Deuteronomy and
the one hundred and seventh Psalm.
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