' And shortly afterwards he remarks: 'Nor do
they derive any authority for such a practice from those words in
Exodus, (24) "et quasi signum in manu tua," as that passage does
not treat of chiromancy, but of the festival of unleavened bread;
the observance of which, in order that it might be memorable to the
Hebrews, the sacred historian said should be as a sign upon the
hand; a metaphor derived from those who, when they wish to remember
anything, tie a thread round their finger, or put a ring upon it;
and still less I ween does that chapter of Job (25) speak in their
favour, where is written, "Qui in manu hominis signat, ut norint
omnes opera sua," because the divine power is meant thereby which
is preached to those here below: for the hand is intended for
power and magnitude, Exod. chap. xiv., (26) or stands for free
will, which is placed in a man's hand, that is, in his power.
Wisdom, chap. xxxvi. "In manibus abscondit lucem," (27) etc. etc.
etc.
No, no, good Torreblanca, we know perfectly well that the witch-
wives of Multan, who for the last four hundred years have been
running about Spain and other countries, telling fortunes by the
hand, and deriving good profit from the same, are not countenanced
in such a practice by the sacred volume; we yield as little credit
to their chiromancy as we do to that which you call the true and
catholic, and believe that the lines of the hand have as little
connection with the events of life as with the liver and stomach,
notwithstanding Aristotle, who you forget was a heathen, and knew
as little and cared as little for the Scriptures as the Gitanos,
whether male or female, who little reck what sanction any of their
practices may receive from authority, whether divine or human, if
the pursuit enable them to provide sufficient for the existence,
however poor and miserable, of their families and themselves.
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