take hede to þis salt. Þis salt of þe erþe ben techeris þe whiche bi þe lawe of Crist speken sharpli to men, and tellen hem þer defautis. Þis þei done to erþeli men whanne God rubbiþ þy hem his lawe. We shal first wite þe kynde of salt, and siþ what properties it haþ. And bi þis mai we wite where men þat comen as apostlis done þe office of her stat, or ellis þei failen of her office. Clerkis seien þat salt is maad of gravel and of water, wiþ hete of þe sonne or of fier, and maad hard wiþ blast of þe wynd. And by Aristotlis reule it is dissolved bi þe contrarie […. Categ. 6, 18; compare Topi|cokum, ii. 7, 4.] . And so cold þing and moist dissolvyþ salt, siþ hote þing and drie makiþ it hard. Þes disciplis ben made salt, þat sum tyme weren unstable as gravel, bi þe water of bap|tem, and hete of charite, and wynd of þe Holi Goost, to savore men as salt doiþ. And þes ben maad whittere þan snow fro þe blaknes of her synne. And kynde of water saddid in hem bitokeneþ þe stable witt of God. And þus, for Goddis lawe commandiþ in offringe to be devocion and hete of charite, þerwiþ Goddis lawe biddiþ, in figure of þis, in ech offringe to be salt offrid. And þus shulden doctours teche þe peple how þei shulden lyv to God, and how þei shulden do here almes. For ȝif coveitouse men rubben to hem, þei ben not salt but cold water.
Many propirteis ben of salt, and to telle few here is ynowȝ. O propirte of salt is þat it makiþ fleish drie and kepiþ it fro rotting and fro stinkinge and fro wormes. So prestis, bi Goddis wordis, shulden have hem to fleishli men. Þei shulden drie hem from lecherie, and kepe hem from yvel conscience, and fro stynking of synne, and þanne þei hav þe kynde of salt. And þus salt makiþ mete savory, and salt makiþ þe erþe bareyne, and salt heliþ fleishli woundis whanne it is stoppid in hem. Bi þes þre propirtees of salt shulden doctours worchen in fleishli men, and avoide hem fro ivel workis, and make hem bareyne fro fleishli dedis. And þei shulden savore Goddis wordis, and declare hem bi resoun, and pronounce hem to þe peple, as þes wordis wolden plese to hem. And þus depe woundis in man þat weren groundid
