“Moreover I have diligently described the nature of things, which, I think, no one will deem useless, who, in the light of grace, has read of the power, wisdom and goodness of God, creator, ruler and preserver, in that same book of the Creation appointed for us to read.” Moreover, to know about things is useful for preachers and theologians, as Augustine says. But Vincent is conscious of another motive also: “Verily how great is even the humblest beauty of this world, and how pleasing to the eye of reason diligently considering not only the modes and numbers and orders of things, so decorously appointed throughout the universe, but also the revolving ages which are ceaselessly uncoiled through abatements and successions, and are marked by the death of what is born. I confess, sinner as I am, with mind befouled in flesh, that I am moved with spiritual sweetness toward the creator and ruler of this world, and honour Him with greater veneration, when I behold at once the magnitude, and beauty and permanence of His creation. For the mind, lifting itself from the dunghill of its affections, and rising, as it is able, into the light of speculation, sees as from a height the greatness of the universe containing in itself infinite places filled with the divers orders of creatures.” Here Vincent feels it well to apologize for the limitlessness of his matter, being only an excerptor, and not really knowing even a single science; and he refers to the example of Isidore’s _Etymologiae_. He proceeds to enumerate the various sources upon which he relies, and then to summarize the headings of his work; which in brief are as follows: The Creator. The empyrean heaven and the nature of angels; the state of the good, and the ruin of the proud, angels. The formless material and the making of the world, and the nature and properties of each created being, according to the order of the Works of the Six Days. The state of the first man. The nature and energies of the soul, and the senses and parts of the human body. God’s rest and way of working. The state of the first man and the felicity of Paradise. Man’s fall and punishment. Sin. The reparation of the Fall. The properties of faith and other virtues in order, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the beatitudes. _The number and matter of all the sciences._ _Chronological history of events in the world, and memorable sayings, from the beginning to our time_, with a consideration of the state of souls separated from their bodies, of the times to come, of Antichrist, the end of the World, the resurrection of the dead, the glorification of the saints and the punishments of the wicked.