Penetral Ecclesiæ. Jam calcato torculari, Saccus scissus et pertusus 35 40 Hugh of St Victor (Inst. Mor., 1. 4): Christus est Botrus de terrâ promissionis in desertum translatus; the type of the cross being the pole on which this bunch of grapes was suspended. Augustine (Enarr. in Ps. viii. 1): Nam et Verbum divinum potest Uva intelligi. Dictus est enim et Dominus botrus uvæ, quem ligno suspensum, de terrâ promissionis, qui præmissi erant à populo Israel, tanquam crucifixum, attulerunt. In Christ's passion this bunch of grapes was trodden as in the winepress, and his blood as the wine flowed into the penetral or iπoλývlov of the Church. 36-38. Saccus scissus] The poet has in his eye Ps. xxix. 12, (Vulg.) xxx. 11 (E. V.): Conscidisti saccum meum, et circumdedisti me lætitiâ; upon which words Augustine (Serm. 336, c. 4): Saccus ejus erat similitudo carnis peccati. In passione conscissus est saccus. And then presently, with allusion to the saccus as the purse or bag of money: Conscidit saccum lanceâ persecutor, et fudit pretium nostrum Redemtor.-Clichtoveus: In regales transit usus, quando per resurrectionem immortalitatis stolâ corpus est indutum, et incorruptibilitatis virtute præcinctum. 43. in signum positus] The poet having only the Vulgate before him, in which he found (Gen. iv. 15,) the words, Posuitque Dominus Cain signum, (Cain being undeclined by the translator,) seems to have understood the passage thus: "The Lord set Cain for a sign," instead of "The Lord set a mark or sign upon Cain." His application of these words to the Jewish people, as the great collective Cain, the murderer of him whose blood spake better things than that of Abel, is one in which he had many forerunners. They too, it was said, were not destroyed, but while other nations were fused and absorbed and lost in the great Roman world, they abode apart, being not slain, despite their sin, but set for an everlasting sign. Thus Augustine; who even in his time found a wonderful significance in this continued and separate existence of the Jews, and therein a prophetic fulfilment of these words of Genesis, as also of those words of the Psalmist: "Slay them not, lest my people forget it.” (Con. Faust., 1. 12, c. 13; Enarr.in Ps. lviii. 12.) XXIX. Clichtoveus, Elucidat. Eccles., p. 169; Rambach, Anthol. Christl. Gesänge, p. 290; Daniel, Thes. Hymnol., v. 2, p. 69.-Clichtoveus says truly here: Sanè hæc prosa admodùm divina est, paucis multa complectens, et tota ex sacris literis præclarè desumpta, cujus et historias et sententias congruenter copiosèque adaptat proposito, ut hoc suo opificio auctor ipsius liquidò prodat se in divinis Scripturis apprimè exercitatum et promptum fuisse. 12. Lutum, later, palea] Cf. Exod. i. 14; v. 12. In the 66 mortar," "brick," and "straw" were often seen, as here, the several works of the old man, while he is yet serving sin in the Jam divinæ laus virtutis, Jam triumphi, jam salutis Vox erumpat libera: Hæc est dies quam fecit Dominus, Dies salutifera. 15 spiritual Egypt. Thus Hugh of St Victor (Alleg., 1. 3, c. 1): Lutum, in quo servierunt filii Israel Pharaoni, eo quod lutum inquinat, luxuriam designat. Palea, eo quod levis est, et citò transvolat, vanam gloriam significat. Later quoque, qui de molli terrâ confectus, per decoctionem ignis durescit, humani cordis duritiam, per longam sive concupiscentiæ, sive libidinis, aut avaritiæ consuetudinem decoctam ostendit. 16. Cf. Ps. cxvii. 24, (Vulg.) 24. risús] Daniel has made this verse unintelligible, printing visus, whether by mistake, or intending a correction. The emendation, if such it be, and no mere error of the press, rests on an entire ignorance of that ever-recurring thought in early and medieval theology, of Christ as our Isaac, in that he made us to laugh, and thus, our laughter, with allusion to Gen. xxi. 6 (Vulg.): Risum fecit mihi Deus: quicumque audierit, corridebit mihi. Thus Ambrose (De Isaac et Animâ, c. 1): Ipso nomine gratiam signat, Isaac etenim risus Latinè significatur, risus autem insigne lætitiæ est. Quis autem ignorat quod is universorum lætitia sit, qui mortis formidolosæ vel pavore compresso, factus omnibus est remissio peccatorum? That the thought was a familiar one with our poet we have proof in another poem of his, which will appear in this volume, and in which he expresses himself thus: Prole serâ tandem fœta, Anus Sata ridet læta, The use of forma in this line as equivalent to figura, rúπos, is not unfrequent. Thus Hugh of St Victor: Melchisedek, qui est forma Christi. 37. hamus et armilla] Cf. Job xl. 20, 21, (Vulg.) Job xli. 1, 2, (E. V.) where the Lord asks of Job, An extrahere poteris Leviathan hamo, et fune ligabis linguam ejus? Numquid pones circulum in naribus ejus, aut armillâ perforabis maxillam ejus? This question, by the help of Isai. xxvii. 1, ("Leviathan that crooked serpent") was mystically interpreted, Wilt thou dare to contend with, or hope a successful issue in thy conflict with, Satan and the powers of spiritual wickedness? (See Jerome on Isai. xxvii. 1.) But this, which a mortal man like Job could not do, Christ did. He did draw out Leviathan with a hook." It is a favourite thought with Gregory the Great and many others, that Christ's humanity was as the bait which Satan seized, not perceiving the hook for his jaws, which lay beneath, in Christ's latent Divinity. Thus, Moral., 1. 33, c. 7: In hamo ergo ejus incarna |