ADAM OF ST VICTOR. XXXV. DE SPIRITU SANCTO. UX jucunda, lux insignis, Quâ de throno missus ignis In Christi discipulos, Christus misit quod promisit, 5 XXXV. Clichtoveus, Elucidat. Eccles., p. 177; Daniel, Thes. Hymnol., v. 2, p. 71. 2. missus ignis] Durandus (Rational., 1. 6, c. 107) tells us that is was customary to scatter fire from on high in the church on the day of Pentecost; and he gives the explanation of this and other similar practices, as the letting loose of doves: Tunc enim ex alto ignis projicitur, quia Spiritus Sanctus descendit in discipulos in igneis linguis. He has omitted however any reference to the other passage in Scripture without which this custom would scarcely have found place, and which is necessary to complete the explanation- I mean Rev. viii. 5 (Vulg.): Et accepit angelus thuribulum, et implevit illud de igne altaris, [altare aureum quod est ante thronum Dei, ver. 3] et misit in terram; et facta sunt tonitrua et voces et fulgura et terræmotus magnus. 10-12. Daniel, who remarks here, Petrus Apostolus, cujus nomen die Pentecostes et omen habebat, confertur cum petrâ mellifluâ in deserto; has entirely missed the meaning, doing equal wrong to the poetry and the theology of the stanza. The poet has in his eye the words of Deut. xxxii. 13, "He made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock," as will be clearer still when the words of the Vulgate are quoted: Suxerunt mel de petrâ, et oleum de firmâ petrâ; with the commentary of Gregory the Great thereupon (Hom. 36, in Evang.): Mel de petrâ suxerunt, qui Redemptoris nostri facta et miracula viderunt. Oleum verò de firmâ petrâ suxerunt; quia effusione Sancti Spiritûs post resurrectionem ejus ungi meruerunt. Quasi ergo in firmâ petrâ mel dedit, quando adhuc mortalis Dominus miraculorum suorum dulcedinem discipulis ostendit. Sed firma petra oleum fudit; quia post resurrectionem suam factus jam impassibilis, per afflationem Spiritûs donum sanctæ unctionis emanavit. Cf. Hugh of St Victor, De Claustro Animæ, 1. 3, c. 8. 25. Panes legis] On the day of Pentecost two loaves, the primitia of the completed harvest were, according to the Levitical ordinance, presented to the Lord. (Lev. xxiii. 16, 17.) Why two, has often been enquired: and the typology of the middle ages presented its explanation, namely, that by this twofold offering it was indicated that the Church, which was founded and presented in its living firstfruits to the Lord on the great day of Pentecost, should consist alike of Gentile and of Jew; and to this interpretation we have evident allusion here. See Bähr's Symb. d. Mos. Cult., v. 2, p. 650; and Iken, De duobus Panibus Pentecostes. 31. non vetusti] The Jews were the old vessels or old skins, into which the mustum, or new wine of the Spirit, could not be poured, (Matt. ix. 17,) and they signally shewed that they were so on the day of Pentecost, when they so misunderstood the thing which was done, as to say mocking, "These men are full of new wine," (Acts ii.,) words which yet had their truth; for the Apostles were as utres novi, in which the new wine of the Spirit was being poured, and there is, as St Paul teaches, a πλnрoûσ¤ai év IIveúμati, which is the spiritual counterpart and antagonist to the carnal μedúokeodai oivw. (Ephes. v. 18.) Thus Augustine (Serm. 267) : Utres novi erant; vinum novum de cœlo expectabatur, et venit. Jam enim fuerat magnus ille Botrus calcatus et glorificatus: and |