En a dextris Dei stantem Jesum, pro te dimicantem, Tibi cœlos reserari, Clama voce liberâ. Se commendat Salvatori, Vestes lapidantium, Lapidans in omnibus. 45 30 50 43. stantem] The one occasion on which Christ appears in Scripture as standing at the right hand of God, is that of Stephen's martyrdom (Acts vii. 55, 56). The reason why in all other places he should be spoken of as sitting, and here only as standing, Gregory the Great, whom our poet follows, has no doubt rightly given (Hom. 19, in Fest. Ascens.): Sedere judicantis est, stare vero pugnantis vel adjuvantis. Stephanus stantem vidit, quem adjutorem habuit. So too Arator, long before: Lumina cordis habens cœlos conspexit apertos, Our Collect on St Stephen's day has not failed to bring this point out-"O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those that suffer for Thee." This is but one example out of many, of the rich theological allusion, often unmarked by us, which the Collects of the Church contain. 54. Lapidans in omnibus] Augustine (Serm. 315): Quantum sæviebat [Saulus] in illâ cæde, vultis audire? Vestimenta lapidantium servabat, ut omnium manibus lapidaret. Ne peccatum statuatur In Christo sic obdormivit, Qui Christo sic obedivit, Et cum Christo semper vivit, 55 60 55-62. Cf. Acts vii. 59 (Vulg.): Positis autem genibus, clamavit voce magnâ dicens, Domine, ne statuas illis hoc peccatum. Et cum hoc dixisset, obdormivit in Domino. I cannot forbear quoting two stanzas, the first and fifth, from that other of Adam's hymns on the same martyr, alluded to already. I will observe, for the explanation of the first line, that roses were the floral emblems of martyrs, as lilies of virgins, and violets of confessors. Rosa, novum dans odorem, Ab Ægypto revocatur; Uva, data torculari, BORN BEDE. ORN 672, died 735. The circumstances of his life are in fresher remembrance among English Churchmen, than to need to be repeated here. XLVII. S. ANDREAS ALLOQUITUR CRUCEM. SALVE, tropeum gloriæ, Salve, sacrum victoriæ O gloriosa fulgidis Crux emicas virtutibus, XLVII. Cassander, Hymni Ecclesiastici (Opera, Paris, 1616), p. 281.-These stanzas form part of one of the eleven hymns which Cassander attributed to Bede, and published for the first time in his Hymni Ecclesiastici, Paris, 1556. The last editor of the works of Bede, Dr. Giles, has not been able to find any MS. containing these hymns, and, though not excluding, expresses (vol. i. p. clxxi.) many doubts in regard of their authenticity. Whether they are Bede's or not, I must dissent from the judgement of his editor in one respect, since, whatever the value or the poems as a whole, these lines have a real worth. Te nunc adire gratulor, Sic tu libens me suscipe, Sic fatur Andreas, crucis 20 ADAM OF ST VICTOR. XLVIII. DE S. LAURENTIO. SICUT chorda musicorum Tandem sonum dat sonorum Plectri ministerio, XLVIII. Clichtoveus, Elucidat. Eccles. p. 208.-These three stanzas are but the fragments of rather a long poem, in which the manner of St Lawrence's martyrdom (he is said to have been broiled to death on a gridiron), is brought rather too prominently out; even in these present the assatus of ver. 11 we could willingly have missed. They are notwithstanding, well worthy to find a place here, being full of striking images, and singularly characteristic of their author's manner-most of all, perhaps, of his rich prodigality in the multiplication, and of his somewhat ostentatious skill in the arrangement, of his rhymes.-St Lawrence was archdeacon of Rome in the third century, and died in the persecution of Valerian. His festival was held in great honour by the Church of the middle ages, and himself accounted to hold a place only second to St Stephen, in the glorious army of martyrs (Durandus, Rational. vii. 23). 1-10]. These and other like images appear in some lines of Hildebert upon a martyrdom (Opp. p. 1259): Sicut chorda solet dare tensa sonum meliorem, Si comburatur, tolli robigo putatur. |