Part Fourth

Footnotes

^[1604] Comp. Heb. vii. 19; x. 1; xi. 11-12.

^[1605] “Lignum:” here probably ="the flesh,” which He took from Mary; the “rod” (according to our author) which Isaiah had foretold.

^[1606] Aërial, i.e., as he said above, “dyed with heaven’s hue.”

^[1607] “Ligno,” i.e., “the cross,” represented by the “wood” of which the tabernacle’s boards, on which the coverings were stretched (but comp. 147–8, above), were made.

^[1608] As the flame of the lamps appeared to grow out of and be fused with the “golden semblance” or “form” of the lampstand or candlestick.

^[1609] Of which the olive—of which the pure oil for the lamps was to be made: Ex. xxvii. 20; Lev. xxiv. 2:2—is a type. “Peace” is granted to “the flesh” through Christ’s work and death in flesh.

^[1610] Traditus.

^[1611] In ligno. The passage is again in an almost desperate state.

^[1612] Isa. xi. 1, 2.

^[1613] Matt. v. 23, 24.

^[1614] Primus.

^[1615] See Rev. viii. 3, 4.

^[1616] Here ensues a confused medley of all the cherubic figures of Moses, Ezekiel, and St. John.

^[1617] i.e., by the four evangelists.

^[1618] The cherubim, (or, “seraphim” rather,) of Isa. vi. have each six wings. Ezekiel mentions four cherubim, or “living creatures.” St. John likewise mentions four “living creatures.” Our author, combining the passages, and thrusting them into the subject of the Mosaic cherubim, multiplies the six (wings) by the four (cherubs), and so attains his end—the desired number “twenty-four”—to represent the books of the Old Testament, which (by combining certain books) may be reckoned to be twenty-four in number.

^[1619] These wings.

^[1620] There is again some great confusion in the text. The elders could not “stand enthroned:” nor do they stand “over,” but “around” God’s throne; so that the “insuper solio” could not apply to that.

^[1621] Mundi.

^[1622] Virtute.

^[1623] Honestas.

^[1624] Or, “records:” “monumenta,” i.e., the written word, according to the canon.