CLXXIII.
Pacem meam do vobis. Joan. xiv. 27.
Bella vocant: arma, ô socii, nostra arma paremus
Atque enses: nostros scilicet, ah, jugulos.
Cur ego bella paro, cum Christus det mihi pacem?
Quod Christus pacem dat mihi, bella paro.
Ille dedit, nam quis potuit dare certior autor?
Ille dedit pacem: sed dedit ille suam.
My peace I give unto you.
War calls: O friends, our arms let us prepare,
And swords; forsooth, our throats let us lay bare.
Why war prepare, if Christ His peace afford?
Because Christ gives me peace, I take the sword.
He gave—what surer giver can be shown?
He gave the peace, but then He gave His own. R. Wi.
CLXXIV.
In D. Paulum illuminatum simul et excaecatum. Act. ix. 8, 9.
Quae, Christe, ambigua haec bifidi tibi gloria teli est,
Quod simul huic oculos abstulit atque dedit?
Sancta dies animi, hac oculorum in nocte, latebat;
Te ut possit Paulus cernere, caecus erat.
Paul's conversion and blindness.
Why, Lord, this twofold glory of Thy ray,
Giving him sight whose sight it takes away?
Paul in that night God's inner light shall find:
That he may see The Christ his eyes are blind. Cl.