Nicodemus.
'Twas night; and, Teacher all untaught,
Thy darkness thou to Christ hast brought
But while attent He speaks to thee
Benignant words, that thou mayst see,
Leading higher still and higher,
As thy yearnings do aspire,
Guiding thee, by sure grace given,
Through secret paths that reach to heaven;
Lo, the Sun on thee is risen,
Bursting from his cloudy prison,
Showing Him, the Life, the Way,
Flushing with first bloom of day,
Quivering with a golden light
Such as on wav'ring seas gleams bright.
The Sun is risen; yet darkness lies,
Good Nicodemus, on thine eyes;
But the night's thine own; for, lo,
All heav'n above doth lustrous glow. G.
XXIV.
Domitiano de S. Johanne ad portam Lat.
Ergo ut inultus eas? sed nec tamen ibis inultus,
Sic violare ausus meque meosque deos.
Ure oleo, lictor. Oleo parat urere lictor:
Sed quem uri lictor credidit, unctus erat.
Te quoque sic olei virtus malefida fefellit?
Sic tua te Pallas, Domitiane, juvat?
To Domitian, concerning St. John commanded to be cast into a caldron of boiling oil.
Thou go unpunish'd? That shall never be,
Since thou hast dar'd to mock my gods and me.
Burn him in oil!—The lictor oil prepares:
Behold the Saint anointed unawares!
With such elusive virtue was the oil fraught!
Such aid thy olive-loving Pallas brought![89] R. Wi.
XXV.
In Baptistam vocem. Joan. i. 23.
Tantum habuit Baptista loqui, tot flumina rerum,
Ut bene Vox fuerit, praetereaque nihil.
Ecce autem Verbum est unum tantum ille loquutus:
Uno sed Verbo cuncta loquutus erat.