"Aurum hic de frondibus,
Gemmas de silicibus,
Fractis de fragminibus,
Fecit firmas."—Ibid.
There is something interesting in the persistency of legends about St. John's power over gems, when connected with the passage, flashing all over with the light of precious stones, whose exquisite disposition is the wonder of lapidaries. Apoc. xxi, 18, 22.
[127] See note B at the end of the Discourse.
[128] 1 John v. 18.
[129] Ibid. v. 19.
[130] Ibid. v. 20.
[131] Said by Luther of Psalm xxii. 1.
[132] See the noble and enthusiastic preface to the washing of the disciples' feet (John xiii. 1, 2, 3).
[133] The phrase probably means the Logos, the Personal "Word who is at once both the Word and the Life." For the double genitive, the second almost appositional to the first, conf. John ii. 21, xi. 13. This interpretation would seem to be that of Chrysostom. "If then the Word is the Life; and if this Christ who is at once the Word and the Life became flesh; then the Life became flesh." (In Joan. Evang. v.)
[134] Gen. i. 1; Prov. viii. 23; Micah v. 2.