130 Spake also, in the Gospel, telling how
The kids are severed from the sheep, and stand
On the left hand): that some indeed there are
Who for the Lord’s Name’s sake have suffered: thus
That fruit has veiled their former barrenness:
135 And such, the prophet teaches, on the ground
Of that their final merit worthy are
Of the Lord’s altar: others, cast away
(As was th’ iniquitous rich man, we read,
By Lazarus), are such as have remained
140 Exiled, persistent in their stubbornness.
Now a veil, hanging in the midst, did both
Dissever, and had into portions twain
Divided the one shrine. The inner parts
Were called “Holies of holies.” Stationed there
145 An altar shone, noble with gold; and there,
At the same time, the testaments and ark
Of the Law’s tablets; covered wholly o’er
With lambs’skins dyed with heaven’s hue; within
Gold-clad; and all between of wood. Here are so
150 The tablets of the Law; here is the urn
Replete with manna; here is Aaron’s rod
Which puts forth germens of the cross—unlike
The cross itself, yet born of storax-tree—And over it—in uniformity
155 Fourfold—the cherubim their pinions spread,
And the inviolable sanctities
Covered obediently. Without the veil
Part of the shrine stood open: facing it,
Heavy with broad brass, did an altar stand;
160 And with two triple sets (on each side one)
Of branches woven with the central stem,
A lampstand, and as many lamps:
The golden substance wholly filled with light
The temple.
Thus the temple’s outer face,
165 Common and open, does the ritual
Denote, then, of a people lingering
Beneath the Law; amid whose gloom there shone
The Holy Spirit’s sevenfold unity
Ever, the People sheltering. And thus
170 The Lampstand True and living Lamps do shine
Persistently throughout the Law and Seers
On men subdued in heart. And for a type
Of earth, the altar—so tradition says—
Was made. Here constantly, in open space,