The Church, the interpreter of the Sacred Scriptures, often speaks to
us of two places, which correspond with these two times of St.
Augustine. These two places are Babylon and Jerusalem. Babylon is the image of
this world of sin, in the midst whereof the Christian has to spend his
years of probation; Jerusalem is the heavenly country, where he is to
repose after all his trials. The people of Israel, whose whole history
is but one great type of the human race, was banished from Jerusalem and kept in bondage in Babylon.
Now, this captivity, which kept the Israelites exiles from Sion,
lasted seventy years; and it is to express this mystery, as Alcuin,
Amalarius, Ivo of Chartres, and all the great Liturgists tell us, that
the Church fixed the number of Seventy for the days of expiation. It is
true, there are but sixty-three days between Septuagesima and Easter;
but the Church, according to the style so continually used in the Sacred
Scriptures, uses the round number instead of the literal and precise
one.
The duration of the world itself, according to the ancient Christian
tradition, is divided into seven ages. The human race must pass through
seven Ages before the dawning of the Day of eternal life. The first Age
included the time from the creation of Adam to Noah; the second begins
with Noah and the renovation of the earth by the Deluge, and ends with
the vocation of Abraham; the third opens with this first formation of
God’s chosen people, and continues as far as Moses, through whom God
gave the Law; the fourth consists of the period between Moses and David,
in whom the house of Juda received the kingly power; the fifth is
formed of the years, which passed between David’s reign and the
captivity of Babylon, inclusively; the sixth dates from the return of
the Jews to Jerusalem, and takes us on as far as the Birth of our
Saviour. Then, finally, comes the seventh Age; it starts with the rising
of this merciful Redeemer, the Sun of Justice, and is to continue till
the dread coming of the Judge of the living and the dead. These are the
Seven great divisions of Time; after which, Eternity.
In order to console us in the midst of the combats, which so thickly
beset our path, the Church, — like a beacon shining amidst the darkness
of this our earthly abode, — shows us another Seven, which is to succeed
the one we are now preparing to pass through. After the Septuagesima of
mourning, we shall have the bright Easter with its Seven weeks of
gladness, foreshadowing the happiness and bliss of Heaven. After having
fasted with our Jesus, and suffered with him, the day will come when we
shall rise together with him, and our hearts shall follow him to the
highest heavens, and then after a brief interval, we shall feel
descending upon us the Holy Ghost, with his Seven Gifts. The celebration
of all these wondrous joys will take us Seven weeks, as the great
Liturgists observe in their interpretation of the Rites of the Church: — the seven
joyous weeks from Easter to Pentecost will not be too long for the
future glad Mysteries, which, after all, will be but figures of a still
gladder future, the future of eternity.
Having heard these sweet whisperings of hope, let us now bravely face
the realities brought before us by our dear Mother the Church. We are
sojourners upon this earth; we are exiles and captives in Babylon, that
city which plots our ruin. If we love our country, — if we long to
return to it, — we must be proof against the lying allurements of this
strange land, and refuse the cup she proffers us, and with which she
maddens so many of our fellow captives. She invites us to join in her
feasts and her songs; but we must unstring our harps, and hang them on
the willows that grow on her river’s bank, till the signal be given for our return to Jerusalem. (Psalm 115) She will ask us
to sing’ to her the melodies of our dear Sion: but, how shall we, who
are so far from home, have heart to sing the Song of the Lord in a
strange Land ? (Psalm 136) No, — there must be no sign that we are
content to be in bondage, or we shall deserve to be slaves for ever. (Read more.)
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