The Book of the Holy Rosary: Part II, Chapter XI. Scripture Types of the Fifth Sorrowful Mystery: The Fountain of the River in Paradise; The Paschal Lamb; The Passage of the Red Sea; The Prayer of Moses on the Mount; The Brazen Serpent; The Rock Which Yielded Sweet Water
1. The fountain springing up in the place of pleasure in Paradise, which, being divided into four streams, watered the whole earth.
There can be no part of the work of the Eternal Son for the redemption of man, which antecedently we should be prepared to believe would be more richly prefigured in the previous Covenants of God with man, than His supreme act of the laying down His life on the Cross, when He uttered the words, “It is consummated.” And the fifth sorrowful mystery is shadowed forth, in fact, in an endless variety of ways; nevertheless, because the well is deep, we must be satisfied to draw from it, not what we could wish, and what it contains, but what space and opportunity permit.
In figuris praesignatur (sings the Church), Cum Isaac immolatur, Agnus Paschae deputatur, Datur manna Patribus.
— Hymn, “Lauda Sion.” The figure of “Isaac” and of the “manna” have already occupied our attention, and with that of the “Paschal lamb” we will associate those above enumerated, each in their own way, reflecting their particular portion of light upon the sacred mystery.
“There was not a man to till the earth,” says the Book of Genesis, “but a spring rose up out of the earth, watering all the surface of the earth. And the Lord had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning, wherein He placed man whom He had formed. And a river went out from the place of pleasure, which from thence is divided into four heads” (Gen. ii. 5–10).
Let us briefly study the particulars of the parallel, and see if the resemblance is not almost minute. “But there was not a man to till the earth when this fountain sprang up in paradise.” When Jesus came into the world, there was not a man to remedy its disorders, nor to heal its wounds. Isaias, in the spirit of prophecy, foresaw the state of the world at His coming, and has thus described it:—“And the truth had become forgotten, and he that departed from evil lay open to be a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it appeared evil in His eyes, for judgment had failed. And He saw that there was no man, and He was astonished that there was not one to oppose himself. Therefore, His own arm wrought salvation, and His justice it strengthened Him” (Isaias lix. 15).
“And the river went out from the place of pleasure, which from thence is divided into four heads.” Let us contemplate Jesus attentively as He lies stretched out on the Cross. He is beautiful above the sons of men, yet His head flows with blood from the wounds of the thorns. His hands flow with blood at each extremity of the transverse beam of the Cross. His feet flow with blood at the foot of the Cross. And here we behold the healing stream which gives life to the world, flowing from the fountain of salvation, and which from thence is divided into four heads.
“But the spring rose up out of the earth, watering all the surface of the earth.” As the waters of the river of paradise, which went forth from the place of pleasure, after being divided into four heads, spread themselves over the earth, watering its surface, so the doctrines of the gospel, which went forth from Mount Sion, “the city of perfect beauty, the joy of the whole earth” (Lam. ii. 15), and “the city which the Lord hath built” (Ps. ci. 17), having been sent east and west, north and south, are spreading themselves daily over the earth, ever covering its surface with fresh falls of the heavenly dew of the Word of Life.
2. The Paschal Lamb; and 3. The Passage of the Red Sea.
For these things were done, says the Evangelist, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. “You shall not break a bone of Him.” There exists no other prophecy in the Sacred Scriptures to this effect, except the typical history of the Paschal lamb, which the Israelites were commanded to kill and eat the night of their sudden departure from the land of Egypt, having first sprinkled the door-posts of their houses with the blood of the lamb, that the destroying angel, who was sent to strike the first-born of the Egyptians, might see the sign of salvation on their dwellings, and pass them over. The Paschal lamb is thus placed by the Evangelist as among the figures of Christ, and the allegory, or figure, hardly needs explanation. “Christ our Pasch is slain,” says the apostle, “therefore let us keep the feast” (1 Cor. v. 7). Again, Christ, our atoning sacrifice, is called in the Book of Revelations, “The Lamb slain before the foundations of the world.” And the Church sings—“As the avenging angel passed Of old, the blood-besprinkled door;
As the cleft sea a passage gave.
Then closed to whelm the Egyptians o’er; So Christ, our Paschal Sacrifice, Has brought us safe all perils through;
While for unleavened bread we need But heart sincere and purpose true.”—Hymn, Ad Regias Agni, Caswall’s version.
The miraculous passage of the Red Sea, in the same manner, is also recognised by St Paul as a figure of the salvation of the Cross: “I would not have you ignorant, brethren,” he writes, “how our fathers all passed through the sea, and all in Moses were baptized in the cloud and in the sea.” Now, all these things happened to them in a figure, and they are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come (1 Cor. x. 1). After these things, as St Augustine also writes, “Moses is commanded to strike the sea with his rod. Behold in this rod the mystery of the Holy Cross. Observe, and see, that except the rod be lifted up over the sea, the people of God are not delivered out of the hands of Pharao. And, in the same manner, if the Holy Cross also had not been lifted up, the Christian people would have perished for ever. But when the rod is raised up, that is, when the Cross is placed erect, then the sea gives way, and its waves yield. Let us, my brethren, pray to our Lord to perform in our hearts and persons the same work which He accomplished on the Egyptians, that we may receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to destroy in ourselves the spiritual Egyptians, for he does this who destroys in himself the works of darkness” (Sermon XXIV.)
4. The Prayer of Moses on the Mount.
Scarcely were the people fairly advanced into the wilderness, the Scripture relates, when an enemy comes against them to dispute their further progress. This is the people of Amalec. And Moses said to Josue, “Choose out men, and go and fight against Amalec, and I will stand on the top of the hill, having the rod of God in my hand.” Moses went up into the mount with Aaron and Hur, and the battle began. As long as Moses lifted up his hands to pray, Israel overcame, but if he let them down even a little, Amalec overcame. Moses’ hands, however, became heavy, and at length Aaron and Hur, taking a stone, placed it under him, so that he sat upon it, and they stayed up his hands on both sides. And thus it came to pass that his hands were not weary until sunset. And Josue prevailed against Amalec, and put them to flight by the edge of the sword (Exod. xvii. 12).
“Herein, my brother,” writes St John Chrysostom, “thou seest the blessed Moses pointing to the Cross by another figure. And if you desire to know in what manner, listen, for those who discourse of the Cross should be prepared with every variety of figure and mystery. ‘And it came to pass, as long as Moses lifted up his hands to pray, Israel overcame, but if he let them down even a little, Amalec overcame.’ What is the meaning of this figure? A Jew, alarmed lest the glory of the Cross should be seen shining through it, will say, “This figure has no reference whatever to what you are dreaming about. It was no more than a mere mode of prayer, and not the figure of what you imagine. But, against this, it is to be answered, if the victory were the fruit of nothing but the prayer of Moses, how comes the Scripture not to ascribe the victory to his prayer. For the language of the Scripture is not ‘when Moses prayed,’ but it ascribes the victory simply to the holding out his hands. ‘For when Moses,’ says the Scripture, ‘let his hands drop down even a little, Israel was overcome, and when he stretched them out, Amalec was put to flight.’ If this is solely to be ascribed to his prayer, the words certainly should have been, ‘When Moses prayed.’ But, as I have said, the Scripture, omitting all direct mention of his prayer, not indeed as if it were useless, but as being second in importance to the figure of the cross, ascribes the victory solely to the type and to the sign; ‘for when Moses stretched out his hands, Israel conquered.’ What does this stretching out of his hands signify? Picture to yourself these stretched-out hands, and behold in them a resplendent figure of the adorable Cross” (Homily on the Brazen Serpent).
5. The Brazen Serpent.
In the next figure we shall see foreshadowed the power of the Cross over the confusion and suffering brought about by the sins of the people. This is the brazen serpent of the wilderness, the history of which may be narrated briefly as follows from the Book of Numbers:—“The forty years of wandering were drawing to an end, but the murmuring and discontented spirit of the people remained unchanged. The children of Edom had refused them the right of passage through their territory, and this refusal made it necessary to return back southward, and pass to the east of Mount Seir, where Edom dwelt. This increase of marching drew from them complaints and murmurs; they quarrelled with the manna, and asked Moses why he had brought them up out of Egypt, and complained that they had neither bread nor water. To punish them, God sent serpents among them, which bit and killed many of them. The people came at length, and said that they had sinned, and prayed Moses to take away the serpents from them. Moses prayed for the people; and the Lord said to him, “Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign; whosoever, being struck, shall look upon it, shall live.” Moses did so, and when they who were bitten looked upon it, they were healed” (Num. xxi.)
Jesus, in His discourse by night with Nicodemus, declares this brazen serpent to be a figure of His passion on the Cross, saying, “For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of man must be lifted up, that every one who believeth in Him may not perish, but have everlasting life” (John iii. 14).
“Brethren,” says St John Chrysostom, above quoted, “this figure of the serpent was an image of the Cross. And if it be asked in what way, we may reply, that as this image of the serpent had all the shape and form of a serpent, without its venom and stealthiness, so our divine Redeemer, according to the apostle, appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet was without sin. ‘Who did no sin,’ as St Peter says, ‘neither was deceit found in His mouth.’ Behold the truth shining through the figures of the Scripture. Serpents bit the children of Israel when the people rushed into transgression. Moses prays God to show him some healing remedy, and God shows to His servant the remedy he asks for. ‘Make a brazen serpent,’ He says, ‘and set it up before the tabernacle of the testimony.’ What can be the meaning of such a sign as this? The serpents which inflict the bites are one thing, and another serpent is crucified for them. What can this riddle mean? What can be the mystery of which it is the shadow and figure? In the same way as another serpent which does not bite is in this figure nailed to the Cross for the serpents inflicting the bites, so the innocent Jesus is about to suffer for all those who have sinned. For the serpents which bit the people, the serpent which is harmless is crucified; and for us, who are subject to death, He is nailed to the Cross, over whom death hath of right no dominion: as the prophet says, ‘The Lord hath delivered Himself up for our sins’ (Isa. liii. 12). And again we ask, why is a serpent made of brass fixed to the cross? and the answer is, that the bites of the serpents might be removed. One thing is raised on the cross, and another thing is done away with by means of it. As in this case, it was the image of the serpent which was publicly exposed that removed the bites of the other serpents, so it is the death of Christ which has taken away death, and which has routed the assaults of the demons” (Homily on the Brazen Serpent).