De trina arcae secundum latitudinem divisione, qua supradicti homines significantur, et de trabibus ibidem positis.
The Twin Beams Across the Breadth
Two sets of beams are laid across the ark's breadth—one pair transposed, the other continuous—to frame the symbolic structure.
Next I turn my hand to the breadth, and beginning upward from the right horn all the way to the line of generation I stretch out twin beams, and from there upward—that is, from the line of generation to the left horn—I similarly mark two, the same ones but set in the opposite direction. Then indeed from the right horn to the left in one continuous line without any transposition I extend two beams in the same place.
Inscribing the Sides by Length and Breadth
The right side is inscribed along its three-hundred-cubit length, the left side divided into three ages, and the upper portion across its fifty-cubit breadth.
With the sides thus arranged according to length and breadth, I distinguish their inscriptions in this way: on the right side I write from end to end—its length was three hundred cubits. On the contrary, on the left side, in the first section I place the time of natural law, in the second the time of the written law, and in the third the time of grace—so that as it were the first hundred-year period is the time of natural law, the second the time of the written law, and the third the time of grace.1 In the upper portion I write from the right side to the left—its breadth was fifty cubits.
The Lower Side and the Upper Horn
The lower side bears the title of the Church united under Christ, while the upper horn is marked with Mount Zion and the city of the great King.
On the contrary, on the lower side, as an explanation of this title I write: the totality of the faithful under one head, Christ. On the upper horn as well, above the heads of the two beams that run lengthwise, I place Mount Zion; on the left, the sides of the north, beneath and opposite the midst, the city of the great King.
Zion, the Nations, and the One City of God
The twin beams signify the Jewish people and the northern sides the Gentile nations, both streaming together as the one Church.
For the twin beams on the right signify Mount Zion—that is, the people of the Jews in both sexes—and the sides of the north on the left signify the people of the nations, similarly in both sexes, streaming together in faith; and the one city of God—that is, the Church—made from both.
One Faith Below, Three Orders Above
Below, the two peoples are made one in Christ; above, the three beams are inscribed as men of nature, law, and grace.
And so on the upper side there is both a transposition of the beams and a division of the titles, but below there is both a single channel and a single title — because these two peoples, previously divided in themselves, were afterward made one in the faith of Christ. Then above the right horn, at the heads of the three beams that extend lengthwise, I write across: 'men'; afterward above the left horn, as if completing the definition of this title, to the outer beam at its head I ascribe 'of nature,' to the inner one I place beneath 'of law,' and to the middle one 'of grace' — intending this to signify that these three beams placed on both sides represent men of natural law, of written law, and of grace, which we spoke about above.
Read the original Latin
Dehinc ad latitudinem manum verto et incipiens sursum a dextro cornu usque ad lineam generationis geminas trabes porrigo, et ab inde sursum, id est a linea generationis usque ad sinistrum cornu, similiter duas signo, easdem quidem sed transpositas. Deinde vero a dextro cornu in sinistrum continuo ductu sine transpositione duas ibidem trabes protendo. Hoc modo lateribus secundum longitudinem et latitudinem compositis inscriptiones eorum taliter distinguo: In dextro latere a fine usque ad finem scribo, trecentorum cubitorum erat longitudo ejus. Econtrario in sinistro latere in parte prima pono tempus naturalis legis, in secunda tempus scriptae legis, in tertia tempus gratiae, ut quasi primus centenarius sit tempus naturalis legis, secundus tempus scriptae legis, tertius tempus gratiae. In superiori parte a dextro latere usque ad sinistrum scribo, quinquaginta cubitorum latitudo ejus. Econtrario in inferiori latere quasi expositionem hujus tituli scribo, universitas fidelium sub uno capite Christo. In superiori quoque cornu super capita duarum trabium, quae in longitudinem vadunt, pono mons Sion; in sinistro, latera aquilonis, subtus contra medium, civitas Regis magni. Dextrae namque trabes geminae significant montem Sion, hoc est populum Judaeorum in utroque sexu; et sinistrae latera aquilonis, hoc est populum gentium similiter in utroque sexu ad fidem concurrentium; et unam civitatem Dei, hoc est Ecclesiam, ex utroque facientium.
Propterea in superiori latere et transpositio trabium et divisio titulorum facta est, inferius autem et ductus unus, et titulus unus, quia hi duo populi prius in seipsis divisi fuerant, in fide postmodum Christi unum facti sunt. Deinde in dextro cornu superius capitibus trium trabium, quae in longitudinem porriguntur, per transversum superscribo homines, postea in sinistro cornu quasi hujus tituli determinationem, exteriori quidem trabi in capite ascribo naturae, interiori autem suppono legis, mediae vero gratiae; hoc significare volens quod istae tres trabes utrinque positae significant homines naturalis legis, scriptae legis et gratiae, de quibus superius locuti sumus.
Notes
- 1 ↩The threefold temporal schema (natural law, written law, grace) maps onto the three ages of salvation history; 'centenarius' is rendered 'hundred-year period' to preserve the typological sense of a numbered age rather than a literal century.
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