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II 



These are the symbols. On that cloth of red 



I' the centre is the Tripoint : perfect each 



Except the second of its points, to teach 



That Christ is not yet born. The books — ^whose head 



Is golden charity, as Paul hath said — 



Those virtues are wherein the soul is rich : 



Therefore on them the lily standeth, which 



Is innocence, being interpreted. 



The seven-thorn 'd briar and the palm seven-leaved, 



Are her great sorrow and her great reward. 



Until the end be full, the Holy One 



Abides without. She soon shall have achieved 



Her perfect purity : yea, God the Lord 



Shall soon vouchsafe His Son to be her Son. 



Behind the Virgin is the trellis of the ' Enclosed Garden . ' Beyond — 

 for still the ' Holy One abides without '—is the vine, emblem of the 

 'True Vine," the figure of Saint Joseph, who tends it, forecasting that 

 he would be the guardian of Christ's infancy. Upon the trellis, up 

 which wreathes the white convolvulus, used in the 15th century as the 

 symbol of humility, sits the Holy Dove. 



Finally, upon the balustrade is a rose in a transparent vase, the rose 

 of divine love conjoined with the symbol of transcendant purity. 



