Book 4 (Part II)

85 — Hermes, the Messenger. The other prefers to take Jack simply and reverently as lacchus, the spiritual form of Bacchus. But it does not matter very much whether we insist upon the swiftness or the rapture of the Holy Spirit of God; and that it is He of whom it is here spoken is evident, for the name Horner could be applied to none other by even the most casual reader of the Holy Gospels and the works of Congreve. And the context makes this even clearer, for he sits in a corner, that is in the place of Christ, the Corner Stone, eating, that is, enjoying, that which the birth of Christ assures to us. He is the Comforter who re- places the absent Saviour. If there was still any doubt of His identity it would be cleared up by the fact that it is the thumb, which is attri- buted to the element of Spirit, and not one of the four fingers of the four lesser elements, which he sticks into the pie of the new dispensa- tion. He plucks forth one who is ripe, no doubt to send him forth as a teacher into the world, and rejoices that he is so well carrying out the will of the Father. Let us pass from this most blessed subject to yet another. Tom, Tom, the piper's son, Stole a pig and away he run. The pig was eat, And Tom was beat. And Tom went roaring down the street.