twofold: for, in the first
place, he was declared to be clean; and, secondly, he was restored,
as clean, to the society of men and to the worship of God, to wit,
after seven days. At the first purification the leper who sought to
be cleansed offered for himself "two living sparrows . . .
cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop," in such wise that a sparrow and
the hyssop should be tied to the cedar-wood with a scarlet thread, so
that the cedar-wood was like the handle of an aspersory: while the
hyssop and sparrow were that part of the aspersory which was dipped
into the blood of the other sparrow which was "immolated . . . over
living waters." These things he offered as an antidote to the four
defects of leprosy: for cedar-wood, which is not subject to
putrefaction, was offered against the putrefaction; hyssop, which is
a sweet-smelling herb, was offered up against the stench; a living
sparrow was offered up against numbness; and scarlet, which has a
vivid color, was offered up against the repulsive color of leprosy.
The living sparrow was let loose to fly away into the plain, because
the leper was restored to his former liberty.

On the eighth day he was admitted to divine worship, and was restored
to the society of men; but only after having shaved all the hair of
his body, and washed his clothes, because leprosy rots the hair,
infects the clothes, and gives them an evil smell. Afterwards a
sacrifice was offered for his sin, since leprosy was frequently a
result of sin: and some of the blood of the sacrifice was put on the
tip of the ear of the man that was to be cleansed, "and on the thumb
of his right hand, and the great toe of his right foot"; because it
is in these parts that leprosy is first diagnosed and felt. In this
rite, moreover, three liquids were employed: viz. blood, against the
corruption of the blood; oil, to denote the healing of the disease;
and living waters, to wash away the filth.

The figurative reason was that the Divine and human natures in Christ
were denoted by the two sparrows, one of which, in likeness of His
human nature, was offered up in an earthen vessel over living waters,
because the waters of Baptism are sanctified by Christ's Passion. The
other sparrow, in token of His impassible Godhead, remained living,
because the Godhead cannot die: hence it flew away, for the Godhead
could not be encompassed by the Passion. Now this living sparrow,
together with the cedar-wood and scarlet or cochi