eator
alme siderum,"{1} chanting in awful tones the two comings of |91|
Christ, for redemption and for judgment; and then are sung the words that
strike the keynote of the Advent services, and are heard again and again.

"_Rorate, coeli, desuper, et nubes pluant Justum_
(Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down the
Righteous One).
_Aperiatur terra et germinet Salvatorem_
(Let the earth open, and let her bring forth the Saviour)."

_Rorate, coeli, desuper_--Advent is a time of longing expectancy. It is a
season of waiting patiently for the Lord, whose coming in great humility
is to be commemorated at Christmas, to whose coming again in His glorious
majesty to judge both the quick and the dead the Christian looks forward
with mingled hope and awe. There are four weeks in Advent, and an ancient
symbolical explanation interprets these as typifying four comings of the
Son of God: the first in the flesh, the second in the hearts of the
faithful through the Holy Spirit, the third at the death of every man,
and the fourth at the Judgment Day. The fourth week is never completed
(Christmas Eve is regarded as not part of Advent), because the glory
bestowed on the saints at the Last Coming will never end.

The great Eucharistic hymn, "Gloria in excelsis," is omitted in Advent,
in order, say the symbolists, that on Christmas night, when it was first
sung by the angels, it may be chanted with the greater eagerness and
devotion. The "Te Deum" at Matins too is left unsaid, because Christ is
regarded as not yet come. But "Alleluia" is not omitted, because Advent
is only half a time of penitence: there is awe at the thought of the
Coming for Judgment, but joy also in the hope of the Incarnation to be
celebrated at Christmas, and the glory in store for the faithful.{3}

Looking forward is above all things the note of Advent; the Church seeks
to share the mood of the Old Testament saints, and she draws more now
than at any other season, perhaps, on the treasures of Hebrew prophecy
for her lessons, antiphons, versicles, and responds. Looking for the
glory that shall be revealed, she awaits, at this darkest time of the
year, the rising |92| of the Sun of Righteousness. _Rorate, coeli,
desuper_--the mood comes at times to all idealists, and even those
moderns who hope not for a supernatural Redeemer, but for the triumph of
social justice on this earth, must be stirred by the poetry of the Adve