1.  Rejoice, ye heavens, and let the earth be glad Ps. xcvi. 11., for those who are to be sprinkled with hyssop, and cleansed with the spiritual The invisible or spiritual (νοητός) hyssop is the cleansing power of the Holy Ghost in Baptism.  Compare Ps. li. 7. hyssop, the power of Him to whom at His Passion drink was offered on hyssop and a reed S. Cyril here, and still more emphatically in xiii. 39, distinguishes the hyssop (John xix. 29) from the reed (Matt. xxvii. 48), implying that the sponge filled with vinegar was bound round with hyssop, and then fixed on a reed.  Another opinion is that the reed itself was that of hyssop.  See Dictionary of the Bible, “Hyssop.”.  And while the Heavenly Powers rejoice, let the souls that are to be united to the spiritual Bridegroom make themselves ready.  For the voice is heard of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord Is. xl. 3..  For this is no light matter, no ordinary and indiscriminate union according to the flesh σωμάτων., but the All-searching Spirit’s election according to faith.  For the inter-marriages and contracts of the world are not made altogether with judgment:  but wherever there is wealth or beauty, there the bridegroom speedily approves:  but here it is not beauty of person, but the soul’s clear conscience; not the condemned Mammon, but the wealth of the soul in godliness.