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Hymns on Faith

St Ephrem the Syrian, tr. Morris, 1847; selections

12. Rhythm the Twelfth

Thy salt is the Truth; season therewith our minds; let it yield the fruits which are pleasant to them that eat them. Understanding and taste and mind together may it blend and give unto child-like ears. Lo! a furnace is set, and each one of us hath brought his soul to it, and his seal¹ and his teaching, whoever hath sealed and taught. The furnace will reveal it, if it be a fraud which hath put on the likeness and shape of the Truth². The balance is suspended, let us weigh our minds in it. By comparison with Thy Will let us weigh our own wills. And if our will be less or more³ than Thy Will, perfect it in Thy mercy.

The scales of Thy balance are grace and righteousness,⁴ and how and when they shall be balanced it is Thou that knowest. When they do not balance, they yet do balance, since they are not uneven to the One Lord of all. Thy⁵ balance directeth the little with small weights, the middling with weights which are like unto them, the perfect with perfect weights⁶: and even the scrutinizers [it weigheth] with weights of mercy. The bosom of Thy Kingdom looketh unto the sincere; Thy Paradise also, O Lord,⁷ looketh for the pure. The table of Thy Kingdom longeth for Thy Twelve who shall sit thereat. With Thy rain every thing increaseth, with Thy dew every thing is moistened. Thy doctrine is a hidden dew for the hidden earth⁸. Gather, O Lord, Thy fruit as a vintager, and offer it to Thy Father as a Sheaf of reconciliation.

Thou art a Branch of that Vine⁹ which is from Egypt, which also the wild boar of the forest devoured, when it sprouted and put forth its twig from it; which bare the blessed Cluster and the Cup of the Medicine of Life. From the family of the circumcised and from the place of tares there came up unto us the Sheaf¹⁰ which was full of New Bread, from the bitter the sweet Fruit, and from the murderers the Physician that healed all. In a spicy root the Son of David was brought to us, and from a dry ground flowed unto us the¹¹ Fountain of mercies. How shall we reject that Fountain¹², which mercies have poured forth in dry lands? Thy key¹³ manifesteth itself unto him that seeketh it. Thy treasure re-¹⁴ joiceth in the thief that taketh it by violence, because Thou¹⁵ didst rejoice in that woman who from the hem of Thy garment¹⁶ took and stole a medicine for her plague. Thy leaven, O Lord,¹⁷ longed for a mass of sinners, that it might change them, and draw them to repentance. Thy light maketh the path of¹⁸ Truth even; it cleanseth out and taketh away from it [all]¹⁹ stumbling stones. Thy silver, O Lord, sheweth mercy unto²⁰ the empty, that he may be enriched thereby. Thy pound²¹ sheweth mercy, since it cometh to the humble with ten pounds; Thy talent desireth to come to the indolent with ten. Glory to Him that enricheth all!

Thy armour, O Lord, rejoiceth in a penitent that fighteth with wickedness: Thy vineyard rejoiceth in the idler, who contendeth victoriously with the thrifty²², that with open mouth and unveiled face he may claim his reward. Glory to the Rewarder of all! Thy yoke, Lord, rejoiceth in subduing the²³²⁴ rebellious, Thy rod rejoiceth in scattering the assembled wolves, and Thy fold in gathering the persecuted sheep into²⁵ the pasture. Glory to the Shepherd of all! Thy haven²⁶ looketh for our ship, which Thou wilt bring unto it. Direct²⁷ it with Thy Spirit²⁸; in Thy love with the oars of Thy mercies²⁹ let it be assisted: let it stop the mouth of the greedy sea.³⁰ Glory to Thy assistance! Thy Rock looketh for them that build, that the foundations may be builded upon it, and all that see it may give [Thee] glory. Let not their tower, Lord,³¹ be a laughing-stock: in Thee may it be finished! Glory be to³² Him that perfecteth all! Thy seed looketh for lands that are to be tilled. In the least may it bring from Thee thirty-fold;³³ and in the middling may it bring sixty, and in the perfect may it bring an hundred-fold.

Thy mirror is clear, and all of it turneth towards Thee. Thy brightness inciteth the filthy to cleanse themselves thereon, since no impurity can be joined unto Thee, unless it hath wiped from it its stains³⁴. Thy hyssop³⁵ looketh for us that it may be gracious unto us in its mercy. With the dew of Thy mercy, Lord, let us be cleansed again. The Lord hath no pleasure in our uncleanness, though the Just One is³⁶ greatly glorified in our purity.³⁷

Notes

St. E. looks upon the Trinity as a seal imparted at Baptism, see xviii. §. 2. Vol. ii. p. 486. “Quite despised was gold to our King, who sealed not His Image upon silver. Upon man that is greater than all, did our Redeemer set the seal of His Beauty. He that hath believed in the Name of God, hath received the seal of God; but if he have surnamed himself by the name of man, it is a man’s seal that he hath received.”
R. xxxvii. §. 3.
Matt. 6, 10.
Ps. 85, 10.
See Ezech. 18, 25.
This threefold division of Christians occurs several times in St. Ephrem. Thus in vol. i. p. 230. a. “By these three doors Moses shadoweth out Immanuel, by whom interior men enter into the contemplation of God; by whom also middling men enter into a sight of His Majesty; by whom likewise those without are brought near to the enclosure of the spiritual court: as our Lord said in the Gospel, I am the door; the door of the inner gate for the perfect; of the middle for the just; of the outer for penitents.” P. 232. c. “By the sacrifices of oxen, rams, and lambs, he indicateth the three various conversations of the saints, and the respective amelioration of conscience in each. The first and chief order is that of those exceedingly exalted in their conversation: the second is the middling one, less than these: and the third, that of beginners, which in respect of these is small and lowly.” See also p. 252. b. 254. b. 255. c. 268. c.
Luke 16, 22.
So, in the far west, St. Austin on Ps. 1. §. 4. “As this visible earth nourisheth and containeth the visible man, so doth that invisible earth the interior man: from the face of which earth it is that the wind scattereth the ungodly, &c.” See also Jerome on Esai. lviii. v. fin.
Ps. 80, 8. see pp. 58, 64, 35.
above, p. 13, n. i.
Is. 53, 2.
R. x. §. 6.
Is. 35, 6. 7.
Is. 22, 22.
Mat. 11, 12.
Mark 5, 29.
Mat. 13, 33. p. 8.
John 11, 9.
Is. 57, 14. 55, 1.
Luke 19, 16.
Matt. 25, 15.
Of the parable here referred to (Matt. xx. 1.) he gives elsewhere, vol. i. p. 153, a. and p. 269, e. the other and perhaps more exact interpretation, which refers the different hours to the different interpositions of Christ for His Church.
Deut. 28, 48.
Jer. 28, 14.
Ezek. 22, 7.
Ps. 2, 9.
Ez. 34, 22.
or wind
Ps. 107, 30.
John 10, 11.
Mat. 7, 24.
Luke 14, 28.
Mat. 13, 23. see note b.
S. scars.
ab. p. 3.
Ezek. 18, 23.
John 15, 8.