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Hymns on Faith
St Ephrem the Syrian, tr. Morris, 1847; selections
14. Rhythm the Fourteenth
I HAVE invited Thee, Lord, to a banquet of songs: the wine in the banquet hath failed, even the language of praise. Thou Guest, who filledst the waterpots with goodly wine, fill1 my mouth with the praise of Thee! The wine that was in the water-pots was near akin to, yea, was of the same stock with this reasonable wine which begetteth praise, since that wine also begat praise from them that drank it, who saw the miracle. Oh, Thou most just, if in the marriage-feast, which was not2 Thine own, Thou filledst six waterpots with that goodly wine, in this feast, instead of waterpots, fill ten thousand ears, Lord, with sweetness. Oh, Jesus, who wast invited to the feast of others, lo! now is Thine own feast, chaste and fair! gladden Thy youths! for lo! Thy guests also are lacking, Lord! with Thy songs let Thy harp speak. The soul is Thy bride3 and the body is Thy bridechamber: Thy guests are the senses with the mental faculties4. And if it be one Body which Thou hast for a banquet, Thy guestchamber is the Church, inasmuch as she imitateth Thee!
An holy man5 took the synagogue up to mount Sinai. His body shone with white garments, and [yet] his6 heart was dark. She played the adulteress with the calf, and the High One was displeased at her7 and brake the tables, that writing of His Covenant. Who ever at any time saw a bawling out amidst a deed of lust, [or] a bride that would do wickedly in her chamber and lifts up her voice the while8? In Egypt she dwelt, she learnt of the mistress of Joseph, who cried out while she did wickedly. The light9 of the pillar of10 fire and of the cloud drew in its rays unto itself, so as to be like the sun which was darkened in the day, when she judged the King, and called for another deed of wickedness11.
How shall my harp, Lord, cease from Thy praise? How, again, shall I teach my tongue to reject Thee? For Thy12 love giveth boldness of face to my shamefacedness, and yet my will rejecteth Thee. Meet is it that men should praise Thy Godhead! meet is it for the highest Angels to worship Thy Humanity13. The highest Angels marvelled [to see] how small Thou wert, those below marvelled to see how exalted14 Thou art!
Notes
- John 2, 3, &c.
- ib. v. 10.
- See on R. xx. §. 4.
- It is common to explain the number five of the senses: see Method. C. Virg. vi. §. 3. Augustin in Ps. xlix. §. 9. Greg. M. in Evang. cap. i. Hom. xii. §. 1. who all consider the five virgins to have reference to the five senses. I believe St. E. has somewhat of the kind in his mind here, and wishes to imply that the five senses, with the mental faculties thereto corresponding, are to be like the five virgins admitted to the feast. See R. iv. §. 3. The next words, I believe, mean, ‘If one man’s body, so filled with praises, has thereby become a banquet to Thee, still it is in the Church that such a banquet must be prepared: he must be a member of Thy visible representative.’ Or, perhaps it is better to take the words ‘one Body’ of Christ’s Body as a newly introduced subject, suggested by the mention of the human body, the banquet, again, of the Supper in which It is eaten, as suggested by the ‘banquet of songs’ and the guestchamber of the visible Church which imitates Christ in giving His Body to her disciples. The passage, however, is one upon the meaning of which I feel more uncertain the more I look at it.
- i. e. Aaron
- Ex. 32, 1.
- S. hated her
- S. her voice was lifted up.
- Comp. Ex. 33, 3. 9. with 40, 36.
- Gen. 39, 13—15.
- St. E. here doubtless refers to the Jews quoting the very words of the prophecy they were fulfilling. See Ps. xxii. 8. Matt. xxvii. 43. By ‘another deed of wickedness’ perhaps he means the attempt to stop the Resurrection by the soldiers demanded of Pilate. The connection of the whole Rhythm is probably this: God showers benefits profusely upon us: the Jews, and after them, the heretics shew us, that no amount of means of grace will alone keep man from sin: how then shall I, who have strength given to praise God for all His benefits, fail to do it? Vol. i. p. 224. f. may throw some light upon it. “From Aaron’s being afraid and building the altar before the calf, it is likely that, when they were instant to perform rites before the altar, they had killed Hur, (because he rebuked them for changing their God, c.) Aaron, however, in order to delay them till Moses came down, said, ‘There is a feast of the Lord to-morrow.’ Yet they sacrificed to it first, and were eating the manna and drinking the water that Moses gave them! and underneath the cloud that was overshadowing them, they forthwith sported before the calf.”
- See Prov. 23, 35.
- See Hebr. 1, 6. 1 Tim. 3, 16. Phil. 2, 10. So above, p. 143. n. e. he speaks of ‘the adorable Body of Immanuel.’
- ab. p. 24.