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Hymns on Faith

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

53. Rhythm the Fifty-third

Who would not wonder at¹ the Just One who omitted not to write the deeds of beings above, and mark out those of beings below, and write those of the creatures, and embrace every thing even to the matter of the rods and the history of² the mandrakes? What chaste women³ have spoken, He caused to be written by the Holy Ghost, and it was placed in the Ark. Marvellous are Thy appointments whereof the causes are hidden! Praises be to Thy doctrine! Who would not be afraid that there are offences on the earth, contentions in the world, disputations in the streets, and in assemblies divisions, and in the midst of Churches the sword⁴ and the scimetar? Women fall out with women, and men with their comrades, even priests too with kings⁵; and the whole world is in uproar!

Who would not weep that the earth hath been tossed⁶ for so long a time, and hath settled again: yet the tossings and strivings of the Churches⁷ are not stilled. Waves and billows are silent in the sea; yet fools and enquirers are in confusion on the dry land. Blessing the sailors have, and the learned woe. Is our battling then altogether pleasing to the merciful One? that be far from us to think⁸. But if it is Satan mocking us, and making us a sport⁹, why was it that the Good One did not remove all difficulty¹⁰ by writing plainly ‘creature¹¹’ distinctly, and doing it a second and a third time that witnesses might abound¹²: since He is the God of Truth who erreth not, neither leadeth man into error, since He is Good and Just; and how often hath He made us chaste with His teaching, and hath trodden for the true ones a path without error! Yea, He hath even made him¹³ nigh unto a curse¹⁴ that causeth the blind to err in the way.

The reason then, why He had words of secret meaning written, was because they are like medicines¹⁵, which, though not similar, yet are collected and brought to bear for this, that all them are [applied] in the hope of healing. But he that knoweth not their power, killeth therewith; and he again that knoweth their power, by them triumpheth¹⁶. From this same comparison of medicines do thou form an idea of¹⁷ the Scriptures: for there are men that are very ignorant about medicines¹⁸, and there are men that are quite strangers to [Scripture] lections; and their words are contradictory in the mouth of foolish clerks¹⁹. The Scriptures are full of harmony²⁰, and the clerks¹⁹ of confusedness. What then remaineth, save this alone, that we should establish [our cause] by witnesses, but not by one only, since the Just One did not command that it should be received: for at the mouth of three witnesses (it says) the matter shall be decided.²¹ Let us appeal to the great tribunal of Justice, and let both sides call witnesses to their accounts.

In order that the thing may be made clear, let alone words which proclaim the littleness²² of our Lord, and His greatness. For one perceives His Human, and another His Divine, Nature²³ in them. Let us leave interpretations, and examine with simplicity the bare words ‘Son’ and ‘creation.’ They will be able sure to tell us as finished clerks¹⁹, learned in the law, ready in the prophecies, that Solomon puts the matter beyond all controversy; for he felt, and called Him a²⁴ creation and a formation. Solomon then forsooth is the great stronghold²⁵ of all these changelings²⁶! From me that am an unlearned²⁷ man let them hear with conciseness, that all this littleness in the Scriptures concerneth the Human Nature of our Saviour. And if thou art able, go beyond His Human Nature, and reach to the Divine, and thou wilt find that He is lifted up above all such things.

Come, fly unto Him with the wings²⁸ of the mind and the pinions of the imagination, and therefore wipe out clear the eye of thy mind! and ascend and behold the Son: behold Him, and behold His Father, and see how like He is throughout to Him that begot Him; since the Father is hidden from all and the Son concealed from all! Count up then how many times hath He been called Son and Begotten, and then calculate²⁹ how often He is called creature; also when the words have been calculated, the names which exceed in number convince the discerning that that is the real Name which at all times is repeated; but the adjoined Name³⁰ comes twice or thrice at most!

We have counted up and found that it is but in one Proverb only that Solomon calleth Him a Creature. We have reckoned and have not fallen short, since the Father in all the miracles, the Prophets in all expressions³¹, the Apostles in all voices, and devils in all the possessed³² alike proclaim Him Son. Who is there that will not believe, and chide with all this strife?³³

Notes

See above, p. 140, n. g. He seems to mean that we are wholly incapable of judging by what laws Divine Revelation is conducted; it discloses to us things relating to Angels or men, which we cannot see the use of till after long study, and withholds so many things which we should desire to know. It is to be observed, that he does not here urge the apparent trivialness of the matter as the proof of a sense below the letter, (as many fathers do,) probably from a wish to state strongly what heretics would be more readily forced to admit, the unsearchableness of God’s dealings. If St. Ephrem is replete with allegory, it must be remembered that he insisted strongly on maintaining the truth of the letter also. (See n. b. p. 247.)
Gen. 30, 37. 15.
The Syriac has [Syriac] for which perhaps should be read [Syriac], as the cases which Hoffmann gives, Gr. p. 357—8. do not seem parallel to this. The songs of Miriam, Deborah, and Hannah, are probably what St. E. means. Although in 1 Kings 8, 9. we are told that there was nothing in the ark but the two Tables of Stone, it appears from Heb. 9, 4. and Deut. 31, 26. that that statement must refer to a definite time: possibly it merely means that what Moses had left there, was not removed at the time of the induction of the ark: for that the book in which the Law was written, was taken out from time to time to have additions made to it by proper authorities, is plain from Joshua 24, 27. 1 Sam. 10, 25. (quoted by Eichorn. Einl. i. p. 20.) Hence the whole book of the Old Test. is called in John 10, 34; 15, 25. the Law. See August, de Trin. xv. 30. Asseman. gets over the difficulty by taking the word to mean ‘Tabernacle,’ which is probably suggested by an interpretation of Heb. 9. given by Junius, A. Lapi de Justiniani, and others. Grttser. Defens. Bellarm. vol. xii. p. 112. and Buxtorf. de Arcâ Fæd cap. v. may be referred to for a fuller discussion of the matter. It is sufficient here to point out a way in which the clear statement of St. E. that not the Law only, but also other books of Scripture were in the Ark, may be justified by Scripture. The Syr. it should be added, in Deut. has [Syriac], literally, ‘in the side’ as our version, and not a latere with the Heb. Sept. and Chald. The text of Epiphanius de M. et P. p. 162. often referred to on the subject, is too uncertain to build any thing upon.
R. lii. §. 2.
Pearl vii. §. 7.
Is. 24, 19, 20. p. 17, n. c.
R. xliii. §. 2.
S. to hush and let it not be.
R. l. §. 4.
S. make the way straight.
This way of meeting the difficulty arising from Prov. 8, 22. is a popular, rather than a scientific, one: i. e. it aims at nothing more, than shewing by the confusion the heretical interpretation would introduce, what is not the sense of the passage; what is the sense it does not just at present attempt to decide. It seems, however, to give St. E.’s judgment against another explanation of the difficulty, drawn from the fact, that ἐκτήσατο is a more accurate representation of the Hebrew than ἔκτισε, which exposition the present writer can more readily imagine, commending itself as safe to one acquainted with a word or two of Hebrew, than to one who appears as well versed in it as St. E. from his commentaries does appear to be. It may be doubted if [Hebrew] in Hebrew, or in Syriac authors of early date, when not translating from Greek, can be assumed to mean simply to ‘have;’ rather, it is to acquire possession of what one once had not: whereas it does seem to mean to create in Gen. xiv. 19, 22. where the LXX and Vulgate render κτίζων, as the LXX and Chaldee do here.—[Syriac], which is used by the Syr. and Chald. in Gen. seems to be used of ‘creatures’ by St. E. in R. lxix. §. 2. ‘there is none of the possessions that is far from the Godhead, since love exists between Him and the creatures;’ ‘possessions’ here would be a very awkward word. comp. R. lxiii. §. 3. R. lxxi. §. 2. R. lxxxii. §. 4. c. Scrut. i. §. 5. vol. ii. p. 509, b. where the word may be used for ‘creatures’ by a process the inverse of that which we go through when we call the slaves of any man his ‘creatures,’ if made to stand for κτήματα, which, in a frequent use of it, means, not possessions, but slaves. Of course in §. 4. it becomes plain that He took the passage of the Incarnation, probably viewing the assertions throughout as descriptive of what was done in the counsels of God, in a past tense, just as in chap. ix. the words ‘Wisdom hath built her an house’ he apparently takes, vol. i. p. 434, e. as prophetical of the Church. See on St. Austin’s Conf. p. 130. O. T. and on Athan. p. 342, n. a. Assem. B. O. i. p. 111. thinks this sufficiently accounted for by the fact that the Syriac version has [Syriac]: but it seems extravagant to assume that St. E. would not consult the Hebrew where even Greek and Latin Fathers appealed to it. St. E. then must be added to ‘the major part of Antiquity,’ which agreed on taking the passage of the Incarnation. See Petav. de Trin. ii. 1. §. 3.
§. 4.
Deut. 27, 18.
S. made a curse nigh unto him.
See vol. ii. p. 480. in p. 171, n. e. and p. 245, n. a.
p. 290, n. b.
S. draw near to
S. roots
S. scribes
See above on R. i. n. b. R. xlvi. §. 1. R. lvi. §. 4. R. lix. §. 5. As he here accuses the heretics for being ‘strangers to the lections of Scripture,’ so in the funeral Rhythms he praises those departed in Christ for ‘labouring, toiling, and struggling in the books of the Holy Ghost, in watching, fasting, and prayer.’ R. xi. p. 240, e. and R. xiii. §. 2. p. 247, f. “He that loved to read the words of Thy doctrine, and to hear the Spirit’s speech, may he hear the voice of the trump. He that marvelled and was astonished at the riches of Thy speech, and whose heart revered the words of the Holy Ghost, O mingle him with the reverent, &c.” p. 256, f. 257, f. p. 446—7. 475, a. 476, f. comp. above, p. 196, n. c. Of course the habitual study of Scripture would beget impressions in favour of the Church’s Creed, which isolated passages however trodden down by heretics (see p. 215, n. d.) could not remove.
Deut. 19, 15.
p. 209, n. b.
The two principal orthodox interpretations of Prov. 8, 22. are the one noticed in n. c. and that which takes it of created wisdom, or of the Son, as He infuses Himself into His creatures, in order that they may have wisdom. See on Athan. p. 391, n. c. and compare what has been said above, p. 209, n. b. of the Son as sustaining all creatures. The heretics on the contrary neglected the frequent appellations of ‘Son,’ &c. and chose to go perversely by this one passage. Gr. Nyss. ii. p. 610, b. “There is a vast catalogue of Names, whereby the Only-Begotten is named indifferently with the Father, as Good, Incorruptible, Just, Judge, Long-suffering, Merciful, Eternal, Endless—every thing that can serve to indicate the prerogative both of Nature and of Power, without any diminution in the loftiness of the meaning of one of the Names bestowed upon Him. But this vast number of Divine appellations, he (Eunomius) travels through as if with his eyes hoodwinked, and stares at one point only, generate, to wit, and ingenerate, thus trusting to a slight and strengthless rope, a dogma which is tossed with the waves and carried about with the winds of error.” This is similar arguing against a similar error, common to most heretics, viz. that of having some few texts which they dwell on to the disparagement of other Scriptures. See on Athan. p. 178, n. c.
Prov. 8, 23.
This §. may remind one of St. Athanasius de Decr. S. N. §. 13. p. 20. O. T. Comp. n. d. p. 179. Possibly St. A.’s works were early translated into Syriac, as we know Greek authors were into Latin. see Vales. ad Euseb. H. E. ii. 2. Ming. ad Did. de Trin. p. 263. St. Austin de Trin. iii. 1. c. Jul. Pel. i. 15; as were St. E.’s works into Greek. Sozom. H. E. iii. 16. and compare p. 119, n. m. 139, n. f. 146, n. d. &c. It seems, however, (in spite of what some argue from Theodoret, H. E. iv. 29.) likely that St. E. knew Greek both from the way he speaks of Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, Galen, and others, (comp. R. lvi. §. 5.) as also from the general appearance of great learning throughout his works, and the tradition of his learning it miraculously at his interview with St. Basil. Of course his profession of being unlearned is nothing but the effect of humility, as he speaks differently when a confession of being learned will serve to humble himself, in vol. ii. p. 355, f. “I read in the books of the Spirit that be written by the Holy Ghost, and they make one acquainted with Judgment and with vengeance, as with the Chamber of Light and the Kingdom. And on I read and yet I do not do, and I teach but do not learn. Ready am I in books and lections, and from duty far off am I. I have read in the Scriptures unto others, and not one of them has entered into my own ears. I have interpreted them, and shewn the sense of them to the simple, but have not managed to profit myself by them. I have opened and read and sighed over them; I have comprehended it, and then forgotten what was in it. When the books passed from before me, the memory of them passed from my mind.” Comp. Paræn. p. 444—7. p. 454, d. (See vol. i. p. 470, c. vol. ii. p. 33, d.) To this must be added his frequent reference to other commentators. see vol. i. p. 43, c. p. 45, d. f. p. 147, b. p. 154, c. p. 364, e. p. 421, d. p. 425, b. &c. cf. iii. p. 241, f. to say nothing of the knowledge of Gentile history (see vol. i. p. 470, c. ii. p. 33, d.) and religious or philosophical systems, visible in his writings. Similar instances of modesty are noticed on Athan. p. 52, n. d.
S. [Syriac]
comp. R. ii. §. 3.
p. 222, n. c. and R. xliv. §. 5.
R. lxxvii. §. 1.
S. Surname. R. lxiii. §. 1.
S. mouths
S. plagues R. liv. §. 3.
Matt. 8, 29.