Rhythms on the Faith

Rhythms on the Faith

continued

Rhythm 13.

1. I WOULD keep my faith from the deceit which hath burst up here, and which, while it confesseth the Father, denieth the Only-Begotten: and since the investigators have flown up to all the high things, in the Fort of Truth I would keep my faith. I came near to the Father, and He denoteth Himself by His Paternity: I came near to the Son, and He hath blended Him in His Sonship: as hath the Holy Spirit also His holiness: in Him then do I also conclude the all-hallowing mystery! All faith which is not signed is error. Let us prepare ourselves for tribulation if it come, whether our spirit suffer, or our soul depart, or our body be burned. Who shall overcome us? This is that which is written, neither height, nor depth, nor sword, shall be able to cut off our faith. Who shall cut off the glory-rays that cannot be cut off from the Sun of Truth. Upon the Three Names our baptism hangeth. In the Three Mysteries our faith overcometh. The Three Names our Lord gave to His Twelve, that in them we might find a refuge. The soul that is not sealed is like a wandering sheep: and that which is sealed in one name is also to be rejected, and that whose seal, being inadmissible, is stolen, it also strayeth. Blessed be He that hath sealed us for Himself! The doctrine is a treasury of the faith: the voice is the key, and the tongue as it were the treasurer. Never hath the faith ceased to set forth and yield truth unto the hearers. To silence are the trumpet and the faith strangers. Never did the trumpet mutter low in the secret The Faith lifts up its voice to all.

2 chamber, and the faith also did never steal away and mutter the truth low in secret or in a hidden place. 2. Who ever saw [before] a tree which produced only a single fruit with this fruit singly upon it continually? Faith it is which hath Truth singly hung upon it: for Truth is one. Let not my tongue be silent or be bridled for the faith, let it ascend from my lips, Lord, as an offering unto Thee. Lo! from branches speaking or silent my tongue hath gathered it for Thee! This sentiment occurs again, R. is a beacon to all—as fides is used in xx. §. 2. The faith means probably Latin and wives in Greek for a form of the written form of it, the Creed which words.

Rhythm 14.

1. 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, fill 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 not 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 bride and the body is Thy bridechamber: Thy guests are the senses with the mental faculties. And if it be one Body which Thou hast for a banquet, Thy guestchamber is the Church, inasmuch as she imitateth Thee!

2. An holy man took the synagogue up to mount Sinai. His body shone with white garments, and [yet] his heart was dark. She played the adulteress with the calf, and the High One was displeased at her 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 * 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 guest-chamber 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. 158 The Jews' ingratitude warns Christians to be thankful.

Rhythm 15.

1. LET him that is a man care for the things of a man: let him who is mortal muse upon what is commanded; and again, let him that is a sinner seek medicine fit for his wound. Let the discerning with silence venerate Thy God-head: let the learned in stillness be amazed at Thy Majesty: let the wise with wholesome words proclaim to children the glory of Thy kingdom. Let not our soul go astray and raise doubts about our God. Let us mete our mind and measure also our imagination, and let us know our knowledge how much too small and foolish it is, to search into Him, who knoweth all things. 2. Tell me how thou didst shadow out in thy mind that Generation which is at a mighty distance from thy scrutinizing? Thou fanciedst It was a little mountain, into the midst of which thou didst descend to explore it. In silence seal up thy mouth: let not thy tongue be rash. Know thyself a creature made, a child of clay, for a great gulph and boundless is between thee and the Son in the parts where thou searchest into Him. He that is weak hath no concern with difficulties; nor he that is feeble with perplexities: and let not him who is of the earth lift himself so proudly up, that his mouth should haste to fly up at his Maker. He that scrutinizeth is a limb that is broken: let it get itself healed, lest it hurt the whole body, and lest, because it is diseased, the Healer of all pains should cut it off and drive it away from His pasture.

3. Every one that questioneth, is a companion of him that is lost, and he that searcheth, is a fellow unto him that is gone astray. For never did one that is lost seek and find himself, like to the scrutinizer. Let him who is a member fix himself firmly upon Christ. Let not his blade be separated The disputatious blind, and miss their aim. from his Root: for the Vintager cutteth off him whose fruit He hath perceived to be bitter. 2 Cor. 4, 3. 4.

Rhythm 16.

1. How shall Thy servant, Lord, cease from giving Thee glory? how shall my tongue desist from Thy praise? How shall I stop up the sweet overflow which Thou hast opened in my mind that was parched? With what is Thine I will sing praise unto Thee, from Thine own gift. For in Thee, Lord, it is that I am rich, and unto Thee I bring forth increase. In Thee I am increased, and shall I refuse Thee, O Thou Giver of all increase? Blessed be He that sent Thee unto us! Thy treasure is sweet, and we are Thy treasurers. My deposit is increased in Thy storehouse as a choice seed. This is of Thy gentle mercy, that Thou causest my little to have great returns. For, lo! our debts are great, and who shall dare to ask? Lo! the danger is taken away, in Thy mercy, from the oppressors who have taken and oppressed. Yea, they dissemble, and have come to the door of Thy treasury. Give unto us, O give unto us more! To be bold I would not wish, from being daring I refrain myself. Which then of the two is preferable to Thee, Lord? The boldness of our love is pleasing unto Thee, as it is pleasing to Thee that we should steal from Thy treasury.

2. To Thee, Lord, my faith I bring as an offering in its nakedness: I have brought it without works; it as being Thine will be enriched by Thee, and I from it, and also from Thee, since I am [found] wanting. A merchant bringeth a pearl to the king; he receiveth it in its nakedness, and by himself he enhanceth it. If the king enhanceth it in his crown, how much more, Lord, shall my faith be enhanced in Thee? If even the husbandman offers plucked fruit, and the lord of the vineyard rejoiceth therein, and even giveth him clothing, and if the workman for fruit plucked receiveth clothing, clothe me with Thy mercy. He whose faith is great is not small: the faith that in him is small, in Faith should shew its inward growth outwardly. Thee, Lord, it is enhanced; and if even wheat corn is enriched in the dust, let my faith be enriched from Thy treasury. It sufficeth then for that [corn] and also for this faith that it is not we who, as though impostors, give to it from what is its own. Strip not off even from what is its own; because it groweth not in us, let it not therefore, Lord, diminish in us.

3. Woe [unto us] if we see the abode of idle disputants; we have been naughty labourers who have turned idle and fallen asleep! But and if we be watchful, we shall receive the reward which the prudent receiveth, who hath not been in any wise idle. Yet at this time many smother it entirely, for beneath the veil of the silence of fear have they put it, whose faith watcheth in their hearts, while their profession slumbereth in their mouths. For this is not prayer ministering in silence. Faith, typified by the face, is set in an open place. He that concealeth his faith, it were fitting for him to cover his face also.

Rhythm 17.

1. HE that seeketh after the Truth in a grudging spirit, not even if he meeteth it will he be able to know it. Since envy troubleth his mind, he doth not know it, not even if he graspeth hold of it. His anger is mad, and dareth without considering. He disturbeth the earth, he graspeth also at the heaven. He knoweth not his fellow-servant, neither distinguisheth he the servant from his Lord. Who would not weep to see that his neighbours have forsaken and left the contest with them without, and themselves among themselves as strangers are daring at disputation? Who would not blame him who, though insufficient for the things which in his own self are concealed from himself, yet proudly lifteth himself up above his Creator, though not attaining even unto the creatures? 2. God seeing that He was never at any time searched out, clothed Himself with a body that may be searched out, that we might cease from searching into His Divine Nature, and rest ourselves in the Generation of His Human Nature. He persuadeth us to ask how the Divine Nature came down, and in the Belly was for nine months silent. Thirty years also He was in the earth, that by His long stay we might gain Him by use. He left those above, and became a companion unto those below: He left those that were found, and sought for those that were lost: He left those that were wise, He chose those that were simple, and by them He spread His simple preaching unto every man: He left the chariot of the four living creatures, and came down: and the Cross He made Him a chariot unto the Christ the Creator of all things.

2 four quarters [of the world]: He left the Seraphim and also the Cherubim, and came down and endured the contempt of His crucifiers. 3. Thou art the Son of the Living One, and Thou art the Son of a mortal. Thou art the Son of our Creator, O Lord, who in Thee stablished all things, and also the Son of Joseph, that workman who learnt by Thee. By Thee it was, that the Maker without teaching stablished [all things]! with Thy Finger the Creator fashioned all the creatures! by Thee it was that Joseph fashioned his carpenter's work, since he saw that Thou wert his Teacher! Hail! Son of the Creator. Hail! to the Son of Carpenter, who, when creating, created every thing in the mystery of the Cross. And haply even in the house of Joseph, that carpenter, with the Cross He was busied all the day. n. x.

3 As the first chapter of Ezekiel is evidently in St. E.'s mind in the text, it may be allowable to give here a portion of his commentary on the place: p. 166. "The faces of the lion, who is the king of beasts, represent to us the kings and princes of the world, who have come under and been subdued to the yoke of the Church, which is represented by the chariot; or to the Gospel, which self-same Gospel the chariot represents. The faces of the eagle again are, that we may know that it is from above that He, which shall come, is to be. But by the faces of the birds and the beasts, he represents the nations differing in their habits, who have received the Gospel and wrought at its spiritual toils... The hand that was beneath the wings of the Cherubs represents to us, that it was the might of Him Who is the Son of Man, which supporteth the chariot that carrieth Him. By this hand also he pointeth out that Christ our Redeemer put on a man's body. 'The hand of a man beneath the wings,' i.e. the foundations of the Church it is His Right Hand which

4 supporteth...The faces were in the four corners, though they were upon two sides. One face was that which looked to the West, from one corner, another again, opposite to it to the North, and another to the East, and that opposite to it to the South: and so it was opposite each one of the faces that the quarter to which it looked was, and each observed it whenever they moved. They formed therefore the shape of a plinth, whose breadth does not amount to its length. For the ox was yoked with anima's that destroy it, unclean with the clean. Here is a marvel to see three unclean species and one clean: and by this he taught us, that it was out of those that were circumcised that choice was made of those to be Apostles to the Gentiles: by the four corners he hinteth at the four quarters of the world."

5 i.e. as having four quarters. See §. 2. and xviii. §. 1. In a similar way Eph. 3, 18. is taken of the Cross by St. Greg. Nys. Or. Cat. 32. c. Eun. p. 582. Jerom. in Es. v. 10. Austin. de Doctr. Christ. ii. §. 62.

Rhythm 18.

1. THE young of a bird, unless it be matured, is not able to break through its covering, through its imperfect state; and faith which is under silence is also imperfect. Oh perfect it, Thou that perfectest all things! The race of birds is brought up by a threefold advance from the belly, to the egg: from hence to the nest, and when it is perfected, it flieth in the air: it spreadeth its wings in the mystery of the Cross. And faith too is perfected by threefold advance. For since in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost the Apostles believed, thus the faith flew unto the four quarters [of the world] in the mystery of the Cross. The Threefold Names are sown in a threefold way, in the R. xl. §. 1. The manifold occurrence of Holy Cross spirit and in the soul and in the body, as in the mystery. When our trinity was perfected by the Threefold One, it reigned unto the ends [of the earth].

2 See R. xii. §. 1. 2. If the spirit suffer, it is wholly sealed with the Father; 3 By 'the mystery' probably the Sacrament of Baptism is intended. The connection probably is to be found by recalling the use of the Cross at Baptism; upon which see Gretser de Cr. iv. 13. In vol. ii. p. 336, b. we find the following parallel passage: "Grant to us, Lord, that we may kindle three bright-shining lights to Thee, the spirit, the soul, and the body. The spirit let us give to the Father, the soul let us give to the Son, and let us give the body to the Holy Ghost. Oh, Father, hallow Thou our spirit for us! and oh, Son, hallow Thou our soul for us! and oh, Holy Ghost, hallow the feeble body from its spots! Grant to us, Lord, to rejoice in Thee, and that Thou mayst rejoice in us, and from spirit, soul, and body, to Thee be glory and on us Thy mercies! This passage, as well as the text, evidently alludes to 1 Thess. v. 23. the only difference is that supplies the place of in the text, as the word for spirit. Of which more in note c. St. E. is probably aiming at furnishing a sort of Creed against some heresy in vogue, although it may be difficult to determine precisely what he alludes to. Two errors, however, seem to deserve notice in this view. Apollinaris is said by St. G. Naz. ad Cledon. i. p. 744. to have made the Trinity consist of great, greater, and greatest;

4 Spirit, Son, and Father, as brightness, ray, and sun:—in the text the Three Persons are set before us as working Each alike man's renovation, though in distinct ways; which of course must not be so taken as to militate against the well-known rule, 'that whatever God does externally to himself, that the whole Trinity does.' St. E.'s object seems to be to mark out the distinctness of the Persons, as well as their equality. Basil. Ep. 265. §. 2. (compare Euseb. c. Marcell. ii. 4. Timoth. Pr. ap. Cotel. M. G. iii. p. 395. speaks of Apollinaris as restoring Sabellius' doctrine and one form of this, of which we learn from Epiphan. Hær. lxii. init. (who says they abounded in Mesopotamia; see also St. E. ii. p. 485, d. 488, c. and Assem. B. O. i. p. 111. and 5 Pseudo-Athan. c. Sabell. Gregales, §. 13. would be obviated by the text. "This man (says St. Epiph.) and the Sabellians after him teach that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, is the same, so that there are three names in one subsistency, as in [the case of] man, body, soul, and spirit; that the body, so to say, is the Father, the soul the Son, and that as the spirit of a man so is the Holy Ghost in the Godhead." The form of Baptism was often urged as telling against Sabellians as well as Arians, (see Petav. de Trin. ii. 12. §. 8.) the singular 'Name' proving the Unity, and the repetition of 'the' proving the Trinity of Persons. This then would be a heresy at which the passage quoted and the text might be levelled, though it might meet some secret form of Apollinarianism, the maintainers of which had 'for disciples of the inner school' more open biasphemies. Vid. Gr. Naz. p. 746, c. Our trinity means man's nature consisting of three things, a mode of speaking to be found in St. Austin de Trin. ix. x. xi. A passage from the author c. Sabell. Greg. §. 8. may be added here. "Let no one who denieth the Three expect to find the Unity, but in the Trinity let him behold the Unity, having the sum of the faith in his Baptism, and in the three holy seals whereby he was regenerated into salvation, remembering what the Apostle says, 'There is one God, &c.' 1 Cor. 8, 6. See also Jerome on Eph. iv. 30. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit of God, that our spirit and soul may be impressed with the seal of God, and we may recover that image and likeness, after which we were in the beginning created."

6 It remains to shew why the particular Persons are assigned in the way adopted in both places by St. E. St. Greg. Nyss. ii. p. 602. says that St. Paul often "calleth the mind spirit; for when this hath received the participation of the Spirit, then unto those who have received it, is present the honourable estate of adopted sonship." The word in the passage quoted answers to commonly, and also to this as illuminated. See on and if the soul suffer, it is wholly blended with the Son; and R. xi. if the body confess and be burned, it communicateth wholly §. 6. with the Holy Ghost. And if the little bird drew in its wings and refused to use the silly mystery of the Cross, the air would then refuse her, and not bear her up; but her wings praise the Rood. And if a ship spreadeth her sails for the sea, in the mystery of the Rood and from the yoke of wood, she maketh a bosom for the wind; when she hath spread forth the Rood, then is the course spread clearly out for her voyage. And if the ship was that of the Jew, the Cross rebuked him by his deed, since though not intending it, in the ship himself with his own hands hath spread and displayed the mystery of the Rood. The sea by the Rood was subjected to the unbelievers: but unless the crucifers had made wood into the form of a cross, and upon it had hung the Body as a sail, the voyage would have halted. Oh, pure bosom [of a sail], sign mysterious of the Body of our Redeemer, which was filled with the Spirit, although It in no wise confined It. By the [same] Breath which dwelleth in the sail do bodies live, in which the soul dwelleth.

7 Ezech. xxxvii. 1. Levit. 1. xxiii. and vol. i. p. 139, e. p. 132, b. p. 398, a. The spirit then being that part or faculty of the soul which receives the Gift of the Spirit, is said to be sealed with the Father, because as the Father is the Fount of the Godhead, so the spirit becomes by that Gift the fountain of a new life in man. Greg. Naz. p. 742, d. "If it was by sanctifying like by like that Christ would put an end to the condemnation of sin, then as He needed Flesh, by reason of the flesh which was under condemnation, and a Soul, by reason of the soul; so did He also need a (spirit or) mind, by reason of the (spirit or) mind which not only stumbled in Adam, but was the seat of the disease, (.) as the physicians say of bodily ailments. For it was that which received the commandment, which also did not keep it... and chiefly needed salvation." comp. Cyril de Incarn. cap. 15. Mai C. N. viii. p. 77. It then may be viewed as the fountain of sin in the old Adam, of grace by the new. The expressions, God of the spirits, &c. &c. Father of spirits, Heb. xii. should be borne in mind. It may suffer from weariness, (see 2 Cor. ii. 13.) though preserved from

8 falling by the seal upon it. Manifold occurrence of Holy Cross 3. Neither, again, doth the land yield itself to the crucifiers, without the fair mystery of the shining Rood. It is the sign of a Rood which worketh it and softeneth it, and scattereth its seed therein. Neither doth his dress please him without a mystery: he spreads out his arms in putting it on as if a Rood. Lo! his covering is a mirror to him, the sign is sealed upon it which he denieth. If the crucifier buyeth a lamb and killeth it, upon wood he hangs it, Lord, that he may shadow forth the slaughter of Thee. And again, when he hideth wheat in the earth, the living seed preacheth Thy resurrection. In his flock he museth on Thee, because it is kept by Thy Rod. And in his vineyard is the cluster full of the type of Thy Blood: and when upon his tree the fruit hangeth, it is a type of Thy Cross and of the Fruit of Thy Body.

9 4. Lo! in the house of unbelievers the preacher of Thee crieth aloud, Ye that sleep arise, be watchful! Since it is plain what he signifies by clapping his wings there. Lo! he proclaimeth the resurrection of the dead to that buried living man, seeing that his sleep is deadly to himself. And if scribed by Himself, He was able to contain Himself as well entire without being aught impeded, as without being aught circumscribed, yet in no way straitened; this is in very deed a sign of a natural Power, that may not by any external force be shut out from its own uncircumscribed condition, or be circumscribed in doing what it pleaseth. This too is what is spoken of as the exceeding wonder by him who saith of Christ after the flesh, that in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." The word rendered sail might also be rendered 'linen cloth.' Comp. note p, p. 68.

10 St. Just. Mart. c. Tryph. p. 259. "The lamb that is roasted, is roasted in a form like to that of the Cross; for one upright spit is passed through it from the nethermost parts to the head, and one again into the back, to which also the shoulders of the lamb are affixed." This is not precisely like what St. E. says, as he alludes to the slaughter rather than the roasting of the lamb. The directions in the Mishna, Pesach. v. §. 9, compared with note 1, may serve to bring out St. E.'s meaning. "How did they hang [the lamb] and skin it? Hooks of iron were fixed in walls and posts, whereby they hung them and skinned them. And every one that had not where to hang and skin it, got thin smooth staves, and rested them upon his own shoulder and the shoulder of his fellow, and so hung it and skinned it."

11 in her nest by mere touch her womb conceiveth holily from the warmth of the [male's] cherishing wings, and hath her R. xii. issue without other intercourse, then, lo! in his own house S. marhe hath a mirror of Mary! futurum." To me the passage is very obscure, but sepulto isto vivo would seem to be the literal rendering of He would then be aluding to Matt. viii. 22. 1 Tim. v. 6. Rev. iii. 1. and the like, and the passage might be paraphrased: the cock says, Awake thou that sleepest, rise from thy death of sin, be buried no more therein, seeing there is a resurrection and a judgment, and that thy drowsiness is therefore thy death in the truest and awfullest sense of death." m The same is noticed of Vultures, by Orig. c. Cels. p. 29. (where see Spencer) Basil Hex. viii. §. 6. Euseb. P. E. iii. 12. Ambrose, Hex. v. 20. A passage from vol. i. p. 117, f. may be worth adding. "The Father spake, and the Son wrought; and so it was fitting that the Spirit should Himself also exercise operation and shew it in His brooding over it, that hereby it might be revealed that it was by the

12 Trinity that every thing was perfected and finished. Consider, too, that since the Scripture is speaking of the agency of God, that this Spirit is not a being created and shed forth, which it explains to be brooding over the surface of the water along with Him; but it speaks of the Holy Spirit, how that He rendereth the water hot and boiling, and imparteth thereto generative powers. An image hereof is the hen, that broodeth over the eggs; and by the heat of her brooding warmeth them, and gendereth fruitfulness in them. It is also intended to furnish us at the same time with a type of Holy Baptism, which was, by means of His brooding over it, to gender children of God." This serves to shew how St. E. dwelt over the things of nature, and found in them types of the things of grace, arranged as it were in corresponding series. Compare what he says of Baptism, as typified by the Incarnation in n. f. p. 86.

Rhythm 19.

1. PRAISE becometh the Son Who taught the Truth! do thou praise the Lord that became the brother of His servants! Honour is becoming from the time that He came in, Who became a Child and ministered unto the lowly. Thy garment seeing it was the covering of Thy Human Nature, and Thy Body seeing it was the covering of Thy Divine Nature, coverings twain they were to Thee, Lord, the garment and the Body that Bread, the Bread of Life. Who would not marvel at Thy changes of garments? Lo! the Body covers Thy glorious fearful brightness: the garment covered Thy feebler nature: the bread covereth the Fire which dwells therein. Never at any time did the mind of mortal touch it. Who hath the Hands of Fire and the Fingers of Spirit which our Maker hath to grasp That, in respect of the Invisible Nature of Which even our mind is as it were a body? Neither again is the knowledge of the highest [Angels] capable of that Glorious One, Who is within all and without all. He is His own knowledge and our knowledge. He is the Life of our soul which dwelleth in us. Who is not astonished that though every thing is in Him, and He is also in them all, yet never at any time have they touched Him though

* Hahn takes the words as if a pleonasm for: this seems an unnecessary assumption; since may be a verb, and there is no great difficulty in supposing that 'to come in' might mean in Syriac as in English 'to be in season,' 'to be come into vogue,' or the like. they be in Him; like as the body never at any time hath touched with the hand it hath, the soul which is within it. 2. Who would not praise that Hidden One that is hidden from all, Who came openly to manifestations the plainest of all? S. to an open When He had clothed Himself with a Body bodies touched open-Him, though minds had never at any time felt Him. It is a ness Great thing that the little ones pressed upon His Greatness, from all that even It was made little in their form that It might be like: R. them. Since it was hard for them to be like unto Him, for xxxii. Him it was a light thing to make Himself like them. §. 3, 4.

3. The weak man that armeth himself is deceived. He putteth armour of brass upon his feeble body. Thou, O Lord, didst clothe Thy Nature with a frail Body, that Thou mightest be able to suffer in it. Divers remedies flowed from Thee to them that needed; though all of them were one undivided Virtue, it was many for the frail, was divided to the needy: it gathered [them into one] and was one Verity for the truthful. Thy Love collected stores for our neediness, R. vi. that to each one Thou mightest assign a different gift from §. 2. out of Thy Treasury. By little portions Thou didst move our needy estate, Lord, that it might come near to Thy door. is part of His person and adorable as such; (see p. 158, n. c. p. 199, n. a. and Pet. de Inc. xv. 3.) The Fire, i. e. God, though so concealed, is unapproachable even by the mind. True that in the Eucharist the Word of Life is handled and seen, yet it will not follow from this that we can know, and explore, and grasp, as if in our hands, the Invisible Person there present, as the Eunomians fancy. (See p. 116, n. e.) We have not those Hands, &c. i. e. those creative energies (it not being the priest who is able to make the Body, p. 146, n. d.) which produce That which, in respect of It's Divine Nature, is such that even our souls are gross and material when compared with it. So far then from our mind being able to grasp It, even the highest Angels, who are ever praising Him, know Him not to the full; so far from having any independent knowledge of Him, He it is Who is the Light and Life of our souls. If then we would argue that we can grasp Him, because in a sense we do so in the Eucharist; let us reflect that we cannot lay hold of our own souls. This interpretation satisfies myself; it

is right to mention that Hahn thinks the text corrupt.

Rhythm 20.

1 the door of the mouth, it is as one that wandereth. Truth is its chamber, Love its crown; stillness and silence are the eunuchs at [its] gate. She is the Betrothed of the King's Son: let her not go forth to be lured into wantonness: but let Faith, as a bride to be seen in the street, mounted upon the voice ride stately on from the mouth unto the chamber of the ear. 3. For it is written, that there were many who believed on the Lord, whose voice because of danger denied the faith, while the heart within confessed it. With unbelievers did He count the speechless. Jonah prayed a prayer without any voice; the preacher was put to silence in the belly of the fish: from the midst of the reptile his prayer crept forth, and the High One heard, for silence was to Him a crying. In one body are, both prayer and faith, hidden and visible, for the Hidden One and also for the visible. Hidden prayer for the hidden ear, and faith for the visible ears. Our prayer is as it were a secret taste in the middle of our body. Let us then be rich and breathe forth the savour of faith, a savour which preacheth, and that to the taste of him that possesseth discernment in sweetly savoured things!

2 4. Truth and Love are wings that cannot be separated, since Truth without Love cannot fly, neither can Love and depth and of this world, preserve me as that pupil which is preserved for me in the eye. Be Thou, O God, a Preserver unto all that trust in Thee! And as a pupil in the eye, so may Thy preserving be their hiding-place! Two lids hath He made to the eye, that within them it might hide, that no hurtful thing might come into it: for by it the whole body is lighted. Two gates hath He set to the pupil which veils itself within the eye, as a modest virgin within them, as a beloved one in the bridechamber; two gates hath He raised before it, to be open or be shut; open to admit the light, and to keep out when shut things hurtful. Its eyelids furnish it with covering, that when any thing is falling into it, it may be kept from entering, and its clearness may not be impaired... The eye, it is an adulteress if it doth look not chastely; the ear, it is a fornicatrass if it hear not uprightly. When the eye looketh and lusteth after aught that belongeth not to it, it is an adulteress to God, and committeth

3 whoredom by lusts. It was to see the works of God that the eye was placed in the body, and to receive in itself wondering, and convey it into the region of the heart."

Rhythm 21.

1. Do Thou, Lord, play on my harp with all Thy edifying strains: Sing we to the perfect with words that are healthful p. 152, and with pure words to the nuns, and with simple ones sing n. b. we to the simple! Come and hearken to Zacharias that answered Gabriel again! O aged man, search and look where-Luke 1, unto thy speech is gone! Thus is every one stopped and put 19. 20. to silence that dares to dispute with the Truth. For if Gabriel, though a servant, dealt so severely, because his word was not believed with a Levite, how much more severely will the Son of the Just One deal with those who believe not, that He is, as He said, the Son! 2. O Zacharias, barren so as to be past cure, in that thy tongue doubted how thou couldest have a son, while there was there that which might reprove thee! Appeal to the rod Numb. 17, 8. that budded, in the Ark. If then a mortal being so grudged his fellow servant, that he threw upon him the bit of silence, because he doubted concerning John, as for the mouth that Freedom from heretical deceitfulness

2 Is. 37, disparageth the Only-begotten, for it is the bit of Sennacherib fitted. 3. Let Abraham's single-heartedness be a mirror to shew thee that prying is an evil blemish unto faith. When he believed, he was also justified, and when he was prying, his seed was subjected to bondage. For as a partridge which calleth unto the young that are not her own, or a bird whose voice deceiveth him to whom she singeth, so let not the voices or openly, let thy voice set forth the savour of thy Truth. Moses also, with the mystic trumpets made the camp move, two trumpets only made proclamations; lo! the type is accomplished, since in the Churches two Testaments sound forth their proclamations. And David too, his harp also sang in three manners. With loud strings he sung to Thy Godhead, with tenor strings to Thy Humanity, with low middle ones he sang again of Thy Death. And let Thy Church weak also be a harp to Thy praise! Appease, Lord, the strifes. wherewith its strings are untuned, that upon this harp we may sing of peace, truth, and concord!

Rhythm 22.

1. PRAISE thou the Lord of all, Who fashioned and strung p. 217, for Himself two lyres, that of the Prophets, and also of the n. g. Apostles. Thus one finger struck the two distinct sounds of the two covenants. And yet, though the lyre hath different sounds, it is the same lyre and the same player; the lyres of Truth also, my son, have different sounds, though the Truth R. xix. be one. Also one flute is able to generate distinct sounds. §. 3. To the healthy ear it pipeth healthful sounds; to the ear of children simple sounds; to the ear of the sickly a feeble sound. These trumpets of Truth likewise set perfect sounds p. 152, before him that is perfect, but to him that is a child, they n. b. frame promises of milk and honey. 2. Who ever took a harp or horn, when men had set him for a help unto the commonweal, to sound one note at leisure and be gone? 'tis by diversity of notes that a rescue is secured. Thus therefore in many ways have the notes of the Truth set forth and sealed the Faith. The Father and the Son are my son, true to Their Names. If Jesus is dishonoured by fools, that dishonour [is done to] the Father also, John 5, and His Name is false and not true.

3. That Jesus that endured the mocking of strangers also endureth great dishonour from worshippers. Great insult is it to the Trinity, if it be in borrowed names that a man is St. Clem. Al. Strom. vi. §. 88. p. 784. Pott. gives the different mystical senses of a harp, more than one of which occur in these Rhythms, as follows: "The harp in the Psalmist allegorically signifieth in its first sense, the Lord; and in the second, those who continually strike their souls under the Lord as Chief Musician: the elect people would also be called a harp owing to the breathing of the Word upon them, and owing to their knowledge of God they are heard uttering glory notes, and stricken so as to express belief in the Word; and you can also take it in another way of the musical harmony in the Church between the Law and the Prophets, and the Apostles with the Gospel too, and the

melody which in each Prophet doth according to the changes of persons in the choir finally come out." Milk and honey were given at Baptism. See Cotel. on Barn. i. p. 19. and on Tertullian de Bapt. p. 163, n. u. i. e. The combination of notes is what gives them the power of sounding a retreat, &c. i. e. If, as the heretics say, the Names do not indicate something real. See on lxii. §. 4. Perhaps St. E. may be thought here to incline to the view of St. Athanasius, that heretical Baptism was invalid, c. Arian. ii. §. 42. p. 339. O. T. where St. A. speaks of "the rite administered by them as altogether empty and unprofitable, making a show, but in reality baptized! How should thy blasphemy be a song of praise? how should thy deficiency be as a superabundant gain? See How should thy strife, O daring man, be a treasurehouse of notification?

4. The Son knoweth His Father as a fruit doth its tree, and He also knoweth His Fruit as being the Stock. Lo! this knowledge of Them Both, in Both of Them is hidden and closed up: this knowledge of the Begotten and the Begetter is in a Treasury whose door is sealed up in mighty silence, and before the door is awful silence, and the keeper p. 115, of it also is a strong Chernib. 5. What mouth is that, my son, that shall question, or that shall speak near the door of that treasurehouse hidden and still? The Angels above when they gaze upon it, seal R. v. up their mouths with the silence of discernment. Whosoever knoweth not the awfulness of that place, as a drunken man chattering is he, and also his hearers. But if he abase himself, my son, the pride of him who was drunken is silent at Him and adores.

being no help towards religion;" and §. 43. "as deficient in religious meaning, so that he who is sprinkled by them is rather polluted by irreligion than redeemed." A passage from Didymus de Trin. ii. 15. is worth adding, "Those who come over to orthodoxy, even if they happen to have been baptized, are yet baptized—for rebaptized we do not call it, since they have not the true Baptism, not the Eunomians owing to their making but one immersion and saying that it is only into the Lord's death that they are baptized, and not the Phrygians from their not baptizing into the Three sacred Persons, but believing that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are the same." D. also mentions innovations upon the form, p. 294. If the text appears to imply regularity in the use of the Name, it will appear from xxviii. §. 7. that the Divine Persons were only mentioned to cheat the unwary, not in the proper way. Hence what Mingarelli says of Didymus may apply to our author, that he looks on heretical Baptism as invalid only in the case of heretics who altered the form as the Eunomians did. See Greg. Nys. ii. p. 295, d. Didym. p. 279. Epiphan. i. p. 992. Sozom. H. E. vi. 26. and Reading's note. Tim. Presb. ap. Cot. M. G. iii. p. 384. men-

tions, that the Eunomians objected to baptizing the uncomely parts, using but one immersion, and that only partial. See Constant on Dionys. Alex. Ep. i. ad Sixt. Rom. Didym. de Trin. p. 25. "If in the beginning of the creation the first trees came into being with the fruits from them upon them at the time, and it is no absurdity for the fruit to have sprung up along with the root; in what way is it incompetent for the all-competent Father to have had the Fruit of His own Son in Him at the beginning, and for the Brightness to have shone with no interval from the glory of His Substance?" and Cyril of Alex. Thes. p. 304, c. and p. 308, b. "If...the tree is known by its fruit, and the Fruit of the Father is the Son, such must He of necessity be as that is which is generate from Him." St. C. as well as St. E. frequently applies the name to the Son, and to the the Father. See above, p. 10. n. a. and xlii. §. 3. l. §. 1. lxxvi. §. 1. lxxvii. §. 4. contr. Serut. i. §. 12. &c. and St. Cyr. Thes. p. 45, c. p. 126, c. p. 239, c. p. 240, c. p. 326, b. Dial. p. 413, c. &c. Vid. Petav. de Trin. v. 5. §. 15. Newman on Athan. p. 284, note e.

Rhythm 23.

1. SPEAK on, harp, for silence is thine enemy; speak then whatsoever is to be spoken, for whatsoever we have no right to speak, if it be spoken, to the righteous it will be blasphemy. Unto the unbelievers is he nigh akin that dares to pry; on the very edge of death the rash standeth, in that he hath left the faith in his disputations to go down and search into the Ocean of hidden things. 2. Marvel not, my child, at what I tell thee. Take them, and compare them together discerningly. For the one denieth His Divinity, and the other searcheth how to depreciate God. The Lord of all is greater than all, as is His surname. They see by His Name that Lord of all who is greater than all. Who is there whose knowledge is great enough to feel after and mete out the Sea of all wisdom?

3. Cleanse the harp of thy soul from strife! Let it not sing in thyself from thine own, for self-will is death. Let not proud boasting speak in thee strains of mockery, for it is wholly mischief to thee. Tune then such strings as have become discordant by disputation: draw in the strains which go astray in vain searchings. Be first, my son, in the presence of the Divinity, and then shalt thou sing the praise of God, for then art thou a living harp and a reasonable. Liberty indeed thou hast in thy strings, and in thy words also, thou harp that from thy soul and from thy will singest unto thy God. Set thy soul then in tune, and sing without discord. Harmony gendered by keeping to revealed order of mysteries. 181 Purify thy strains and sing unto us, but not of hidden things. Be a disciple to all the things revealed, speak fair things which are free of danger; weigh out then thy words, sounds which may not be blamed; weigh also and sing strains that cannot be reproved, and let thy song be, my son, comfort to the servants of thy Lord, and then shall thy Lord reward thee!

4. Do not, therefore, sing things hurtful to mankind, neither divide, by thy disputation, brethren at unity together: put not a sword, which this questioning is, among the simple that believe in sincerity. Sing not then unto God perversely in the stead of praise, lest thou forget and sing iniquity. Sing like David to David's Son, and call Him Lord and Son as David did! Do not dishonour Father and Son at once! Neither again sing thou to the Father the reproach of His Son, lest thou sing to the Son too the dishonour of His Father, denying that He begat Him. That the Father is first, is without all controversy: that the Son is second, is without all doubt: as that the Name of the Spirit is third: so that thou shouldst not pervert the order of the Names. 5. Make ye then disciples, and baptize in the Three Names, that is, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. For the Name of the Son could not have come before the Name of the Father, that there might not be confusion. But how and why this is so, is encompassed in silence. Far off from that silence, without it, be thou speaking of His praise. Let not thy tongue be a bridge for sounds, which letteth all words pass across it. Praise do thou send up to Him, as the tithing of thy strains! A waive-sheaf of words offer unto Him from thine imagination, hymns also as first-fruits, and send up clustered hymns thy tongue hath culled.

Rhythm 24.

1. WITH the weapons of the guilty wrestler, did the Lord prevail! He clad on a body which was from Adam, and from David, that with that body which the wicked one had made guilty, he might be brought low, so that his disgrace might the more abound. Yea, that littleness of Thine is too great for the eloquent. For who shall open his mouth [to speak] of Him that feedeth all, who was yet brought up at the poor table of Joseph and of Mary! [Coming] from the Bosom great and rich, which maketh all rich, in the poor bosom of Mary wert Thou brought up. Thou hadst a mortal father upon earth, the while Thou wert living and quickening all things. 2. He rode upon a lowly ass; hidden in His humility was His nobleness. They that rode upon horses and chariots were overcome while victorious. For David conquered the warrior ranks, and a weak rib brought this warrior low. The ass spake, and knew that she was an ass, and knew also her master for her master. What sort of teacher is he that cannot distinguish the work which is made, from the Maker? If Nabal too was overcome because he thrust forth his scornful tongue, in that he opened his mouth brutishly, for he esteemed lightly of David the great king, and joined his name with servants; then whoso is so foolish as to be like Nabal, flee from his tongue, my brethren, and from his death; for it is not the son of Jesse of whom he speaketh scornfully, but the Son of David.

3. The Lord humbled Himself and came down, and the Maker became a servant. He was as a minister, He was a fellow-servant who washed the feet. These things let us search into, my beloved, if we be able to give due thanks! The Lord of Heaven came down to the earth and became a sojourner! He was a sojourner [there], and a dweller, and also a traveller, that He might take us up and cause us to dwell in His Kingdom in an everlasting mansion. 4. Praise we with all our mouths the Lord of all tongues! how long shall we go astray, and how long will it be ere we praise the Son of the Living One, against Whom, because He took a Body in His Love, the crucifiers have been bold, and the disputers have been mad! On the sense of the word servant, see Petav. de Incarn. vii. §. 7. The word in the Syriac comes from the same root as the word for Maker. Hence it easily suggests to the mind the text, Ps. 119, 91. 'for all things are Thy servants.'

The well known words of St. Greg. the Great may be added here. Hom. in Matt. xxv. H. ix. §. 1. "Who is that man that travelled into a far country, but our Redeemer, who with that flesh which He had taken, departed into Heaven? For of flesh the proper abode is earth; and it is as it were led to a strange country, when, by our Redeemer, it is placed in Heaven."

Rhythm 25.

1. WOULD that some one would give to me a little breathing of the Spirit, not that I might prophesy, for that were death to ask for, but that I might have enough to set forth the praise of Him, that is greater than all, with my poor tongue. For without the gift of that Divine Majesty Itself no mouths are able to set His treasures forth, since it is with His key that those treasuries are opened in the presence of His treasurers. Glory be to the Gift which lispeth in the mouth of the speakers, though by its speech it snatcheth not their own free will away. The mouth is owner of two things at once. With that which is His, it museth on Him; with that which is its own, it magnifieth Him: without the gift of the word too the mouth cannot declare of Him, who is the Word, what and how great He is. It is by word too that man is able to speak in behalf of himself, and be his own spokesman. The eye also is able by the light to see the light, for by the rays thereof is it able to see its beauty. Even by the brilliancy from itself man is able to see the lightning in the heavens. For without the guidance sent forth from the lights [of heaven], the eye were not able to come to the light, and also in the midst of thick darkness fire by its shining draweth the pupils unto itself.

3. The type of the Son of the Creator is sealed upon the creatures: through the light, fire, and also water, as with the rest wherein He is, can human nature approach, through the type of His Majesty. By the gift of the sea the swimmer has strength to swim on the deep, because the power of the water supporteth him. Not incoherent are the tides there, the dashings also, and the waves, and the murmurings. And as the surface of the sea is on the very verge and confine of destruction, whereon thou yet mayest ride; so there are also those that dwell in the depths of it, after the fashion in which these knowing men do in the generations of the Divine Majesty. 3. And though the seed be from us, yet is the fruit from His good pleasure; that Gift of His doth not teach us slothfulness. Its thriving strength suggests to us by thriving strength to seize upon the riches which His mercies have brought unto us. And the rain too which He sprinkleth over all is His Gift; this doth not teach idleness unto the husbandmen. Their labour increaseth their stores; and here again thrift increaseth solid boasts.

4. May Thy Gift, O Lord, take me up soon unto Thy height! by Thee I can be great enough to reach unto Thee. For if through the creatures man is able to attain to the creatures, may I through Thee attain, Lord, unto Thee! Me shall the example of Zacchaeus persuade, for he reached forward to Thee! By Thee his weakness was made great, and he mounted and reached to Thee. Lo! the voice which came from Thee to him, brought near to Thee him that had kept aloof of Thee. The fruitless fig tree yielded fruit; tasteless insipidity yielded a taste. The sycamore by means of its fruit became a salt, which cleared away tastelessness. A marvel is the fig tree which was despoiled of its natural fruit, and bare a different fruit that was not according to its nature, and that which in another form was not eatable, the hungry ate in the possessions which he distributed. May Thy Gift call me also as it did Zacchaeus, not that I may distribute possessions as he did, Lord, but that I may make haste, and restore again interest upon Thy money.

5. For this thing also, namely, that He gave His money to the merchants, sheweth us that without His being joined unto us, there were no trading: and so neither is there any finding of the Truth without His Gift. Run, my brethren, and gather along with us all similitudes, for lo! they are too many for our mouth to describe. Be ye then pleased St. Ephrem prays against unstableness. with what we have found, and it is right that we be also with what ye have. For the lump cannot without the gift of leaven partake in the flavours thereof. By the Gift from Him the whole lump may have it entirely diffused throughout itself. Neither can the curdle thicken milk without the hidden power of the rennet. By the gift that comes from it, it thickens milk's fluid nature into a close mass. 6. Grant unto my unsteady nature Thy straight ascents! By Thee, Lord, let my vileness ascend unto Thy Majesty! By Thee let it reach up unto Thy Height, in a large room, that there it may worship Thee!

Ass. recti aditus, as if from the occurrence of so immediately would alone seem to determine the etymology of the word, which does not occur in the Lexicon. Ps. lxxxiv. 6. would occur to those acquainted with the Greek and Latin Fathers, as referred to here: and possibly St. E. may have had a version in which the of the LXX was given.

Rhythm 26.

1. THE Hidden God is by His First-born a Creator, wonderful yet tiring not, for in respect of master, He lacked Ps. 121, not one, nor was He feeble at the art, for at the nod of His 4; 40, 5. Will, noiseless and gentle, from out of nothing He created all, and ordered all: and as without labour He created, so without anxiousness He supporteth all. In the Beginning He created all things, while His Thought was with Him without any beginning. He hath no thinking as man hath, that He xxxii. §. should be moved in any new way, as is a child of flesh. His movement was not new, nor was His thought fresh. His creation is subject to time and starting and beginning. But His knowledge preventeth times, and beginnings it transcends. The natures of the Seraphim are concealed from us, so that we are to seek as to how an angel hath six Is. 6, 2. wings, and what his wings are, and where they are, and how a spirit needeth to fly by means of wings. Is this a parable? or is it plain truth? If a truth, very hidden it is; and if a figure, very perplexing it is. Withdrawn from us then is that Infinite Hidden Being, and the searching into Him is too deep for feeble men, and the seeking after Him too high for mortals. And who shall fly up unto His Height? or search out His Depth? He that ventureth towards His 2 p. 144, Height, stumbleth mightily, and falleth; and he that venn. g.

The objects and occasions to be considered tureth to His Depth, drowneth in it, and perisheth. Miserable is the death of him that pried into Him, and the drowning of him that dived to search Him out! 2. The sun that we see persuades us, my brethren, that it is harm to gaze upon Majesty, since His Nature is too potent for any mouth, and to all languages wholly strange, since our perceptions wist not how to shadow Him out, for there is none of them daring enough to be able to reach unto Him. But the writings of the prophets essayed to depict a symbol [of Him] in Names. For causes there were, why they should be spoken with after so imperfect a manner, since, if He had essayed to speak according to the marvel and wonder of His Divine Nature, it had benumbed their hearing, put a stumbling block before their childishness: the simple man had perished, and the perfect man had fallen short. By every similitude then He accommodated Himself [to them], that man might according to his power and ability suffice for Him.

3. The man that thinketh to liken the [Divine] Essence to the creatures, is in a great error. For us to body It forth as the mouth, the ears, and the eyes, this weakly frame of ours, is a danger: for us to frame a shape of It, is a terror: for us to measure It, a wickedness: for us to limit It, an iniquity. And though He was higher than these, yet in His mercy It condescended to be below these: the likenesses which are suited to man, came forth from the treasury of the Lord of all. According to the time and the circumstance, He setteth forth a likeness, that He may help us thereby. In the time of wrathfulness, in the time of cheerfulness, in the time of fearfulness, in the time of quietness, though His Essence remaineth equable, yet, according to the laws of men, He changeth Himself.

4. Lo! Moses, when he taught the people, spoke of His Majesty after our fashion: he overthroweth these same [ideas], in that which he says, Ye saw no similitude in the when God gives or withholds similitudes of Himself. 189 fire. For the Hidden One did not clothe Himself with a likeness in Mount Sinai, lest the people should shadow it forth in colours. He gat Him an Image and a Countenance with Moses, that he might shadow Him forth in his heart. And as it was profitable that He shewed no countenance or image in Mount Sinai, that He might not give profaneness occasion, to shadow forth Himself in erroneous conceptions to mankind, so was it profitable also that He clothed Himself with the likeness of a countenance, that He might shew us His glory, and we might perceive His fairness. In not shewing it He hindered error, and in shewing it He edified more abundantly.

5. When the elders saw Susanna, they sought to know her. And when Moses saw the glory of the Majesty, he betook himself to all humble entreaty, and besought Him that he might see Him, that He would make Himself known to him. The elders falsely said, that they had seen what they declared they saw. And Moses too when he saw, yet knew that he saw not, for that discerning person did not forget that his Lord put on borrowed similitudes. The sight of the Lord of all lowered itself to dust, and the Stablesher of all things formed it into shape! and as He condescended to shape it in His goodness, so He humbled Himself to shew Himself in His littleness. And if, though in our similitudes, Moses saw Him and was afraid, how then is it possible to stand before the real power of His Essence? Lo! the Son alone can bear that*!

6. Gaze then on Him [and see] that it was He, and yet it was not He, for the Real One veiled Himself with an image: His fulness was found within it. His Brightness was covered with our form: for the form was not devoid of His Majesty. This similitude then was not of the Divine Nature. The Majesty made itself a veil * On the place he says, 'I will cause to pass, &c.' i. e. glory, such as thine eyes can bear; thou canst not see My Face,' i. e. it is not possible for man to live among the living of this world after he hath seen It.' It may be added in allusion to what has been said above, note c. p. 116. that St. Chrysostom, who also refers to Ex. xxxiii. 2. conceives sight to be here knowledge; "For there are not the pupils, eyes, and eyelids, in the incorporeal powers; but what with us is sight, that with them is knowledge. When then you are told that 'no one hath seen God at any time,' consider yourself to be told this, that no one hath known God with entire accuracy."

Rhythm 27.

1. GOD Who existeth essentially, hath a Nature glorious as His Name. And if He be an Entity Who is in His Name distinct from all, He is an Entity Who in the knowledge of Him is withdrawn from all: let things which are made harass themselves as they may to understand Him, since He hath nothing like to a created being, gaze they as much as they may upon the attributes, these it is which they behold instead of Him. Lo! natures fancy that they see Him, [even] Him Whom in them they cannot ever see! For they looked, and lo! they erred, in that God they deemed to be like unto themselves. For had they seen Him in Himself they had done well to think they saw Him; instead of Him they saw themselves, and thought that they saw Him. Oh, childish man, that feeleth himself, and fancieth that he toucheth the Hidden One. For the Nature of the Entity which cannot be shadowed out in the heart, as He is, of that what likeness shall we make, if we would not go astray and settle down in that for Truth, which is but like the Truth? If then in the likeness they fancy that they have seen Him, grievously are they misled, and do mislead grievously, they err and make to err. For the Fruit that is from Him alone knoweth Him in verity.

2. Woe to the blind synagogue of disputers! they stand in the light, and yet seek for it. They touched gold and imagined it the sun. They felt a seal, and thought it was the colour of the light. They handled every thing and felt every thing, and lo! they foolishly thought that they felt the sun. Each then as they fancied, took his shadow in his mind for the sun. Neither did they consider that there was but one sense akin to the sun. Their other senses were bereaved of and strangers to the sun. Its flavour is not tasted, its savour is not smelt: its clearness is not heard: its light is not handled. The sight alone, being related to it, is able to reach unto it, as a son to his father. 3. Light dwelt in the palate and it felt it not; it rose and dwelt in the ear, and it was not affected by it. It dwelt on the hand, and how came it not to touch it? The nostrils snuffed it not up. At its rising upon it, the mind and the heart, the king and the captain of his forces, and all the host of thoughts and their army comprehended not the sun: and yet into the Lord of light vile things of dust do pry! Lo! it is a disgrace, and a dishonour, and an ignominy, and a shame, that all of them [are employed] about one thing, and that they are not all of them together able to see this feeble light which is before them! Lo! it poureth itself about them, its radiance brushes by them, its brightness anointeth them, and though they are clad with it, it is removed a boundless distance; it is [as it were] by hearsay that the feeble beings have perceived it!

4. Lo! the blind in their questionings are like unto that proud blind man who took hold of the bow and shot arrows therewith into the flame, and he perceived not how his arrows were wasted away; for the arrows which he shot in his pride became ashes in the fire, became dust in the wind; and if it should happen unto him that he himself went up to it, he and his arrows would be consumed.

Rhythm 28.

1. If clouds and lightnings and meteors, yea, and earthquakes and whirlwinds and floods, being but fellow-servants, are terrible to [us] servants, when they come impetuously upon our feebleness, and if the ministers that are appointed to minister to him, are thus awful to man who is ministered unto, who shall venture to gaze upon that Might, by Whose Power all things subsist? Lo! medicines have a different power, which is hurtful to us when they are not mingled, and wine also injureth with its sweetness, and spices with the strength of their odours. Sleep and food without measure are harmful. And if the weak things, when not [rightly] blended, are hard upon us, how much harder shall it go with the man who without restraint prieth into the consuming Fire? 2. Therefore the Good One hath appointed us weights, and measures, and rules, that we should approach with restraint to the creatures, in order to receive from them benefit and comfort. Is it not in measure then that He hath granted to us that men should approach unto Himself, Who is greater than all? or is it to be without restraint? How then cometh He to have put restraints upon all, and upon the disputings of the disputers to have put no restraint? Lo! His bounds are stretched forth upon every thing, and His restraints are spread over all. Over natural things He

* S. Macarius, Hom. xv. §. 24. "The nature of irrational animals is tied down, that of the serpent, for instance, is bitter and venomous, and consequently all serpents are so,... &c. The dove is guileless and simple, and the whole dove tribe are of the same nature. But man is not so: for one man is a rapacious wolf, another is as a lamb that is the object of rapaciousness; both are to be met with from the same race of mankind." St. E. vol. iii. p. 366. fin. "As the word of the mouth is loose, so is free-will loose, and as the tongue of the dumb is bound, so is nature bound. He hath not the word of the mouth; neither hath the latter free-will. Put thee on some of the things I have said to thee; taste free-will in thine own person; make trial in thyself of thy power over thyself; see whether thou hast it or no! From thy own self thou mayest thyself learn about free-will." Compare also St. Athan. p. 349. O. T. Cyril de Ador. in S. and V. p. 499, a.

The boundaries existing in nature coincide with sets Him a necessity; over free agents, mind and will. The natural things are fixed; things unbound are preserved; the law is a wall that preserveth free agency. Who can take away that which belongs to natural things, though our free will goeth astray? 3. Lo! the sun is bounded in his course, and the moon also hath her increases ordered: He hath appointed an order too for the earth and the heavens: the firmament hath He bounded by the waters which are above it. It is not He which is confused, but we that are perturbed. For if by the sand the waves are bounded, marvel at the rash man that proudly lifts himself up above Him Who is Lord of all! Lo! let us from his very self teach, my brethren, to the daring due restraint. For his conception in the belly was bound, as also in the womb of the earth his resurrection is, and his birth [therefrom]. Lo! the conception limited him, and birth limited him, and death limiteth him, and the grave, and the resurrection! lo! by these the rash man is limited, but his own questionings he limiteth not!

4. Lo! we will yet farther rebuke his confusion, since his will is perturbed by his liberty. For his nature is overruled Gen. 1, 6. Jer. 5, 22. S. gaze Eccles. 11, 5. Ps. 139, 2. R. xl. 4. 1. Butler Anal. i. 1. p. 40, n. g. by [Divine] Goodness, that nature might be distinguished from liberty. And if any one was minded to injure his members, yet he hateth those that so injure him, and loveth his own members:—thus maintaining the order of his bodily parts, while loosening and perturbing the order of his mental parts! 5. Lo! the Cherub was a boundary to Paradise, and an awful barrier to Mount Sinai. Whoso approached, was stoned without mercy: by things visible, He warned us from things invisible. If then He set a bound to that mountain for all that day, for eternity He setteth a bound to the loftiness of His invisible Nature. There, there was death for him that was daring: but here, there is Gehenna for the disputatious.

6. Lo! the leprosy that reproved the talkative, reproveth the insolence of the disputers; for though it was Miriam who spoke against the meek man, yet he wove his lips into a garment of leprosy for her. Her love clave to the child in the water; on the land she made the heart of Pharaoh's daughter swim. For that child who was swimming—from the wages for himself, he nourished his mother also. O miracle and wonder and amazement! for if Miriam spake against a mortal, who was indebted to her for the kindness done to him in the waters, although she was also older than Moses; yet that righteous man who had commanded elders to be honoured, upon this elder prophetess inflicted a disgrace, a disgrace without mercy; who shall be clear, if he seeks into the First-born of Him Who punisheth the talkative? 7. If then the Most High avenged the servant of his sister, a prophetess, who intermeddled with him, who shall meddle with the birth of that Majesty, Who is the Son of a Bosom which is consuming Fire, whence there flame forth lightnings

to be merciful to his own self, then he cannot be oppressive to his brother. The alternatives are placed in the midst: if a man call upon God as forgiving, then he has set his own debtor free; if as Avenger, then he has desired Him to be forgiving to himself. A man's neighbour then is stationed along with himself in all aspects. Wherever Divine Goodness is, there are his debtors stationed; and wherever Divine Justice is, there are his misdeeds stationed. If he seek to supplicate for his misdeeds, then has he for his debtors also lifted up a prayer: if he draw nigh to Divine Goodness, then he has let his debtors go: if he draw nigh to Divine Justice, then he has summoned his own misdeeds." This unfolds the meaning of the text: men will not let others hurt them outwardly without seeking redress; but they will mar their own inward constitution, and sell themselves to work wickedness, and then complain that they are slaves.

o 2 Audaciousness in heretics Acts 2, and Tongues [of fire]? The prying of daring men is as 3. stubble with Him; and the questioner and the contentious Is. 47, like as chaff, and like as thorns, are devoured. Gehazi also 14. 2 Kings who mocked and was mocked, tried to escape his master's 5, 1. &c. 1 p. 128, notice and was disgraced. The daring men try to escape n. h. men's notice [when pretending] that they baptize in the S.Trine Three Names. Now at the mouth of Three the judges decide. See here be Three Witnesses Who put an end to all strife! And who would doubt about the holy Witnesses of His Baptism? 8. If the Temple was avenged, because dishonour was done it, who would raise lowering questions about the Lord of all? Approach not to His Generation, lest thou be destroyed. For Uzziah offered incense, and was smitten; and since he was not ashamed to stretch forth [his hand] to the glory of the sanctuary, he was ashamed all his days, because his leprosy covered him; and since he dishonoured the hallowed house, he had to shut himself up in his own house, as unclean. The hallowed house which halloweth all, from it he went forth a leper all defiled. And the doctrine which rightly ordereth all things, hath been to us a fount of questioning disordering all things. The rain which profiteth all, by superabundance of it injureth all; and the sun which illuminates all, by the might of it blindeth all. Bread also which quickeneth all, to him that eateth gluttonously is a murderer.

9. His ordering of bounds bringeth the impetuous into order, seeing that it is with fire He hath surrounded His sanctuary. The two hundred men that dared to seize the priesthood a fire befriending the sanctuary consumed: it drift of the whole passage then would admit of being stated thus: Those who will not believe 'the record that God gave of His Son' (1 John v. 10.) are obliged to approach the most sacred rites with a lie in their right hand; they are worse than Gehazi, who thought that none would witness the sacrilegious use he was making of the type only of the Sacrament of Baptism seen in Naaman, (see on the place, p. 532, c.d.) which was 'by water only'; but these daring men make the most solemn adjuration a mere trap for men's souls, and while they call to witness the Three that bear record in Heaven, they thereby constitute all, that keep alive a religious sense of the honour of having had God's Name sealed upon them at Baptism, judges of their own sacrilegious intentions; they summon from Heaven Three Witnesses against themselves, and prove the Church's doctrine by the counterfeit of her rites, which to save appearances they are compelled to adopt. (See note d.) It may, in conclu-

sion, be right to remind the reader, that it is not St. E.'s usual practice to quote Scripture; he alludes to it in by far the greater number of instances. The wilfulness of false worships. Levitt. devoured the sons of Aaron because they offered up strange 10, 1. fire, as it were a harlot, and the hallowed fire was zealous p. 39, b. against the strange fire; and the knowledge of the truth is zealous against the contaminating disputation. Lo! they are both shadowed forth for the wise in the hidden mirror of thought, as having both put on one shape of wilfulness and one stamp of venom from their liberty of will! Both of them willed to be priests to God. On their visible offering their hidden heart is impressed; for by occasion of their offerings 1 Sam. their secrets were openly set forth to shame. 5, 6. 9.

Church, have some of them laid violent hands on the faith which was put into writing in that glorious Council. Memorable is the king that assembled them!—Heads they became in the midst of the Churches! Some too were presbyters and deacons! others doctors and readers! some were even religious: and from the Church they stole ordination of each kind of ministers to act as priests, and to baptize, and to break bread, and to teach that our Lord hath come and will come. Blessed He Who hath restrained them all by His Truth!" And just before: "Let them be distinctly asked from whom it was that they received imposition of hands? if it was from us that they received it and then repudiated it, that sufficeth for the truth; but if they have made themselves priests and done arrogantly, that sufficeth to reprove them, for this very thing is to their shame. For every man is a priest if he please, and lays his hand on his own head. A confusion this which cutteth off hope!"

* Here again as above, p. 102, n. d. is an implied parallel between heresy and idolatry. See on R. xxxvii. §. 3. St. E.'s words upon Levitt. x. 1. may be interesting. "Nadab and Abihu suffered not upon one count only, but upon many, as Scripture hints; one was, because they brought in strange fire upon the fire which came down and consumed their sacrifices in its time; another was, that they despised Moses and Aaron, and brought incense without having received any permission from them; a third, that they confused the time of beginning their office, and offered incense not in their proper time; a fourth, that they entered into the sanctuary, a place which Aaron their father went into once a year. Now that they offered strange fire is typical. The strange fire he calls the wilfulness of Adam and Eve who were in a haste to become gods." And so on 1 Sam. xiii. p. 357. a. "By this action and the consequences of it he describeth to us a type of the first Adam, because both of them (Saul and Adam) despised God's commandment, and both of them also justified themselves and accused their fellow-creatures; both of them harmed both themselves and their sons; both of them dared to lust after a rank of which they were not worthy. Moreover by this they are blamed, who invade the rank of the priesthood, without receiving imposition of hands." Here we see St. E. again dwells on the wilfulness of the act of Nadab and Abihu as its main feature, though he views it as typifying another thing.

Rhythm 29.

1. God in His mercies called mortals gods through grace; but they by their scrutinizing have set limits to Him who is God, as though he were man. This Body of yours which He put on, Cherubim bare up and Seraphim are awed before it, Angels are still before it; but yet ye that are despicable have made light of the generation of the Glorious One. For unto that weak body which He came down and clad Himself with, His names and operations were assimilated. And as it was needful for Him to be hungry, thus also it was needful for Him to pray, and as that hunger belonged wholly to the body, so His lacking belonged wholly to the p. 210, body. Do not ye die by means of the names wherewith n. b. the Living One veiled Himself that He might quicken all! 2. For the Mighty One clad Himself with names which fell short of Him in His pity for you by reason of the body. On which of them will ye fix as true, honourable, and glorious! True is the Name of the Father, Faithful is the Name of the Son, and to be loved is He as being a Pardoner, and to be feared is He as being Judge. Because the Son of man, he was bounded, without bound was He, because His Nature is God. Weak clay hath dared to go down and feel into the properties of the sea. It hath scrutinized the floods thereof to make himself acquainted with the place whence they come up and where they settle. That vile one that prieth cannot even find out from what place the hand which fashioned him took himself and gave him measures which he yet scorns. Who ever saw dust which dared to assay the power of the winds with questioning? The daring shall die in scrutinizing Him whose Breath quickeneth the dead.

Rhythm 30.

1. GOD who is the Lord of all, who is not numbered with His works, as if among them, who is not subject to metre, or weight, or touch, or colour, or measure, is not confined in space, for He is not as the spreading forth of the wind or the sunbeams, that any thing comprehend to Him. Knowledge is His Essence; for all that have knowledge are strangers to His Substance. For what escapes these rebellious men is, that the thing made comprehendeth not its Maker. The natures of Angels are fire and spirit: the natures of bodies are dust and water. The Nature of the Lord of all who can perceive? that Nature which these three natures are inadequate to the explanation of and which it is above them to say how, or where, or in what shape It exists? 2. Explain unto us these three things for instance, how great thou wilt say, when asked, that He is? how great His measure is and His weight? or His height and length of whatsoever is His? or again, how and what His appearance is, if He be

* Asseman. renders thus: Ipsius essentia Ratio est, hanc extra si quid aliud cogitas, ab ejus notione longissime abis. This is a paraphrase, and to me not a very clear one. It might be rendered thus: Ipsius essentia scientia est: omnia autem quæ sciunt, ab Ejus Substantia tamen procul absunt; i. e. 'With Him to know and to be are identical: creatures which have knowledge, are yet strangers to all but His doings and attributes. Himself they cannot attain to.' See p. 191. The sense here given to seems to be required by the context. It means the stem or stock of a tree, and is the Chaldee word used in Isaiah vi. 13. where our version has 'substance.' It is obvious enough to take some ordinary solid substance as the type of 'substance' in its metaphysical sense: in Greek, mula 'a root' in Sanscrit, stoff in German, in Heb. and in Syrbone, are similar instances. Basil. c. Eun. i. 12. "How great is the insolence of men that profess to know the substance of God! I should like to ask them what they have to say about the earth on which they stand, and from which they are? What

account they will give us of its substance, because if they can give any unanswerable statement about things on the ground, and close at their feet; then we may trust them when they are so positive about things out of the reach of all thought. What then is the substance of the earth? what the method of comprehending it? Let them tell us in answer, whether it was reason which arrived at this, or sense, and if it is sense that they say, to which of the senses is it comprehensible? Is it to sight? nay, for that graspeth colours. To touch then? why this also discriminates between hardness and softness, hot and cold, and the like, and of these no one would assert any to be substance, unless he was gone into a state of downright derangement." This passage seems almost to have been known to St. E. See §. 2. Either passage supplies us with the ordinary ecclesiastical sense of the word 'Substance,' as somewhat in no case cognizable to the senses. See xxxi. §. 1. The 'three things' allude to the common definition of body,. Sext. Empir. Pyrrh. H. iii. §. 39. ii. §. 30. &c.

202 God's condescension, though real in His Incarnation, 4. For the Fruit is blessed, being as His Root. He put on humility in His temptations. The abysses and the waves of His wisdom He veiled and concealed though questioned. p. 135, Scriptures which to us were of small account did He cite to the serpent, and lamed him and stopped his disputing and questioning. Our Lord cited from Moses, but the daring cite from error; for the serpent, subtle and disputatious, clothed his disciples with his own cast-off skin. Put off and cast away his cast-off skin, lest thou become corrupt and be destroyed by familiarity with him who destroyeth all. They that are new and white, in their newness have put on the moth of self-will: and, since it lay hid in their garments, have been corrupted and changed. Put ye on leaves which are strangers to the moth.

5. Since that disputer is subtle and acute, his intricacies overthrow the single-hearted. Put not on the disputatiousness of that servant; let not thy free-will become a fellow-servant of his, for that evil servant grindeth his fellow-servants, that he may stamp his own image upon them and dye them with his own stain. Whoso putteth on his likeness, it is not possible for him to see his own deformity. If then thou seest that the All-knowing hath become little, fancy not that He knoweth not. The love of us it was that made Him small, that He might not know. For He became small that He might measure thee, that thou mightest not be small. The humiliation was that thou mightest turn thyself aside from searching into Him Who searcheth all. For if thou art so weak as to be unable to struggle with wine, if what is lowly overcometh thee, how much more would that Generation lead thee into perplexity?

Rhythm 31.

1. LET us praise Him that put on the names of the members: who named Himself cars to teach that He heard us, who surnamed Himself eyes to shew that He saw us; the names only of things did He put on. And as there is not in His Essence wrath or repenting, He put on the names of them for our weakness's sake. Let us know, that unless He had put on the names that belong to such things, it were not possible for Him to speak with us that were men. By what was ours He approached to us. Names did He put on that were ours, that He might put on us that which is His. For when He asked for and put on our form, and as a father with his sons, so spake He with us childish creatures; lo! that likeness did the Invisible One put on, and yet He put it not on; He stripped it off, and yet He stripped it not off; and though He had it put on, yet He had it stripped off! He put it on to assist us, He stripped it off when He changed. For as He stripped off or put on every form, He taught that this was not the likeness of His Essence; for the Invisible One shadowed that Essence forth in things visible.

2. He was in one place like an Old Man and the Ancient God's manifold economies Ex. 15, of Days: also He became like a Mighty Man active and a 3. Warrior: for judgment He was an Old Man; for battle He was Hab. 2, an active One. In one place He was as one delaying, and, as 3. He had run, in another place He is weary. In one place Ps. 44, He was asleep; in another He was empty. In every way 23; 50, He laboured that He might gain us. For that Good One, 12. when He could have made us glorious by compulsion without labour, laboured in all ways that we might be glorious by our and affirming He profited us to our instruction. In the vision of the sapphire [throne] He gathered Himself up Ex. 24, and sat upon it. He unfolded and filled the heavens, though every thing was in His fist. Himself He shewed in space, and shewed Himself every where. We fancied that He was in space, but every thing was filled with Him. He who was small that He might be on a level with us, was great that He might enrich us. He was small, and great again that He might make us great. Had He been small and not great, He had been small and would have made us small. Because He was fancied to be weak, therefore He was small, and great.

5. Let us marvel how that by being small He made our smallness great! Yet if He had not been great also, He would have made our mind's conception of Him small, since it would have thought Him weak, and would have been made less, in that it thought so. He is a Being of Whose greatness we are not capable, nor even of His littleness. He was great; we got ourselves bewildered: and He was little; and we got ourselves into guilt. In all things He laboured with us. He willed to teach us two things, that it was He and yet it was not He. He made Himself a countenance in His love, that His servants might look upon Him. Again, that we might not harm ourselves by thinking 'this is His form,' from form to form did He change, in order to teach us that He had no form, and though He departed not from the shape of man, yet in His changes of it He did depart from it.

eret. [L.] is often used, (cf. i. p. 136, e. illustration of this see on the latter place. ii. p. 333, e. iii. p. 529. contr. Scrut. i. The whole passage is to me far from §. 42. p. 187, c.) nearly in this sense. In clear.