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Hymns on Faith
St Ephrem the Syrian, tr. Morris, 1847; selections
70. Rhythm the Seventieth
With what eye shall the thing made look upon the Maker, when it is a creature, and He the Creator? There is no seeing of the soul1 within us, gaze and look as we may, either with the mind or with the eyes. For if we enquire after it with the mind one believeth in it, and the other denieth [its existence]2. Oh, great stumblingblock! How should the soul that is so blind that it cannot see even itself, gaze upon the Godhead? Neither can it feel itself, yet will it with these senses dare to search into the Creator. Get thee down to the haven3, feeble man! for if the sea be vehement, the haven close at hand is as a place of refuge. Draw near to a searching proportioned to thy strength; and then if thy heart be amazed and lost, wait thou in silence! Stillness is not at a distance, nor is it at a dear rate that thy mouth can buy silence. Silence is easy4; disputing is hard. It is not by any necessity that prying is thrown upon the bold disputer; and even the commandment, though it seem to be altogether constraining, is not of necessity, since it is of free-will5. And if the law be not of necessity, what disputing can constrain us to be searching? He gave the commandments, and refrained disputing; in His Testaments there is no seeking and no prying. He gave the law instead of disputation6, and instead of searching, the faith7, unto our feebleness. The natures which He made are not to be comprehended; how much less the Nature of Him who is hidden in Himself8, and is unspeakable!
The Son, which is of Him, knoweth Him without controversy9, as not erring as to the way of searching into Him. Every thing made erreth altogether, whensoever it prieth, for that it cannot reach unto the Maker. If then His Love magnified us10, let us know what we are—that our nature cannot pry into His Nature. For every thing which is a creature goeth altogether astray, if it thinks that it is capable of prying into the Creator. Let not that which is made go astray, since by scrutinizing into Him it goes to a wider distance from the Maker thereof.
Notes
- R. lvii. §. 2.
- R. i. §. 1. n. e.
- R. lxix. §. 1.
- R. li. §. 5.
- R. v. §. 5. R. xxviii. §. 2. c. Scrut. R. i. §. 12.
- c. Scrut. i. §. 44.
- R. R. lxxii. §. 1.
- R. lxvii. §. 3.
- Mat. 11, 27.
- R. xxix. §. 1. R. lxiii. §. 3.