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Hymns on Faith

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

72. Rhythm the Seventy-second

With mighty wonder set thy soul a boundary, O hearer, and gather in thy mind from distraction! By faith¹ He draweth nigh unto thee: but by prying thou removest far off from His blessings. Great disputing is not adequate to the exploring of Him, since He is hidden entirely from the disputatious. In faith wait thou for Him; and if thou hide in Him, to Him it is that thou hast come! how great refreshment hast thou found! Yet even to attain this thine own running sufficeth not, since without Him thou couldest not even know that He exists². If thou wert to search for ever and ever, it is He that giveth thee this, to be able to know of His existence only³. And how much soever he that laboureth doth labour, this he knoweth, and beyond it there is none that knoweth.

For He is very manifest to him that seeketh Him, and⁴ very concealed from him that prieth into Him. Be still, bold disputant! He is withdrawn from thee; He is not in the height above, nor beneath. He is lost by thee: yet found⁵ to thee. Lo! in both these who can reach unto Him, seeing He is withdrawn from thee, O searcher; He is found to thee, O worshipper? He is revealed in His Goodness: concealed in His Essence⁶. Instead of His Majesty, seek His Goodness, which may be found of thee. His treasure is open: Himself is withdrawn. Instead of thyself, seek the Deep⁷; instead of scrutinizing Him, seek His aid. His great mercy calleth unto thee, O weak man, that thou mayest know that His treasury is full of compassion.

His mighty Power alloweth thee not to gaze after thine own will, and try to see of what quality⁸ or how great He is. And if thou daringly aim at getting before [Him], how much wilt thou be before Him, who is before all, and cannot have any before Him⁹? There is no place to pass by Him—go by Him, and where art thou? since by Him and beyond there is nothing. There is not even a ‘without-Him,’ and to pass beyond is impossible; but neither is there any way for thee to come up to Him. There is no going before, nor passing, nor reaching, nor coming to a stop, since He is a wonder in all things¹⁰.

If thou couldest reach all places, He would meet thee, though He change not from the place wherein He is¹¹. Little and short is thy measure: He is very far from thee. Though He cleave to thee, how wilt thou search Him out? He is not as fire, which though very far off, is yet near, because the body is too weak to approach to it⁹. He is not as the sun, which if he withholdeth not his might from the eye, she is made abashed by her weakness¹². The Lord is blended with His creatures far and near, lo! they seek Him, and He is carrying them. Lo! they think on Him as though He were removed to a great distance, while they are placed as it were in His fist! The great sea broad vessels cannot so contain, as that they should measure how great it is. Since even the sea¹³ is but a drop beside His Greatness, fall not into it, lest thou lose thyself therein!

Notes

R. lxx. §. 1.
This is a strong assertion of the necessity of Divine illumination, in order to the perception of supernatural truths. Comp. 255, n. g. R. xxv. §. 5. R. lv. §. 5. p. 87, n. h. p. 217, n. g. c. Scrut. i. §. 20. Men argue as if they could generate belief of God’s Being and attributes in a their mind by reasoning upon the creation, whereas they can only confirm the belief when it exists. St. E.’s doctrine is (as the passages referred to will shew) that belief in a traditive system, i.e. that acting by a faculty (infused in different ways by God,) upon a system in which by God’s Providence men are placed, is essential to, and precedes as well as limits, all disputation about Him.
p. 136, n. e. c. Scrut. R. i. §. 34. R. iii. §. 16.
Rom. 10, 18—20.
Job 22, 12.
p. 201, n. a.
This passage may be illustrated and almost paraphrased in Hooker’s words, E. P. i. cap. xi. §. 3. “Capable we are of God both by understanding and will: by understanding as He is that sovereign Truth which comprehendeth the rich treasures of all wisdom, by will as He is that Sea of goodness, whereof whoso tasteth, shall thirst no more.”
On Athan. p. 38, n. z.
R. xlv. §. 3. R. lxxi. §. 1. c. Scrut. i. §. 34.
Comp. p. 231, n. b.
p. 105, n. i. 251. ref. 4. 286. ref. 1.
p. 260, b. p. 294, b. p. 340, d.
p. 87, i.