Which the heretics tread in a by-course, The waymarks of our true King. Behold! the names of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, The standard of the chrism also and of baptism, The breaking of bread and the cup of salvation, The stolen Scriptures also which they have corrupted." Blessed be the King of kings, Whose way is like mountains which cannot be concealed! Come! contemplate these imbecile men, Which cannot be stolen nor concealed! And perceiving the waymarks cannot be covered, They call them by the name of another king who has no existence.k Some men indeed err and believe them, But others reject and reprove them.— Blessed is He who hath fixed waymarks on earth, As He hath fixed the starry lights on high! And as no man is able To conceal the rays of the dawn,' So no one hath power To hide the truth of the Scriptures. Some stumble in the many lights of heaven, And some err in the abundance of the Scriptures; In the lights above they find stumbling-blocks, Blessed is He who hath illumined us with light, THIS homily is said by Asseman to be addressed to all heretics. In reference to the structure it is peculiar. Each strophe has ten verses, but they are of various metres, and it has been found impossible to establish such a harmony among them as to express their relations in the translation. Further light may probably be thrown on the subject. a "The heretics.", literally, the deniers or unbelievers. Ephraem means all those whose creed consisted in part of a denial or rejection of some orthodox article. "False coin."-11 is properly fraus, fallacia, dolus. Bene dict renders, с แ nummos cudunt adulterinos." "To imitate."— does not occur in any such sense in any Lexicon the translator has consulted. The context however demands such a version, and Benedict has "imitari." In Arabic there is word which may assist to throw light upon this:in conj. ii. is, repetivit rem; to repeat a thing make a duplicate, imitate. a “False teachers.”—The general sense of al is doctrina. But the meaning here given is established in Ephraem. Thus in the Twenty-fifth Homily, Adversus Hæreses (tom. v., p. 496), in strophe 8, we read of Lio) loos? lïalo, teachers or guides who pervert the way. It appears to be appropriated to false teachers. e “The waymarks.”—P is properly miles, as in Matt. v. 41. So millarium in Latin. In this sense of milestone, waymark, it is not found in the Lexicons. ƒ"To a by-road."—Lo2, aberratio, error, Castell. In this sense Ephraem uses it elsewhere. Benedict, "ad obliquos flexus." It occurs again in the second verse of the next strophe. g "To eclipse its beams.”—All the strophes end with a doxology similar to this except the first; but it cannot be doubted that even in that the two last verses were taken up by the chorus. h "The stolen Scriptures also which they have corrupted."The Scriptures are said to be stolen, because they were taken as it were from the orthodox by the heretics, to subserve their own private purposes; the way in which the Gnostics rejected some Scriptures and mutilated others according to their convenience, has been alluded to in the notes to the former homily. When criticism becomes a pruning-knife to lop the branches of the tree of life according to the taste of him who handles the weapon, it is a sure proof that self-will and not a desire for truth is the moving principle. i "Who with their broken fragments of truth."-Literally, who with the stones of truth which have been broken into fragments. The heretics retaining the ordinances of Christianity, and using a Christian nomenclature, endeavoured by the guileful employment of them to injure Christian truth. k"Another king who has no existence."-As for instance the Hylë, mentioned in the last homily; or the other imagined beings which distinguished the systems of the Gnostics and the Manichæans. 7 "To conceal the rays of the dawn."-Literally, to cover the rising of the beams. m“Truth which cannot be refuted."—14,000 15;0. According to the etymology this would be, "with that which is sure, certain, and that which is true, morally." But both words are used indiscriminately for truth, and, in the translation, the latter word has been used as qualifying the first by a common semitic idiom. VII. The Mystery of the Trinity. ITS ANALOGIES IN NATURE, AND THEIR INEXPLICABLENESS. (ADVERSUS SCRUTATORES, XLII., tom. vi., p. 75.) WHO is able to circumscribe Within a narrow aqueduct, Or to bring through his own intellect Much more so an argument of great difficulty." Who is there of weak perceptions That is competent for the assault Whose generation is unsearchable ! The vision of that which is spiritual Its appearance is strange to our eyes And who can become familiar With the hidden One by his research? Who is distant in all respects from all men! Who hath ever accustomed His mouth to the burning flame? Or his palate to fiery heat Which never hath been tasted? Now be instructed by this fire, Whose fierceness was never tasted; Yet its power is recognized In the flavour of what is dressed by it; And thus it is a useful thing, And in every way profitable. So also is the hidden Eternal Essence !d Mix and receive its influence In various kinds of good things; For its investigation, in itself, Is difficult and arduous." The sun passeth through a transparentƒ vase Into the midst of the water in it, And generates in the cold element The warmth of fire; A progeny like unto itself, In a wonderful manner it begets;— The offspring rises from it without separation! For the ray is not drowned, Neither is the water divided; It is a pure progeny, Which beameth forth with splendour !" Gold is a single substance, A flower is threefold; Stone is a single substance, But fire is threefold; For flame, and heat, and light Are mingled in it. |