XXX.

For the whale Church.

(PARÆNESIS LV., tom. vi., p. 520.)

LORD! let Thy right hand raise us,
And extend aid to Thy flock;

That our race may be exalted by Thy favour,
For Thine is the victory!

Thou giver of grace to the upright,

Afford us happiness by Thy power;

Let the day of Thy appearing gladden us,
And may we carry oil in our lamps!

Place a crown on the head of Thy beloved ones, And let them rejoice in Thee when Thou comest; May they enter Thy tabernacle with Thee,

And offer praise to Thy greatness.

The cherubim kneel before Thy majesty,
Thou gracious One," full of mercy!
Pontiffs' and priests praise Thee, oh Son,
Who is altogether like His Father!

Count us all worthy of Paradise,
In the day appointed for judgment;
May we enter Eden in full company,
And be delighted at Thy table.
Let us be guests at Thy banquet,

And be adorned in the pavilion of light;
And in Thy tents full of brightness,
Number us with Thy worshippers.

Vouchsafe prosperity to Thy Churches,
And sow Thy peace among us;
Let tribes and families give thanks
To the name of the Trinity.

Oh Lord! confirm our souls

In Thy faith and love;

Forgive our trespasses and sins

Through Thy mercy, oh lover of the penitent!

THIS hymn is heptasyllabic, in strophes of eight verses.

a "Thou gracious One."

literally, O grace! a proso

popæia not capable of correct expression in English.

"Pontiffs.”—The word

thus translated, generally

means a priest of some heathen religious culture, but is several times employed in the Epistle to the Hebrews for the high priest. In the ecclesiastical nomenclature of Ephraem it may mean bishop, but this wants confirmation.

"Who is like His Father."-For the enallage of person here, see note b on Hymn XX.

XXXI.

A Prayer to the Trinity.

(PARÆNESIS LVIII., tom. vi., p. 525.)

O LORD, my God, defend me

Like the pupil of the eye;"

Be Thou my protector,' and under Thy wings I shall be shielded from temptations.

Be a guard to mine eye,

That it look not stealthily ;
Be a guard to the ear,
That it hear not wickedly.

Be a guard to the mouth,
And watch also the lips;

That my heart decline not to vile sayings,d
Nor perform unrighteous deeds.

Lord, furnish us with knowledge,

And freely afford us understanding;

Grant, Lord, that we may be pleasing to Thee, More than sweet ointments and perfumes.

Grant, Lord, that we may love Thee,

And hate all the world;

Grant, Lord, that we may gain Thyself,

Instead of fleeting possessions.

Grant, Lord, that we may offer to Thee
Three choice offerings;

Grant, Lord, that we may burn to Thee

Three precious kinds of incense.

Grant, Lord, that we may kindle for Thee

Three lamps of light;

The mind, the soul, with the body,
Three gifts to the Trinity.

We will give our mind to the Father,
And our soul we will give to the Son,
And our body to the Holy Ghost,
For He renewed it from the dust.

Oh Father, sanctify our mind to Thee;
Oh Son, sanctify our soul to Thee;
Oh Holy Spirit, sanctify

Our body, which is frail with infirmities.

Grant, Lord, that we may rejoice in Thee,
And do Thou be glad in us at the last day;
And from mind and body and soul,

Be glory to Thee-and Thy mercy be on us!

In the

THIS hymn is pentasyllabic, in strophes of four verses. printed text the two last strophes are joined in one, but as there seems to be nothing to justify this, they are separated in the translation.

a "Like the pupil of the eye."—A quotation, with minor alter

ations for the sake of the metre, from Psalm xvii. 8. For the

pupil of the eye, the Hebrew has

rendered by Gesenius,

pupilla, filia oculi; while the Syriac has only

100

would be filia

which, were it not for the reduplication of the oculi, like the Hebrew; nor can it be doubted that the same figure is inherent in the expression, however difficult it may be to account for the difference of orthography. But Michaelis says (in

Castell, s. v.), propriè est porta (Arab. ) oculorum; a derivation requiring as great an orthographical variation as the more

common one.

¿ “My Protector.”—The text reads custodia tua, which is conjecturally altered to custodia mea, without

which emendation it is difficult to make sense of the passage. “That it look not stealthily."

meaning of

As the radical

is latus, the side, the word might admit the idea of the eye being directed out of the straight course, i. e., to forbidden things. But a stealthy, conscious look, characterizes one who allows himself to contemplate things which he knows are evil and prohibited.

¿ “Vile sayings.”—▲

literally vilenesses. But the men

tion of the lips as the cause, in the previous verse demands some such version as is here given.

"Hate all the world."-As our phrase, all the world, like the French, tout le monde, means every body, it is necessary to say that Ephraem uses it here as it is employed in the New Testament for the pleasures, fashions, and principles of this present life, among worldly men.

ƒ “The mind, the soul.”—Poo

mens, La anima.

F