Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume XIII/Ephraim the Syrian and Aphrahat/Nisibene Hymns/Hymn XI

1.&#160; Thy chastening is, as a mother of our infancy:&#8212;her rebuke is merciful, in that Thou hast restrained,&#8212;the children from folly, and they have been made wise!&#160; R., Glory be to thy justice!

2.&#160; Let us search out Thy justice; for who is sufficient&#8212;to measure its help? since by it the wanton&#8212;are oftentimes made chaste.&#8212;

3.&#160; Oftentimes Thy hand, O my Lord, has made the sick whole,&#8212;for it is the healer in secret of their diseases,&#8212;and the fount of their life.

4.&#160; Exceeding gently, the finger of Thy justice,&#8212;in love and compassion, touches the wounds&#8212;of him that is to be healed.

5.&#160; Exceeding mild and merciful, is her cutting to him that is wise:&#8212;her sharp remedy, in its mighty love,&#8212;consumes the corrupt part.

6.&#160; Exceeding welcome her wrath, to him that is discerning;&#8212;but her remedies are hated, of the fool who has delight&#8212;in the trouble of his limbs.

7.&#160; Exceeding eager is she, to bind the cut she has made;&#8212;when she has smitten she pities, that from between these two&#8212;she may breed healing.

8. Exceeding welcome her wrath, and her anger pleasant,&#8212;and sweet her bitterness, sweetening bitter things&#8212;that they may be made pleasant.

9.&#160; A cause of negligence is Thy indulgence to the careless;&#8212;a cause of profit, is Thy rod among the slothful&#8212;so that they become as traffickers.

10.&#160; The cause of our affliction, it is Thy justice;&#8212;the cause of our carelessness, it is Thy graciousness,&#8212;for our understanding has turned foolish.

11.&#160; Pharaoh hardened himself, because of Thy graciousness;&#8212;for when the plagues were stayed, his cruelties waxed strong,&#8212;and he lied to his promises.

12.&#160; Justice requited him, because he lied greatly against her,&#8212;even Grace her freeborn sister; yea she restrained him again&#8212;that he should not again provoke.

13.&#160; Rebuke, O my Lord, my guide, for it has been false as Egypt &#8212;my prayers testify, that I am not as she,&#8212;for Thy door have I not forsaken.

14.&#160; Let Thy cross, O my Lord, which stands, in my breaches that are open,&#8212;repair again the breaches that are hidden; for instead of those without,&#8212;those within have cleft me asunder!

15.&#160; A sea has broken through, and cast down, the watch tower wherein I had triumphed.&#8212;Iniquity has dared to set up, a temple wherein I am shamed:&#160; its drink-offering chokes me.

16.&#160; My prayers on my walls, my persecutors have heard:&#8212;the sun and his worshippers, are ashamed of their magicians,&#8212;for I have triumphed by Thy cross.

17.&#160; All creatures cried out, when they saw the struggle,&#8212;while Truth with falsehood, on my battered walls, fought and was crowned conqueror.

18.&#160; The force of Truth, chastised falsehood:&#8212;in its chastisement it felt Truth, and through its own sins, it earned her victory.

19.&#160; I have great alarm; for since my deliverance,&#8212;the honourable and mighty, who were devoted to my altar, have built in me high places.

20.&#160; My seven senses, O my Lord, even though they had been as fountains of tears, yet my tears were too little&#8212;to lament our ruin.

21.&#160; The streets that were in sackcloth, and ashes cried out,&#8212;disturbed by the play, akin to that which was,&#8212;in the wilderness before the calf.

22.&#160; Poison seeks and wears, the beauty of lilies;&#8212;and though their buds may conceal, and hidden disguise it,&#8212;it blossoms in their bitter flowers.