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

1.&#160; If the head had not been right,&#8212;haply the members had murmured:&#8212;for when because of a perverse head&#8212;the course of the members is put astray,&#8212;they are wont to lay the blame on the head.&#160; R.&#160; Blessed be He who chose thee the pride of our people!

2.&#160; If now on one that is all goodly,&#8212;on it we lay our hatred;&#8212;how much more if we were hateful!&#8212;Yea even God though He is kind,&#8212;bitter men complain against Him.

3.&#160; Be like the head O ye members!&#8212;Get repose in his purity&#8212;and pleasantness in his tranquillity;&#8212;in his sanctity renown,&#8212;and in his wisdom learning!

4.&#160; Get discernment in his mildness,&#8212;and chastity in his gravity,&#8212;and bounty in his poverty!&#8212;As he is fully and altogether fair,&#8212;let us be altogether fair with him!

5.&#160; See ye how meted and weighed&#8212;are his words and his actions!&#8212;Take heed how even his steps&#8212;keep the measure of peace!&#8212;With all his might he holds the bridle of all himself.

6.&#160; He was master over his youth;&#8212;he bound it in the yoke of chastity:&#8212;his members were not enticed by lust;&#8212;for they were kept under the rod:&#8212;his will he had in subjection.

7.&#160; For he was ready beforehand for his degree,&#8212;as he was ready beforehand in his conversation,&#8212;as he laid his foundations securely.&#8212;He became Head in his youth,&#8212;when they made him preacher to the people.

8.&#160; Excellent was he among preachers,&#8212;learned was he among scholars,&#8212;and understanding was he among the wise:&#8212;chaste was he among his brethren,&#8212;and grave among his familiar friends.

9.&#160; In two abodes was he&#8212;a solitary recluse from his early days;&#8212;for he was holy within his body,&#8212;and solitary within his dwelling;&#8212;openly and secretly was he chaste.

10.&#160; But although we my brethren&#8212;have put astray those measures,&#8212;and we have lost that savour,&#8212;and have become teachers to ourselves,&#8212;unto the perfection that called us.

11.&#160; Yet that measure of Truth&#8212;preserves itself in its vessel:&#8212;Truth chose it because she saw it chose her;&#8212;she has preserved in it her fragrance and savour,&#8212;from the beginning to the end.

12.&#160; The Head both chaste and grave,&#8212;that was not wrathful nor hard,&#8212;nor transgressed even as we did,&#8212;set and kept his own measures,&#8212;and cast a bridle on his thoughts.

13.&#160; He gave example in his person,&#8212;that as he kept the measure of his time,&#8212;so was it meet that we should know our time.&#8212;We have become strangers to our time,&#8212;for we have been witless in the time of discernment.

14.&#160; In the beginning the blast of the wind&#8212;in its might chastens the fruit;&#8212;then in the meantime the might of the sun:&#8212;but when its mightiness is passed,&#8212;its end gathers his sweetness.

15.&#160; But we&#8212;they that were first chastened us;&#8212;and also they that came next rebuked us;&#8212;and they that were last added sweetness to us:&#8212;then when the time of tasting us arrives,&#8212;great was our savourlessness.

16.&#160; For we came to maturity,&#8212;that we might wean the children from wantonness,&#8212;and lead them to gravity:&#8212;but our old age stood in need&#8212;that we should be rebuked as youths.

17.&#160; Accordingly he in kindness endured, nor did he make use of force,&#8212;that he might increase honour to our old age:&#8212;and even if it knew not its degree,&#8212;let him be magnified who knew its time!

18.&#160; And if one say that for the multitude,&#8212;force and the rod should govern it;&#8212;even as for the thief fear,&#8212;and for the spoiler threatening,&#8212;and for fools open shaming.

19.&#160; Yet if with the head as first,&#8212;the members had hasted to move as second,&#8212;they would have drawn that which was third,&#8212;and the whole body from the end&#8212;would have followed after them.

20.&#160; They that were second despised those that were first,&#8212;and that were third those that were second:&#8212;the degrees were set at naught one by another.&#8212;While these within despised one another,&#8212;they were trodden down likewise by those without.