((■) The third theory, upheld by Harris, who put it forward at the very beginning, considers the Odes (or most of them) to be the work of a Jewish- Christian, but rejects entirely the idea of an Ebionite source.
Before we try to form a judgment as to which of these three principal theories is likely to receive most support, it is usefid to know how the Odist introduces his subject, what person he uses in speaking, and what kind of man he believes him- self to be.
In Ode XX. the author speaks as a priest of the Most High: 'I am a priest of the Lord, and to Him I do priestly service : and to Him I offer the sacrifice of His thought.' In the following Ode the writer believes himself to be a bondman that God has released by His grace : ' My arms I lifted up on high, even to the grace of the Lord : because He had cast oft' my bonds from me.' In Ode xlii. we read the following lines : ' I stretched out my hands and approached my Lord : for the stretching of my hands is His sign : my expansion is the out- spread wood which was set up on the way of the Kighteous One. And I became of no account to those who know me, for I shall not reveal myself to tliose who did not take hold of me ; and I shall be with those who love me. All my persecutors are dead ; and they have sought me who announced me,* because I live, and I rose and am with them ; and I will speak by their mouths. . . . And I was not rejected, though I was reckoned to be so. . . . Death cast me up, and many along with me. I was gall and bitterness to him.' Few will read these passages without immediately thinking of Christ as the speaker.
In many other passages the Christ is spoken of in the third person. Ode xxiv. : ' The Dove fluttered over the Christ, because He was her head ; and she sang over Him, and her voice was heard.'
In some passages the tone of the Odist is homi- letic and didactic, referring, as in some prophetical books, neither directly nor indirectly to Christ. Ode xxiii. : 'Joy is of the saints! and who shall put it on, but they alone? Grace is of the elect ! and who shall receive it, except those who trust in it from the beginning? Love is of the elect ! and who shall put it on, except those who have possessed it from the beginning? Walk ye in the knowledge of the Most High, and you shall know the grace of the Lord without grudging.' This change of tone may have been one of the reasons which gave birth to the theory of interpolation referred to above. But, as Syriac hymnology constantly ex- hibits this characteristic of an interchange of • Or ' set their hope on me.'
speakers, no serious conclusion can be drawn from it in favour either of diversity of authorship or of the theory of interpolation. On the contrary, the main idea which may be gathered from a group of three or four Odes remains the same throughout, and the author lays stress continually on the same theme. The features which principally strike a reader of the Odes, besides some general counsels of piety, may be summarized as follows.
(1) Love. — iii. 2-4 : ' And my members are with him. And on them do I hang, and He loves me : for I should not have known how to love the Lord, if He had not loved me. For who is able to distin- guish love, except the one that is loved?' vi. 2: 'So speaks in my members the Spirit of the Lord, and I speak by His love.' See, further, viii. 2, 14, 23 ; xi. 2 ; xii. 11 ; xvi. 4 ; xviii. 1 ; xxiii. 3 ; x. 7.
(2) Knowledge. — vi. 5 : ' The Lord has multiplied the knowledge of Himself, and is zealous that these things should be known, which by His grace have been given to us.' vii. 24 : ' For ignorance hath been destroyed, because the knowledge of the Lord hath arrived.' See, further, vii. 4; viii. 13; xi. 4; xii. 3 ; XV. 5 ; xxiii. 4.
(3) Faith. — viii. 11: 'Keep my secret, ye who are kept by it.' iv. 5: 'Thou hast given thy heart, O Lord, to thy believers : never wilt thou fail, nor be without fruits : for one hour of thy Faith is more precious tlian all days and years.' See, further, xvi. 5 ; xxviii. 4 ; xxix. 6 ; xxxix. 11 ; xii. 1 ; xlii. 12.
(4) Truth. — viii. 9 : ' Hear the word of truth, and receive the knowledge of the Most High.' xxxviii. 1-7 : ' I went up to the light of truth as if into a chariot : and the Truth took me and led me. . . . And it went with me and made me rest, and suffered me not to wander, because it was the Truth. . . . And I did not make an error in any- thing because I obeyed the Truth ; for Error flees away from it, and meets it not : but the Truth proceeds in the right path.' See, further, ix. Si ; xi. 3, 4 ; xii. 1, 11, 12 ; xvii. 5, 7 ; xxv. 10 ; xxxii. 2 ; xxxiii. 8.