re ummoned to rise and look at f'^'r Saviour^
See, further, the following passages of Svuan
• Sheol saw me and was made miserable : Death cast me up
Sucherther' L'^t u's^'so be redeemed with thee : for thou art our Redeemer.*
Before we compare this passage with other verses of the Odes which exhibit the same idea, it is tise- ful to notice that the Descensus ad inferos which is so clearly represented in these verses is one of the commonest themes of the Syrian ^yrIters when speaking of the death of Christ. The breviaries of the two branches of the Syrian Church are full
of such ideas, and the ^^t'''' ^^^^^l^ftl^^^ them in more than one homily. Jwo citations wm suffice for our purpose :' He Iwught us and saved us by His precious blood, and He went dowii Hheol a^nd loosed the bonds of death' (ilW« iuxta Eitum EcdediB Syrorum Orientahum, Mosul IQOl D 76); ' O Living One who went down to the dwelling of the dead, and who proclaimed good
See, further, the following passages of Sv. an authors which would be too ong to qnote «re ■Wis of Judas Tliomas, ed. \\ . \\ right l.on.lon 1S71 i)D 155, 288; S. Ephrcemi hyn II<imni ct Scrmo^cs ed T. J. Lamy, Malines, 1882-11102, vol. f ,' "45 etc For Aphrahat, see Patroloc,ia Syrtaca, ed 'k Graffin, Paris, 1894, vol. i. c.d. 524, etc.
Man -other verses of the O.les contain indubit- able a" usions to the idea of Chi; st loosing bonds u 1 descending into Hades, and, if we try to detach ■tesefr'm. their context, the whole structure of e pa.'sage breaks down. For instance, Ode xvii. : ' And from thence He gave me the way o His foot- steps and I opened the doors that were closed, and bmke in pieces the bars of iron ; but my iron melted ani dissolved before ine ; ""thing appeared closed to me : because I was the door of eveiy thing. And! went over all my bondmen to loose them ; that I might not leave any man bound or binding . and they were gathered to me and were saved ; because they were to me as my own members and IwastlSead.' Ode xxii, : ' He who scattered my enemies and my adversaries : He who gave me authority over bonds that I might loose tl em . . and thy hand has levelled the way for those who believe in thee: and thou didst choose them from the ^Ives and didst separate them, rom the deach Thof didst take dead bones and didst cover then, witl, hnrlips • thev were motionless, and thou mast gYve (them) energ^y for life.' See, further, Odes xv..
"""The'^numerous verses of the Odes ^vhich contain allusions to the remaining eighteen topics mentioned abo;e exhibit the whole collection as so coherent in fts unity that any critic who should seriously try to break it up into different pieces would find him- self face to ?ace with strong and sometimes un-
^"Srthe otKand. Bernard's theory, while re. co"^izin" the perfect unity of the Odes and their Chri tiaS character, assigns to them too narrow a scope in restricting them to exclusively baptismal pur'poses. The nineteen features already mentioned wWch crenerally speaking, form the essence of the Odes a?e cast int^ a baptismal mould, by means of some coincidences of speech found in the style o Christian Fathers or in the phraseology of bap- tisraal rituals. An example will show the nature ofTw process. In the hrsj verses of the first byriac Ode (iii.) we find the following passa-e: 'I love Uie Beloved, and my soul loves kim.' To prove that this verse alludes to baptism, a sentence is cited from the book entitled Exposition of Baph^ by the Syrian writer Moses Bar K«a (9th cent.) : .^he betrothals of Rebecca, Rachel, and Zipporah were beside water. So also are the betrothals o the Holy Church beside the waters of Baptism Several other alleged coincidences -^^ ""^li.Xf the Doint For instance, as parallels to the follow- n" sentence of the same Ode, ' for be tha is joined to'Him that is immortal, will also himself become immortal,' a quotation from Clement and another from Eplrem^ are cited which run thus: •Being hantized we are illuminated ; illummated, we be- cont son's ; being made sons, we are -^de perfect ; being made perfect, we are made 1"™°^; f \ '^^^j i 6)- 'Go down to the fountain of Christ, ana receive life in your members,.. as armour against death' (Epiphany Hymns, vii. 17). .i'or many other verfSthereare even stronger Patristic quota- tfons, but in the opinion of the present writer rione of them can be regarded as decisive. On tlieo-
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retical grounds this hypothesis has to face the following objections.
(1) It is scit'ntilitally inexplicahle that a book written for baptismal purposes sliouUl not so much as name baptism, or even alhule witli any clear- ness to immersion, aspersion, or atiusion, essential ceremonies of tliis sairament. liernard answers this objection by falling back on the so-called disilp/ina arcani. But such an argument is a dernier ressort. Why should we extend the ' secret discipline' to the simple practice of washing with water represented in Israelite circles by various ablutions with which the commonest pagan was familiar ? How then could Tertullian have written his treatise de Baptismo ? The lield that this theory gives to the disriplina arcani is probably too extensive to be taken seriously into considera- tion.