15. Hagar saw the spring of water,--and from it she gave drink to her forward son, him who became as a wild ass in the wilderness.--Instead of that fountain of water is Baptism.--In it are baptized the sons of Hagar,--and are become gentle and peaceful. Who has seen rams [515] like these,--that are yoked, lo! and labour--along with tame bullocks,--and the seed of their tillage is reaped an hundredfold!
16. In the beginning the Spirit that brooded--moved on the waters; they conceived and gave birth--to serpents and fishes and birds.--The Holy Spirit has brooded in Baptism,--and in mystery has given birth to eagles,--Virgins and Prelates;--and in mystery has given birth to fishes,--celibates and intercessors; and in mystery of serpents,--lo! the subtle have become simple as doves!
17. Lo! the sword of our Lord in the waters!--that which divides sons and fathers:--for it is the living sword that makes--division, lo! of the living from the dying.--Lo! they are baptized and they become--Virgins and saints,--who have gone down, been baptized, and put on--the One Only begotten.--Lo! many have come boldly to Him!
18. For whoso have been baptized and put on Him--the Only begotten the Lord of the many,--has filled thereby the place of many,--for to him Christ has become a great treasure:--for He became in the wilderness--a table of good meats,--and He became at the marriage feast--a fountain of choice wines.--He has become such to all in all things,--by helps and healings and promises.
19. Elisha was the equal of the Watchers--in his doings, glorious and holy.--The camp of the Watchers was round about him;--thus let Baptism be unto you,--a camp of guardians,--for by means of it there dwells in the heart--the hope of them that are below--and the Lord of them that are above.--Sanctify for Him your bodies,--for where He abides, corruption comes not near.
20. They are no more, the waters of that sea--which by its billows preserved the People,--and by its billows laid low the peoples.--Of contrary effect are the waters in Baptism.--In them, lo! the people have life;--in them, lo! the People perishes:--for all that are not baptized,--in the waters that give life to all,--they are dead invisibly.
21. They are no more, the waters of that sea--which were tempestuous, and boiled against Jonah,--and plunged into the depths the Son of Amittai.--Though he fled he was bound in the prison-house;--God cast him in and bound him--in dungeon within dungeon;--for he bound him in the sea.--and He bound him in the fish.--For him Grace stood surety,--and she opened the prison and brought forth the preacher.
22. The Prophets have called the Most High a fire,--"a devouring fire," and "who can dwell with it?" [516] --The People were not able to dwell in it;--its might crushed the peoples and they were confounded.--In it, with the unction ye have been anointed;--ye have put Him on in the water;--in the bread ye have eaten Him;--in the wine ye have drunk Him;--in the voice ye have heard Him;--and in the eye of the mind ye have seen Him!
[514] 1 Maccab. i. 19.
[515] 'Arbo=ram; 'Arboyo=Arab.
[516] Isai. xxx. 27.
Hymn IX.
(Resp., Blessed is He Who came down, and sanctified water for the remission of the sins of the children of Adam!)
1. O John, who sawest the Spirit,--that abode on the head of the Son,--to show how the Head of the Highest--went down and was baptized--and came up to be Head on earth!--Children of the Spirit ye have thus become,--and Christ has become for you the Head:--ye also have become His members.
2. Consider and see how exalted ye are;--how instead of the river Jordan--ye have glorious Baptism, wherein is peace;--spreading her wings to shade your bodies.--In the wilderness John baptized:--in Her pure flood of Baptism,--purely are ye baptized therein.
3. Infants think when they see its glory,--that by its pomp its might is enhanced.--But it is the same, and within itself--is not divided.--But the might which never waxes less or greater--in us is little or again great;--and he in whom is great understanding,--great in him is Baptism.
4. A man's knowledge, if it be exalted,--exalted also is his degree above his brethren;--and he whose faith is great,--so also is his promise;--and as is his wisdom, so also his crowning.--As is the light, which though it be all goodly--and equal all of it with itself,--yet goodlier is one eye than another.
5. Jesus mingled His might in the water:--put ye Him on my brethren as discerning men!--For there are that in the water merely--perceive that they are washed. With our body be our soul washed!--The manifest water let the body perceive,--and the soul the secret might;--that both to the manifest and to the secret ye may be made like!
6. How beautiful is Baptism--in the eye of the heart; come, let us gaze on it!--Like as by a seal ye have been moulded;--receive ye its image,--that nought may be lacking to us of our image!--For the sheep that are white of heart--gaze on the glory that is in the water:--in your souls reflect ye it!
7. Water is by nature as a mirror,--for one who in it examines himself.--Stir up thy soul, thou that discernest,--and be like unto it!--For it in its midst reflects thy image;--from it, on it, find an example;--gaze in it on Baptism,--and put on the beauty that is hidden therein!
8. What profits it him that hears--a voice and knows not its significance?--Whoso hears a voice and is devoid--of the understanding thereof,--his ear is filled but his soul is empty.--Lo! since the gift is abundant,--with discernment receive ye it.
9. Baptism that is with understanding--is the conjunction of two lights,--and rich are the fountains of its rays.--......--And the darkness that is on the mind departs,--and the soul beholds Him in beauty,--the hidden Christ of glory,--and grieves when the glory fails.
10. Baptism without understanding--is a treasure full yet empty;--since he that receives it is poor in it,--for he understands not--how great are its riches into which he enters and dwells.--For great is the gift within it,--though the mean man perceives not--that he is exalted even as it.
11. Open wide your minds and see, my brethren,--the secret column in the air, whose base is fixed from the midst of the water--unto the door of the Highest Place, like the ladder that Jacob saw.--Lo! by it came down the light unto Baptism,--and by it the soul goes up to Heaven,--that in one love we may be mingled.
12. Our Lord when he was baptized by John--sent forth twelve fountains;--and they issued forth and cleansed by their streams--the defilement of the peoples.--His worshippers are made white like His garments,--the garments in Tabor and the body in the water.--Instead of the garments the peoples are made white,--and have become for Him a clothing of glory.
13. From your garments learn, my brethren,--how your members should be kept.--For if the garment, which ever so many times--may be made clean,--is duly kept for the sake of its comeliness,--the body which has but one baptism--manifold more exceeding is the care of its keeping,--for manifold are its dangers.
14. Again the sun in a house that is strait,--is straitened therein though he be great:--but in a house that is goodly and large,--when he rises thereon--far and wide in it he spreads his rays;--and though the sun is one and the same in his nature,--in divers houses he undergoes changes:--Even so our Lord in divers men.
Hymn X.
(Resp.--Glory to Him Who came and restored it!)
1. Adam sinned and earned all sorrows;--likewise the world after His example, all guilt.--And instead of considering how it should be restored,--considered how its fall should be pleasant for it.--Glory to Him Who came and restored it!
2. This cause summoned Him that is pure,--that He should come and be baptized, even He with the defiled,--Heaven for His glory was rent asunder.--That the purifier of all might be baptized with all,--He came down and sanctified the water for our baptism.
3. For that cause for which He entered into the womb,--for the same cause He went down into the river.--For that cause for which He entered into the grave,--for the same cause He makes us enter into His chamber.--He perfected mankind for every cause.
4. His Conception is the store of our blessings;--His Birth is the treasury of our joys;--His Baptism is the cause of our pardon;--His Death is the cause of our life.--Death He alone has overcome in His Resurrection.
5. At His Birth a star of light shone in the air;--when He was baptized light flashed from the water;--at His Death the sun was darkened in the firmament;--at His Passion the luminaries set along with Him;--at His Epiphany the luminaries arose with Him.
6. Revealed was His Glory because of His Majesty;--revealed was His Passion because of His Manhood;--revealed was His Love because of His Graciousness;--revealed was His Judgment because of His Justice.--He has poured forth His attributes, on them that were His.
7. That whoso has looked on His Glory and despised Him,--may look again on His Glory and worship Him;--and whoso has scorned to taste of His Graciousness,--may fear lest he be made to feel His justice;--He has poured forth His helps on His worshippers.
8. Lo! the East in the morning was made light!--lo! the South at noonday was made dark!--The West again in turn at eventide was made light.--The three quarters represent the one Birth;--His Death and His Life they declare.
9. His Birth flowed on and was joined to His Baptism;--and His Baptism again flowed on even to His Death;--His Death led and reached to His Resurrection,--a fourfold bridge unto His Kingdom; and lo! His sheep pass over in His footsteps.
10. And like as, save by the door of birth,--none can enter into creation;--so, save by the door of resurrection,--none can enter into the Kingdom,--and whoso has cut off his bridge, has brought to nought his hope.
11. He put on His armour and conquered and was crowned;--He left His armour on earth and ascended,--that if any man desires the crown,--he may resort to the armour and win by it--the crown of victory which he yearns after.
12. He fulfilled righteousness on earth, and ascended.--But if He, the All-cleanser, was baptized,--What man is there that shall not be baptized?--for grace has come to baptism--to wash away the foulness of our wound.
13. The compulsion of God is an all-prevailing force;--[but that is not pleasing to Him which is of compulsion,] [517] --as that which is of discerning will.--Therefore in our fruits He calls us--who live not as under compulsion, by persuasion.
14. Good is He, for lo! He labours in these two things;--He wills not to constrain our freedom--nor again does He suffer us to abuse it.--For had he constrained it, He had taken away its power;--and had He let it go, He had deprived it of help.
15. He knows that if He constrains He deprives us;--He knows that if He casts off He destroys us;--He knows that if He teaches He wins us.--He has not constrained and He has not cast off, as the Evil One does:--He has taught, chastened, and won us, as being the good God.
16. He knows that His treasuries abound:--the keys of His treasuries He has put into our hands.--He has made the Cross our treasurer--to open for us the gates of Paradise,--as Adam opened the gate of Gehenna.
[517] The rendering of this line is very conjectural.
Hymn XI.
(Resp.--Let the bodies rejoice which the Evil One had made naked, that in the water they have put on their glory!)
1. Give thanks, O daughter, that thy crownings have been doubled;--for lo! thy temples and thy sons rejoice.--The dedication of thy temples is in the ministration;--The dedication of thy sons is in the anointing.--Blessed art thou that at once......--......the tabernacle for them that dwell in thee,--and the Spirit has abode upon thy sons!
2. Our Lord opened up Baptism--in the midst of Jordan the blessed river.--The height and the depth rejoiced in Him;--He brings forth the first fruits of His peace from the water,--for they are first fruits, the fruits of Baptism.--The good God in His compassion will bring to pass--that His peace shall be first fruits on earth.
3. Moses stretched out the temporal Tabernacle;--the priests bathed themselves in water,--and went in and ministered; and were stricken and punished,--because their heart within was not cleansed.--Blessed art thou that in the Passover of the great Passion,--the priests by the savour of their oblations,--lo! are cleansing souls in thee!
4. Great was the mystery that the Prophet saw,--the torrent that was mighty.--Into its depths he gazed and beheld--thy beauty instead of himself; thee it was he saw, for thy faith passes not away,--thou whose flood unseen shall overwhelm--the subtleties of idolatry.
5. Though John was great among them that are born of women,--yet he that is little is greater than he,--in this that his baptized were again baptized,--in the baptism that was of the Apostles.--Blessed art thou that thy priest is greater than he--in this alone that forever--abides his baptism.
6. The baptism that was of Siloam--did not bring mercy to the man that was laid there--who for thirty and eight years awaited it,--for he was a respecter of the persons of the Levites.--Blessed art thou that thy healing is in thee for all men,--and thy priests are devoted and ready--for all that are in need of thy help.