{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/213/2130255.htm","path":"chr/ecf/213/2130255.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/213/2130255.htm","text":"(Resp.\u2014Happy are ye whose bodies have been made to shine!)\n1. God in His mercy stooped and came down,\u2014to mingle His compassion with the water,\u2014and to blend the nature of His majesty\u2014with the wretched bodies of men.\u2014He made occasion by the water\u2014to come down and to dwell in us:\u2014like to the occasion of mercy\u2014when He came down and dwelt in the womb:\u2014O the mercies of God\u2014Who seeks for Himself all occasions to dwell in us!\n2. To the cave in Horeb He stooped and came down,\u2014and on Moses He caused His majesty to dwell;\u2014He imparted His glorious splendour to mortals.\u2014There was therein a figure of Baptism:\u2014He Who came down and dwelt in it,\u2014tempers within the water\u2014the might of His majesty,\u2014that He may dwell in the feeble.\u2014On Moses dwelt the Breath,\u2014and on you the Perfecting of Christ.\n3. That might then none could endure;\u2014not Moses chief of deliverers,\u2014nor Elijah chief of zealots;\u2014and the Seraphin too vail their faces,\u2014for it is the might that subdues all.\u2014His mercy mingled gentleness\u2014in the water and by the oil;\u2014that mankind in p. 277 its weakness\u2014might be able to stand before Him\u2014when covered by the water and the oil.\n4. The captive priests again in the well\u2014hid and concealed the fire of the sanctuary, 514 \u2014a mystery of that glorified fire\u2014which the Highpriest mingles in Baptism.\u2014The priests took up of the mire,\u2014and on the altar they sprinkled it;\u2014for its fire, the fire of that well,\u2014with the mire had been mingled;\u2014a mystery of our bodies which in the water\u2014with the fire of the Holy Spirit have been mingled.\n5. The famous Three in Babylon\u2014in the furnace of fire were baptized, and came forth;\u2014they went in and bathed in the flood of flame, they were buffeted by the blazing billows.\u2014There was sprinkled on them there\u2014the dew that fell from heaven;\u2014it loosed from off them there\u2014the bonds of the earthly king.\u2014Lo! the famous Three went in and found a fourth in the furnace.\n6. That visible fire that triumphed outwardly,\u2014pointed to the fire of the Holy Ghost,\u2014which is mingled, lo! and hidden in the water.\u2014In the flame Baptism is figured,\u2014in that blaze of the furnace.\u2014Come, enter, be baptized, my brethren,\u2014for lo! it looses the bonds;\u2014for in it there dwells and is hidden\u2014the Daysman of God,\u2014Who in the furnace was the fourth.\n7. Two words again our Lord spake\u2014which in one voice agree in unison:\u2014He said, \u201cI am come to send fire,\u201d\u2014and again, \u201cI have a baptism to be baptized with.\u201d\u2014By the fire of Baptism is quenched the fire,\u2014that which the Evil One had kindled:\u2014and the water of Baptism has overcome\u2014those waters of contention\u2014by which he had made trial\u2014of Joseph who conquered and was crowned.\n8. Lo! the pure fire of our Redeemer\u2014which he kindled in mankind of His mercy!\u2014Through His fire He quenched that fire\u2014which had been kindled in the defiled and sinful.\u2014This is the fire wherein the thorns\u2014are burnt up and the tares.\u2014But happy are your bodies\u2014that have been baptized in the fire\u2014which has consumed your thickets,\u2014and by it your seeds have sprung up to heaven!\n9. Jeremiah in the womb He sanctified and taught.\u2014But if the lowly bosom of wedlock\u2014was sanctified in conceiving and bringing him forth,\u2014how much more shall Baptism sanctify\u2014its conception and its bringing forth\u2014of them that are pure and spiritual!\u2014For there, within the womb\u2014is the conception of all men;\u2014but here, out of the water,\u2014is the birth whereof the spiritual are worthy.\n10. For Jeremiah though sanctified in the womb,\u2014they took up nails and cast him into the pit.\u2014Holy was the prophet in his befoulment,\u2014for clean was his heart though he was in the mire.\u2014Be ye afraid, my brethren\u2014for lo! to-day is washed away\u2014your secret befoulment,\u2014and the abomination of your sins.\u2014Turn not again to uncleanness,\u2014for there is but one cleansing of your bodies!\n11. The presumptuous who is baptized and again sins,\u2014is as the serpent that casts its slough and again puts it on, that is renewed and made young, and turns again\u2014\u2014putting on anew its skin of old;\u2014for the serpent does not\u2014cast off its nature.\u2014Cast ye off the tempter\u2014the corrupter of souls,\u2014even the old man;\u2014let it not make old\u2014the newness ye have put on!\n12. Elisha cast the wood into the water, and made the heavy float and the light sink:\u2014their natures were exchanged in the water.\u2014There a new thing came to pass not according to nature.\u2014How much easier then, O Lord,\u2014is this for Thy grace; that in the water should sink\u2014transgression which is heavy,\u2014but that the soul which is light\u2014should be drawn forth and raised up on high!\n13. Joshua, son of Nun, on Jericho\u2014laid a curse on its walls and a doom on its p. 278 fountains.\u2014They whom Joshua cursed to their destruction,\u2014again in the mystery of Jesus have been blessed.\u2014There was cast into them salt,\u2014and they were healed and sweetened:\u2014a mystery of this salt,\u2014the sweet salt that came from Mary,\u2014that was mingled in the water,\u2014whereby was healed the noisomeness of our plagues.\n14. Lo! quiet waters are before you,\u2014holy and tranquil and pleasant;\u2014for they are not the waters of contention\u2014that cast Joseph into the dungeon;\u2014nor yet are they the waters,\u2014those waters of strife,\u2014beside which the people strove,\u2014and gainsaid in the wilderness.\u2014There are waters whereby\u2014there is reconciliation made with Heaven.\n15. Hagar saw the spring of water,\u2014and from it she gave drink to her forward son, him who became as a wild ass in the wilderness.\u2014Instead of that fountain of water is Baptism.\u2014In it are baptized the sons of Hagar,\u2014and are become gentle and peaceful. Who has seen rams 515 like these,\u2014that are yoked, lo! and labour\u2014along with tame bullocks,\u2014and the seed of their tillage is reaped an hundredfold!\n16. In the beginning the Spirit that brooded\u2014moved on the waters; they conceived and gave birth\u2014to serpents and fishes and birds.\u2014The Holy Spirit has brooded in Baptism,\u2014and in mystery has given birth to eagles,\u2014Virgins and Prelates;\u2014and in mystery has given birth to fishes,\u2014celibates and intercessors; and in mystery of serpents,\u2014lo! the subtle have become simple as doves!\n17. Lo! the sword of our Lord in the waters!\u2014that which divides sons and fathers:\u2014for it is the living sword that makes\u2014division, lo! of the living from the dying.\u2014Lo! they are baptized and they become\u2014Virgins and saints,\u2014who have gone down, been baptized, and put on\u2014the One Only begotten.\u2014Lo! many have come boldly to Him!\n18. For whoso have been baptized and put on Him\u2014the Only begotten the Lord of the many,\u2014has filled thereby the place of many,\u2014for to him Christ has become a great treasure:\u2014for He became in the wilderness\u2014a table of good meats,\u2014and He became at the marriage feast\u2014a fountain of choice wines.\u2014He has become such to all in all things,\u2014by helps and healings and promises.\n19. Elisha was the equal of the Watchers\u2014in his doings, glorious and holy.\u2014The camp of the Watchers was round about him;\u2014thus let Baptism be unto you,\u2014a camp of guardians,\u2014for by means of it there dwells in the heart\u2014the hope of them that are below\u2014and the Lord of them that are above.\u2014Sanctify for Him your bodies,\u2014for where He abides, corruption comes not near.\n20. They are no more, the waters of that sea\u2014which by its billows preserved the People,\u2014and by its billows laid low the peoples.\u2014Of contrary effect are the waters in Baptism.\u2014In them, lo! the people have life;\u2014in them, lo! the People perishes:\u2014for all that are not baptized,\u2014in the waters that give life to all,\u2014they are dead invisibly.\n21. They are no more, the waters of that sea\u2014which were tempestuous, and boiled against Jonah,\u2014and plunged into the depths the Son of Amittai.\u2014Though he fled he was bound in the prison-house;\u2014God cast him in and bound him\u2014in dungeon within dungeon;\u2014for he bound him in the sea.\u2014and He bound him in the fish.\u2014For him Grace stood surety,\u2014and she opened the prison and brought forth the preacher.\n22. The Prophets have called the Most High a fire,\u2014\u201ca devouring fire,\u201d and \u201cwho can dwell with it?\u201d 516 \u2014The People were not able to dwell in it;\u2014its might crushed the peoples and they were confounded.\u2014In it, with the unction ye have been anointed;\u2014ye have put Him on in the water;\u2014in the bread ye have eaten Him;\u2014in the wine ye have drunk Him;\u2014in the voice ye have heard Him;\u2014and in the eye of the mind ye have seen Him!","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. XIII: Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage.: Hymn VIII.","type":"page"}