{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/213/2130261.htm","path":"chr/ecf/213/2130261.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/213/2130261.htm","text":"p. 284 Hymn XIV.\nHymn concerning our Lord and John.\n(Resp.\u2014Glory to Thee, my Lord, for Thee\u2014with joy Heaven and earth worship!)\n1. My thought bore me to Jordan,\u2014and I saw a marvel when there was revealed\u2014the glorious Bridegroom who to the Bride\u2014shall bring freedom and holiness.\n2. I saw John filled with wonder,\u2014and the multitudes standing about him,\u2014and the glorious Bridegroom bowed down\u2014to the Son of the barren that he might baptize Him.\n3. At the Word and the Voice my thought marvelled:\u2014for lo! John was the Voice;\u2014our Lord was manifested as the Word, that what was hidden should become revealed.\n4. The Bride was espoused but knew not\u2014who was the Bridegroom on whom she gazed:\u2014the guests were assembled, the desert was filled,\u2014and our Lord was hidden among them.\n5. Then the Bridegroom revealed Himself;\u2014and to John at the voice He drew near:\u2014and the Forerunner was moved and said of Him\u2014\u201cThis is the Bridegroom Whom I proclaimed.\u201d\n6. He came to baptism Who baptizes all,\u2014and He showed Himself at Jordan.\u2014John saw Him and drew back,\u2014deprecating, and thus he spake:\u2014\n7. \u201cHow, my Lord, willest Thou to be baptized,\u2014Thou Who in Thy baptism atonest all?\u2014Baptism looks unto Thee;\u2014shed Thou on it holiness and perfection?\u201d\n8. Our Lord said \u201cI will it so;\u2014draw near, baptize Me that My Will may be done.\u2014Resist My Will thou canst not:\u2014I shall be baptized of thee, for thus I will it.\u201d\n9. \u201cI entreat, my Lord, that I be not compelled,\u2014for this is hard that Thou hast said to me,\u2014\u2018I have need that thou shouldst baptize Me;\u2019\u2014for it is Thou that with Thy hyssop purifiest all.\u201d\n10. \u201cI have asked it, and it pleases Me that thus it should be;\u2014and thou, John, why gainsayest thou?\u2014Suffer righteousness to be fulfilled,\u2014and come, baptize Me; why standest Thou?\u201d\n11. \u201cHow can one openly grasp\u2014in his hands the fire that burns?\u2014O Thou that art fire have mercy on me,\u2014and bid me not come near Thee, for it is hard for me!\u201d\n12. \u201cI have revealed to Thee My Will; what questionest thou?\u2014Draw near, baptize Me, and thou shalt not be burned.\u2014The bridechamber is ready; keep Me not back\u2014from the wedding-feast that has been made ready.\u201d\n13. \u201cThe Watchers fear and dare not\u2014gaze on Thee lest they be blinded;\u2014and I, how, O my Lord, shall I baptize Thee?\u2014I am too weak to draw near; blame me not!\u201d\n14. \u201cThou fearest; therefore gainsay not\u2014against My Will in what I desire:\u2014and Baptism has respect unto Me.\u2014Accomplish the work to which thou hast been called!\u201d\n15. \u201cLo! I proclaimed Thee at Jordan\u2014in the ears of the people that believed not and if they shall see Thee baptized of me,\u2014they will doubt that Thou art the Lord.\u201d\n16. \u201cLo! I am to be baptized in their sight,\u2014and the Father Who sent Me bears witness of Me\u2014that I am His Son and in Me He is well pleased,\u2014to reconcile Adam who was under His wrath.\u201d\n17. \u201cIt becomes, me, O my Lord, to know my nature\u2014that I am moulded out of the ground,\u2014and Thou the moulder Who formest all things:\u2014I, then, why should I baptize Thee in water?\u201d\np. 285 18. \u201cIt becomes thee to know wherefore I am come,\u2014and for what cause I have desired that thou shouldst baptize Me.\u2014It is the middle of the way wherein I have walked;\u2014withhold thou not Baptism.\u201d\n19. \u201cSmall is the river whereto Thou art come,\u2014that Thou shouldst lodge therein and it should cleanse Thee.\u2014The heavens suffice not for Thy mightiness;\u2014how much less shall Baptism contain Thee!\u201d\n20. \u201cThe womb is smaller than Jordan;\u2014yet was I willing to lodge in the Virgin:\u2014and as I was born from woman,\u2014so too am I to be baptized in Jordan.\u201d\n21. \u201cLo! the hosts are standing!\u2014the ranks of Watchers, lo! they worship!\u2014And if I draw near, my Lord, to baptize Thee,\u2014I tremble for myself with quaking.\u201d\n22. \u201cThe hosts and multitudes call thee happy,\u2014all of them, for that thou baptizest Me.\u2014For this I have chosen thee from the womb:\u2014fear thou not, for I have willed it.\n23. \u201cI have prepared the way as I was sent:\u2014I have betrothed the Bride as I was commanded.\u2014May Thy Epiphany be spread over the world\u2014now that Thou art come, and let me not baptize Thee!\u201d\n24. \u201cThis is My preparation, for so have I willed;\u2014I will go down and be baptized in Jordan,\u2014and make bright the armour for them that are baptized,\u2014that they may be white in Me and I not be conquered.\u201d\n25. \u201cSon of the Father, why should I baptize Thee?\u2014for lo! Thou art in Thy Father and Thy Father in Thee.\u2014Holiness unto the priests Thou givest;\u2014water that is common wherefore askest Thou?\u201d\n26. \u201cThe children of Adam look unto Me,\u2014that I should work for them the new birth.\u2014A way in the waters I will search out for them,\u2014and if I be not baptized this cannot be.\u201d\n27. \u201cPontiffs of Thee are consecrated,\u2014priests by Thy hyssop are purified;\u2014the anointed and the kings Thou makest.\u2014Baptism, how shall it profit Thee?\u201d\n28. \u201cThe Bride thou betrothedst to Me awaits Me,\u2014that I should go down, be baptized, and sanctify her.\u2014Friend of the Bridegroom withhold Me not\u2014from the washing that awaits Me.\u201d\n29. \u201cI am not able, for I am weak,\u2014Thy blaze in my hands to grasp.\u2014Lo! Thy legions are as flame;\u2014bid one of the Watchers baptize Thee!\u201d\n30. \u201cNot from the Watchers was My Body assumed,\u2014that I should summon a Watcher to baptize Me.\u2014The body of Adam, lo! I have put on,\u2014and thou, son of Adam, art to baptize Me.\u201d\n31. \u201cThe waters saw Thee, and greatly feared;\u2014the waters saw Thee, and lo! they tremble!\u2014The river foams in its terror;\u2014and I that am weak, how shall I baptize Thee?\u201d\n32. \u201cThe waters in My Baptism are sanctified,\u2014and fire and the Spirit from Me shall they receive;\u2014and if I be not baptized they are not made perfect\u2014to be fruitful of children that shall not die.\u201d\n33. \u201cFire, if to Thy fire it draw near,\u2014shall be burnt up of it as stubble.\u2014The mountains of Sinai endured Thee not,\u2014and I that am weak, wherein shall I baptize Thee?\u201d\n34. \u201cI am the flaming fire;\u2014yet for man\u2019s sake I became a babe\u2014in the virgin womb of the maiden.\u2014And now I am to be baptized in Jordan.\u201d\n35. \u201cIt is very meet that Thou shouldst baptize me,\u2014for Thou hast holiness to purify all.\u2014In Thee it is that the defiled are made holy; but Thou that art holy, why art Thou to be baptized?\u201d\np. 286 36. \u201cIt is very right that thou shouldst baptize Me,\u2014as I bid, and shouldst not gainsay.\u2014Lo! I baptized thee within the womb;\u2014baptize thou me in Jordan!\u201d\n37. \u201cI am a bondman and I am weak.\u2014Thou that freest all have mercy on me! Thy latchets to unloose I am not able;\u2014Thy exalted head who will make me worthy to touch?\u201d\n38. \u201cBondmen in My Baptism are set free;\u2014handwritings in My washing are blotted out;\u2014manumissions in the water are sealed ;\u2014and if I be not baptized all these come to nought.\u201d\n39. \u201cA mantle of fire the air wears,\u2014and waits for Thee, above Jordan;\u2014and if Thou consentest to it and willest to be baptized,\u2014Thou shalt baptize Thyself and fulfil all.\u201d\n40. \u201cThis is meet, that thou shouldst baptize Me,\u2014that none may err and say concerning Me,\u2014\u2018Had He not been alien from the Father\u2019s house,\u2014why feared the Levite to baptize Him?\u2019\u201d\n41. \u201cThe prayer, then, when Thou art baptized,\u2014how shall I complete over Jordan?\u2014When the Father and the Spirit are seen over Thee,\u2014Whom shall I call on, as priest?\u201d\n42. \u201cThe prayer in silence is to be completed:\u2014come, thy hand alone lay thou on Me.\u2014and the Father shall utter in the priest\u2019s stead\u2014that which is meet concerning His Son.\u201d\n43. \u201cThey that are bidden, lo! all of them stand;\u2014the Bridegroom\u2019s guests, lo! they bear witness\u2014that day by day I said among them,\u2014\u2018I am the Voice and not the Word.\u2019\u201d\n44. \u201cVoice of him that cries in the wilderness,\u2014fulfil thou the work for which thou camest,\u2014that the desert whereunto thou wentest out may resound\u2014with the mighty peace thou preachedst therein.\u201d\n45. \u201cThe shout of the Watchers has come to my ears;\u2014lo! I hear from the Father\u2019s house\u2014the hosts that sound forth the cry,\u2014\u2018In Thy Epiphany, O Bridegroom, the worlds have life.\u2019\u201d\n46. \u201cThe time hastes on, and the marriage guests\u2014look to Me to see what is doing.\u2014Come, baptize Me, that they may give praise\u2014to the Voice of the Father when it is heard!\u201d\n47. \u201cI hearken, my Lord, according to Thy Word:\u2014come to Baptism as Thy love constrains Thee!\u2014The dust worships that whereunto he has attained,\u2014that on Him Who fashioned him he should lay his hand.\u201d\n48. The heavenly ranks were silent as they stood,\u2014and the Bridegroom went down into Jordan;\u2014the Holy One was baptized and straightway went up,\u2014and His Light shone forth on the world.\n49. The doors of the highest were opened above,\u2014and the voice of the Father was heard,\u2014\u201cThis is my Beloved in Whom I am well pleased.\u201d\u2014All ye peoples, come and worship Him.\n50. They that saw were amazed as they stood, at the Spirit Who came down and bare witness to Him.\u2014Praise to Thy Epiphany that gladdens all,\u2014Thou in Whose revelation the worlds are lightened!","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 XIV.","type":"page"}