Hymn XLII.
1. The Evil One wailed “Where now, is
there a place for me to flee to from the righteous? I stirred up
Death to slay the Apostles, that I might be safe from their
blows. By their deaths now more exceedingly am I cruelly
beaten. The Apostle whom I slew in India is before me in
Edessa: he is here wholly and also there. I went there,
there was he: here and there I have found him and been
grieved.”
R., Blessed is the might that dwells in the
hallowed bones!
2. The bones that merchantmen carried, or was it
then that they carried him? For lo! they made gain each of the
other. But for me what did they profit me? yea they profited each
by each, while to me from both of them there was damage. O that
one would show me that bag of Iscariot, for by it I acquired
strength! The bag of Thomas has slain me, for the secret strength
that dwells in it tortures me.
3. Moses the chosen carried the bones, in faith as
for gain. And if he a great prophet believed, that there is
benefit in bones, the merchant did well to believe, and did well to
call himself merchant. That merchant made gain, and waxed great
and reigned. His storehouse has made me very poor: his
storehouse has been opened in Edessa, and has enriched the great city
with benefit.
4. At this storehouse of treasure I was amazed,
for small was its treasure at first; and though no man took from it,
poor was the spring of its wealth. But when multitudes have come
round it, and plundered it and carried off its riches, according as it
is plundered, so much the more does its wealth
increase. For a pent-up spring, if one
seeks it out, when deeply pierced it flows forth mightily and
abounds.
5. It is evident that Elisha was a fountain in a
thirsting people: and because they that thirsted sought him not
out, his outflow was not great. But when Naaman sought him out,
he abounded and poured forth healing. The fountain into the midst
of a fountain, he took him and plunged him; for in the river he
cleansed the leper. Jesus the Sea of benefits, into Siloam sent
the blind man whose eyes were opened.
6. Gehazi, with the staff that brought to
life the dead, was unable to raise the child. And how could the
famous prophet have been brought up by the sorceress? We were
they that mocked Saul, for instead of one demon whom he questioned, two
demons came up and mocked him. From the bones of Elisha learn
also of
the bones of
Samuel; for though
Elisha’s
bones brought to life the dead, the sorcerers could not bring up the
dead, the living and sacred bones.
7. And though I asked this petition, He who
gives all gave it not to me. For though the demons were troubled,
by the bones of some priest, or magician or wizard, of Chaldean or
soothsayer, yet I was aware that this was but mockery. In two
ways I cause
men
to err: either I make the Apostles to
lie, or I make my Apostles like the Apostles.
8. The party of the demons lo! it is spoiled; the
party of the devils endures stripes: though there be none that
lifts the rod openly, the demons cry out with pain; though there be
none that fetters and binds, the spirits hang bound. This silent
judgment, which is calm and still, and works not even by questioning,
the one power that is all sufficing, lo! it dwells in the bones of this
second Elisha.
9. He gave judgment unto His Twelve, that they
might judge the twelve Tribes. And if so be that they are to
judge the sons of the great Abraham, this is then no great matter, that
they shall judge demons now. And unless they make the crucifiers
fulfil the judgment that is to be, by our judgment shall they be
proved. For worse than we did they cry out, in presence of the
Apostles the judges of the tribes.
10. For a wolf was Saul the Apostle, and on the
blood of the sheep I reared him; and he waxed strong and became a
singular wolf. But nigh to Damascus suddenly, the wolf was
changed into a sheep. He said that the Apostles, are to judge
Angels; for by the Angels he signified the priest as it is
written. If so be then they are thus powerful, woe to the demons
from the strokes of their bones!