(.—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,]—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.