On Human Nature

On Human Nature O Lord of the Sixteenth Discourse, spoken with fasting and prayer. Open, by your mercies, over your servants; and accept our prayer and grant our petitions. O God, hear the petition of the one who is heard by you, and incline in your mercies to the request of my soul which entreats you. Pour forth abundantly, show your love as is your custom, that the arrow of man may not be loosed in the work of your hands. Rich above all, open the treasury of your storehouse for the poverty of my soul, that it may not be defiled and that it may not mingle with the glutton. Mighty one of the worlds, establish your power in the strength of your might, for it is shaken by the harshness of pains and demons. Being who fills heaven and earth with his being, may your will be filled and your holy name be sanctified therein. Hidden in his being from spirits and from bodies, be revealed in your might and show the wealth of your goodness. Sweeten all that is wild in creation from nothing; have mercy on your labor, that it may not be destroyed by the cause of your iniquity. Move, touch, and give life by grace to the eloquent and the mute; stretch out your right hand and satisfy my soul from your gift. Not deficient, who from his fullness fills his powers. Open the door of your will, which is held before my face. Perfect in his being, and there is no beginning to his steadfastness; perfect in deed, cast your words before my race. Adorn the world with the medicine of its love, which is not to be despised; cleanse the impurity of ignorance from your forms.

He composes bodies and breathes the soul within the members. He establishes the formation so that it may not be dissolved before the sutures. He honors the human being more than all on account of his love. Have mercy on the image of your dignity that it may not be injured. In the name of your being without composition, you composed a composition. Let not your honored name be profaned by our levity. Show them your great love toward your ordinances. Do not show a sign of wrath to the servants of your hands. Restrain them from the great name of your craftsmanship. And by your composition you have bound together earth and heaven. By it you have joined height and depth as one body. Mute ones in the body, rational ones in the soul, a great wonder. Do not, O Lord, dissolve this composition which your love has composed. And let not the great bond which your sign has bound be dissolved. By this composition my feeble word is worn out, lacking power. And it seeks to proceed on the path of words bound in it. By this bond I have pressed my thought in a narrow confinement. And it has marveled greatly at the craftsmanship of the sign that bound it. By this ordinance my poor thoughts have become light in their course. And words have been prepared to relate the account before the hearers. By this hope my word has been strengthened after the words. That the proclamation of your name might go forth to the servants of your hands. By this I have journeyed among the canons of the holy scriptures. That I might meditate on the human being in the great account of your creation.

In this form, the words are formed in the members of the tongue, so that every man may look at the beautiful image of your workmanship. I saw the image of your likeness, that it is fittingly composed. And I desired to reveal the beauty of its splendor before the beholders. In the image of your likeness, I saw that the whole creation is bound, and I called out, "O man, that you may come and see all your fellows." The nature of your greatness, that I might see the natures that are bound in it, how and how much the weak one sufficed to look upon all. In your fellows, I saw the wisdoms of your divinity, and I thought, "Is this hope for man, how much if he is sinful?" I saw the name of your essence, that it dwells in him as in a bridal chamber, and I was amazed at the wonder of how the swimmer suffices for the hidden one. The swimmer is great, and you are the weight of his unmeasured things, and what is not to be wondered at, that for his swimming you chose the good above all. And if it was your love that chose him from all and called him by his name, he remains a dweller without despising, you the chosen one whom you chose. If your lordship made him lord over all that is, what is not to be amazed at his self in the contest of the service of his life? If your knowledge called and brought him to the high rank, what is not to be confessed that his rank is true and the name of his authority? If your covering revealed your works through his revelation, what is not to be hidden his gaze from all the prey of his vessel? If in him you sealed the great mystery of flesh and spirit, what is not to approach the wisdoms of the hidden ones in his name?

If in it you show your sweetness to the wakeful and to man, why does he not take delight in a nature in his body that is fitting for him? If it is the Word that begets from you, and dwells in him in love, why do they not call him the holder of the measure of height and depth? If in it you complete the activities that are beyond all, why does he not take hold of his activity without end? If in it the sign is prepared that the earth will know at the end of times, why does he not fear the trial that will be in his hands? And if in it you give blessings to the good and judgments to the evil, why is it not fitting for you to be a seal over his sins? And if it is that which rules over this world and over that which is to come, why does he not believe that the second is that of divinity? To these degrees I saw that the nature of the Word is exalted, and my thoughts are stirred to follow with words towards his Word. The greatness of his degree has hindered me from speaking beyond the order, and I will go on the path of the great one in her voice from my words. Towards your hiddenness, which is in its revelation, I desired to approach. Stretch out your hand to me, as to Simon, that I may approach and be fitting. Into the sea of words that is beyond my life, my thoughts have sunk. Show me your sign, that it may not be submerged in the depth of the waves. That I may be fitting, you have drawn near over my deeds and those of my companions. Strengthen my movements, that they may not be shattered until they are heard.

After the door of your mercy, the will of the creature desires in its life to open for it to enter and take what is fitting, like the poor. The poor and needy, the nature of the wanderer from every good, set the foundation of his wandering in the small remainder from your gift. He is very weak, so that he stumbles from every wind, and cannot work the earth with his strength without your strength. The great summer is full of his labor, however much he works, and there is no trust in his wind, however much it is abundant. Pains and griefs cleave to his harvest, summer and winter, and all his seasons are bitter for him and for his own. His labor is great and the reward that is prepared for him is small, and his weariness is great, and his wind is wandering and fleeting throughout his life. He sows much and reaps little from the many, he is tossed and crushed, and before he rejoices, death swallows him. In summer he sows and in autumn he gathers fruits, and his heart is not confident to rejoice in his labor and his produce. He casts his bread on the face of the field that is prepared for him, and he fears and is anxious, lest it perish and his life be lost. He works the earth and trembles, lest it be dark over the fruits, and he goes on the road and death sits and lies in wait for him. Like a mother, he lies in wait for the fruits as for a child, and the pangs of death strike his separation at every hour. A great war is set up in every season against his nature, and if he sleeps and rests upon it, the bonds and captivity of his freedom are plundered.

After the door of your mercy, the will of the creature desires in its life to open for it to enter and take what is fitting, like the poor. The poor and needy, the nature of the wanderer from every good, set the foundation of the weak one who is evil from one of the ones from the pains of his body and the course of his life, the threads are woven. As if from the roots he shows himself in the hand of his creation, and there is no place in him that is not full of the completion of pains. He is weak and oppressed before his pains and before his labors, and there is no time that is not stirred bitterly. If the sun burns, his thought burns against his seeds; and if the rain falls, his thoughts wither with his plants. And if it is that heat kills him, thirst; and if it is that excessive cold destroys him from the air. If it is restrained in the belly, it produces a cutting and generates a trembling; and if it is spread out, his garment becomes a swelling and a height of spirit. If it is justified, he rejoices and laughs at sinners; and if it is pressed, he mourns and despairs, for there is no longer any hope. If it becomes wise, the straying one is a laughingstock for the folly of his generation; and if it becomes proud, the beast without understanding is for him. In much and in little, his pains increase and his iniquity grows; and what shall he do, and where shall he flee from the burning in his life? Between the excessive and the deficient, he is lacking; and how can he preserve his life without cares? It is very difficult for the seekers of life to live well, and the course of righteousness is not easy for the bodily ones. The body is the body; how much if it is stirred by spiritual things, even its stirring is not its own, but of another.

After that, he dwells in the house of the corruptible nature, and in his life he loves a little until he is corrupted. Corruption is all of him, even if there is in him a taste of life; even this little life of his is for his living. And if the nature in him is lacking from nature, how can he live in corruptible lives? Open your mercy, my Lord, to the help of the wretched race, for behold, it has sinned and lowered the power of its nature in the furnace of sufferings. Stretch out a hand to the furnace of affliction, relax the mind, for behold, it has raised a finger and cannot take a step in the open. Cry out and encourage the corruptible combatants, for behold, the sinews of his hands have been loosened to strike the enemy. Command the known physicians to help him, for behold, his hand has been freed to take the bow of truth. Call the heavenly legions to assist him, lest he fall and become a laughingstock to his adversary. Write and send the seal of your great name above all, and behold, he strives to reach his pains in the hope of your name. Cast a hand upon the writings of the salvation of his life, and behold, pains and demons that look upon him are repelled. Mourn in the ranks of the combats that have pressed him, and behold, they are confounded by the splendor of the name of your essence. Send a watcher like the envoy of the Assyrian, and behold, the evil forces that have surrounded him are scattered.

Send your sign like Isaiah to Hezekiah, and in place of the figs, he placed mercy upon his seals. Hear his voice, that daughter of the echo of Hezekiah's voice, for in place of life, behold, he adds a sign of forgiveness for the wicked. Where is my Lord? Turn your face toward the health of the beautiful ones, that it may not be shattered in the pits of the drunkards. Go out in your petitions like the escape of one who rides your love, and enter, graze in the pasture of spiritual life. Brighten your face and seek with your mercy the lostness of your ways, that the radiance of the nature that is stamped with your name may not be destroyed. Rejoice in your peace like the firstborn of a small child, and interpret with them the life of the hope that is inscribed in him. With the devourer, serve as a magus and plunder your reward, and in the ruins of the stages, live wickedly. Sin and anger your Lord when you think that you have angered or that you are angry, and you are not equal to being called by the names of your Lord. Give that you may be like hired laborers in the service of your house, and receive your due like the poor from your table. And if you are able, complete the power of your escape through action, and bring to light the mystery of what you ride for the sake of your reasons. Say to him that from death I have given you life now, and from destruction without knowledge I have saved you from him. Command your nature, cover your shame with a stole of glory, and place in his hand the reins of life like a bridle.

Send your sign and seal before the sacrifice of your son, and pursue with his entire inheritance the death from your members. And if there is one who cuts off in salvation, in salvation of life and in service, send your love to his inheritance in the life of lives. Call the angels and rejoice, go by way of the mysteries, that the sinners may be justified; now that they have been justified, go, shepherds who were angry because of iniquity, and go to the service of the contest of life. Stir the air with the power of your word, as is your custom, and cause their teeth to chatter and draw water upward from his side. Place in his mouth the keys of silence and of humility, that he may not be disturbed by his changes outside the order. Let them be like visions above his side, and let them look upon the face of the earth for the flow of his course. See his course like spectators in the stadium, and magnify your name, a crown of thanksgiving that rejoices in him. O Lord, accept the chariot of my words, even the verses, and give reward to the thought of my soul, even its interpretation. O Lord, make ready the word of my mouth for the interpretation of the word, and hear from you that sinners have hope. O Lord, rejoice the air that is dark because of our iniquity, and place in its mouth a crown of virtues that will be revealed to you. O Lord, let the voices of my mouth be keys to your treasury, and open, take forgiveness, sins, and mix the incense.

Do not, my Lord, be hindered from the prayer of the poor, that your hope may not be cut off by the cutting off of hope. Do not, my Lord, turn your face from us in the gift of wrath, that the evil demons may not rejoice as is their custom. Do not, my Lord, cast us from your help like the wicked, that the evil ones may not be raised up in our lowliness as before. Do not, my Lord, be without mercy, for you are merciful; have pity, my Lord, that I may not be one who says, "I said to the end of your help." Do not, my Lord, diminish the name of your greatness because of the cause of our iniquity; for it is not diminished, nor if it were to become wicked would it teach myriads. Do not, my Lord, be small in help and poor in treasure; oh, that is a lie, that which I said concerning your being. Do not, my Lord, be like a sojourner in your creation, nor like a guest who strays to the lodging of another. Do not, my Lord, be like a human, for you are God; nor like a man who cannot save, for you are the Savior. And if our sins have increased beyond the sins of all generations, you, have mercy because of your precious name which is invoked in them. If the remedies have healed the face of the pure air, you, do not show the face of wrath, which is not fitting for you. If wickedness has consumed all good things from the mouth of our iniquity, you, do not change the name of your goodness, for it is altogether unchangeable.

You are all good and all just, and you are all and you hate evil, you. And your goodness and your justice are not to be measured. No man knows your name in the name of what is fitting for your name, for all your small names are insufficient for the greatness of your glory. Your good name, the voice of your justice, thunders in the earth, and again the just one fills heaven and earth with your mercies. Your hidden name is revealed in your deeds to all creatures, for your revealed name has no equal among the things that are made, that they might suffice to see you. Your name that hears is heard by you, the voice of your justice, and your name that persuades, that it may forgive before your love for us and for our evil. They do not know how to pray nor how to praise, and they are cut off who say words that are not fitting for you. How shall one pray to the one who lacks nothing, who is perfect in his entirety? And how shall one praise that one whose glory endures from nothing? If he is praised, something increases by means of praise, and if that which increases by glory from us becomes perfect. If greatness is diminished, its diminishment is from its praise; if it is sanctified by our mouth, it adds to its praise. If it is heated, its diminishment is concealed from it, the diminishment of the one who does evil. And if it is revealed, sin shows its way of revelation. And if after the sacrifice something is done by means of intentions, his sacrifices are difficult for knowledge to know something that he did not know. And if he does not know this, that the mouth that speaks is cursed, how much more does he stand in knowledge over his limits.

Do not be troubled, O thoughts, by the thoughts of the world. There is nothing in being that is less than being. Every being, its name is a limit that defines its essence, and according to what it is, so also its knowledge is with it. Before everything, it is, and it is as it is, and nothing that is or that will be escapes it. Thus it is fitting that the created thing should think about the Creator, and thus the rational being is bound to repay the giver of the word. The debt of love obliges us to give thanks. Come, let us examine how to repay, a little from the many. He does not seek repayment from us as from one in need. He stores up treasures for us, richer than his own treasures. The treasure of life without end cries out in your midst, and it is very easy to give from it to the sons of his house. He called you, the sons of the inheritance of the love of his bosom, to your midst. Upon this he guides and makes us wise lovingly. Therefore, bear the small things of discipline from his discipline, and do not let us be troubled by the cords of hunger and of need. If the name of the sons is true concerning our thought, show that even our discipline is for the better. Without ceasing, receive the cords from our Creator, and without murmur, know the limit that changes the times. This alone ask of him at the time of the cords, that he not disturb our order in harsh anger according to our deeds.

Like a son of man, he is angry at the injustice of thoughts, and by the path of his words he pursues the promise of repentance. O Lord, what is equal to this daughter of the voice that is with David, and who can ascend to the step of forgiveness of injustice in his likeness? O Lord, let the folly of your servants pass away as your servant did, and let the voice of forgiveness be heard that the just man heard. The just man was David, and he restrained evil and made it evil, and David, who sinned, removed from his heart the name of evil. And if confession is for the sake of the name of evils, and the writing of goods, it shows that hope stands for the wicked that they may become good. The good man who forgave the husband and the murder by the word of his mouth, forgive the transgressions of your drunkards as you forgave. You are the one who forgave that transgression which is without law, you also now forgive our debts which are without order. You are the one who loosed the decree that you decreed against murderers, cease also now the cords that you tightened for our oppressions. You are the one who mingled mercy with wrath among all the uncles, and you did not give that they might sacrifice among the multitudes of the people. You are the one who cut off the greatness of your love from the righteous, and you made your peacemaker equal when you are not present. In your love you hid the debts of the people from the beginning, and you gave them to the reward of your sweetness for the will of the just.

Because of the priests you have forgiven the transgressions of earlier generations, and behold, he has forgiven you before you complete your reconciliation. You have cast a snare for the eyes of men, that they might complete your reconciliation, so that when you are reconciled, the wrath that is able to restrain iniquity may be stilled. Moses prayed, and you caused the iniquity of the worship of the calf to cease, and you said to him, "Behold, I have not forgiven as you have reconciled." Joshua prayed, and you halted the course of the sun and the moon, and you placed in the book of the word of Joshua the end of their courses. Samuel prayed, and you answered him with a sign in the voice of thunder, and you turned his face toward the rain that was not in season. David prayed, and he saw the angel that was to destroy the people, and he rejoiced in spirit from his prayer, while from you he rejoiced. Elijah called you, and you hardened the spirits and caused rain to cease, and you inclined the people to the word of the priest, binding and loosing. Elisha called you, and you restored the dead to life through his hands, and you considered his petition as victory from the mouth of death. Hezekiah called you, and you destroyed the thousands of Assyrians, and when the people were good, he was armed with the sword of the angel. Also Daniel, by the power of your help, revealed the hidden things, and for his desire the Babylonians wove a crown of praises. In all generations the priests prayed, and you answered them, but in our generation, which is hidden from the righteous, you have reconciled yourself to yourself. Great is the reconciliation of your goodness beyond all priests, and the treasure of your mercies is not diminished with those who have done wrong.

Your debt has drawn the wills of the priests who reconcile you, and without the priests, your will accomplishes nothing apart from the priests. Yours is the reconciliation and the words of the reconcilers. What will you give of your own goodness to the sons of your house? Let all your goodness be as it is, and accomplish for them what you accomplished at the beginning of the sacrifices. What has reconciled you to create creation when it did not exist? And what has counseled you to bind the world in the union of humanity? What counsel have you taken to call your image? And what has shown you that through union you will complete your labor? And if in our existence and of all you have not sought help, what do you seek help in our wrongdoing, a vain request? A vain request is our wrongdoing before the greatness of your divinity, and fill with confusion or be ashamed before the sea of your mercies. A great sea is your debt, great, and greater than the sea, and height and depth are small, very small before its greatness. For greater is your debt than heaven and earth, for this reason, when there was no being, you spoke and they came to be from nothing. From nothing you created everything for our sakes, and how can you be angry with us at the time of wrath? And a good and immeasurable thing from words, that your debt has clothed and raised up a deposit on the step of your name. By the name of your essence you called the names of the heavens in a name that is asked, and now in these deeds they become in his step.

To the high rank of your essence you have ascended, O living one. Do not be brought low from his height by the cause of your injustice. From your right hand your body sits, and in evil glory, do not diminish his glory by the disgrace of your arrogance. Do not let the eloquent natures be shaken by his laxity, for you are the one who honors them with the great name of your divinity. Do not let the demons, his doorkeepers, boast that they have not reigned and that their hands are free from authority. Do not let the peoples of your people rejoice as is their custom, as if you have ascended to the high rank of the immortals. When they have exalted and glorified themselves in the name of your honor, be silent, lest they be inflamed against your lordship. By your hand they wish to glorify themselves in your great name, and then they are stirred to rebel against your greatness. To your image the peoples of your name serve, and those who are not worthy to praise you praise you in vain. Do not, O Lord, ascend to the height of their desire, O perfect one, and do not be completed by the shameless petition of the insolent through it. They are weary in the height of their thoughts and fall to the ground, and they raise the head of your humility to the rank of your name. Save your creatures from the hands of the destroyers, for behold, they have sunk and are drowning in the harsh debt of their orders. Stretch out your hand over the camp of your creatures in the formation of power, for it has diminished from the measure of the friends of truth.

Your face is adorned in the abode of the serpent, filled with thorns. For behold, the fair light of righteousness has perished from it. Set your sign, O apostle, upon your softness. For behold, after him, the treasure of hope from your gift. Call to the spirits and command them to help you. For behold, demons and afflictions have ascended upon the lively ones and have plundered your provisions. Send forth watchers and your vigil from your dominion. For behold, they have immersed you in your falsehoods as in a pit. Dispatch angels who will calm your disturbance. For behold, all the ranks are cast down in battles without equality. And if the forces of the height of your vigil are not sufficient, then trust in the son of your race and he will calm you with your greatness. He is able to help your disturbance in the arena of labors, by which he is in your free will and also in your midst. He knows that he trusts on behalf of the guilty ones as a substitute, by which he has taken the remedy of the afflictions of mortality. For he tests through all that are established, the nature of mortals, and knows more how to help those who are like you. For the cause of the helper, their approach from all that calms all, complete the chosen deed whose name is in the cause of your helper. It is time now for him to show in you the greatness of his rank, as he shows in the time of the guilt of your injustice. If, when there are helpers who calm your name in him, how will your inequality be established in his midst?

Escape from death and the slanderer, your salvation is in his hand. How much he adorns you from the thorns of the empty and vain. Escape from sin and Judaism, uproot his planting. How easy it is for him to burn you in the fires of your own afflictions. Escape from the trial of all, that one who acts at the completion of the sacrifices. How before the sacrifices he was able to harden the hardness of your sinews. If he is ruler over the treasury of your divinity, what power has he to show a sign to the sons of his kind? Show its good sign to my weakness as is customary, and give me righteousness through the son of your kind who holds your treasure.