ODE 11.

A beautiful sketch of Paradise regained and the blessedness of those who have returned to the privileges of the fallen Adam .

1 My heart was cloven and its flower appeared; and grace sprang up in it: and it brought forth fruit to the Lord,
2 For the Most High clave my heart by His Holy Spirit and searched my affection towards Him: and filled me with His love.
3 And His opening of me became my salvation; and I ran in His way in His peace, even in the way of truth:
4 From the beginning and even to the end I acquired His knowledge:
5 And I was established upon the rock of truth, where He had set me up:
6 And speaking waters touched my lips from the fountain of the Lord plenteously:
7 And I drank and was inebriated with the living water that doth not die;
8 And my inebriation was not one without knowledge, but I forsook vanity and turned to the Most High my God,
9 And I was enriched by His bounty, and I forsook the folly which is diffused over the earth; and I stripped it off and cast it from me:
10 And the Lord renewed me in His raiment, and possessed me by His light, and from above He gave me rest in incorruption;
11 And I became like the land which blossoms and rejoices in its fruits:
12 And the Lord was like the sun shining on the face of the land;
13 He lightened my eyes, and my face received the dew; and my nostrils enjoyed the pleasant odour of the Lord;
14 And He carried me to His Paradise; where is the abundance of the pleasure of the Lord;
15 And I worshipped the Lord on account of His glory; and I said, Blessed, O Lord, are they who are planted in thy land! and those who have a place in thy Paradise;
16 And they grow by the fruits of the trees. And they have changed from darkness to light.
17 Behold! all thy servants are fair, who do good works, and turn away from wickedness to the pleasantness that is thine:
18 And they have turned back the bitterness of the trees from them, when they were planted in thy, land;
19 And everything became like a relic of thyself, and memorial for ever of thy faithful works.
20 For there is abundant room in thy Paradise, and nothing is useless therein;
21 But everything is filled with fruit; glory be to thee, O God, the delight of Paradise for ever. Hallelujah.