Hymn IV
To Thee I sing, when the sacred day beginneth, to Thee while it
waxeth, to Thee when it toucheth the meridian, to Thee when it declineth, and when cometh
wondrous night; to Thee, Creator, Healer of souls, Healer of limbs, Giver of wisdom,
Banisher of diseases, Giver to souls of a life free from trouble, a life which eartlhy
care, mother of griefs, mother of sufferings, trampleth not under foot. May my life remain
to me purified of these, that in song I may tell of the hidden root of all things, nor be
turned away from God by delusions that lead astray.
Thee, Blessed One, I sing to, Lord of the universe, and let earth be
silent. Let all that the universe possesses keep sacred silence, while hymns and prayers
are addressed to Thee, for they are Thy works, O Father. Let the whistling winds be still,
the rustling of trees, the song of birds; let the ether be at peace, let the air be at
peace, listening to the strain, and let the gushing waters be noiseless now throughout the
earth. Let the demons now flee from my pure prayer, they that delighting in the realm of
darkness and haunting the tombs, impede holy songs, but the good, the happy servants of
the all-understanding Creator, as many as occupy the depths and heights of the universe,
let those hear benignly the hymns that are of the Father, and benignly let them bear my
prayers on high. Unity of units, Father of fathers, the Good of good things, Star of
stars, Universe of universes, Idea of ideas, profound Beauty, hidden Seed, Father of ages,
Father of unspeakable words of Mind, whence a divine breath ever distilling, floating over
the masses of body, it now kindleth a second universe. Thee, Blessed One, I sing to with
my voice, and I sing unto Thee alike with silence, for as many things as Thou hearest of
the voice, Thou hearest also of the silence of the mind. And I sing to the Offspring, the
First-born, the First-appearing.
Most glorious Offspring of the ineffable Father, Thee, Blessed One, I
hymn, together with the great Father, and the travail of the Father over Thee, that
Counsel of generation, the medial Beginning, the Holy Spirit, Centre of the Creator,
Centre again of the Son, Mother, Sister, and Daughter to Thyself, delivered of the secret
Root. For in order that the Father might be poured out upon the Son, that very outpouring
found a shoot, and stood in the midst, God, descended from God, in a Son who was God, and
in the renowned outpouring of an immortal Father, the Son, found a shoot. Thou arts Unity,
Trinity withal, Unity that dost endure, and a Trinity in very truth Thou art. And the
intellectual division retains still undivided that which is partitioned, but the Son,
though he hath leaped forth, remains with the Father and yet conducts, without, the
Father's business, bringing down to the worlds the beatitude of life, whence the Word
Himself has it. This Word I hymn, in unison with the great Father. The Mind of the
ineffable Father brings Thee to birth, and Thou, so conceived, art the Word of the
Creator, first to leap forward from out the primal Root, and the Root of all things that
came after Thy illustrious birth. And ineffable Unity, the Seed of all things, hath
begotten Thee, the Seed of all things; for Thou art in all things, and through Thee the
highest, the medial, and the lowest nature, enjoy the good gifts of the generative life
from God the Father. For Thee an ageless sphere rolls its untroubled course. Under Thy
direction the seven planets dance in harmony in the powerful revolutions of the great
vault, and the many lights of the universe adorn the one dome of the sky by Thy Will, most
renowned Offspring; for Thou, running round about the heavenly deep, holdest together
unbroken the course of ages, and under thy sacred ordinances, Blessed One, in the cavities
of the unsoundable ether, dwells the company of gleaming stars. Thou dost apportion their
tasks in the heavens and the air, on the earth and in the world below, and Thou allottest
unto them their life. Thou art the Master of Mind, and to the gods their Ordainer, as to
morals also, as many as have quaffed the showers of Mind's destiny. Thou art the Giver of
Soul to those whose life is dependent on the soul, and art tireless in nature. A blind
offspring of soul hangs from Thy chain, and as many things as are deprived of all breath
pluck from Thy bosom a bond of union, carried by Thy power from the ineffable Fatherly
Bosom, the hidden unity, whnce the stream of life flowing onwards is carried off by Thy
power even unto the earth, through trackless worlds of mind. Thence the visible cosmos,
the form of the world of mind, receives it, a descending stream of blessings. This
(visible cosmos) had a second sun, the progenitor with shining eyes of a later shining
light, the guardian of that matter which comes into being and perishes, a Son who is the
perceptible impression of Mind, the purveyor of what good things are born in the universe,
born through thy will, most august Offspring, Father unknowable, Father ineffable,
Unknowable to Mind, Unutterable in speech. Thou art the Mind of min, the Soul of souls,
the Nature of natures. Lo, I bend the knee before Thee, a servant, I cast myself upon the
ground, a blind supplicant; but do Thou, the Giver of light, the light of Mind, take pity,
O Blessed One, on a suppliant soul; chase away diseases, chase away cares that gnaw the
soul, and chase way the shameless hound of the nether world, the demon of earth, from my
soul, from my prayer, from my life, from my works. Let the demon remain outside of my
body, of my spirit, and of all that is mine. Let him flee, let him leave me, the demon of
matter, the power of sufferings, who builds his fortress wall against the path that
leadeth above, who violateth the aspirations that seek God; and give me a companion, O
King, a partner, a sacred messenger of sacred power, a messenger of prayer illumined by
the divine light, a friend, a dispenser of noble gifts, a guard of my soul, a guard of my
life, a guard over prayers, a guard over deeds, and one to save the body purified of
disease to save the spirit purified of shame. And bring my to my soul oblivion of its
passions, that the soul's winged flight may also enrich the earth-nourished life with
hymns of Thee, to the end too that I may complete the life that comes with destiny after
the chains that weighs us down to the earth, a life purified of matter, even unto thy
courts and unto thy Bosom whence outdwelleth the fountain of the soul. And do Thou extend
to me thy Hand; do Thou call, Blessed One, do Thou lift up from matter a suppliant soul.