Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 2.djvu/139



us awake from the sleep of idleness, and let us run the race which is set before us. Let us aim to do good, and not be slothful, and as much as in us lieth let us imitate the perfect in their perseverance. Wherefore do we reproach the Israelites for their sins? Is not the road straight before us, why then should we go astray? We must account ourselves bound to do the things which are commanded us, nevertheless though we do them we shall not thereby profit the Holy and Rich [,] and on the other hand, if we omit to do them, we cannot injure Him. The fruits of these two [the doing and the leaving undone what we ought to do,] are our own. Let us, therefore, fulfil the commands of the righteous, and worship His adorable Cross, confessing both inwardly and outwardly that it is through Him we conquer, through Him we become members of the Household, through Him we are justified, and through Him we triumph over our enemies." From a poem in the Khâmees written by the priest Ishak on the "Adorable Cross and the life of ."