soul, and take care, continually of all excellences. Then He Who is merciful in His gifts, and rich unto every one who calleth upon Him, will come unto thee quickly and will help thee, and thou shalt smite the Evil One, and shalt bring to naught his crafty acts. And thou shalt make thy mind to shine, and the Lord of All shall place in thee the innocent thoughts of uprightness, and He shall comfort thy mind; then shall the rugged ground become smooth before thee, and the difficult ground shall be as a plain, and thy ship shall anchor in [its] haven. And thou shalt lead beforehand the life which is to come, and thou shalt fulfil the Will of God, according to His Will, both in heaven and on earth; and thy knowledge shall grow and thy joy increase in proportion to thy spiritual conduct, and thou shalt be held to be worthy of the sight of the righteous by the grace and mercy of Christ our Lord, to Whom, with His Father, and the Holy Ghost, be glory now, and always, and for ever and ever! Amen.
603. AN ADMONITION OF ABBÂ MÂR JOHN. Now thou wilt not be able to find a more excellent way than this: He who would repent to Christ of his sins and follies must fall on his face many, many times, [and be sorry for] the sins which he hath committed, and he must make supplication and entreaty to the mercy of God. Moreover, our other fathers have incited [us] to kneel down, and he who continually kneeleth down and prayeth rejoiceth in God. Woe is me, me the man of negligence! Now he who sigheth, and weepeth, and sheddeth tears in prayer, possesseth all excellences together; for if we do not keep watch on and remember always our feebleness, whilst despising ourselves, and holding ourselves in contempt, the devils will lead us astray. Wake thyself up, O my beloved one, and keep in thy remembrance always three moments, and forget them not; the first is the moment of death, with its sorrow, and grief, and trouble, which is immeasurable, that overtaketh every man, when [a man shall stand] before the awful throne of Christ; the second moment is the moment of fear and quaking when men and angels shall rise up, when a man doth not know what command shall come forth concerning him, whether it shall be for life everlasting or for torment everlasting; and the third moment is that when the penalty (or decree of doom) shall come forth upon us, with its repentance of soul which shall last for ever, and shall be with us afterwards in the years which shall have no end. At the [remembrance of] these three moments all men fear and quake; may God in His compassion save us from Gehenna and its endless torments! Amen.
I am an apostle, and I cast out devils, and I perform
