the slab; and upon these shall be dropped a little of the purest olive oil; and three drops of water, and these shall be mixed together. Then the rector, and another priest or more, and the deacons, shall bring the Gospel and the Cross, and shall place them near the slab, with the censer and lights, and they shall open the service with: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts," &c.
THE SIGN OF THE LIFE-GIVING CROSS.
Mar Abd Yeshua reckons this the seventh sacrament, but the same observation as has been made respecting other sacred rites of the Nestorians is applicable also here, viz., that it is not so styled in any of their standard rituals, and this author himself in his exposition thereof, as contained in Appendix B. Part V. c. 2., does not again refer to it as such. It is further to be noticed, that he separates his remarks thereon from his treatise on the other sacraments, and disposes it under a different part of his work, under the head "Of things which prefigure the world to come," In the chapter wherein he treats of this particular subject, he does no more than explain in what sense the Cross is to be worshipped, which has already been discussed under Chapter XXVI., from which we may gather, that according to the doctrine of the Nestorians, the power of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is necessary to the consecration of every sacred service, and that the use of the sign of the Cross, (with which the invocation of the Holy Trinity is ever associated,) in the prayer of consecration, is an apostolical tradition most fit to be retained, as having descended from the Apostles of our Lord, and as having been always blessed in His Church. Such appears to me to be the meaning of Mar Abd Yeshua, when he says: "The sign of the life-giving Cross is that by which Christians are ever kept, and by it all the other sacraments are sealed and perfected."
