ON TEE ADVANTAGE OF PATIENCE. 29 •who allhave attainedto the heavenlycrowns hy the praiseof patience. For the crown of sorrowsand sufferingscannot be receivedunlesspatiencein sorrowand sufferingprecedeit. 11. But that itmay be more manifestlyand fullyknown how usefuland necessarypatienceis,beloved brethren; let the judgment of God be pondered,which even in the begin ning of the world and of the human race,Adam, forgetful of the commandment, and a transgressorof the given law, received. Then we shallknow how patientin thislifewe ought to be who are born insuch a state,thatwe labourhere with afflictionsand contests." Because,"saysHe, " thou hast hearkened to thevoiceof thy wife,and hasteatenof thetree of which aloneI had charged theethatthoushouldestnoteat, cursed shallbe the ground in allthy works :in sorrow and in groaning shaltthou eatof itallthe days of thy life.Thorns and thistlesshallitgiveforthto thee,and thou shalteatthe food of the field.In the sweat of thy faceshaltthou eatthy bread,tillthou returnintothe ground from which thou wast taken : for dustthou art,and to dustshaltthou go."1 We are alltiedand bound with the chainof thissentence,until, death being expunged, we departfrom thislife. In sorrow and groaning we must of necessitybe allthedays of our life: itisnecessarythatwe eatour bread with sweat and labour. 12.Whence every one of us,when he isborn and received in the inn of this world, takes his beginning from tears; and, although stillunconsciousand ignorantof allthings, he knows nothing elsein that very earliestbirthexcept to weep. By a naturalforesight,the untrainedsoul laments the anxietiesand laboursof the mortal life,and even in the beginningbearswitnessby itswailsand groansto the storms of the world which itisentering.For the sweat of the brow and labouris the conditionof lifeso long as itlasts.Nor can therebe suppliedany consolationsto those that sweat and toilotherthan patience; which consolations,whileinthis world they are fitand necessaryfor allmen, are especially so for us who are more shaken by the siegeof the devil, who, dailystandingin the battle-field,are wearied with the 1 Gen.iii.17-19.