till the ground and gain their daily bread from it by toil, that by bitter experience they might learn the penalty of their disobedience and come to understand that 'The¹ wages of sin is death', so that ultimately their descendants might know fully what Adam and Eve knew in some measure (as we have seen), that 'The¹ free gift of God is eternal life, in Jesus Christ our Lord'. In answer to the second question, all we can say is that from Gen. iii. it seems evident that Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden for some time, and not for only a few hours or two watches, as some Muslims think.

From the verses we have quoted it is clear that on account of man's sin alone did the toil and trouble which we now see in the world come upon men. We know nothing about the way in which death entered into the animal world, though it is probable that God created all His other earthly creatures subject to death, and the science of geology teaches us that, long before man's creation, the lower animals died as they do now. But the Bible clearly teaches that all diseases and all the pain and suffering and feebleness and death to which man's body is now liable, and all the sorrow and misery which now exist among men, have their rise in the poisonous fountain of sin, and that before Adam sinned not one of these had any power over him. Had not man sinned, the earth at large would have been like the Garden of Eden,

and man would have enjoyed perfect happiness. But the results of sin which are thus manifest and the punishments which God has inflicted on account of it are purely blessings and mercies¹ for the repentant sinner who is willing to receive instruction. For since man had grown so worldly and carnal that love of this lower world had completely mastered him, if he had continued to dwell on earth free from pain, trouble, toil and sorrow, and to pass his time in pleasure, then he would never have remembered God at all, nor would he in any way have ever desired the intransitory world and its true happiness. Therefore, in accordance with His infinite wisdom and mercy, God determined that these very toils, troubles, pains, diseases, sufferings, afflictions, which are the natural consequences of sin and are at the same time punishments for it, should cause man to seek escape from sin and to yearn for true and everlasting happiness. What has been said so far about Adam's first state and his sin and its consequences is enough to prove clearly and distinctly the fact of the general sinfulness of mankind.

Now that we have spoken at sufficient length about the first sin, we turn to the task of proving the fact that all men are sinners, which forms the main subject of this section. It must be known that the actual commission of sin is dependent on three conditions: first, that there be an established