and sign of the sovereign Lord who caused it to be struck, yet sufficient of his original likeness to his Creator still remains in man's inner being to make him dissatisfied with the things of sense. Some narrate the tale that, when Adam was cast out of Paradise, he wept long years because he could no longer hear the sweet voices of the angels, by reason of his distance from God, and through the disharmonies of the world. This parable is still true of Adam's children. Hence the restlessness that fills men's hearts and lives, for the saying of the ancient sage is true: "O God, Thou madest us for Thyself, and restless is our heart until it rest in Thee."

Choose¹ thou His love, in Whom with one accord Prophets found labour and a gracious Lord.

Those who have not yet reached the knowledge of the One True God in vain seek rest for their souls in false religions or in worldly pleasures. They are like the weary traveller who follows the will-of-the-wisp until he sinks down to drown in the cold marsh of despair; or like the thirsty pilgrim to whom the mirage displays unreal springs and fancied glades, until at last he falls down to die amid the desert sands of the waterless waste, without a drop of the water of life to quench the thirst of his soul. It has well been said that this world "is ² as it were a mirage in a plain, which the thirsty man accounteth water. Satan gilds it for man until death."

Yet the Most Merciful God does not wish man to lose his way in the desert of this life, but to find the path home, for He has sent us into the world to find Him. "Whoso³ seeketh a thing and striveth findeth,

and whoso knocketh at a door and persevereth entereth."

If¹ but God's shadow on man's head be cast, The seeker findeth, though it be at last.

Both Reason and Revelation assure us of this. The task is no light one, nor can success be expected to crown the seeker's efforts until he has indeed sought for God with all his heart, desiring to know His holy will and to do it here and eternally. But if he satisfies these conditions, God's grace will be his guide to the knowledge of the truth: for, as the proverb says, "Through² repetition is profit, and by renewed effort is the mountain plucked up." Yet let not the seeker for the truth fear to encounter difficulties, let him not shrink from persecution and suffering, for evil men hate the good, and even the best men have borne tribulation.

"Misfortune ³ is delegated on the Prophets, then on the Saints, then on the exemplary and the exemplary." Well has the poet said:

Whosoe'er⁴ at this banquet is nearest his host, The garment of ill do they give him the most;

For 

In⁵ the fire hath the table been set by the King.

But no soldier looketh for his reward before he has gained the victory. Hence he strives manfully night and day and rests not until the battle is won.

In ⁶ proportion to the effort are dignities won, And whoso seeketh the height journeyeth during the nights.