Page:Labour - The Divine Command, 1890.djvu/103

Rh another's labor. On the other hand, there is nothing more healthful and sacred than to eat the bread of one's own labor. I do not say this as a supposition, but in accord with God's fundamental law, with which our natural law also agrees.

103. I have said that, according to you, an idle and luxurious life is conformable to the laws of salvation. I did not at the moment answer this sufficiently. But I will now do so in a peremptory manner. (I do not speak of those who live from day to day, from hand to mouth.)

To gain eternal happiness, the servants of God retire to monasteries, deserts, mountains, and isles, where they lead a wandering life.

What do these men, who trample under foot God's law by eating the bread of other men's labor, seek in these places?

Can they not be virtuous while accomplishing the labor God has blessed?

104. When the harvest is bad, the poor man is sorrowful; but the rich man is content, because, during a famine, he increases his riches. Thus he will call a famine a good harvest, while it is the chastisement of God. And if he joins in the prayers of the poor, do not believe him, for he is a hypocrite.

105. And you say the two classes are not at enmity with each other! The rich man will at once make this excuse: What is my wealth? There are many who are a hundred times richer