Page:Labour - The Divine Command, 1890.djvu/134

130 faith, one church, and one love. (See article 35.)

168. Many people have asked me: Why do you regard those who avoid labor, not only without good will, but even with hatred? Whatever you feel in your heart, you should at least speak with gentleness and kindness.

This is my answer: Where could I find patience and hypocrisy enough to speak with gentleness and kindness? How many millions of people there are at this moment, how many there have been since the beginning of the world, and will be yet in the future, who have been and will be ignominiously wronged by you who are the masters of the world! In this state of affairs, I do not say a man, but an angel even, could not bear such offences, and the recital alone of our miseries would "set his teeth on edge." And I, who am but a man, have endured this wrong for a long time. Many times I would have spoken gently, but the moment I commence to write, I am so inflamed with indignation that I forget all my resolutions. And I have said to myself, I can die but once; I have started upon the right way, and I will go forward.

169. I address myself once more to you, O ye of the upper classes. I do not entreat, I do not ask, but I strongly require of you that you shall give us our due, that you shall teach us the primitive law that God himself gave to us