Page:Labour - The Divine Command, 1890.djvu/136

132 to do, in my mind, with the question that occupies us; it is quite another affair.

171. We should, without doubt, persuade men by good advice, and by divers warnings, but never by force. Print these counsels in primers and prayer-books, charge the priests of all nations and of all religions, to preach this doctrine unceasingly, by persuasion and not by force, and to recall to their flocks the qualities which distinguish before God and man him who carefully executes the primitive law of God, and, on the contrary, to point out the faults that characterize him who shamefully avoids its execution. These are the means by which, to my mind, we shall force men to labor, without employing violence.

But excepting the government, who would have the power to do what I have said? No one.

172. If all these counsels were inserted in the daily papers, and in other publications, under different forms, we might wait as many thousands of years as there are days in a century, and no profit would result. (See article 36.)

173. Implore, my soul! (and by my soul I mean the souls of all laborers) implore the government as much as you will, shed all your tears, multiply your groanings, bend your knees to whom you will, but no one will be touched by your supplications, or moved by your tears. I know my double demand has been made in vain. If they had but said yes or no, I would