Page:Labour - The Divine Command, 1890.djvu/145

Rh of thy face shalt thou knead bread," explain them to him by saying that this penance was decreed by God for original as well as for actual sin. Add that God, when creating heaven and earth, has not given us any other way of atoning for our sins, etc. etc. Soon your interlocutor will look at you in amazement; he will no longer be drowsy, or weary, or dejected, he will even forget that they wait for him at home. Then he will look down, embarrassed by these truths of which he had never dreamed, and by the remembrance of all his actions since his youth, for which he had not thought God reserved for him such penalties.

I know, reader, that you will not give any faith to my words. But I swear before God that they are true.

He will presently raise his eyes, and show that reason has awakened within him. Then he will ask questions, and return each instant to the subject. Afterwards he will repeat to his friends what he has learned, and the story will go from one to another. Why, then, would he not listen when love for others was spoken of? That seems mysterious.

Observe always that only the laborers will approve of your words: As for those who avoid labor,—and they are numerous in the world,—they will dispute your arguments, word for word; and as a crowning refutation of them, under the painful circumstances in which they are placed, they will show you the money they have taken