Page:Labour - The Divine Command, 1890.djvu/162

158 coffin, put in my hands the papers that are here. God, who sees everything, the surface as well as the depths of the earth, will know why I shall hold these papers in my hands. He can judge of their contents when he summons to the last judgment all our enemies who, having heard of or read my doctrine, have made no effort to propagate it. He will summon also the defenders of the law of labor, and he will recompense them. I assure you with all my soul that my prophecy will be accomplished. If you offend a man, you will certainly be punished. In denying the law of labor, you offend millions of men, with their children and all their descendants. Do you believe that your sin will be pardoned because of the blind fortune that protects you? None but atheists could have such a delusion.

We have with us the custom of carrying the dead to the cemetery in our arms. But I will order my son to carry my corpse on a carriage to the tomb,

Man is too much of a hypocrite to be permitted to touch my remains. When one of us seeks in life the esteem of his neighbors, he receives but hatred; they wish him the greatest misfortunes, and they disdain him; but when he is dead and he has no longer need of man's esteem, his enemies carry him to his last resting-place with feigned sorrow. Ah! if a man could see what passes at his obsequies, he would be but little satisfied! Man is a hypocrite, I now hate all men, and that is why I will not have them touch my coffin after my death.