Page:Labour - The Divine Command, 1890.djvu/42

38 are still dying for want of aid. The man who practises the doctrine of truth will demonstrate in his life, that is consecrated to the service of his fellow-men, the primitive law which is formulated in the Book of Genesis: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou knead bread." This is the primitive law, or the first commandment, as Bondareff calls it, and he shows us that it is a positive law.

This is a law as well for those who have not comprehended the true meaning of life as indicated by Jesus Christ; for those who lived before him, and also for those who have not believed in him. It is a positive law, exacting from all of us, conformably to God's will, as it is manifested in the Bible and to our intelligence, to support ourselves by labor. It preserves this character even when the true meaning of life, as indicated by the doctrine of truth, is unknown to men.

But where men well know this aim of life as pointed out by Jesus Christ, the law of labor for bread will become part of Christ's positive doctrine (to love one another), and will then have a negative and not a positive meaning.

When men comprehend the true Christian doctrine, this law will show them the old temptations which they must avoid, that they be not turned from the true path.

To a believer in the Old Testament who does not recognize the doctrine of truth, this law has the following meaning: "Work for bread with your own hands."