Page:Labour - The Divine Command, 1890.djvu/77

Rh It is true Jesus Christ calls the poor "his brethren," but this is only to encourage them, lest they fall into despair. The proof of this is that He himself frequented only the houses of the rich, and never entered those of the poor.

55. My adversary continues by saying: When Noah came into the world, his father Lamech said: "This same shall comfort us concerning our work, and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed." (Genesis v. 29.)

And thus we are delivered from the curse of labor; but you, the laborers, are still kept under it; and it must be hoped that God will not condemn you, because our class has trampled you under its feet. And is that a sin in God's eyes? No, for it has been God's will that it should be so.

56. It is further written in the Scriptures: "Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.

"Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.

"Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

"Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

"The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke in all that thou settest thy hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the