Page:Labour - The Divine Command, 1890.djvu/84

80 only in summer, but even in winter, our garments are soaked in the dews of labor.

Among all Christians, the first and most important sacrament is baptism. But I ask you, which washes away the most sin? Is it the water of baptism, or the sweat which streams from our faces, while all our lives are consecrated to laboring for bread? There is a proverb often cited amongst us, "The peasant's frock is gray, but the devil has not devoured his reason." This proverb is not true, for I know certainly that I might ask questions forever without getting an answer. Consequently, the devil has devoured my reason. It is certain that we cannot discover with our narrow minds the secrets of God's ways with the world, but we may believe that while you were washed in the water of baptism at your birth, that never since has any labor bathed your face in sweat.

For me, I have not been washed in the water of baptism; thus must I all my life be bathed in sweat. Nevertheless, which is the cleaner of the two—you who have been baptized, or I who have not?

You see, then, what your falsehood is worth. At each word, at each step, you have been compelled, against your will, to yield to me, who am but a feeble man. Possibly you may yet triumph over me through your power, which I