Page:Labour - The Divine Command, 1890.djvu/96

92 why, then, do you eat the product of another's labor? Can it be, that he has redeemed you, and not us? If he had thus redeemed the whole human race, he should have arranged that wheat would be produced already kneaded into bread and baked to each one's taste, or he should have sent us manna from heaven, as was done to the Israelites in the Wilderness.

But we see clearly that he did not redeem men either from sin or from labor for bread. Each of us must redeem himself by good works, and not rely only on the merits even of Christ.

88. We sin, we disobey the divine precepts, and we incur all the maledictions pronounced in Deuteronomy. It is not so, according to you. Jesus Christ, you would say, takes on himself our sins, our impieties, and our maledictions. What a fine invention! and how exact your calculation is! No; each one must redeem himself by obeying the primitive command, "Eat the bread of thy labor." There is no greater virtue; and to fail in it is the most dangerous of crimes.

89. If you are rich, live in luxury as much as you can, be as haughty as you will, and augment your dainty dishes, but instead of evading labor for bread, hasten to accomplish it.

90. There is always a great enmity between the rich and the poor. But when they are together, they dissimulate. Who has created this hatred—the rich or the poor? Says Sirach: "What agreement is there between the hyena