136 THE CONDITION OF LABOR.
and advantage. Fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures which move upon the earth* In this respect all men are equal; there is no difference between rich and poor, master and servant, ruler and ruled, for the same is lord over all.\ No man may outrage with impunity that human dignity which God Himself treats with reverence, nor stand in the way of that higher life which is the prep- aration for the eternal life of Heaven. Nay, more; a man has here no power over himself. To consent to any treatment which is calculated to defeat the end and pur- pose of his being is beyond his right ; he cannot give up his soul to servitude ; for it is not man's own rights which are here in question, but the rights of God, most sacred and inviolable.
44. From this follows the obligation of the cessation of work and labor on Sundays and certain festivals. This rest from labor is not to be understood as mere idle- ness; much less must it be an occasion of spending money and of vicious excess, as many would desire it to be ; but it should be rest from labor consecrated by reli- gion. Repose united with religious observance disposes man to forget for a while the business of this daily life, and to turn his thoughts to heavenly things and to the worship which he so strictly owes to the Eternal Deity. It is this, above all, which is the reason and motive of the Sunday rest ; a rest sanctioned by God's great law of the ancient covenant, Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath Day,\ and taught to the world by His own mysterious "rest" after the creation of man ; He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done$
45. If we turn now to things exterior and corporeal,
- Genesis i. 28. t Romans x. 12.
t Exodus xx. 8. $ Genesis ii. 2.
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