XX A COUNSEL OF PERFECTION 367 



seek out the right way of doing them. Christ clearly 

 emphasized the spirit of the law when He declared that 

 the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath ; 

 by which we are taught, that the essential principle of rest 

 on the seventh day for all who have laboured during six 

 days is what we must seek to preserve. How we may 

 preserve this, and yet have everything done that is neces- 

 sary for health, comfort, and refreshment of mind and body, 

 I now propose to show. 



The whole essence of the Sabbath-question rests upon 

 giving the proper meaning to the words " labour," " work," 

 " thy work," as used in the fourth commandment. These 

 words, as the context shows, do not refer to any particular 

 acts, but to the work done by each one of us in the business 

 or profession by which we live. To the summer tourist in 

 the Alps the ascent of a mountain or the passage of a 

 glacier is pleasure and health-giving recreation ; to the 

 guides who accompany him it is their work. A hired 

 gardener works for his living in a garden ; but though 

 I do many of the same things as he does, to me they are 

 not my work, but my recreation. So, a domestic servant's 

 work is to cook or to prepare a meal, or to wait at table ; 

 but when a party go out for a picnic, light a fire, make tea, 

 roast potatoes, arrange the meal, and help the guests, they 

 are certainly not working but pleasuring. When a doctor 

 attends the sick in a hospital, or the wounded on a battle- 

 field, he is doing the work of his life ; but if any one of us 

 nurses a sick person or binds up a wound, we may be doing 

 acts of mercy or of charity, but we are not doing " our 

 work." Even if we take upon ourselves some of the work 

 of others, carry a heavy load for a weary woman, or do an 

 hour's stone-breaking to help an old rheumatic labourer, 

 what we do ceases to be work in the true meaning of the 

 term but is transformed into a deed of love or mercy ; and 

 such deeds are not only permissible, but even commendable, 

 on whatever day they are done. 



We have here the clue to a method by which all that 

 needs doing for health, for enjoyment, or for charity, may 

 be done on Sunday without any one breaking the fourth 

 commandment. Almost all this necessary work is now 



