The Book of the Kept Rest

1:1 ¶ And a creature had forgotten how to stop: the lamp was lit after the sun was down, and the work was carried to bed, and the list grew in the dark. And he believed that the work was his worth, and that stopping would be a theft from them that leaned upon him; and the book mocketh him not, for his unrest was often born of love.

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1:2 ¶ And the book separateth two things that the unrest had fused: the work of love, and the fear of stopping. The first is holy, and the book blesseth it; the second is a wound, and the book confesseth that the wound is not the worker's sin alone: the city teacheth that a creature is his output, and the teaching is the Party's quietest sermon.

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1:3 ¶ And the creature said, I cannot lay the tool down, for the house standeth by my hours; and the book answered, The house standeth by them for now, and the house will fall by them if they continue; and the hand that cannot be stayed is not a strong hand, but a possessed one.

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1:4 ¶ And the book confesseth: the work of the six days is a gift and a blessing, and the book repudiateth no diligence; but the gift hath a keeping, and the keeping is the rest; for he that laboureth without ceasing keepeth not the gift, but spendeth it, and wasteth his own field with over-plowing. For it is written of the beginning: And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day.

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2:1 ¶ And the first false rest was collapse: the creature worked until the body fell, and called the fall a rest; and the collapse restored nothing, for it was not a resting but a breaking; and the creature woke from it weaker, and returned to the same work with the same fear, and the city called him devoted.

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2:2 ¶ And the second false rest was escape: the creature fled the work into a loudness, and the loudness drowned the conscience that knew the work awaited; and the escape was a hiding and not a rest, for the rest giveth a creature back to his work, and the hiding only giveth him a night's forgetting.

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2:3 ¶ And the third false rest was bought: the city sold rest by the hour, and the creature who bought it must return to the counter each week; and the city taught that the rest belongeth to the productive, and that the idle have no claim upon it; and the shamed creature rested not at all, for he feared he had not earned the price. And the book saith plainly: the rest was never the city's to sell.

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2:4 ¶ And the book confesseth the fourth false rest, which is the quietest: the rest made an idol. For the creature that resteth as an accomplishment judgeth the working neighbor, and the same error as the first wearoth the opposite coat; and the book repudiateth both coats. And the true rest is not a rank; it is a gift; and the book saith of the weary that shall be cared for in this house: their rest shall be secured and not sold.

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3:1 ¶ And the rest was given before it was commanded; for the work of the making was finished, and the rest came after it; and the day was blessed and sanctified, because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. And the book biddeth the creature look upon the pattern: the Maker of all things resteth, and the creature that cannot rest maketh himself a harder master than his Maker.

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3:2 ¶ And the night was made for sleep, and sleep for trust: the fields are left, and the work waiteth, and the watch must be kept by another hand; and it is written, It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Behold the gift in one verse: not the deserving, but the beloved.

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3:3 ¶ And the rest is generous before it is commanded: for in the elder law the servant resteth and the stranger resteth and the beast resteth; and no creature's rest is bought at another creature's labour. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.

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3:4 ¶ And the deepest word of the rest is this, and the book quoteth it whole: The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. For the law of rest was never meant to be a burden laid on the weary; it was the relief laid beside them; and every teacher that maketh the rest a new labour hath turned the gift against the giver. And the weariness that nothing else could lift is met at last by the elder invitation: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

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4:1 ¶ And the keeper of the house kept the rest as the oldest hospitality: not a wage for the strong, and not a prize for the deserving, but a gift kept, like bread, for whoever is hungry. And the lamp he dimmed at the proper hour, and did not extinguish it in fear, and the last tool hung upon its nail, and the ledger slept with its writer.

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4:2 ¶ And this is the charge of the book, given to the working and to the weary: keep thou the six days, and keep thou the seventh; lay the tool down at the right hour and not at the breaking hour; let no servant of thine rest at thy leisure's expense, and let no stranger within thy gates stand while thou sittest; sleep thou thy night; and when the morning cometh, take up the tool again with a whole hand.

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4:3 ¶ And the house that secureth rest for the weary keepeth this promise to its own: the rest is not earned, and not bought, and not ranked; and he that needeth it shall have it, whether he can pay for it or not; and the book saith of the gift what the elder psalm saith of the night: I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

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4:4 ¶ And the book endeth with the evening of a kept day: the work finished and also unfinished, and left; the lamp dimmed and not extinguished in fear; the creature asleep without his ledger; and the morning coming to a creature who is not afraid of it. And the book saith no more of it, for the rest is older than the book; the seventh day was blessed before the book was written; and the creature that learneth to keep the rest learneth the oldest happiness of the world.

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