Based on the writings of Ellen White, which draw directly from the fourth commandment, you should request that your contractor refrain from working on your projects during Sabbath hours. The principle extends not only to personal labor but also to the labor of those who are employed by you or are within your sphere of influence. Here are the key principles from her writings: 1. **The Commandment Includes Everyone Under Your Authority:** The fourth commandment is explicit that the Sabbath rest applies to everyone in a household or under one's direction. Ellen White quotes this directly: > “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, 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 man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates” (1SP 236.2). 2. **Responsibility for Others' Work:** The instruction not to allow work extends beyond personal action to include those you employ or permit to work on your behalf. > "When the Sabbath commences, we should place a guard upon ourselves, upon our acts and our words, lest we rob God by appropriating to our own use that time which is strictly the Lord's. We should not do ourselves, nor suffer our children to do, any manner of our own work for a livelihood, or anything which could have been done on the six working days." (2T 702.1) 3. **No Work for Worldly Profit:** The Sabbath is not a day for any labor that is directed toward worldly pleasure or financial gain. > "The law forbids secular labor on the rest day of the Lord; the toil that gains a livelihood must cease; no labor for worldly pleasure or profit is lawful upon that day" (DA 207.2). 4. **Business Thoughts and Plans Should Cease:** The sanctity of the Sabbath extends even to the planning and discussion of business matters. > "Those who discuss business matters or lay plans on the Sabbath are regarded by God as though engaged in the actual transaction of business. To keep the Sabbath holy, we should not even allow our minds to dwell upon things of a worldly character." (PP 307.3) In conclusion, the principle of Sabbath-keeping in Ellen White's writings is comprehensive. It involves ceasing your own work for worldly gain and ensuring that those you employ, including a contractor, also cease from working on your projects during the sacred hours of the Sabbath.