The poor boy had deeply repented of his sin, and now bitterly felt its consequences. In vain he showed himself ever ready to oblige, bore meekly the taunts and neglect of his companions, and was most watchful over his own conduct. Thorn remarked the painful position of the child, and feeling that to drive him into despair might be to drive him further into sin, and that not a little self-righteousness was at the bottom of the scorn with which his school-fellows treated the unhappy Seth, he resolved to take the first opportunity of speaking to them upon the subject, and of showing to them their conduct in its true light.
Seth, who was patient and persevering with his tasks, had gained from his teacher the prize of a small book; and the first gleam of pleasure which any one present had ever seen on his wan features, lighted them up for a moment as he received it. It immediately faded away, however, as he glanced timidly round on his companions, and saw that no one cared for his success, that perhaps it would only add to the dislike felt towards him.
The next day Thorn observed the boy bending over this book, while large drops, in spite of his efforts to stop them, forced their way from his eyes as he looked on it. Seeing that something must have occurred, Thorn walked up to the spot, and found out at once the cause of Seth’s distress. On the title-page of the book Thorn had written his name; but just under it now appeared, in a very different hand, the single terrible word THIEF!
“This has been a most thoughtless—I wish that I could say only thoughtless act,” said Thorn, with an expression grave almost to sternness. “I will not ask who is the author of this cruel insult, but we must suppose that he who thus condemns another, notwithstanding the warning, Judge not, that ye be not judged, is at least conscious that his own heart is pure, that he never has sinned.”
The children looked at each other in silence, and then one of the elder boys, Bat Nayland, muttered, half aloud, “Conscious of never having stolen a farthing!”
“I did not say, conscious of never having stolen, but of never having sinned. All sin is disobedience to the Most High, as sin to be repented of, and as sin to be punished, whether it be theft, falsehood, or unkindness to another. The law forbidding us to covet in our secret hearts was as solemnly given amid the terrors of Sinai, is as binding upon man as Thou shalt do no murder. If the chain-cable upon which the safety of a vessel depends be snapped asunder in a storm, no matter how small be the link that gives way, the chain is as truly broken, and the vessel as certainly in danger, as if it had been dashed into a thousand pieces.”
“Still, I do think,” said Bat Nayland, “that there are some greater sinners, and greater commandments, and that we are not to be put on a level with thieves.”
“Do you remember,” said Thorn, mildly, turning to a boy who was near him, “which our blessed Lord Himself said were the two great commandments of the law?”
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
“And those who break the great commandments must, of course, be great sinners?”