“His dying request, doubtless,” said Nayland.
“What words would you say were to be found in that paper?” said Thorn to Edmund Butler, an intelligent boy, who was usually at the head of the school.
Edmund reflected for a moment, and then said, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.”
Thorn saw that an answer was trembling on the lips of poor Seth, and encouraged him by a glance to say it aloud: “This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
“Here, then,” said the teacher, “is the motive of love. Remember,” he continued, impressively, “that this was our Saviour’s dying request, when He who was innocence itself was about to suffer shame, agony, and death for our sakes. Is there one heart here so cold that it would slight the last wish of a dying Friend—so ungrateful that it would seek to make no return for love so exceeding great? Can we think on His mercy, and yet be unmerciful; and, by our unkind, ungenerous conduct towards our fellow-creatures, show that the highest motive has no power over our souls, and that we choose heartlessly and ungratefully to neglect the only way by which we can prove our love to Him who loved us and gave Himself for us?”
There was no immediate answer to this question—perhaps the teacher did not expect to receive one; but as the boys passed out of the school-room, when the lessons were over, Thorn saw with a feeling of pleasure young Nayland walk up to Seth Delmar, and, while his cheek flushed crimson, whisper something in his ear, to which the poor boy replied by warmly grasping his hand. And Seth was no longer persecuted in the school, despised by his companions, or taunted with his sin. The boys had learned to show more indulgence to the failings of others, from having a truer knowledge of their own; and finding that they had all broken the great commandment, and had no hope but from the merits and mercy of their Lord, they looked with more pity upon a poor fellow-sinner, whose transgression had been repented of and forgiven.
No heart is pure from evil; none
Can say before the Holy One,
“I in my strength the race have run,
Have fought the fight successfully!