“My dear little boy, that was the reason that Eve ate the apple which made us all sinners. She thought it looked good. It ‘was pleasant to the sight.’ Did you not tell me, the other day, that you thought Eve was very naughty to eat the apple; and that you would not have done as she did? But you see you have done just like her. She disobeyed God by eating the apple, and you have disobeyed him by eating that green grape.”
Alfred. “Mamma, God did not tell me that I must not eat the grape.”
Mamma. “Yes, Alfred, he told you so through me; for it is for me to tell you what the will of God is: and you did not follow God’s commandment to ‘obey your parents’ when you ate that green grape. I did not see you eat it, but God did; and God does not love little boys, you know very well, who disobey their parents.”
Alfred continued to cry, and said,
“O, I am so sorry, mamma!”
His mamma told him to go into his room, and stay there by himself, that he might think over what a naughty boy he had been.
Alfred went; and when his mamma followed him, some time afterward, he came to her, and said,
“Mamma, I was very wicked, I know. But I have prayed to God to forgive me, because Jesus Christ died. Don’t you think he will, mamma?”
His mother said,
“Yes, my dear, I have no doubt that he will forgive you, if you are sorry for your sin, and are determined never again to do such a naughty thing. God has forgiven us all a great many sins; and he is still gracious and merciful. It is written, ‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.’ Isa. lv, 7.”