"Needn't what?"
"'Go to the devil,' as you say. You may stop now, and never take one more stop downwards. You may turn your face towards heaven this very minute."
"I can't believe that," said Jem. "I don't believe such a fellow as I could ever be forgiven. You don't know, and I wouldn't tell you for anything, how bad I have been. I should be ashamed to ask for forgiveness."
"That's just the greatest mistake you ever made, Jem."
"I have made a great many mistakes, Eben."
"Well, you never made a worse mistake than that. I don't suppose the thief on the cross was any better man than you are, and he was saved at the very last minute, and you may be saved too, if you will. There is more love in the Lord than there is sin in all the sinners in the universe, as I heard old Father Badger say once."
"Now look here, Eben Fairchild! Do you dare to say that the Lord loves me—me? Such a beast as I am?"
"You are not a beast; you are a man with an immortal soul, for whom the Lord died, and I do dare to say that he loves you," said Eben, firmly. "He loves you this very minute."
"If I thought that—" said Jem. "But I always thought he hated sinners?"
"For whom did he die if not for sinners? You haven't read your Bible to much purpose, Jem."