"And how sorely Eli was punished for not restraining his sons when they made themselves vile. Also God says, in commendation of Abraham, 'I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment.' And do you not remember that under the Levitical law the punishment of a refusal to be obedient to parents was death?"
"Is that so? I had quite forgotten it," said Flora.
Mildred opened a Bible, and turning to the twenty-first chapter of Deuteronomy, read aloud, "'If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; and they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die; so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear and fear.'"
"I acknowledge that you have proved your case against my author," said Flora thoughtfully; "either he was ignorant of the teachings of Scripture on that point, or he chose to disregard them; which nobody has a right to do."
"No, that is true," said Mildred; "as the Word of God, whose creatures we are, it should be to all of us the rule of faith and practice; a tribunal from which there is no appeal; whose decisions are final."
"I have noticed," remarked Flora, "that you all seem to regard it in that light, and to have a great love for it too."
"Yes," said Mildred; "and no wonder; its precious promises have been our comfort and support in many trials—some of them very heavy. I think those sweet promises were all that kept my mother's heart from breaking when she heard that her two sons had been killed by the Indians."
"It must have been dreadful," Flora said, with sympathy; "but it wasn't true?"
"Not of both, but of one," Mildred answered, with emotion. "Oh, my dear, dear brother!" she cried, in a sudden burst of grief.
Flora went to her and put her arms about her. "Don't weep so," she said; "think how happy he is where he has gone, and how safe; no one can ever make him suffer again."