"Why, Aunt Harry?"
"Because I love you so much!" exclaimed Mrs. Eberstein, kissing the child's sweet mouth. "Why, Dolly, Jesus is the best, best friend we have got; nobody loves us so much in the whole world; He gave his life for us. And, then, He is the King of glory. He is everything that is loving, and true, and great, and good; 'the chiefest among ten thousand.'"
"What did He give His life for?" said Dolly, whose eyes were growing more and more intent.
"To save our lives, dear."
"From what?"
"Why, Dolly, you and I, and everybody, have broken God's beautiful law. The punishment for that is death; not merely the death of the body, but everlasting separation from God and His love and His favour; that is death; living death. To save us from that, Jesus died Himself; He paid our debt; He died instead of us."
"Then is He dead?" said Dolly awefully.
"He was dead; but He rose again, and now He lives, King over all. He was God as well as man, so the grave could not hold Him. But He paid our debt, darling."
"You said, death was everlasting separation from God and good," said Dolly very solemnly.
"For us, it would have been."