“I know, I know that I have done very wrong, and am very wicked,” sobbed William. “Do you think God will pardon me? I do not feel as if I could do anything to make God forgive me, or love me, or be kind to me again.”
Anna stopped to collect her thoughts before she spoke; she then said—
“I am very sure that you never can do anything to make God forgive you, dear Willie; and yet I am sure that God will forgive you if you seek Him through the Mediator He has given us. God loves to be gracious. If you really are sorry for what you have done, if you repent, not because your fault has brought you into trouble and disgrace, but because you have offended God, then God will assuredly pardon you, for He has promised in His Holy Word to do so. He says ‘Knock and it shall be opened to you, seek and ye shall find’; so you see, dear Willie, you may be pardoned if you seek it in the right way.”
And she spoke of God’s love in sending His blessed Son to save us from our sins, and of the Holy Spirit that He gives us to soften our hard hearts and make them tender, as well as to teach us always what we ought to do.
When she ceased speaking he was sobbing, but not bitterly.
“Pray for me, Anna,” said he; “I am not able to pray for myself.”
“Oh, be sure all those who love you will pray for you,” she answered, kissing him. “Papa and mamma pray for us night and morning, I am certain of that; and it makes me very happy and confident to think so. But still, dear Willie, remember always that we must pray for ourselves.”
“Yes, I know, and I will try,” said William, as his sister left the room.
The evening approached. Charles brought him up some tea and bread-and-butter, but said nothing. No one else came near him, not even Frank. He thought that Frank might have come, but still he could not complain. How different had been his brother’s conduct and his own towards poor Old Moggy! He had thought her a witch, and thrown stones at her, and called her all sorts of bad names; while brave Frank had risked burning himself to save her, and had kindly treated her, and given her money, and come back to see how she was faring.
“And they say that there are no such things as witches, or ugly ghosts wandering about, or such-like creatures,” he thought to himself. “I always fancied there were, but papa must be right, and I am sure I hope that there are not. And as God loves us I don’t think He would let such things be, to come and frighten us, certainly not to harm or frighten those who love Him. How very, very foolish I have been, to believe all the nonsense I have heard.”