Volume I Part 6 (1/2)
”Let us see. Do you know what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us all?”
”No.”
”Do you know whether G.o.d has given us any commandments?”
”Yes; I know the ten commandments. I have learned them once, but I don't remember them.”
”Have you obeyed them?”
”Me?”
”Yes. You.”
”I never thought about it.”
”Have you disobeyed them then?”
Eleanor breathed more freely, and listened. It was curious to her to see the wayward, giddy child stand and look into the eyes of her questioner as if fascinated. The ordinary answer from Julia would have been a toss and a fling. Now she stood and said sedately, ”I don't know.”
”We can soon tell,” said her friend. ”One of the commandments is, to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Have you always done that?”
”No,” said Julia bluntly. ”I don't think anybody else does.”
”Never mind anybody else. Have you always honoured the word and wish of your father and mother? That is another command.”
”I have done it more than Alfred has.”
”Let Alfred alone. Have _you_ always done it?”
”No, sir.”
”Have you loved the good G.o.d all your life, with all your heart?”
”No.”
”You have loved to please yourself, rather than anything else?”
The nod with which Julia answered this, if not polite, was at least significant, accompanied with an emphatic ”Always!” Mr. Rhys could not help smiling at her, but he went on gravely enough.
”What is to keep you then from being afraid?”
”From being afraid?”
”Yes. You want a helmet.”
”Afraid?” said Julia.
”Yes. Afraid of the justice of G.o.d. He never lets a sin go unpunished.
He is _perfectly_ just.”