"And if your mother could not bear to see you in want, and were to come out to you in the cold night with food and kind words, would you turn away from her and say, 'I know she can never love me, I have been so naughty;' and would you refuse to receive her kindness, and ask her forgiveness?" Amy bent down her head. "Or would you say," continued Mrs. Mordaunt, "as you saw her coming, 'I will not go to meet her now; I will go and try to earn a few pence, and then I will come back to her and say, "Mother, I am very sorry, but here are some pence I have earned. Will you take them and forgive me, and let me be your child again?"' Would that be _humility_ and _gratitude_, or _pride_ and _ingratitude_, Amy?" "Pride and ingratitude," said Amy in a low voice. "And when the Lord Jesus says to you, 'You have sinned against me and wronged me, and broken my laws; but I have come down from heaven to earth to seek you; come back to me, and I will receive and forgive you,' would it be humility or pride to say, 'Thou canst not forgive me, I am too sinful; but wait a little while, and I will do something good, and make myself better, and then I will come back to thee'?" "_Pride_," said Amy. "But I thought God only loved good children, ma'am; and I am not good." "God does only love good children, Amy," said Mrs. Mordaunt very seriously, "and God knows you cannot be good." Amy looked up in wonder. "Who was Jesus Christ, Amy?" "The Son of God," said Amy. "And what did he become man and come into this world for?" Amy answered as she had been taught, "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." "To save whom?" "Sinners." "Not those who _thought themselves good_, but those who _knew_ they had been _sinful_. What did he save them from?" "From punishment," said Amy thoughtfully. "Yes," said Mrs. Mordaunt, "from punishment, and from sin. He came to suffer, that we might be delivered and freely forgiven, and to make us holy. Did it cost him nothing to do this, Amy?" "He died for it on the cross," said Amy softly. "He did indeed. And did he suffer all that pain and anguish of mind for nothing?" Amy did not answer. "It would have been for nothing," said Mrs. Mordaunt, "if we had still to earn forgiveness for ourselves. Jesus bore the punishment for us just because we could not have borne it; and he has borne it so that we shall never have to bear it now. If, then, you go and _give yourself up_ to the blessed Saviour as _He calls you to do_, God will receive you for his sake, as if you had been always a good and obedient child, and Jesus will give you his Holy Spirit to abide with you always, and to make you good and obedient and happy." "I must not wait until I am better for God to love me, then," said Amy doubtfully. "Again, do you obey your mother in order to become her child; or do you obey her because she loves you and is your mother, Amy?" "Because she is my mother," said Amy.