"
--Scott.
Max sat before his writing-table, his folded arms upon it, and his face
hidden upon them. He was in sore distress of mind. How he had fallen
before temptation! into what depths of disgrace and sin! sin that in olden
times would have been punished with death, even as the horrible crime of
murder, and that must still be as hateful as ever in the sight of an
unchangeable God.
And not only that sin, of which he had thought he had so truly and deeply
repented, but another which he had always been taught was a very low and
degrading vice. Oh, could there be forgiveness for him?
And how would his dear honored father feel when the sad story should reach
his ears? would it indeed break his heart as Grandpa Dinsmore had said?
The boy's own heart was overwhelmed with grief, dismay, and remorse as he
asked himself these torturing questions.
The door opened, but so softly that the sound was lost in his bitter
sobbing, then a hand rested lightly, tenderly upon his bowed head, and a
gentle, pitying voice said, "My poor, dear boy, my heart bleeds for you."
"O Grandma Elsie!" he burst out, "can you say that to such a wicked fellow
as I am?"
"Did not Jesus weep with compassion over the sinners of Jerusalem, many of
whom were even then plotting His death? And, Maxie, He pities you in your
fallen estate, and is ready to forgive you the moment you turn to Him with
grief and hatred of your sin and an earnest desire to forsake it, and to
give yourself to His service.
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