Page:Black Jacob, a monument of grace.djvu/35

Rh letters on other pages of the Bible, and soon learned to understand the difference between letters which resembled each other, till he comprehended their force when combined in words.

Being informed of the great truths which were contained in the Bible, which ht might yet read for himself and more fully understand, Jacob was stimulated to constant exertion, till he was able to study out short sentences alone, which the chaplain in his frequent visits to his cell would explain and apply to his individual case. It was not long before more than common interest was manifested by Jacob for his spiritual condition. He awoke to the melancholy fact that he was a lost and ruined sinner. It was from the faithful instructions of the chaplain that he received his first religious impressions, and they were from the beginning of a peculiarly marked and decided character.

He repeatedly gave to his friends a minute account of the operations of his mind and his religious experience while