Page:Black Jacob, a monument of grace.djvu/90

82 minutely into his whole history, which corresponded with great accuracy to the records of the court in which he was tried for murder, and the sketches which have been preserved of his life and religious experience while in prison.

Could all that he said, warmed with the emotion with which it was uttered, be written down just as it fell from his lips, could some pencil paint the varied expressions of his care-worn and sable countenance, with the beamings and tears of his expressive eye; the suppressed heavings of his heart, with his marked gratitude for grace and mercy, no one could doubt that Jacob Hodges was a man of penitence, a man of prayer, a man of God. I never was more impressed and overawed by the dignity of Christian character, or saw more distinctly drawn the living symbols of the grace of God. This interview seemed to call forth afresh his confidence in me as his friend and adviser, and to secure warmer attachment. As I was leaving the place, Jacob