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 desert, my wife broken-hearted, and myself a wretched vagabond. My wife has always, since my acquaintance with her, been a pious woman; and it is through the grace of God, by her means, that I am not now ruined in soul and in body.”

“But how did she exert so great an influence over you?”

“Oh, sir, by her whole conduct; every action, every word, every look was a meek but powerful reproof to me. You cannot conceive how her kind eye would pierce my very soul, when I came home late at night from some scene of riot and dissipation. There she used to sit in that corner; and when she rose to meet me, there was such an expression of grieved and saddened feeling, that it always filled me with a momentary anguish. And sometimes on the Lord’s-day, when I was sitting in a most melancholy mood, I used to hear her teaching some verses of the Bible to little 'William; and they seemed sometimes so pointed and full of meaning, that I was sometimes disposed to be angry, from the suspicion that she designed to convey some rebuke to me in this indirect manner. But then I would soon reflect upon the perfect proofs I had: almost every hour, that she wished my happiness. I believe, that I could have borne any thing by this mild, forgiving spirit, yet it made me constantly miserable; conscience soon began to upbraid me, and it pleased my heavenly Father to show me my guilt, and the way of salvation through a Redeemer.”

“What was the guilt which you then saw in yourself? the vices and crimes of which you spoke?”

“Yes, sir, I had a much stronger and deeper sense of these; but I soon found that they did not constitute the foundation of the evil. They were rather the signs of the guilt in my heart than the guilt itself. It was my heart, sir, that wanted purifying. I had before thought, that although my actions were wrong, I could at any time alter them, and then I should be as good as my wife. But I soon found that there was something fundamentally wrong in the state of my affections towards God, and that unless these were altered, I should never be holy or happy. I cannot describe my distress, when I found that for the control of these, I was so utterly dependent upon a higher power. I was, however, at last brought to the Saviour, and I hope he has commenced a good work in my soul.”

“Well, how did you recover your affairs from their embarrassed condition?”

“Religion, sir, and industry can accomplish any thing. I made the text, ‘Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord,’ my motto; and every thing soon began to go well,' and you see how happy a man I am now.”