Page:Sketches of conversations with James Wilson, alias M'Lusky.pdf/4

 a gift. I spoke of the evidences by which he might ascertain his interest in the blood of Christ; familiarizing these, by shewing him the effects that would follow from the reception of a free pardon from his Sovereign; that immediately his doom would be reversed, and de-liverance from his dungeon follow as a matter of course. By a variety of other allusions, the glorious liberty of the Gospel was pointed out to him, as being a com-plete deliverance from the guilt of his past crimes, and the gracious communication of a Divine nature, founded upon the infinite merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, and cvidenced by a consciousness of the love of God to his own soul. Now, it might with propriety be said of him, as of Saul of Tarsus, after he was arrested in his career of sin and rebellion against God, “Behold he prayeth!” I felt my heart sweetly drawn out in prayer and conversation ith him, and have listened, or rather joined, in those fervent breathings of his wound-ed spirit, which were accompanied with strong cries and tears. The simplicity and scriptural manner in which he poured out his soul to God, in behalf of himself, his mother, his brothers, and his unfortunate companion in suffering, quite affected me. Surely in such a scenc as this, those who have “ tasted that the Lord is gracious” recognise, as it were, the Good Shepherd taking hold of the sheep that had gone astray in the wilderness, laying it upon his shoulders, rejoicing, and calling together his friends and neighbours, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the sheep which was lost,” Luke xv. 6. In a scene like this, you see the prodigal come to him-self; you hear him bewailing his folly and sin, and seeking for pardon and acceptance. Such a scene is productive of joy on earth, and joy in heaven, for “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth.” If I may judge from his own testi-mony, I am decidedly of opinion, that a Divine change had taken place in the mind of poor James. A deep loathing of himself on account of his past wickedness, an earnest wish that it had been in his power to make