Page:Sketches of conversations with James Wilson, alias M'Lusky.pdf/5

 reparation for the injuries he had done to society, and the many sighs breathed to Heaven, that his untimely and ignominious death might operate as a warning to his companions in crime, and fellow-sinners, bespoke the existence of that “godly sorrow, that worketh re- pentance unto salvation, not to be repented of,” 2 Cor. vii. 10.

He wished the world to know his abhorrence of him-self on account of his sin, and also how suitable to his case he had found the Gospel to be. The checring as-surance given by our Lord to the thief on the cross, in answer to his prayer, seemed to afford him peculiar pleasure. Oh! said he, how different are my feelings in this cell, when employed in reading the Word of God, and prayer, to what they were when I was engaged in the miseries, and madness, of the service of Satan. He often expressed his gratitude to God for affording him the means of knowing his will, and leading him to dis-cover that it was a “ faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the chief.” On one occasion when I called, he mentioned that he had been reading the 3d chapter of the Prophecies by Zechariah, and pointed particularly to the latter clause of the 2nd verse, as ap-plicable to his case: This was the light in which he now viewed himself, “A brand plucked out of the fire; snatched by infinite and Divine mercy from the very verge of cternal ruin. This passage furnished us with a topic of conversation, and while I was endeavouring to lay open before him the treasury of Divine love, as unfolded in the scheme of human redemption, his whole soul seemed filled with gratitude, and lost in wonder, love, and praise. On seeing his late companion in the Chapel, who was tried with him, and liberated from the bar for want of evidence, and now recommitted, he felt much pain, and addressed him with much affection, solemnly warning him of his danger, and urging him to flee from the wrath to come. Sometimes he com-plained that his mind was distressed with wicked and