Page:Black Jacob, a monument of grace.djvu/46

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jacob hodges.

the impression it left upon my mind is still vivid and affecting. He had just become able to read, with much effort, short sentences in his Bible, and was constantly engaged during his leisure hours in studying its pages. He had fully committed to memory the fifty-first psalm, and those who have heard him read or repeat that psalm will never forget the emphasis; the deep and solemn intonations of his voice, when uttering the petition, "Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, God, thou God of my salvation."

After conversing some time, and learning from his own lips the great change which he had experienced under the instructions here given him, I said, "Jacob, it has proved a mercy to you that you were brought to this prison" "O yes, master," he replied, "I bless God that I was brought here. I love every stone in this building."

It was his uniform custom on retiring at night from labour to the solitude of his cell, to seize his Bible, and employ the