Page:Black Jacob, a monument of grace.djvu/54

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jacob hodges.

watchfulness and care, where his eye might rest upon the walls of that prison in which he first gained a knowledge of himself and the consolations of hope in his Saviour.

Being anxious to live where his religious privileges would be greater, he succeeded in gaining employment at the Theological Seminary, in the house of the steward. He soon secured the entire confidence of the family, as well as that of the students of the institution generally.

Such was the evidence he continued to give of his genuine piety and growing knowledge of religious truth, that he was soon admitted to the communion of the First Presbyterian church in Auburn. Several revivals of religion occurred in the village, during the continuance of which few were more deeply interested than Jacob. He had come out of his prison with a solemn resolution to serve God in the limited sphere of his influence, and prayer was what he chiefly relied upon. Here lay the secret of his power. Like Bunyan, he had lived upon prayer