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JACOB HODGES.
the public preaching on the Lord's day
To all these, he gave the most strict atten
tion. Considering his age and past habits
of life, his improvement was really as¬
tonishing. In nothing was his advance¬
ment so great as in the knowledge of
divine things. He was evidently taught
of the Spirit, and daily grew in grace and
every Christian virtue. His temper, which
had been uniformly rough, and at times
almost indomitable, became subdued and
tender. At the remembrance of his sins,
he would melt almost in a moment to
penitence and tears; and, as he saw more
and more of the Saviour, he was filled
with gratitude and love. He was most
obviously a new creature in Christ Jesus.
The profane, drunken murderer, immured
in his cell, was a broken-hearted penitent,
a man of prayer. His prison now be¬
came a Bethel indeed.
It was here that I first met him: I shall
never forget the day; it was the 4th of
July, 1827. Having been engaged in re¬
ligious services during the morning, in the