Page 46
88
JACOB HODGES.
mory> 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, 0 God,
thou God of my salvation."
After conversing S'.raie time, and learn¬
ing from his own lips the great change
which he had experienced under the in¬
structions here given hirn, I said, " Jacob,
it has proved a mercy to you that you
were brought to this prisor." " 0 yes,
master," he replied, " I bless God that 1
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 hi3
cell, to seize his Bibb, and employ the