Page 78

p. 78

70

JACOB HODGES.

ed the necessity and value of prayer from

the Bible, and thence, too, he had at first

drawn the finest thoughts and language

with which to approach the mercy-seat.

It was not only in social prayer that

he manifested his communion with God

and his deep interest in the cause of re

ligion. His habits of secret prayer were

well known to the family with whom he

lived, and probably few Christians were

ever more constant and punctual in the

duties of the closet. No labours of the

day found him too weary or unfitted foj

prayer at night. He could say with the

psalmist of Israel, "As for me, I will call

upon God and the Lord shall save me:

evening, and morning, and at noon, wili

I pray and cry aloud; and he shall heai

my voice."

Those who often overheard the earnest

pleadings of his heart in his closet, were

assured, that it was not alone his own

" poor soul" of which he so often spoke^

but the salvation of others; the state of

the family and the church, and the glory