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JACOB HODGES.
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ignorant and degraded. He was accus¬
tomed to visit certain families that most
other Christians had overlooked, as if they
had long and by common consent been
abandoned to the ways of unrighteousness.
One family in particular excited his inte¬
rest. They were notoriously hardened and
degraded in sin. Jacob, taking his own
Bible in his hand, would spend evening
after evening at their own house, reason¬
ing with them out of the Scriptures and
urging, in his modest yet earnest way, the
importance of their reformation and re-
pentancew They had wholly neglected the
Bible,and seldom if ever attended religious
service at the house of God. He would
spend hours in reading to them the Scrip¬
tures, and beseech them to go with him to
the place of public prayer. He seemed
determined not to relinquish his object, but
pressed upon them, almost daily, the value
of religion. His labours were not in vain.
The son, perhaps the most unpromising of
all, became awakened to his lost and ruin.
ed condition. In his gross darkness and