dreaded the possibility of his life being accorded to him, lest he should again fall into temptation.  And, lastly, he learned to believe, that having cast himself entirely upon Divine grace, and, therefore, using those means of watchfulness and prayer which the word of God prescribes, he needed not fear, if he were called again to life, the temptation even to those vices to which he had been most habituated.  On the occasion of this visit, the fifty-first Psalm was pointed out to him.  It was in the Prayer-book version, as there was no Bible at hand.  This Psalm, so remarkably calculated to meet the experience of a man feeling deeply his sins, and more particularly of one implicated as he was in such a variety of vice, struck his attention very deeply; and the more so when, the next day, it was read to him in the Bible translation, and its chief points expounded to him.  He learned a great part of this Psalm by heart; it was nearly the last portion of Scripture that he repeated; and it became one of the subjects of his meditation during the long nights in which he was shut up alone.

The next day, the 23d, two or three passages of Scripture were introduced to his notice; besides which a fuller view was presented to him of the nature and consequences of sin.  On this occasion he was taught in what manner sin is the defilement of the whole heart; that even the sins of his youth brought him just as much into condemnation before a holy God as his one great crime; that eternal death was the wages of every transgression of the Divine law; and that repentance unto life required not only a feeling of sorrow for one sin, but for every sin, yea, for sin itself, as an offence against the Almighty.  The promises of God to the chief of sinners were then pointed out him from Isa. i. 18, that “though his sins were as scarlet, they might be made white as snow;” and from Isa. lv. 6, 7, that “if the wicked forsook his way, and returned unto the Lord, he would have mercy, and abundantly pardon.”  The former of these passages remained fixed in his memory, and was a continual source of consolation to his mind.  He now began to feel that his sins were as scarlet, and to desire earnestly to be pardoned.  Two other passages were also at that time referred to, and enlarged upon.  The first of these was John iii. 14, 15.  “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  This type presenting so remarkable an image of the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up to bear the sins of his people, and affording a remedy to those who really believe in Him, was peculiarly calculated to meet his case: and he was further taught from it, that as this people, if they had rather chosen to trust to other remedies, or had refused to look at the brazen serpent, or had spent their time in mourning over their maladies, instead of doing as they were commanded, would never have been healed; so if the sinner does not look to Christ, there is no hope for him.  One other important lesson was also gathered from this subject; namely, that “if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived;” and in like manner, “Whosoever believeth on Jesus Christ shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  Jolin was thus instructed in the mode of pardon before God, through the merits of Jesus Christ; and in the efficacy of this remedy, the universality of it to all that believe, and the nature of faith, the means by which it can alone be appropriated.

The last passage referred to was the history of the Scape goat, contained in Lev. xvi.  In this history we find that Aaron, whilst the people afflicted their souls, (ver. 29,) laid both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confessed on him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, putting them upon the head of the goat, and that the goat bore away with him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited.  The illustration of this subject, and its application to Jolin’s own case, were very obvious.  The people “afflicting their soul,” denoted the state in which every sinner must present himself before God—for it is the broken and the contrite heart which God will not despise; the “confession of sin” on the head of the goat pointed out the first and necessary duty of the returning penitent—for “if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins:” the laying the sins upon the head of the goat exhibited the act of faith, by which the condemnation of the sinner is transferred to his atoning sacrifice; and the leading away the goat into the wilderness, the full, perfect, and eternal pardon promised in the Gospel, of every sin to every repenting sinner.

Although Jolin was not a person of uncommon capacity, and although these passages of Scripture seemed to be new to him, yet he apprehended them in a manner which gave just indication that his heart was under the Divine teaching.  It is said, Isa. liv. 13, “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.”  This state of teachableness now seemed to have been produced in this poor young man.  The power of God had made his heart willing, Ps. cx. 3; and he came very soon to understand the truths by which he might be saved.  When the will of man is not disposed to submit to God, every doctrine of the Gospel presents difficulties; one point is unreasonable, another impossible, a third useless; but when the mind is taught of God, it is astonishing how soon all these difficulties vanish.  The doctrines of the Gospel, which seem the most hard to understand and to receive, are at once comprehended.  It is like a change from darkness to light.  The passages of Scripture which teach the sinfulness of our own nature, the worth of a Saviour, the nature of faith, the pleasantness of religion, the delight attendant upon dwelling with God, are at once received and adopted; and the whole system of Christianity is discovered to be one exactly suited to the sinner’s own state.  But the willingness of heart which is necessary to a right reception of religion, we are every where in Scripture taught, is the gift of the Holy Spirit.  It cometh “not of blood,” that is, from our parents; “nor of the will of the flesh,” that is, by our own natural inclination; “nor of the will of man,” that is, by the teaching of others; “but of God.”  “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”  We see then how necessary it is that, if any man “lack wisdom,” he should “ask it of God;” and so much the more, as our Lord himself declares, Luke xi. 13, his desire to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him.

The 24th was the day of Jolin’s first trial, at the close of which he was found guilty.  Some of his friends, whom he had asked to go to him, went after the trial.  They expected to find him, on this occasion, in some degree disturbed and agitated in mind; but it was altogether otherwise.  The irons to which he was sentenced were put on him in their presence.  To this, as the natural consequence of his condemnation, he submitted almost without notice.  Indeed, the trial and the condemnation itself seem to have made little or no impression upon him; for it was only by minute and repeated inquiry as to the proceedings of the day, that visitors could obtain from him any account of them.  His mind seemed absorbed in something else; and what this was, afterwards appeared.  His conduct, during his trial, had been remarked by many of his judges, as entirely suitable to his awful