But when his conscience was almost seared as with a hot
iron, it pleased God to awaken him by a peculiar though natural
providence. One day he received a letter from a young man who had
formerly been an apprentice, previous to his omitting family prayer. Not
doubting but that domestic worship was still continued in the family of
his old master, his letter was chiefly on the benefits which he had
himself received through its agency.
"Never," said he, "shall I be able to thank you sufficiently for the
precious privilege with which you indulged me in your family devotions!
O, sir, eternity will be too short to praise my God for what I have
learned. It was there I first beheld my lost and wretched estate as a
sinner; it was there that I first found the way of salvation, and there
that I first experienced the preciousness of Christ in me the hope of
glory. O, sir, permit me to say, Never, never neglect those precious
engagements. You have yet a family and more apprentices. May your house
be the birth-place of their souls!"
The conscience-stricken tradesman could proceed no further, for every
line flashed condemnation in his face. He trembled, and was alarmed lest
the blood of his children and apprentices should be demanded at his
hands. "Filled with confusion, and bathed in tears, I fled," said he,
"for refuge in secret. I spread the letter before God.
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