I never had any doubt of the power then conferred, and I no sooner felt the guilt and stain of sin upon my soul, than I yearned to hear the pardon spoken, that Heaven offered to the penitent.

I had been tangibly smitten; I longed to be tangibly healed.
Whatever shame and pain there was about laying bare my soul before another, I gladly embraced it, as one poor means at my command of showing to Him whom I had offended, that my repentance was actual, that I stopped at no humiliation.
It may very well be that these feelings would find no place in larger, grander, more self-reliant natures; that what healed my soul would only wound another.

I am not prepared to think that one remedy is cure for all diseases, but I know what cured mine.

I bless God for "the soothing hand that Love on Conscience laid." I mark that hour as the beginning of a fresh and favored life; the dawning of a hope that has not yet lost its power "to tame The haughty brow, to curb the unchastened eye, And shape to deeds of good each wavering aim.".