108 HIS REPENTANCE 
thirty-sixth year, he found himself the only 
man on the island. The younger part, con- 
sisting of twenty children, looked up to him 
with reverence and affection. About ten 
years after this, he had two remarkable 
dreams, which presented to him in vivid 
colours his past transgressions, and the awful 
nature of the punishment awaiting them. 
These were such dreams as many persons 
may have had in their turns ; but they pro- 
duced in him a lasting and wholesome im- 
pression, and effectually moved his conscience. 
May we not believe this to have been the 
influence of the Holy Spirit, whose merciful 
design it was to give him a better knowledge 
of himself, and of the justice and goodness of 
God, and to bring him an humble suppliant 
to the throne of grace, for the pardon of his 
sins, through the merits of a crucified Saviour? 
" Behold, I stand at the door, and knock : if 
any man hear my voice, and open the door, 
I will come in to him," &c. (Rev. iii. 20.) 
Let no one say that there is any encou- 
ragement to superstition in these remarks. 
That which is uppermost in the thoughts, 
though it may not have ripened into good 
