Prisons and Prayer; Or, a Labor of LoveWheaton, Elizabeth Ryder
Religion
Prisons and Prayer; Or, a Labor of Love
Wheaton, Elizabeth Ryder
Evangelistic work; Prisons
A woman in a prison was convicted of sin under my preaching, and sent
for me to come to her cell, where she gave me such an account of her
crimes that I was shocked, and yet was powerless to liberate an
innocent man that she said was in ---- state's prison for a crime she
committed. She asked me to go and tell him for her that she was the
guilty one, and try to have him freed, but wanted the matter kept
secret. Now that she was under conviction of her sins, she could not
rest. I went to the state prison she named, found the man, and told
him her story. His agony was pitiful to behold. He said, "O how I
loved my wife and baby. I am an innocent man. How can I live my
sentence out in this way? Nothing to live for." Such bitterness as he
held toward that wicked woman, for her crime and duplicity! I left him
in an agony of grief. And yet there are so many who are serving as
unjustly for others' crimes! This woman had killed the wife thinking
she herself would then get the husband.
UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH.
Going into the presence of two condemned men on our national holiday,
the chaplain remarked, "I wish you could reach these men's hearts. You
have often helped others in this prison who were under death
sentence." I prayed in silence for wisdom, and as I walked into their
presence, I said, "I have come to sing to you and have a little visit
with you, but if you prefer to be alone, I will go away." They said
they would be glad to have me stay. I sang several songs, and before
I had spoken of religion, I was made glad to see tears in their eyes,
and then we knelt in prayer, and I prayed God to pardon their sins and
make them pure in His sight.
I do not believe in capital punishment. Lord hasten the day when the
crime of putting men to death legally shall be done away with. It does
not stop crime. I thank God that one noble warden gave up his
honorable position and salary, rather than take the lives of any more
men. I wish God would raise up men all over our land who in like
manner would be brave enough to refuse to sacrifice human lives
because the law licenses them to do so. When I see wicked men so
anxious to see poor, helpless men executed, I think of that
authoritative utterance, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the
Lord." Jesus said, "He that hateth his brother is a murderer." There
is a day of reckoning coming.
THE RELIGION MOTHER HAD.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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