'IN PRISON AND YE CAME UNTO ME.'
By Dr. O. C. Godsmark
'YOU-ALL didn't come over to the work-house Sunday. We missed you powerfully. We boys need your meetings, for they do us so much good. We want you to come. I did the best I could for the boys and held divine service myself. The boys need it.' The speaker was a member of the Hamilton County (Tenn.) chain-gang. It was Sabbath morning and we were on our way to church. Busy with our thoughts, planning as to what our sermon should be, we had not noticed the clanking of the chains and the presence of this criminal who so familiarly addressed us. It was hot and dusty, and just beyond were the other members of the gang, working out their sentences. To one side, in the shade of a tree, there stood the guard with his loaded gun and pistols, and by his side were chained the thirsty blood-hounds, ready to do their part in keeping the prisoners within the bounds of control. These guards are very kind to us, and appreciate the work we have been doing in the jails and work-house, and urge us to come just as often as possible. They say, 'The men are so much more manageable, and we get along with them so much better, when you hold your meetings with them.' And no wonder; for, poor men, what have they to light up the dark cells of their confinement, or to tell them of a forgiving heavenly Father, or that there is any possible hope in the future for such as they? All their lives these men have been taught of the horrors of an everlasting, eternal, burning hell-fire, in which they must writhe and burn, and suffer on and on, without the least particle of hope that their sufferings will ever, ever come to an end. This understanding of the dealings of God with His creatures has driven the majority of them into a feeling of perfect hatred of God, the Bible, their fellow-men, or anything pertaining to religion. But the simple story of the love of the Father, how He has provided a way of escape, through the giving of His dear Son to die in our stead, and the intelligent presentation of the whole plan of salvation, touches their hearts. It appeals to their better judgment; it enters into their very lives, and softens and tenders them so that their keepers realize a difference in their lives, and they like to have us come and teach their prisoners the truth we, as a people, hold. There is such a reality in this Third Angel's Message. Prison-bars can not exclude it, and chains and shackles can not confine it. At the last meeting we held with the boys, one of the hardest looking criminals I ever saw bowed with his face to the floor, and there in that prison-cell, with the tears streaming down his hardened face, repeated the Lord's Prayer. I say his hardened face, for when we first met him it seemed as tho every line of his features showed sin and cruelty; but as he has listened to the plan of salvation, he has grasped the truths, and by beholding he has become changed. When we arose from our knees, Mrs. Godsmark said to him, 'Why, Ruffin, you don't look like the same man. Your face fairly shines. The Lord has surely been doing a good work in your heart.' 'Yes'm,' said the man, whose crime was that of attempted murder, 'the Lord has come very near to me of late. I lie here in these chains night after night, and just wrestle with the Lord for forgiveness and help, and I know He forgives and helps me, too; for I don't get mad and fight like I used to when the boys pick on me. And I don't forget you and the doctor; I pray God every night that He will reward you for ever bringing this salvation to me here; and if I ever get out of here I am going to keep the Sabbath with you, and be one of you.' Since coming here to Chattanooga, Mrs. Godsmark and I have spent much of our time doing for the sick, the poor, and the needy. The supreme test which the Saviour placed upon His own work, or the proof that He gave of His Messiahship, was that 'the poor have the Gospel preached unto them.' But our richest blessings have come to us through the efforts put forth to carry the Gospel of a soon-coming Saviour to those confined in the chain-gang and behind the prison-bars. Here we find two classes—one the ignorant and unrefined, the other are from the highest walks of life. The latter class are highly educated, their offenses usually being forgery, theft on a large scale, counterfeiting, etc. When we first come in contact with them they usually pay but little attention to what we have to say; but as they are compelled to listen to our Bible-readings and sermons, they become deeply interested. It is gratifying to note, as the weeks go by, how the Spirit of the Lord changes their very beings. All do not accept the truth, of course; but they are brought to a standstill in their lives. They are compelled to stop and consider their ways. The hope of the Gospel, as presented, comes to them with force, and they see the way of salvation as they have never seen it before. One very intelligent man who fully embraced the message under these circumstances has been released, and is now doing all he can to get the truths of the Sabbath and soon-coming Lord before his friends and relatives. We get the most encouraging letters from him. There are others still in confinement whom we fully believe will be bright stars of rejoicing in some one's crown when that glad day shall dawn, and our Saviour shall say, 'I was in prison, and ye came unto Me.' DR. AND MRS. O. C. GODSMARK.