Within Prison Walls by Jennie Conyngham

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jun 24, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 26.

Within Prison Walls.

By Jennie Conyngham

ONE Sunday morning, as is our custom here, we sang in a prison corridor these words:

"Over the Dead-Line."

"O sinner, the Saviour is calling for thee, Long, long has He called thee in vain; He called thee when joy lent its crown to thy days, Called thee in sorrow and pain.

Chorus "O turn while the Saviour in mercy is pleading, And steer for the harbor bright, For how do you know but your soul may be drifting Over the dead-line to-night?

"O sinner, thine ear has been deaf to His voice, Thine eye to His glory been dim; The calls of thy Saviour have so wearied thee, O what if thy sins weary Him!

"O sinner, God's patience may weary some day And leave thy sad soul in the blast, By wilful resistance you've drifted away Over the dead-line at last."

Elder Bairle remarked that they should take that as a warning and turn to the Lord before the awful "dead-line" is reached.

When prayer was offered, many raised their hands as a request that they be remembered in our petitions. Before the sun had set that day, one soul of that number was cold in death. He had crossed the "dead-line."

May God help us to remember those behind prison-bars, that we may not hear those fatal words from our Saviour's lips, "In prison and ye visited me not," and may we who are out of the fold of safety answer the Spirit's pleading voice, ere we reach the "dead-line."

Your sister in the faith, JENNIE CONYNGHAM.