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XIV.
Christian Service
Chapter 157
:
Prison Work
1. WHAT does Christ
give us as one reason why He will bid the
righteous welcome into His kingdom?
"I was in prison, and ye
came unto Me." Matt. 25:36.
2. What is pure and
undefiled religion declared to be?
To visit those in affliction. James
1:27.
NOTE.-In 1909 there were 100,221 prisoners
in 195 penal institutions in the United
States, or an average of 112 to each
100,000.
3. What does God see
when He looks down from heaven?
"For He hath looked down from the
height of His sanctuary; from heaven did the
Lord behold the earth; to hear the groaning
of the prisoner; to loose those that are
appointed to death." Ps. 102:19,20.
4. For what purpose did
God send His Son into the world?
"To bring out the prisoners from the
prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the
prison-house." Isa. 42:7.
5. For what work did
Christ say He was anointed?
"To preach the gospel to the poor; .
. . to preach deliverance to the captives, .
. . to set at liberty them that are bruised."
Luke 4:18.
6. Why did the psalmist
wish to be brought out of the prison-house of
sin?
"Bring my soul out of prison, that
I may praise Thy name." Ps. 142:7.
7. Whose prison-house
does Satan not open?
"That made the world, as a
wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof;
that opened not the house [the grave] of his
prisoners." Isa. 14:17.
8. For what does the
psalmist pray?
"Let the sighing of the prisoner
come before Thee; according to the greatness
of Thy power preserve Thou those that are
appointed to die." Ps. 79:11.
9. How does God regard
His people who are in prison?
"For the Lord heareth the poor, and
despiseth not His prisoners." Ps. 69:33.
10. Why has the devil
been permitted to cast some of God's people into
prison?
"Fear none of those things which thou shalt
suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you
into prison, that ye may be tried. . . .
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give
thee a crown of life." Rev. 2:10. See Dan.
11:33-35.
NOTE.-Dr. William Dodd (1729-77), an
unfortunate English divine, who, under
stress of circumstances, became a heavy
forger, was imprisoned at Newgate for a
time, and finally executed. Upon visiting
him, John Wesley found "a penitent and
hopeful malefactor," and in his "Journal"
says: " A real, deep work of God seemed to
be already begun in his soul. Perhaps by
driving him too fast, Satan has driven him
to God, to that repentance which shall never
be repented of." Visiting him shortly before
his execution, Mr. Wesley is reported to
have replied to Mr. Dodd's apologies for
receiving him in the condemned cell,
"Courage, brother; perhaps God saw that
nothing else would do." See "Life of John
Wesley," by Richard Watson, page 207.
11. How would God have
us sympathize with those in bonds and adversity?
"Remember them that are in bonds,
as bound with them;
and them which suffer adversity, as being
yourselves also in the body." Heb. 13:3.
12. What blessed
invitation will Christ finally extend to those
who have ministered to the wants of the needy,
and visited the sick and those in prison?
"Then shall the King say unto them on
His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world." Matt.
25:34. |
