THE jail was a large, gloomy-looking building; the windows were made strong by great iron bars fastened across them, but the inside was even more gloomy than the outside. It was divided into very small rooms, only five feet wide and eight feet long. Each room had a cross-barred iron door, with strong bolts and locks, and when the jailor opened or shut the door, the hinges grated frightfully on the ear.
In one of these rooms was a young man about twenty-eight years of age. He had been found guilty of making and passing had money, and for this offense he was condemned to the State Prison. But he was so sick he could not be moved to the prison.
Poor fellow! Once he could play in the green fields, down by the cool spring, or under the shady trees around his home, or when he was tired he could pa home and lay his head upon his mother’s lap; or if he was sick, that mother would sit at his bed-side and nurse him. But now how different! Shut up in a dark, gloomy jail, with no one to care for him, and all-around cursing and swearing and making horrid noises. He felt wretched. Said he, “I shall never be able to go to the State Prison, I am so sick. O if I was only ready to die it would not matter so much.”
“Are you ready to die?”
“O no,” said he, “I am afraid to die.” “But why are you afraid to die?” “Because I am such a sinner.”
“There is hope, and mercy, and salvation for sinners, for the greatest of sinners, through the Lord Jesus Christ.”
“I have no hope. You may talk to me about Christ and salvation; but there is no hope for me, and that makes me afraid to die.”
I talked to him for some time about his father; and when I spoke to him about his mother, his lips trembled, and a single tear stole down his burning cheek.
“Was not your mother a Christian?”
“O yes, indeed she was. Many and many a time has she warned me of this.”
“Then you have had good Christian parents and Christian training. Your parents, no doubt have often prayed for and with you.”
“O yes, sir.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I can answer you all in a few words: I did not obey my parents,” said the dying young man.
These were the last words he spoke to me. After saying a few more words to him I came away, reflecting on his awful condition, and the reason he gave me for his being in jail:
“I did not obey my parents.”
Many, many are the sad consequences of disobedience to parents. God has said in His word,
If the consequences of this character of disobedience are often so serious, what will they be for all who “obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power”? (2 Thess. 1:8,98In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; (2 Thessalonians 1:8‑9).)
ML 06/22/1924