A FEW months ago an item was current in the newspapers to the effect that ninety-eight convicts in the New Jersey state penitentiary were Christian Scientists, it having been worded in such a way as to convey the impression that these men were Christian Scientists at or before the time of their commitment. The facts were that these men had become interested in Christian Science during their incarceration, and in turning to any religion at all they were simply in line with the reformatory influence which is the modern purpose of imprisonment. Still more recently the press has devoted considerable attention to the experience of two men who, within the past few weeks, have suffered capital punishment according to the laws of Massachusetts; and again an erroneous impression was given the general public, so much so that it seems advisable to make here a correct statement of the work accomplished by Christian Science in these and similar instances.
He whom professed Christians delight to honor as their Lord and Master, said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me," and among the works of mercy he enumerated was this: "I was in prison, and ye came unto me." Surely this is warrant enough for carrying the gospel of Christian Science, with all its healing ministrations, to the unfortunate ones shut away behind grim gray walls, and if those whose hours are numbered by the law's edict find consolation and help in its teachings, shall it be denied them, whatever their past sins? Who, drawing his robe of righteousness more tightly about him, will be the first to cast a stone?
For some time past Christian Scientists have made it a part of their work to supply penal institutions with Christian Science literature for the use of the inmates, and in not a few of them the Christian Science service which is held at stated intervals, as are the services of other religious bodies, is attentively listened to. In addition to this, much individual work has been done among the prisoners, but only as it was asked for, because Christian Scientists do not thrust their attentions upon any one, and so quietly has this work been carried on, that the world has known little of the good thus wrought.
