For His Name's Sake.

IN prison! - what a vile institution! What a hateful place; yet how many of the Saints of God have been incarcerated there - Peter, James, John, Paul, Bunyan, and a host of others! Loyalty to the Master led them there; yet what an influence has issued from that 'durance vile' they had to undergo.

One had come to imagine that such conditions were the result of the heathenism and barbarism of the early and the darker ages, and could not under any conceivable circumstances be repeated amid the enlightenment and civilisation of the Twentieth Century. Yet the unexpected - the unthinkable - has occurred - not only so, but has been endorsed and applauded by the great majority of professing Christians, and the people of this freedom- loving land, during the years 1916-17-18.

The forbidding aspect of these gloomy piles of stone produces a shiver of apprehension as one rings the bell at the gate. Presently a warder appears with his keys. Our mission is stated and card of admission produced and inspected. We are ushered into a gloomy

waiting-room furnished only with bare wooden forms. A young woman is already there with a toddling baby at her feet, and in her hand a pathetic-looking small bunch of flowers, which she asks may be given to her husband, whom she may not see, as visits are only permitted once in three months. The warder goes off to ask whether the husband may be permitted to have them, but returns with a curt and chilly refusal, and she goes out from the dismal chamber with a sob in her throat. Why might he not be permitted a glimpse of the flowers with which God has brightened the world, and which the love of a lonely little woman had brought? Why, what evil had he done? He is a conscientious objector to slaughter of his fellow-men. His treatment, which might surely for a political offence have been more lenient, is that of the ordinary criminal. He has no right to see the beauties of God's creation; and the little woman turns away with a heavy heart and dull despair in her breast.

Those privileged to see prisoners are ushered into a whitewashed room, lit only from the ceiling, divided into different stalls, while up the centre (longitudinally) runs a barrier of wood about three feet high, surmounted by a double guard of wire gauze of so close a mesh and so placed that it is impossible to push a pin through to the prisoner's side, much less to pass food, sweets, flowers or anything else. Over the head of the prisoner is a board which darkens down the portion of the stall in which he stands, and his face cannot be distinctly seen. There for the space of thirty minutes one may talk through this screen, while a warder paces up and down at the back. Our hearts burn with shame and indignation

against a Government and system which permits the indignities and starvation these men have to undergo; yet amid all the hardships of having to herd with the vilest criminals, of threatenings and, in some instances, of evil entreatings, one found Conscientious Objectors without any bitterness in their hearts either against the Government, their jailors, or even the system that had sent them there. Many experienced, and told of, the keen sense of the nearness of God; of the quiet time for contemplation and prayer, which was theirs in the cell where no sights and few sounds were around to distract their thoughts and meditations. Amid such surroundings many of them warmed up, strange though it may seem, to an enthusiasm for God and the extension of His Kingdom, that subsequently found vent in energetic Gospel and preaching services, though they had formerly not been inspired with the vision of usefulness in the Master's service.

An unforgettable experience was ours on returning from the Leicester Annual Meeting of 1917. With the relaxation then of the hardships they had formerly to endure, we were privileged to visit the boys in Wakefield Prison. We had the pleasure with two of our Scottish brethren to have tea in the prison cell occupied by one of them. Towards this little prison tea-party, contributions of seats, table cover, etc., etc., had been levied from the cells of other brethren who were also undergoing imprisonment. It was an experience that can never fade from our memories, and the eagerness of all to have news of what had passed at the Annual Meeting was indicative of their keen interest in the affairs of a Church which had shown them

in their hours of trial little sympathy, and afforded them, and their dependents, less support. One could not help but be impressed with the deep spirituality of these lads; and it would have been a profitable time, for anyone, even if opposed to their whole outlook, to converse with them and hear them relate their experiences.

They hold a high place in our esteem; and, though we have seen few of them since, they will always live in our memory as those who endured hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ; whose faith and stedfastness will count for righteousness in the great battle that must yet be fought for the overthrow of all war.