The Bible Class in the Connecticut State Prison

I saw them bending o'er that holy page,Whose breath is immortality. There seemedNo sadness on their features; to their limbsNo fetters clung; and they whose early yearsHad told dark tales of wretchedness and shame,Lifted a calm, clear eye.Amazed, I asked,Is this a prison? and are these the menWhom Justice from the world's sweet fellowshipHath sternly severed?But a voice replied,God's spirit hath been here. Serene it cameInto the cells where guilt and punishmentRivet their chains, making the victim's lifeA hated burden, and his hope despair!It came! Rebellion laid his weapons down;The flinty breast grew soft: the rugged browGave channels for the tear of penitence;And souls, which sin had blotted from their race

As a foul gangrene, to the Healer turned,Bathed, and were whole.So now with humble stepTheir penal course they measure, giving stillThe day to toil, and meeting every night,In solitude, reflection's chastening glance,Which wounds to purify. There, too, doth glideFair Charity, prompting to deeds divineThe unaccustomed pupil, while he cons,'Mid the deep silence of a lonely bed,His Bible lesson; seeks a deeper rootFor Christian purpose, or anticipatesGlad Freedom's sacred gift.Ye whom our GodHath held from deep transgression, be not proud;Nor, in the heat of passion, haste to weighA brother's fault. The eternal Judge himself(When by the sin of ingrate Adam moved)Came not to Eden till the cool of day.And since that hour, when first the vengeful swordWav'd o'er the forfeit gate of Paradise,Man hath been wayward, weak, and prone to fallBeneath temptation's wile, and so must beUnto the dooms-day burning.Then let his bitterest discipline be mixedIn Mercy's cup, that so the prison cellMay work his soul's salvation; and the "law.Like school-master" severe, the truant bringTo Christ, his advocate and righteousness.