For Criminals in Prison

—Behold, in the greatness of thy mercy, those who are bound in affliction and iron, because they rebelled against the word of God. May they be led to reflect upon the evil of sin, in the degradation and misery to which it has reduced them. Give them repentance unto life; that they may acknowledge that Thou art just in all that is brought upon them, and be more concerned to obtain deliverance from the wrath to come, than exemption from the hand of civil justice. If, after lengthened confinement, they should be released, let them be rescued from the bondage of corruption, and partake of the glorious liberty of the sons of God; and if appointed unto death, O hear the sighing of the prisoner; and though the flesh be destroyed, let the spirit be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

While we feel an abhorrence of sin, may we always display compassion for sinners, and be thankful that we have been exempted, by the favourableness of our condition in life, by pious relations, by education, by thy restraining and thy sanctifying grace, from so many temptations by which we might have been conquered. Who made us to differ from another; and what have we that we did not receive?