Ellen White and Prison Work
While in Holloway she visited the Marsh family. Sister Marsh had been keeping the Sabbath for a number of years. Her husband was the warden of a prison, and the family lived next door to the large, unfriendly building. “It looked sad, indeed,” Mrs. White remarked with feeling, “to see the large number of prisoners taking their half hour exercise within the glowering prison walls, guarded at every step with officers.”—Ibid.EGWE 309.2
Once, while in Salem, Oregon, June 1878, she had visited such a prison as a guest speaker.EGWE 309.3
“I had expected to see a set of repulsive looking men, but was happily disappointed; many of them seemed to be intelligent, and some to be men of ability. They were dressed in the coarse but neat prison uniform, their hair smooth, and their boots brushed. As I looked upon the varied physiognomies before me, I thought, ‘To each of these men have been committed peculiar gifts, or talents, to be used for the glory of God and the benefit of the world.’...EGWE 309.4
“I spoke from the words of John: ‘Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.’ 1 John 3:1, 2.EGWE 309.5
“I exalted before them the infinite sacrifice made by the Father in giving His beloved Son for fallen men, that they might through obedience be transformed, and become the acknowledged sons of God.”—Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 233, 234.EGWE 309.6
Mrs. White's personal example in social work as an opening wedge in reaching human hearts is well known. But it is not always understood that this work for prisoners, widows, orphans, et cetera, was as much a part of her commission as the reception and communication of light and truth. (See Selected Messages 1:33, 34.)EGWE 310.1