Elizabeth Fry, referred to as the "angel of prisons", was a major driving force to make treatment of prisoners more humane, when in the 1700's they were a bleak, pitiless place and especially the women prisoners there, were looked upon with reproach. I was curious how she spoke to the prisoners, which led to finding this piece of a sermon; listen to how angels speak to the downcast ----

   ".....are there not among you some who are bowed down, who are broken hearted, some who have many trials of faith and patience, some of those conflicts which are much hidden from the eyes of man? Oh! my friends, remember that we have to deal with a compassionate Father, who pitieth his children, who knoweth our frame, who remembereth that we are dust, who seeth, who judgeth not according to appearance, but according to the heart. Oh! my friends, whatever be the trials of your faith and of your patience, I sympathize with you; I desire that you may find the grace of your Lord to be sufficient for you; and if we poor frail, feeble, unworthy mortals can feel as we do at seasons one for another, oh, what consolation is it to remember, that he who is infinite in mercy, infinite in love, and infinite in power also, feels for us..... Oh, my friends, however any of you may be cast down for a season, however you may not now know any peace, oh, trust in the Lord and stay yourselves on your God, for his tender mercies are over all his works." Elizabeth Fry.