Porter Wagoner - Soul of a Convict lyrics

(Will he take the soul of a convict could I be one of those he choosed) I was taught the Bible from childhood at my mother's knee I learned to pray I was taught of God and all his goodness and the devil and his evil ways There's good in the bad and bad in the good and there's none that's free from sin But there's some questions I've wondered about What happens to the men who die in the pen Just imagine yourself the judge God Almighty as you gaze over all these men When d**h takes its toll what becomes of the soul of the men who die in the pen Do you think of God that's true and just could look from his heavenly throne And be pleased to see men placed in chains and stripes And tucked from their loved ones at home Worked until they're completely axhuasted and your soul cries out in vain Fed like a hog and treated like a dog and at night to the bed you're chained Worked from sunup to sundown through all kinds of weather And if you don't do the things just right you get introduced to the leather Now you see it's not the pain I mind so much as I'm stretched out on the floor It's just the thought that I can't do my part that's what breaks my heart You see I'm just not man enough anymore Oh there are a lotta other things I could tell you that you'd marvel at and say Why I didn't know in those modern times they treated men that way but they do That's why I ask you do you think that God could turn with a sneer and frown At the men who die in the pen do you think he'll turn us down I believe there's a heaven and a hell and in God I put my trust That's why I'm askin' these questions I believe he's true and just And I just imagine he'll tell me as we meet at the golden stairs Hell's not just meant for some of the men who die in the pen But for some who have mistreated them there You see we're payin' for the mistakes we made in our sins As we've had our troubles in life Because we're the underdogs of humanity and surely God won't make us pay twice I believe on that Day of Judgement he'll have this convict called in And he'll say it's true hell's not for you you had your hell in the pen