The Litchfield County post., 1828-09-18
cosPEf. IN PRISON.


Extract from letter from a gentleman IA
WeGtkcrs6sM to k;s friend IN Phil
GdcIphia.
The state ofthings in our States Prison,
IS indeed most interesting. The silence OF
the prisoners when at their work; their
solitary confinement two hours during day
light, when they can read the Bible and o.
Their religious books,t the only ones they are
allowed to have; their eating alone in the
cells-the most perfect system of discipline
and order; and their attendance every
morning and evening to hear the scripture
read and prayers, are circumstances calcu-
lated to afford opportunity for reflection, for
the operation of the truth and for subdung
the split. No soldiers were ever more
perfectly subducd to order and discipline.
Probably not less than twenty, Zone fifth
Of then,,) give good evidence Of change
of heart. More indulge hope. Some of
the converts who have been out of prison
for months, and who were the very worst
Of men, now live to the admiration of all
Christian beholders, and to the wonder of
sinners.
Probably there is not on earth another
prison, where religious truth, the only eff
fectual means of entire reform, is SO happi-
ly and successfully applied. The legisla-
tors and courts of our land are yet to be
convinced that religion is the only adequate
and effectual remedy of crimes. The Cos
pei has and does accomplish what nothing
else can. Here the experiment is made
and the results are wonderful. Reduce
our prisons to silence, and every prisoner
to solitary confinement, land then give them
the Gospel, and more would be effected
than has yet been done, to reform the most
dangerous men in the community. Let
their sentence be executed in confinement
and labor, but let them be treated and gov
erned by theflaw of kindness and love to
their souls.
Your new and great penitentiary at Phil
adelphia can never succeed with entire con-
6nement without labour. The prisoners
must die from inactivity, and their minds
must be stupid.
A Word to the enemies Of Foreign
Missions.
My friend !you read the English language,
are you of English origin? Go back, then,i in
the line Of your ancestors, and in less than
thirty steps you will come to poor pagan,
half naked and houseless, in the forests Of
Britain bowling the knee to Thor and Wo.
den, and preparing perhaps tc immediate
his child on the altar of his idol. And who
is that venerable man standing by his side
with the blessed book in his hand, reflect
ing the light of heaven upon his darkened
mind, and opening to his vision the only
way to temporal and eternal blessedness.
1t is Christian Missionary, who has left
far distant home, to save that poor man
from the ruin which threatened him. And
blessed be God his labor was not IN vain
and the light which those children of j.
dolatry received, they impaired to their
children, and their children's children, land
as it descended,i it grew brighter and spread
wider, till now Thirty Millions of people
rejoice in its beams.
My friend look around you and count
your blessings-your pleasant tireside and
home-the security with which you lie
down, rise up, and 60 forth to your labour
the thousand conveniences with which
art has filled your dwelling; look abroad,
over your country, and see her flourishing
cities-her peaceful villages-her fields
smiling with plenty-her ships gathering
the riches of every climate-her institu-
tons of piety an learning and virtue-and
above all, tina, noble monument of civil g.
religious liberty, which is the admiration
of the nations-and say, which of all these
do YOU not owe under God, to the christ
ian missionary. Oh! then despise not the
holy men, who like him have gone to car
~ the word of life to the idolaters of Asia
of Owyhee, and ofour own native forests.
Despise them not, hut speed them on the
way, and as you have freely received free
ly give of that light to all who set in dark
ness and the shadow of death.
Christian Almanack.
Another subscriber to the Fund Of Fifty
Thousand Dollars to the UniOn Seminary.
1T affords US great pleasure, says the
= &c g.