Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-02-14

sell, his essential nature; that remains
divine, the same in its essence as the
divinity IN Me; |, representing humanity,
am there in him. In visiting him. there
fore, you come TO Me; in helping him,
you take My hand; his conditions have
not changed his higher self, he is still
My Fathers child, and, in touching him,
you come IN contact with Me and with
God"
Here, then, we have tho true Chris.
tian attitude toward the prisoner, and
the foundation of our hope for his
reformation and progress. The prisoner
is still man and is thus one with us in
our divine humanity, having within the
soul the power and potency" of resto-
ration and high attainment. Accepting
this position, we are now ready to con.
slider how we shall treat tie prisoner in
prison, and how give him back to society
again.
After sketching various methods and
uses OF punishment continuing, the
speaker said; Make free use of scaffold,
whipping post, pillory and solitary cell
with the awful warning on its door,
Leave all hope behind, ye who enter
here" and you have tho easiest and
most direct way out of the difficulty.
But if reformation be the supreme OBJ
lect, with these other objects waiting to
lend assistance when needed, the true
Christian purpose of punishment, and
the only one consistent with the great
principles of our religion, will be at
tanned. The prisoner, held in the firm
grasp of the State, can no longer be
menace to society; and others, who en-
joy the outer world of sunshine aud
freedom, will be warned and restrained
by his fate. And then, in the darkness
OF his confinement and under the heavy
burden of his loss of freedom, as he
spends his days in forced toll with
meagre food, If he can feel the sympathy
and love of the community, not of one
or two who come to pray with him and
eXhort him to repent and turn to God,
but if he can be convinced that society
loves him, loves him with the tender,
forgivng love of the Christ, loves him
as bone of her bone, flesh of her flesh,
and is yearning to see him back in his
righttul place as member of her body,
enjoying again the sunlight and the
liberty and the opportunity of a free
man-would not this become the inspir-
ing motive for an utter surrender Of his
evil intentions and the strong resolu-
ton to become worthy to rejoin society
once more as a good and true and use.
full member
In conclusion, have only time Just
to mention the question of the reformed
criminals restoration to society. When
we have the ideal prison, and our ideal
Of reformation has become real in the
heart and life OF the prisoner, and the
time has come for his discharge, what
are we going to do with him? Is there
anything in the criminals career of
more consequence than his departure
from the prisong If he needs our
Christian sympathy and assistance while
in prison, how much more does his con-
dition when discharged appeal to all
that is highest and most generous in our
common humanity! If he is left to
himself and the world, what hope is
there that your patient effort for him in
prison will bear fruit in his after life I
Have we any means OF placing such
men in circumstances where right living
is possible? How shall they be aided
and shielded until their position in the
community is assured, and their ability
to stand alone is beyond doubt ? Here
will be the final test of our loyalty to
our religious principles, and our
allegiance to the Christ spirit We should
be able to welcome the prisoner back to
his place in the community with the
forgiving love and tender compassion of
the father in the divine parable We
should surround him with spiritual
atmosphere Of loving and helpful conf.
dcnce and generous care, giving him
every needed opportunity, not only for
employment, but for self.respect and
the respect of his neighOors.
The time is coming when the infinite
value of the human soul shall be no
longer an ideal prophesicd by the poet
and talked about by the preacher, but
the inspiring motive in all the institu-
tons Of State and society, shaping, and
softening and humauizing all efforts 10
educate and uplitt and ennoblc men.
Then our prisons and houses of refuge
and industrial schools will all become
places fer the creation of moral fibre,
supplying the defect of inheritance and
early training; and, rebuilding the
character, they will make new creatures
OF the enand women who come under
their care and protecLion--the dead in
sin and evil being born again to happy
useful, and pure lives.