Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1916-04-15
WINpHAM COUNTY JAIL
CHAPLAIN ON REFORMS.
Churches Can Help in Three Ways TO
Improve Conditions, Says Rev. A. :.
Kinmouth.


A sermon was preached at The little
country church in Brooklyn, Conn, on
April eth, Prison Sunday, which de-
serves wide publication. The preacher
was Rev. Albert E. Kinmouth. pastor
of the Congregational church at
Brooklyn and chaplain of Windham
county jail. which is claimed to be one
of the best managed institutions in
New England. The preacher selected
two texts, Is. 61-1, The spirit of the
Lord God is upon me, because the Lord
hath anointed me to preach good It'd
ings unto the meek; he hath sent me
to bind UP the broken hearted; to pro-
claim liberty to the captives and the
opening Of the prison to them that are
bound" and Matt. 1886, II was sick
and We visited me; / was in prison and
We came unto me-"
His sermon was in part as follows:
The first text gives US the prophecy OF
the nature OF Christ's mission to the
world, the second shows what He ex-
poets of His disciples. Christ estab-
lished no religious system, formed no
organization, yet when His brief three
years OF ministry was nearly ended He
could look up to the Father and say:
II have finished the work thou gavest
me to do" because He had implanted
in the hearts of few faithful followers
new spirit of mercy and compassion
and love, and through them He would
infuse into all society the loving and
tender strains Of the beautudes. Oh,
the wonderful Christi There was never
such another sermon preached as those
few brief sentences which rang from
the mount, and not the least of these
was the precept BLESSED are the mer-
ciful, for they shall obtain mercy"
Christ saw the world then, even as II
is today in a state of putrefaction from
| sin. He said to His disciples as He
| does still to US: "Ye are the salt OF the
earth The love, pity and mercy
which will impart to you is the salt
| which will cleanse the worlds sore.
| Man has a fearful capacity for falling;
| but he has also grand possibilities for
| elevation Only the power of Gods
holy spirit can keep man upright. The
| source of mans deliverance is Christ;
| but to many that deliverance comes
| through human agents, through those
who have themselves touched the
| Christ and can point the way. 1t is
| the weakness of the church that it SO
| often loses sight of the value OF the
| human soul. 1t often spends it's time
| on trif1es and neglects its great mis-
| sion of helpfulness. of cheer and good
| tidings to the hopeless and the lost
The great lesson to teach the outcast
is that he can only find happiness
\ when at peace with God; and to SC
| treat him that he will want to seek
| that peace. This can never be ac-
| complished by harshness or abuse
convict ship Success, with its bar
! barous methods of torture. called pun
ishment, and of later days when, I'M
| der the old prison system, still in OPP
| Grafton in many states, solitary con.
finement in iron cells, inferior and in
sufficient food, the lock step, the
shaver head, the straitjacket, thu
lash and the dungeon have been de.
vised to repress the evil in the man
The reverse has been effected. The
good has been crushed, the evil intensi
fed by the resentment at the injustic,
of society. Illustrations were giveT
showing the hardening effect of harsh.
ness. especially upon young criminals
and the influence of a wrong system
J upon prison guards and wardens. TIL,
effect upon society is shown by tn,
| following statement: Sixteen Thousand
prisoners are released each year in TIL
United States, coming out diseased, re
vengeful and incompetent to earn al
! honest living, they drift hack int
crime, corrupt their associates and
more often than not, return to prison
a continued burden to the taxpayer
| Illustrations were also given of the so
| called new prison system, showing tina
humane treatment and the effort t
! raise the man or woman who is dow
! in the spirit of Christ is producing
! aided by the church in three ways: Il
| ministration work inside the prison
in keeping right environment arount
J the ex-prisoner, in moulding publ
opinion to a right attitude toward tn
prison and the prisoners. In all thes
ways individual Christians are calle
III upon to help