Let it never be forgotten a moment, that though community is in no _immediate_ danger from them _now_, however vicious, the time is coming when it _may_ be. They are not always to remain within those walls which prevent their annoying mankind by their crimes; their sentences are to expire, and then, virtuous or vicious, society must admit them again within its circle. Does not, then, the future peace and safety of society require their reformation?--Should they be sent abroad with hearts unsubdued and rankling with iniquity, what society, family, or individual would be secure? Like fiery serpents, they would scatter dismay where they fly and death where they repose. And from the very nature of vice, whose grasp is to acc.u.mulation, if they are not brought to reform by the means and principles of the gospel, they will be more hardened and desperate than ever. I say "unless brought to reform by the _means_ and _principles_ of the _gospel_." A mere _moral_ reform in such subjects is not to be hoped for. They have already demonstrated the insufficiency of mere _moral restraints_ to keep them from the commission of crime.--Nothing but the solemn motives which enforce the duties of _religion_, can restrain them now.
Their consciences have "swung from their moorings;" and they must be brought back and chained to the throne of G.o.d, before they who have been so long accustomed to do evil, will learn to do well. _Religion_, the holy religion of _Jesus Christ_, then, with the _tremendous sanctions_ which it draws from the _world to come_, is the only means left by which these prodigals may be reclaimed. And should you be the means of planting this religion in their hearts, you will not only save _their_ souls from death, but you will cause a wave of joy to roll more extensively wide than you have conceived. O! how many weeping parents and brothers, and wives and children, would feel the happy effect of your pious labors, and rise up and call you blessed.
And these sons of crime themselves, renovated in their moral natures, by those redeeming principles which you will have instrumentally brought home to their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, will, when released from their dungeons, go out among christians and unbelievers, rejoicing the former by declaring what G.o.d has done for their souls, and inspiring with solemn and heavenly contemplations the latter, by testifying to the faithfulness of the saying, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save the chief of sinners. Instead of scattering dread and poisoning the healthful streams of society, they will move along in the pleasing round of christian duties, living witnesses of the power of divine grace, and examples of the excellency and loveliness of the Christian Religion. Their houses will be houses of prayer; their evenings will be spent in reading and meditation, and their days in honest industry; and their places in the Temple of G.o.d will never be vacant. O! what a combination of powerful motives are here presented before you, to draw out the pious efforts of christians in behalf of prisoners; the motives of humanity, patriotism, and religion--a threefold cord; and may G.o.d forbid that it should ever be broken, or unfastened from your minds, until you follow the example of Howard, and bless with all the ordinances of the gospel, the neglected and perishing inhabitants of our State Prisons.
2. I would also urge you to listen to the cry of the captives from the consideration, that _they are human beings, and equally susceptible with others of all the improvements and pleasures of virtue and piety, on the one hand, and of all the degradation and misery of vice, on the other_.
No matter how far they may have wandered in the mazes of crime; no matter how deep they may have sunken into the horrible pit and miry clay of moral pollution; no matter how closely round them they may have drawn the sable pall of spiritual death; they are still within the compa.s.s of that holy and saving influence, which can _reclaim_, _elevate_, and _quicken_, the most hopeless of the human race. It is a blasphemous libel upon the grace of G.o.d to exclude, either _speculatively_ or _practically_, from its redeeming power, _any part of mankind_ on account of their _superior sinfulness_; for the faithful saying, which is worthy of all acceptation, is, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save the very _chief_ of sinners. Did he not confer the boon of pardon and salvation on a dying _thief_? Was not one of his most faithful friends, while he abode on earth, she out of whom he had cast _seven devils_? And among the bright stars of heaven which rose from earthly climes, does not the eye of faith dwell with inexpressible delight on _Mena.s.seh_, _Bunyan_, _Gardener_, and _Rochester_? Who then dares to point to any individuals, or to any cla.s.s of fallen man and say--_There is no hope in their case_?
Remember that he who came to seek and to save that which was lost, was also commissioned to say to the _prisoners_, "_Go forth_," and to them that _sit in darkness, "Show yourselves_"; to preach "_deliverance_ to the _captives_," and the "_opening_ of the _prison_ to them that are _bound_;" to lead "_captivity captive_," and receive gifts _even for_ "_the rebellious_."
In the broad commission which every minister of Jesus Christ receives, there is no limitation, no part of mankind are excluded; within the whole world and the whole creation, there is not a rational being to whom the Lord Jesus has not, with sovereign authority, and in the most plain and energetic terms commanded his gospel to be preached. And are not _State Prisons_ within the whole world? and are not their _neglected_ and _despised inmates_ included in the whole creation?
From the burning equator to the frozen poles, and from the rising to the going down of the sun, the heralds of salvation are moving in every direction. Burning Africa and icy Greenland, the east and the west, "the void waste and the city full," have all heard the proclamation of mercy, and the isles of the sea have received the law.
The blinded Jew and the bigoted Mahommedan, have alike, through the instrumentality of missionaries, seen the light of truth, and upon them the glory of the Lord has risen. And this same light which has shone through and dispelled the gloom of heathenism, which has played around the islands of the ocean, and thrown a ray of promise across the Mahommedan and Papal apostasies, has also found its way through prisons, and left a cheering brightness on the grates of a cell.
Unchecked in its progress, and unbounded in its ample range, selecting no particular field as more hopeful, nor avoiding any as more forbidding than another, the grace of G.o.d, like a mighty angel, flies across the chaos of this world in the means appointed by heaven, and finds mankind every where, and under every variety of circ.u.mstance and condition, equally and perfectly under its control. Differing indeed in their mental and moral habits and a.s.sociations, some possessing more lovely traits of character than others, and some distancing the rest in the race of crime; some deep read in all the mysteries of human science, and some so near the level of the brute as to render their humanity a question; mankind are, notwithstanding these complexional varieties, alike susceptible of the degrading and painful influences of vice, on the one hand, and, on the other, of the enn.o.bling and heaven-imparting power of virtue and truth. I care not whether the individual treads the scorching sands of Arabia, or shivers amid the drifting snow and icebound streams of Lapland; whether he sends up the Indian cry to the Great Spirit from the solitude of our western wilds, or kneels an enthusiastic worshipper at the car of Juggernaut; whether his mind is as rude as the uncultivated desert, or so enlarged by education that all the luminaries of literature and philosophy are revolving there, like the sun, moon and stars, in the firmament of heaven; whether his garments are rags, or purple and fine linen; whether his companions are dogs, or princes; whether his home is a dungeon, or a palace; he is still _a man_, possessing the _same sensibilities_, the _same instinctive dread of misery_ and _desires for happiness_, the _same longings after immortality_ and _delight in truth_, which belong _alike_ to the _degenerate family of fallen Adam_.
This proposition is abundantly proved by the results of that sublime and stupendous enterprise, which the spirit of missions has so gloriously struck out, and is so successfully carrying forward, and which looks with such a firmly founded and well built confidence to the conversion of the whole world. I rejoice in all that has been done under the influence of this benevolent spirit, and I sympathize with the friends of missions in those brighter hopes and more inspiring antic.i.p.ations, which contemplate a redeemed universe around the throne of heaven. My soul dwells, with expanding joy, on the lovely Edens, which the servants of the Most High have caused to bloom and smile amidst the blight and barrenness of heathen lands. I hear the songs of salvation sounding in the desert, and I bless the equal Lord of all his creatures for the means by which such praises have been called forth. I am glad that I see so much accomplished, and it is _this pleasure_ that inspires me with such impatient anxiety to see the glorious work advancing. It is because I have seen the effect of the word of G.o.d on heathen minds, that I want to have it preached in our prisons. It is because I have seen streams gush out in the desert, that I desire to see the waters of life carried into the cells of captives. It is because these wonders of mercy have been accomplished by appointed means, that I wish to see these means operating in our prisons. It is because these means have never been used in vain, that I confidently a.s.sociate with them the salvation of these servants of sin. And may I not add, that as G.o.d works _only_ by means, and in this department of His operation, only by such means as are specified in his word, I despair of seeing any great or lasting good effected in our prisons, till I see these means in employment.
3. Another consideration by which I would urge you to attend to the call of the captives, is, _that they are as perfectly alive to the influence of religious motives as any other part of unregenerate mankind, and to one cla.s.s of these motives, much more so_.
I am well aware that to the eye of unsanctified calculation, these giants of crime, these startling monuments of pre-eminent depravity and divine forbearance, present obstacles to the universal conquest of truth, and sometimes even faith itself becomes infidel. But remember that the work is G.o.d"s, and is any thing too hard for an almighty arm to accomplish? With equal ease He guides the zephyr, and the lightning"s furious bolt; sustains a sparrow and upholds the sun. If He wills, who or what can hinder? He sends forth His Spirit, and the boldest and most determined opposition prostrates like the reed before the tempest, or a bramble before an avalanche, and the tiger becomes a lamb in the converted apostle of the gentiles. If my chief dependence for the reformation of these far-gone offenders was turning on the pivot of mere human agency, my brightest hopes would darken midnight, and the combined force of every possible motive to action, would relax before the hopelessness of the enterprise; but when an omnipotent hand is at work, would not fear or doubt be equally blasphemous and absurd? There must, indeed, be Pauls to plant, and Apolloses to water, but G.o.d alone can give the increase; and as under his gracious providence, the rock becomes a pool, and barrenness is turned into fertility, I most confidently antic.i.p.ate the perfect and glorious accomplishment of His revealed purpose, to give to the Son "the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession;" to "deliver the lawful captives and take the prey from the mighty." The a.s.sertion, therefore, which has been so frequently made, that "the minds of prisoners are hardened beyond the power of religious susceptibilities," I am fully prepared to deny; and not merely from the force of this reasoning, but from my own personal knowledge and experience. This wide world presents no where more solemn and attentive listeners to the preaching of the gospel, than are always found in our State Prisons. For the truth of this a.s.sertion, I appeal to every servant of G.o.d who has had the pleasure of addressing that libelled and neglected part of erring mankind.
Indeed it would be very strange were it otherwise, for the very circ.u.mstances under which they are addressed, irresistibly dispose their minds to attend, with serious and affecting interest, to the enunciations of religious truth. Their souls are bleeding with the painfulness of a separation from their _nearest_ and _dearest friends_--their parents, their brothers and sisters, their wives and children--and from the sunshine and all the concomitant blessings of liberty. Their own sad experience teaches them, better than a thousand arguments, the truth of that Book which declares, that the wicked shall not go unpunished, and that the way of transgressors is hard. Having witnessed _one_ judgment day, and feeling the awful and death-like consequences of being condemned _there_, they think, with trembling, of _the great Judgment day of all mankind_, and of the _more awful consequences_ of condemnation _then_. And where in the universe can they behold a more true and dreadful representation of the "house of wo and pain," than is constantly before their eyes? To _one_ cla.s.s of religious motives, then, they must be peculiarly sensitive--_the terrors of the Lord must make them afraid_. They _cannot resist them_. Feeling as they _must_, and surrounded as they _are_, the truths of G.o.d come home to their consciences, _emphasized by their own experience_, and they might as well change their dungeon into a palace, and exchange their misery for the bliss of cherubs, as to resist these _sacred thunders_ of the Eternal, _thus awfully sounded in their ears_. With me this is neither idle declamation nor uncertain theory, for I speak from observation and experience, declaring only what I have seen and felt; and could you a.s.sociate my observation and experience with your own, you would believe my testimony. But you need not depend either on my declarations or reasonings on this subject; I am willing to throw the question into the scale of acknowledged facts.
Facts cannot lie, and we will view our subject in the light of those connected with the ministry of Christ and his apostles. As he went about doing good, who followed most cheerfully in his train?
_Publicans and sinners._ Who were the most remarkable subjects of his saving power? _Mary Magdalene_, whom he had dispossessed of _seven devils_, and a _hardened criminal expiring on a gibbet_. Why was he styled the friend of sinners? why did he declare the object of his mission to be to call sinners to repentance? and why did he rebuke the grumblers at his a.s.sociating with those who were reputed the lowest and vilest of the human race, by saying, "The whole need not a physician but they that are sick?" Because _sinners_, as they _most need_, so they most _feel their need_ of, and most _cordially embrace the salvation of the gospel_. And who were the first to espouse the cause of Christ, after his resurrection? They whose hearts had festered with _malice_, whose hands were red with _innocent blood_--those very men who had been the _betrayers_ and _murderers_ of the Just and Holy One. One fact more and I shall have done with this topic. Who is that furious and determined individual, commissioned by the chief priests, and, Jehu like, speeding his way to Damascus? The same _dark and wicked spirit_ who had _a.s.sisted in the murder of Stephen_, who had _thirsted for the blood of the saints_, and had _dragged many of them to prison_. The _same spirit_, too, who became a _chosen vessel of the Lord_ to bear his name to the gentiles, and _build up the faith_ which he had labored to demolish, and who, in the most affecting and solemn terms declared himself to have been the _chief of sinners_.
But after all my reasoning and all my appeals on this subject, there is one cold and sullen fact, which rises like a winter-cloud over my mind, and blasts all my hopes of success while it remains. It is this.
THE HAPLESS AND WRETCHED COMMUNITY FOR WHICH I AM PLEADING, IS COMPLETELY EXILED FROM THE SYMPATHIES OF MANKIND.--They are _thought_ of indeed, but it is only to be _despised_, and they are _spoken_ of only to be _cursed_. How truly may they say; "No one cares for our souls." This is a fact which cannot be successfully contradicted; but whether it is right or not, judge ye. How much of christianity it evinces let every one"s conscience determine. One thing is certain, it is not the spirit of _G.o.d_, for He commended His love towards sinners by giving His Son to be our Saviour. Neither is it the spirit of _Christ_, for when we were without strength, in due time he died for the unG.o.dly. Equally distinct is it from the spirit of _angels_, for they rejoice in the presence of G.o.d when one sinner repents. Nor has it any fellowship with the spirit of _christians_, for they are glad when they see the grace of G.o.d magnified in the reformation of even the most abandoned. It is also spurned away by the spirit of _philanthropy_, for the prince of philanthropists identified his glorious fame with the _prisons_ of Europe. Hearken then ye whose sympathies pa.s.s by the cells of merited suffering, like the priest and the Levite, on the other side, the misery which you _disdain to heed_ and the sufferers whom you a.s.sociate only with _infamy_, draw around them the _liveliest sympathies_, and the _deepest interest_ of _the whole universe of sanctified spirits_, from the mere _lover of his species_, up through _christians_ and _angels_, to the _merciful Redeemer_ and _compa.s.sionate Father of all_. O! then be entreated to bring your cold and limited sympathies to the fountain of Jesus"
blood, and learn to pity the sinner while you hate his sins. Let the sighing of the prisoners come into the secret abode of your hearts, and compa.s.sionate those whose hope is despair. If you continue to resist that voice which might pierce the _tomb_, and rouse the _dead_ into benevolent actions for the recovery of the lost, you will evince that you have wandered as far from the sympathies of unperverted humanity, as have the objects of your contempt from righteousness; and my only hope of _their reformation_ will depend on _your previous return to that holy sanctuary of purified feeling, from which you have so wofully departed_. Then, warmed with the pure and sacred glow of heaven"s own altar, you will be moved by the groaning of the captives, and either _carry_ or _send_ them the balm which is in _Gilead_, and direct them to the Physician who is there."
CONCLUSION.
My work is done, and I am happy. The task which I have now finished is of that unpleasant kind which few human beings have ever voluntarily undertaken. It has led me through wide fields of blight, in which scarcely a green thing has been left to smile. My path has been amidst fragments of moral ruin, where serpents of corruption have lurked and hissed. My canopy has been the beclouded past in which the sun, moon, or stars are seldom seen. I have heard the voice of man, but it has been in expressions of angry authority, or of uncompa.s.sionated distress. I have seen "the human face divine," but it was either transformed into cruelty, and sullen with a spirit of revenge, or distorted with agony and fixed in despair. I have shivered under the frost of death, and contemplated a thousand awful epitaphs on the grave stones of the soul.
Of the volume which I am now bringing to a close, I can say in the presence of my Creator, that I designed it as a sacrifice to benevolence; and I have labored to render it an acceptable one. I have plead the cause of the suffering sinner. I have opened to view his dungeon; pointed to his fetters--his bleeding back--his neglected sickness--his unheeded death. I have recorded facts; have argued from the principles of humanity and religion; have plead, entreated, exhorted, and prayed with christians to think of the captive, and cheer his gloomy cell with the light of the gospel. What more can I do? Nothing; and whatever may be the future sufferings of my brethren in prison, I am innocent.
In the course of the volume I have advanced the following opinions.--_In the present state of society, Penitentiaries cannot be very useful as means of reformation.--Cruel discipline will harden the sufferer, and nothing but goodness can ever win back a sinner to the love and practice of virtue.--Prisoners are criminally neglected by christians.--The loss of character is a calamity, from which the universal sentiment of mankind admits of no redemption.--The conduct of christians towards prisoners and repentant sinners, is directly opposed to the law of G.o.d and the principles of their profession._ These and other truths, equally plain and important, are to be found scattered through the book, and I submit them to the religious consideration of all concerned.
In speaking of the "_Prison Discipline Society_," I have used pointed language. Convinced that it is an _un_-benevolent society, laboring, _conscientiously_, no doubt, to effect the good of community, but in a way that will certainly multiply the evils it is aiming to cure, I could not use any other than emphatic terms to express my disapprobation of its measures. Already has it plunged the subjects of its discipline into the gulf of a most horrid despotism, and should it go successfully onward, its measures will spread over and carry through all our penitentiaries, the unbroken gloom and unregarded misery of the worst prisons in Europe.
In relation to christians and ministers, I have used language that is capable of being perverted. I revere the christian who acts on the pure principles of his profession, and such is an exception from the remarks, which I wish to have applied to mere professors. I have found many real christians during my intercourse with society, who have cheered me in the house of my pilgrimage, and to them my grat.i.tude is bound by the strongest ties. And in the ministry there are many whom I respect and love, and had all been such, the remarks which I have applied to some of that profession would have been quite superfluous and unmerited.
A remark which I have made in relation to Rev. E. K. A. may, if not explained, be misunderstood. I meant not to vote with public opinion against that suffering individual, but simply to state the fact, that community had decided against him, with a view to ill.u.s.trate an inconsistency in the conduct of the persons under consideration. Mr.
A. has had a fair trial, and the jury of the country has cleared him.
With that verdict I am satisfied; and I consider that he is injured, and the dignity of the laws insulted, by the att.i.tude of the public, and the conduct of many journals of the day. If the decision of a high court is not final, where is the security of any man who happens to be accused? Christianity is wounded by the conduct of Mr. A"s opposers, and they would feel the full force of their actions were they in his place. Whether Mr. A. is guilty or not, I am silent. G.o.d knows.