congrès pénitentiaire international

— 46 —of need and the présence of the Almighty Christ. The divine |spirit is allied to the human spririt, as we seek the openings of |the prison to them that are bound. Now it is a good thing that j-you realize the association. You are in good Company, in the ï.company of the perfect, of the angels, of Christ, and you carry rhis wondrous promise. You will remember it was the angel that ;opened the prison doors long ago. It is an angel's work now, . :and as men go out to the relief of humanity, they go out in the 'divine company of the good and the true, carrying with them \the promise of an assured, inexhaustible help. We need againand again to realize the grandeur and the power of our work, ;lest we become prôsaic or even pessimistic in our service. I ;;remember not only with us but with the subject, there is the •promise of supernatural help and deliverance. Externel reformation ;does not make the man. We may polish the surface, but it is yonly the spirit of God that can break and transform and transfigure 1the stony heart. What the restored man needs is the spirit ofGod and a reformed life that is not superficial and does endure,has its basis upon the regenerated heart. The man that cornesto himself is the man who with heart and life returns to theFather. This promise is to any man and to every man. He, himself,is the image of God. It is the brotherhood of Christ, the enduringlife, the giorious estate of divine inheritance. We ail, of course,have read Charles Reade's "It Is Never Too Late to Mend".I suppose a great deal of our modem philanthropy findsits motivein that motto, which did so much for the reformation of prisons ;and prison life. We carry into the individual duty and opportunitythe power of his motto, "It is never too late to mend." pLégislation cannot make good citizenship ; clean clothes do not |certify a healthy body, but the indwelling of the divine spirit, |vthe touching of the divine life, carrying in themselves the power ; 'and the assurance of a clean heart and a right spirit. Into the : -imprisoned heart must shine the light whose rays melt iron \-~chains and give open pathway into love and service. i"Now, members, I speak thèse words because I recognize that |along thèse principles and in thèse hopes you are following yourChrist-like service. I congratulate you upon the work that is ialready accomplished. The day has gone by of the inner prison ,— 47 —of Paul and Silas, of the tower, the dungeon, persécutions, forthe disgraceful conditions of John Howard's day. Light hascome and we rejoice in your thought and service. I recognize,indeed, that before that door of hope obstructions hard and forbiddingromain, whose removal would hasten the transformation :( li The politician. Politics must come out of the prison andthe prison must come out of politics.(2) The newspaper whose embellishments and sad attemptsat fun-making concerning crime and criminals dishonor the lawand debauch conscience.(3) The open court which offends so seriously the self-respectof women and unnecessarily exposes to shame and further debasement.(4) The juvénile delinquent whose crime so often is not rébellionbut ignorance, whose need is not a policeman but afather, whose protection should not be stone walls but playgrounds,and whose just demands upon the community are récognition,éducation and opportunity.We honor men and women who give themselves to a servicethat carries in itself so much of déniai. You are worth more toyour government than a hundred Dreadnoughts. They kill men.You save them. This International Prison Congress is in realitythe International Peace Conférence. We invoke God's blessingthat through you and kindred Christ-like service there maycome, and speedily, the new heaven and the new earth whereindwelleth righteousness.