ABSTRACT
Many of the spiritual reformists of the 1840s and 1850s were aware that the mere spoken word, however passionately delivered, was not sufficient in itself to effect the kind of penetration of heart and mind which was desired. In the prison, therefore, ‘the gospel with its precepts, its warnings, and its promises must be not only taught in letter but applied in its spirit’ so that ‘a tribunal in the heart’ would be erected by which the prisoner would judge all his own actions henceforth, not merely ceasing to do evil but learning to love good and follow in the footsteps of Christ. The central actor in this drama of spiritual resurrection, the prison chaplain, was thus enabled to take his true place as a ‘messenger of peace, a mediator between repentance and heaven’, exhibiting ‘a wonderful power in kindness’. To spiritual reformists, the patient cellular discussions were particularly important because they provided clues to the best treatment for offenders within prisons.
