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our wounded, with a kindness of heart and feeling, and a degree of courage and patience, which would have done honor to the humblest and best Sœurs de Charité, or the bygone days of their own chivalry, when the fairest Dames were the kindest Nurses. SIR R. ALCOCK, Med. Hist. of the Brit. Legion, 1838.

Human hearts are an element of which science takes sparing account; but they are a real interest at work for good or evil. Man, whether rich or poor, does not live on bread alone, but by the love of others for him, the interest of others in his welfare; and that State could not prosper, however superior to others in outward circumstances, even though the poor as a class should cease to exist in it, where no kindly influence or timely aid bound together man and man, life and life, heart and heart. THE REV. E. W. SERGEANT, Sermon, 1872.

Charity, or tenderness for the poor, which is now justly considered, by a great part of mankind, as inseparable from piety, and in which almost all the goodness of the present age consists, is, I think, known only to those who enjoy, either immediately or by transmission, the light of Revelation. Those ancient nations who have given us the wisest models of government, and the brightest examples of patriotism, whose institutions have been transcribed by all succeeding legislatures, and whose history is studied by every candidate for political or military reputation, have yet left behind

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them no mention of alms-houses or hospitals, or places where age might repose, or sickness be relieved. *** Among those actions which the mind can most securely review with unabated pleasure, is that of having contributed to an Hospital for the sick. Of some kinds of charity the consequences are dubious'; some evils which beneficence has been busy to remedy, are not certainly known to be very grievous to the sufferer, or detrimental to the community: but no man can question whether wounds and sickness are not really painful; whether it be not worthy of a good man's care to restore those to ease and usefulness, from whose labor infants and women expect their bread, and who, by a casual hurt, or lingering disease, lie pining in want and anguish, burdensome to others, and weary of themselves.JOHNSON, Idler, 4.

Whatever might have been the sources of Medical knowlege in those times, the benevolent dissemination of its practical benefits, by the maintenance of public Asylums for the sick and needy, was altogether unknown; the ancient Romans, with all their vaunted civilization, not being civilized enough for this. The noble ruins of their "eternal city" bear witness to its former grandeur only: there are stately Temples to false Gods: sumptuous palaces, where tyrants ruled and reveled; vast amphitheatres, wherein the human race were slowly butchered for the amusement of a ferocious populace; and time-defying mausoleums, where

the remains of their haughty Patricians have ostentatiously crumbled into dust: but none which mark the sacred spirit of philanthropy,-none which were raised for the relief of suffering humanity. It was in the train of Christianity, that such Institutions sprang up, and in its train they continued to increase, wherever its doctrines were promulgated among men. The annals of profane history speak loudly of victories, of battles, and of triumphs: they abound with records of the dazzling achievements of arts in peace, and of arms in war: but the far more memorable, though less captivating deeds of universal charity, must be sought for among the records of Christian times.A. LOCHÉE, M.D., The Origin and Progress of Hospitals. 1842.

How rose the Building? — Piety first laid a strong foundation, but she wanted aid; to Wealth unwieldy was her pray'r address'd, who largely gave; and she the donor bless'd: unwieldy Wealth then to his couch withdrew, and took the sweetest sleep he ever knew.

Then busy Vanity sustain'd her part, "and much," she said, "it mov'd her tender heart; to her all kinds of man's distress were known, and all her heart adopted as its own."

Then Science came,- his talents he display'd: and Charity with joy the dome survey'd. Skill, Wealth and Vanity obtain the fame, and Piety the joy that makes no claim.

CRABBE, The Borough, Letter xvii.

Will the streams of Charity flow more largely in communities where the name of Christ shall not claim or receive honor from the mass, and where it shall be deemed a thing indifferent in common society whether a man profess himself a believer in revealed Religion, or the contrary? We must recollect this great fact that we owe to Christianity alone the Institutions which afford systematic relief to the sick, the wounded, the widow, the orphan, the lunatic, and which acknowlege and meet the claim of the poor to be supported from the land.- GLADSTONE, The State in its relations with the Church, viii. 36.

It is with pleasure we reflect that Institutions, such as the world never heard of before, for the permanent relief of disease and infirmity among the poor, were seen to have their rise throughout the whole length and breadth of Europe, from the new impulse given to human exertion at that blessed era, which first proclaimed "good-will toward men," and declared Christian love to be the test of Christian faith. From the reign of Constantine, as the doctrines of Christianity spread, the leaven was at work which gradually gave rise to those splendid endowments for various charitable objects, which are now the ornament of our own, as well as other Christian lands; and there have never been wanting those, who upon every fresh call, like the present, by the devotion of their time and means, have humbly aspired to walk in the steps of Him, whose glorious cha

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racter on earth it was, that "He went about doing good."-W. TWINING, M.D., Some Account of Cretinism, &c., 1843.

"The fees and profits ye shall have," said your predecessors, and their words deserve to be pronounced even in this sanctuary,-"are such as Almighty God hath promised to them that travail in relieving the needy members; and no other.". S. PARR, LL.D., Spital Sermon, 1801.

He has raised the dignity, and stimulated the practice, of benevolent acts to the bodies of men, by revealing a truth as new as it is certain; that at His Second Coming, every one shall rise again from the dead, not merely with the souls, but also with the bodies which they bore on earth. Thus the bodies of those who have been relieved by the hand of Mercy here, will survive as everlasting memorials of that bounty hereafter. * * *

Of such services the best encomium from man is imitation. Go thou, and do likewise. Their reward is from God. * * We trust, therefore, that they are not merely consigned to these perishable records of paper and ink; but are registered in Heaven.-C. WORDSWORTH, M.A. (Bishop of Lincoln), Spital Sermon, 1838.

"I hope the Lord will repay every one that tries to do good:" said a poor woman, a patient

under my care.

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