that stamps its real value. And here (as in many other cases) let us not misunderstand our blessed Lord, by taking his words in too literal a sense; let us not suppose, that she was in extreme distress, or that this was (to use a vulgar expression) the last farthing she had in the world: What would this have been, but thoughtless prodigality? The text should be thus understood: "For all these "did cast in of their abundance, what to "them was a mere trifle; but she did cast in "all the money she had about her, even all "that remained of that day's subsistence;" for such construction the original language will warrant us in putting upon it.

Benevolence is a quality so natural to, so implanted in, the breast of every good man, so strongly inculcated and recommended to Christians, in every page of the Gospel, that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to use any new persuasives to it, or to throw any

new

new light on this subject: I trust, however, that its high importance, and intrinsic value, will need neither brilliant language, nor studied declamation, to engage your attention and to interest your hearts. I purpose in this discourse, to lay before your view, the motives that men in general have always had, and still have, for the encouragement of public charities, and the strong inducements that must ever particularly actuate Christians, to the performance of this characteristic duty, from the example and the injunction of our blessed Saviour and his Apostles; and, lastly, I shall appeal to your judgment and your feelings, to assist in the support and advancement of the excellent institution now before you. The wisest and most profound statesmen have ever considered the real strength and security of a country, to consist in the number and industry of the grand mass of the people. Q4 Though

Though the lower orders (according to the decrees of Providence) are to remain contented in their subordinate situations, yet every principle of good policy and self-interest (putting humanity and religion out of the question), should induce the higher orders to support and assist them, in sickness and calamity. What master would choose to have a sickly labourer, or a crippled artisan, if he could avoid it? If the poor had to look to their fellows alone, for attendance and assistance, what a sad depression on the spirit of industry would this be? The pursuits of labour, the works of art, must often be at a stand; the national interest must suffer, the the national wealth must diminish, and the burden of useless citizens must ultimately fall on the public. Moreover, some medicines essentially requisite, some medical skill indispensable, may not lay within the reach of the ability of the labourer, or of the artist,

to

to procure; the state might by this means lose such members as the wealth of Ophir can never repurchase, and numbers maintained by their labour, must now be supported by the community. Another motive which should incline mere human wisdom to support these charities is, the very extraordinary manner in which medical science has been advanced by them. How many ingenious men would have been lost to the world, what supereminent talents had been buried in oblivion, how many useful discoveries had remained unknown, without the fostering hand, and the publie emulation of an hospital? The variety of diseases which occur in them, the chequered table of misfortune, are here spread both before the experienced and the raw; the bitterest stages of malignity are here softened, and even subdued, by the united efforts of skill and attention. Nor

are the poor alone the gainers by such op

portunities,

portunities, the rich also, liable to all the calamities that flesh is heir to, reap, at a price comparatively trifling, the immediate harvest of painful experience and gratuitous practice. If such are the obvious advantages of public infirmaries, is it not extraordinary that we see no such provided for the sick among the Greeks and Romans? The Jews, also, were notoriously deficient in these charities; they suffered their maniacs, their paralytics, and their lepers, to infest the gates and lanes of their cities, to expire with disease in their suburbs, to make their beds among the tombs. It was left for Christianity alone to find receptacles for public calamity, and accordingly we read this account of the charity of the primitive Christians: I shall give it you in the very words of an author, who is considered as no friend to Christianity, and I shall likewise mention the conduct of an emperor, an avowed apostate from it: "As long as the ❝ contributions