assures us he will commemorate with peculiar honour, even Upon the throne of his glory *. Let us patiently bear those instances of fretfulness and peevishness, into which under such a pressure they may be ready to fall; imputing them to their distemper, and not to themselves. Let us avoid every thing rough and boisterous in our behaviour, near the apartments in which they are; and let nothing be done, which might give the poor patient reason to sigh on his bed, and say, "Alas they do not regard me! they little think what it is to be ill!" Shew in all your conduct a concern for their comfort and happiness : Shew it, above all, by endeavouring by wise and pious discourses to lead them into the best improvement of their afflictions, and to form their minds to such sentiments and characters, that through divine grace they may be entitled to the noblest supports; those which arise from a sense of the divine favour, from pardoned guilt, and from a comfortable prospect in the invisible and eternal world; that so they may not struggle at once with the agonies of a distempered body, and a wounded spirit; but rather, As the outward man declines, may find the inward daily renewed +. And to shew how sincerely you are concerned for their spiritual, neglect not their temporal interest. If they are poor, extend your alms to them, and endeavour to procure for them such medicines, food, attendance, and other accommodations, as may promote their recovery, or at least alleviate their sufferings. It is what, I question not, many of you are often doing, and you now have an opportunity of doing it with some peculiar advantages; as you will evidently perceive by what I have to offer under my second general, the business of which is, II. To shew how wise and happy a way of expressing our compassion to the sick and infirm, that which is now proposed to us is likely to prove. You apprehend, that I mean our concurrence in this scheme for establishing a county hospital in this town, for the relief of the poor, who are sick or wounded; into which, in extreme cases, they may be freely received, and in which they may be properly assisted, without expence to themselves, or the families to which they belong. The very mention of this design might seem sufficient to recommend it to every intelligent and generous person; and I am sure none who have perused the printed paper in favour of it, which has been generously published and spread over the whole county, can be uninformed on this subject: Nevertheless, as it may be new to some, and others may have reflected but slightly upon it, I shall say something briefly on the head, and I hope a few words may suffice; since the scheme wears so beautiful an aspect, if only viewed in its first appearances: as well as appears so fruitful of good, when attentively examined in its remoter consequences. 1. You will easily see, that the scheme wears a very beautiful aspect, if viewed only in its first appearances. It promises, in its most obvious and direct design, relief to the poor in their sickness; and their case is attended with many circumstances to recommend it to our compassion, which have not yet been touched upon in the preceding branch of my discourse. What I have said before might be sufficient to prove, and one day's experience of our own might in a yet more convincing manner demonstrate, that sickness of itself is a burden heavy enough, though we languish upon beds of down, and have all the relief we can derive from the skill of physicians, the attendance of servants and friends, with every other additional accommodation which the most plentiful fortune can furnish out. What then must it be to bear all this, and perhaps more than this, in the want of all things! What must it be for a person, who perhaps found it hard enough to live when he was in all the vigour of nature, and His own hands ministered to his necessities *. to find himself under his languor, perhaps under his agony, destitute of medicines, destitute of attendance, and it may be, destitute of convenient food, with hardly any thing but inclination, in these cases no certain guide, to direct him what is so. Or if pressed with a sense of urgent necessity, after long delay, he calls in such assistance, and procures it, perhaps it is at such an expence, that his spirits are broken with the thoughts of the debt he is contracting, which either prevents, or retards, or embitters his recovery; and when it is perfected, almost tempts him to wish he had quitted the world, rather than survived under such an insupportable pressure. But so far as the scheme now opening upon us succeeds, this additional load of misery will be taken off. The patient will be encouraged to seek for timely assistance, before his illness becomes inveterate, the neglect of which is, no doubt, yearly the destruction of thousands: And when his case is so bad, as to require his being taken into the infirmary, he will be kept clean and warm, with convenient accommodations of food, physic, *Acts xx. 34. and lodging: He will be kept under proper regimen and government, which may shelter him, on the one hand, from becoming a prey to ignorant pretenders, whose chief merit seems to be, to sell diseases and death at reasonable rates; and on the other, he will be protected from imprudence, which is oftentimes more fatal than the disease; while according to the rules of the house, it is put out of his own power to indulge himself, or to be indulged by over fond friends, if such he have, in what would be pernicious to his health. In consequence of this we see, that many are recovered in such houses as these, who have long languished in their own, under tedious and extremely dangerous distempers; some of them, perhaps, after having, like the poor woman in the gospel, Consumed all their living on physicians, and been nothing the better, but rather the worse Facts impress the mind more strongly, than any reasonings unsupported by them. I therefore think it proper here to tell you, that I have made the most careful observations I could, on those yearly accounts of other hospitals which have come to my hands, viz. those of Winchester, Bath, Exeter, York, Bristol, and the London and Westminster infirmaries. Few of these have reached back farther than three years, and some have extended only to one; and I find on the whole, that we have an account of seven thousand three hundred and thirty, who are known, or supposed to be cured, and only of seven hundred and eighty-four, who have died, or been discharged as incurable: So that it should seem by this hasty and imperfect calculation, for such I confess it to be, that near ten patients have been relieved for one who has failed of success. I find palsies, dropsies, consumptions, fevers, leprosies, rheumatisms, cholics, stone, as well as multitudes of ulcers, fractures, dislocations, and the like, on the list of those calamities from which these poor creatures have been relieved: And it farther appears, that great numbers of these had been languishing under their distempers two years, others five, ten, twelve, fourteen, and a few twenty years; and this after some of them had been reduced to so low an ebb, that their admission was blamed as an hopeless attempt, yet a few months have turned their captivity, and they have gone out from those gates vigorous and cheerful, into which they were brought almost like corpses borne on men's shoulders+. * Mark v. 26. Luke viii. 43. + I am credibly informed, that at Exeter there has been an instance or two of persons, who on account of their extreme weakness were brought into the hospital laid in their coffins, who have gone out carrying their coffins, on their backs. What heart does not feel a secret pleasure at hearing such an article! Who would not rejoice, if even large contributions could be the means of procuring so happy effects! But it ought farther to be considered in favour of this design, that there is, in proportion to the good to be expected from it, great frugality and liberality so dispensed. For it is certain, as many have observed on such occasions, that a small sum thus managed will go farther, than a much larger given to relieve the sick poor at their own houses; as the same person may attend on different patients at the same time; and as the medicines and provisions to be used in the house may be bought at the best hand; whereas it is often, and I fear, too justly said, that the poor generally pay dearer than others for what they have *What is thus given is also much securer from being misapplied, either by the persons themselves, or by others, who might be base enough to make a prey of them.-Nor can I forbear mentioning it, as another most agreeable circumstance attending the charity proposed, that it often shelters the person, who receives the benefit of it, from the mortification of coming to a parishallowance; and perhaps of being consigned over to a workhouse: Which is generally a terrible sort of infirmary indeed, where we have reason to fear, there is seldom sufficient care taken to secure the cleanliness, the quiet, or the morals of those, who are so unhappy as to be brought thither; though perhaps some of them have lived creditably and comfortably in families of their own, have long contributed to the support of the poor around them, and have been at last reduced by the afflictive hand of providence, without any visible crime of theirs, or any remarkable imprudence. A state, which, when sickness is added to it, appears one of the most desolate and deplorable. which can be imagined: So that it is no wonder, the very prospect and apprehension of it should press, in a very painful manner, on an honest and tender spirit, and greatly increase *It has been spoken of, in the supplement to the account of Exeter hospital, page 3, as a thing universally confessed, that more remedies may be administered for ten pounds in this way, than for fifty in another. And the truly reverend and excellent Dr. Alured Clarke, whose memory will ever be dear to all good men who knew his character, says in the preface to his sermon at the opening of Winchester hospital, page 5, "If half the money that is given should really be perverted, which I hope there is not the least reason to suspect, there would still be more good done by it than by any other possible way of distributing to the necessities of the poor: So that every wise man would think it worth his while to exert his endeavours in this way, out of mere good husbandry to himself and the public." He afterwards adds, page 9, 10," It is well known, that several thousands are relieved in these hospitals at a less expence, than can be afforded for so many hundreds in any other way.” the force of any bodily disorder, which seems to threaten so sad an event. Reflect, christians, on such considerations as these ; and add to all, that you are the disciples of that benevolent Jesus, who went about doing good*, and who particularly expressed the tenderness of his generous compassion, by Healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people +. This was the calamity of human nature, which seems of all its temporal. evils to have impressed him most; and I am sure, if we have any thing of his spirit and temper, without which we are none of his, we must necessarily wish well to a design of this kind, if it were only considered in reference to those, who receive in their own persons immediate relief from it. But I am to add, that as the scheme appears thus amiable in its most obvious aspect, so likewise, 2. It will appear more abundantly fruitful of future good, when attentively weighed in its remoter consequences. The benefit extends much farther than the persons thus relieved. It evidently affects others of their families, who have that time and labour to employ in the business of their respective callings, which must otherwise have been taken up in attending the sick. It extends also to all those, to whom the patients themselves may be useful when recovered from their illness; whether their near relations and friends, who have any dependance upon them; or the public, who owe much more, than we are generally aware, to the labours of the poor, and upon that account are under great obligations to them, which I fear are seldom considered. Not to say, that in many cases, the very existence of those yet to be born may, under God, depend on such cures. I shall not now insist on the advantage which others may receive in their illness, by the improved skill of physicians and surgeons, in consequence of their attendance on such hospitals; though it is evidently a very possible thing, that the lives of very useful and valuable persons may be so preserved. It is yet more obvious and certain, that many other poor may be relieved in the respective parishes to which they belong, by that money from the parish stock, which must otherwise have been employed upon the sick: Or if, in consequence of being discharged from this burden, the parish rates be lessened, as perhaps in many places they sensibly may be, the subscribers of that parish are then paid in specie; and after the honour and |
