The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-06-24 00:00:00

HOSPITAL SUNDAY IN LONDON.'

Sunda,y (18th) was Hospital Sunday, anti, in accordance
with' custom, collntions in aid of the Vend 'administered ,
under the Lord Mayor's presidency at tlie Mansion-house
were simultaneously-made at about 1,100 placeta vhirship of -1
all religious sects and denominations in the metropolitan area.
"It is far too early, to speculate. on the approximate result
of the (I,,y:s almsgiving" (says 2he Times of Monday), "but if
crowded tongregatiors, and collections mostly alvve the
average in the churches and chapels, may in some degree
betoken succel,s, there is no reason to donbt that the F4nd
of this year will equal, U not excel, any of the three Pre-
ceding collectiens."
At St. Paul's Cathedral, in the morning, the sermon
was preached by the Rev. Dr. Dyne, one of the Pre-
bendaries from the text "For our conversation is in
Maven, front whence also we took for the Saviour the
Lord Jesus." In the course of it he observed that
none of them could expect nor were they called upon
presumptuously to try to work miracles, but they were
bidden to take Christ as their example in all things.
To preach the Gospel to the poor wae not in its wident
acceptation the duty only of the ministers of the Gos-
pel, and so the endeavour to alleviate bodily infirmi-
ties, to heal the sick, to open the ears of, the deaf, to
give sight to the blind, as far as human art and skill
were enabled to do, might be forwarded not 'bnly by
those whose professional education and knowledge
qualified them or engaging in-such works, but also by
the contributions of Christians of whatever condition
to such institutions as the Hospital Sunday-Fund; for
which he pleaded. That day had been fixed for one
united effort to aid all the institutions which were
proved to be doing good work in relieving the variety
of bodily maladies and infirmities which were brought
by the dispensations of Providence upon the poor and
afflicted of the Metropolis and its suburbs especially,
but on many from all parts of the world. In conclu-
sion, the preacher made an earnest appeal on behalf
of the fund. The collection amounted to £59 7s, 6d.
In the afternoon the service was attended in full
state by the Lord Mayorand the Sheriffs, the members
of the Court of Aldermen and Common Council, and the
high officers of the Corporation, all of whom wore their
robes of office. Several of her Majesty's Judges—namely,
Mr. Justice Archibald, Baron Pollock, Baron Amphlett,
Mr. Justice Field, Baron Huddleston, and Mr. Justice
Lindley, with whom were the Common Serjeant of
London, and Mr. Serjeant Robinson, were also present,
and there was a vast congregation. The sermon was
, delivered by Bishop Claughtou from the text —" He
,1 that 'area not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he
love God, whom he hath not seen I"rhe preaoher
argued that the objection against belief that God was
unknowable was answered by the feeling that it
was not knowledge by which they could find out
God, but by simply entertaining in their hearts the
principle that came from God. There was one prin-
ciple by which they carried out God's own design
towards His creatures—it was His love, and where the
object that required its exercise was seen it at once
existed. The Bishop cited the cases of hospitals not
only as the creation of religions charity. but as the
proofs of that Divine law of compassion about which
he spoke; and, touching upon the ccience of healing,
he passed a warm eulogium upon the members of the
medical profession, taking occasion, moreorer, to ex-
press his entire unbelief in the charge of cruelty brought
against them in the matter of vivisection. He declared,
at the same time, his strong reprobation of anything
which could be.supposed to palliate actual cruelty to
the lower members of creation, and he concluded by
reminding his hearers that in this life they had iies
noble work of carrying out God's law of compassion,
while in that world which was hastening on there
would be no more pain, and God would there wipe
away tears from all eyes. The collection in the after-
noon amounted to L'96 193.; making with that in the
morning 156 6s. 6d.

the Chapel Royal, Savoy, the sermon was
preached by the Rev. Henry White, Chaplain in
Ordinary to the Qaeen, from the verse in the 91st
Psalm, "With long life will I satisfy him and show him
my salvation." He observed in concluding an admir-
able discourse, that length of day was no leas the hope
and reward of the Israelite than of the Christian. No
decre had gone forth from heaven to forbid the highest
perfection of bodily health to the pure and tranquil
follower of Christ. But sin had dulled and dimmed
the sensitiveness of their being, and they had entered a
realm of infirmity, pain, and suffering from which per-
fect health was excluded, and into which perfect
strength only entered slowly. The dwellers in that
world were at that moment stretched upon hospital
beds in ceaseless pain or despairing hope of linger-
ing' death. By some trifling accident which might
befal any, by some terrible neglect which knew no
fault in the patient, by some inherited disease, by those
and a thousand other accidents a company of men,
women, and children were ever enduring agonies which
it would be painful even to watch. The part of Chris-
tian charity was to carry to those desolate and despair-
ing sufferers every ease and comfort that gifts of gene-
roaity could offer. In the evening the sermon was
preached by the Hon. and Rev. A. Anson, rector of
Woolwich. The collection amounted to close upon
£7O, which may be considered to he excellent., looking
to the very diminutive size of the Chapel Royal.

The sermon at Christ Church, Mayfair, was
preached by the Bishop pf Carlisle, the Rev. J. J.
Nash reading the prayers. The Bishop took for his
text John iv., 10, 11, "Herein is love; not that we
loveth God, but that He torah us, and sent His Son to bc
a propitiator of sons. Beloved, if God so loved us we
also should love one another." The collection amounted
to £53 3s. 6d.

At the close of the morning service at the City
I Temple, the Rev. Dr. Parker said,—Hosnital Sunday
suspended all controversy, brought the whole Christian
army to bear upon one point, added a new pathos to
our prayers, and embodied the spirituality of our faith
in one great philanthropic act. Upon that day we felt
our unity as Christian communions; and on that day,
also, we felt our separation. Alas Iwe were still Con-
, formists and Nonconformists, even on that day of
special charity and self-forgetfulness. He wished the
Dean of St. Paul's had been preaching there that morn-
ing, and that he himself had been preaching in some
!pulpit of the Establishment on the broad and indisput-
able giound that humanity is unsectarian. The time
iwould surely come when on Hospital Sunday we could
thave an interchange of pulpits. The Established Church
of England was doomed so far as it was a National
Establishment. The axe was laid to the rout of the
•tree by a famous feller of thick timber. At this
moment Mr. Gladestone was whetting his axe which he
bimself made some 40 years ago on the books which
Mr. Macaulay so trenchantly reviewed. When that
tree had fallen the English people would understand
one another better, and would work in cordial co-opera-
tion for common objects. The collections, morning and
evening, deducting the weekly offering for the support
of the fabric, were devoted to the Hospital Sunday
Fund. The amount received at both services was £123,
from which the usual weekly offering on behalf of the
Building Fund will be deducted as announced.

Mr. Spurgeon preached morning and evening at the.
"letropolitan Tabernacle. In the morning he took his
text from the 29th verse of the 22nd Psalm—" None
Can save alive his own soul." The aim of the sermon
was to show that the spiritual life of the Christian
must be sustained by God, and drawing an analogy
from the body, which, if its strength and vitality are
to be maintained, must be daily supplied with food, so,
he observed, must the soul receive daily its spiritual
food from God At the close, speaking of the collection
which was about to be made, he said here were pot r
sick folk who would die unless they were carefully
looked after, unless the physician exercised his skill,
and the nurse bestowed her tender care. He knew
that many whom he was addressing were ready
enough to look after a sick soul, and he who
would look after a sick soul should surely look
after a sick body. He hoped they were not
of the spirit of the priest in the fable. A man, so went
the fable, asked a prieit to give him a crown. "No,"
said the priest, "I will not give you a crown." "Will
you give me a shilling ?" "No." "Will you give me
a farthing?" "No, I will not give you a farthing."
"Then will, you not be kind enough to give me your
blessing?" "Yes, kneel down, you shall certainly
have my blessing." But the man would not kneel
down, for he thought that if the priest would not give
him a farthing for his body, his blessing was not worth
having for his soul. And so a sick person might say to
any of them, "If you will only give me a tract, and
will not give Me-something to heal my
.body. I can do
without you and your tract." He truited that they
would be animated -by no such spirit, but that when-
ever they had the opportunity of helping the pool; they
would embrace it." In the evening no reference„was
made to the hospitals. The collections at both services
atiounted to £2lo—an improvement on that of• last
ytiar, when it was only £167 10s., but precisely the
amount that was realised in 1874.

/The fourth annual collection in aid of the hospitals
and dispensaries of Loud.. VD ...as in the Roman
Catholic Pro Cathedral; Kensington, at the morn-
ing service, consisting of the customary High Mass,
which commenced at 11 a.m. There was a full con-
gregation. The sermon on the occasion was preached
by; the Very Rev. Canon Macmullen, who took
for his text the words from the Ist chapter of St.
James, and 27th verse—`-` Religion clean and unalffiled
before God and the Father is this: to visit .the fatherless
and the widows in their tribulation.; and keep oneself un-
spottedfrom the world." These words, he seniarked, were
altogether in -accordance with the entire spirit and
scone of St: James's Epistle, the object of which,
indeed, might be said to be to expose all the pretences
and shad-ows of religion and to show in what the real
worship of Almighty lied consisted. Real religion•
consisted, of course,. in. pereenal purity and innocence.
of ife, but oV4r npd ave,,all in, works of active
he4eficende. They, -must all admit that this
was a very noble and simple and beautiful idea of.
the real worship .of God.. But they must remember
that,' the two things lifitig._essential ingredients of
iiractical Christianitt, the gne without the other woul4
profit them nothing. Active beneficence was a precept
of the Gospel obligatoffiipoti every one who called
hirbelf by the name of elitist. To speak of active
and generous charity as the mark of a true Christian
seethed almost to be a: truism, and it was very hard
indeed for or who were the heirs of eighteen centuries
•of Christianity to realise to ourselves the time
when there was no.such thing as public beneficence at
all. The -very word "hospital" which was in then'
thonghts that day was an especially Christianjdea."
The grelt empires of heathen times, though powerful
in all the arts of peade and...*4l:tAnd famous for tlieig;
intellectual superiority, mit,. yet' utterly" wantirm in
this:idlia of public 13enegbince. In Athens and Itune
noble cities as they Were,' there was not a singlit
Those who were rdistresSed, or weak or, infirm *ere
looked down UPOli told got rid of by the most sliitioeful
and inhuman means. Public beneficence, which , was,,
the characteristic', of Christianity_ in general, was not,
less characteristic of practical ehristianity.inthe 11;3-art'
,and life of each individual member Of the Chnrch.. The
sinaple and beautiful description. which the Holy.
;Gospel exhibited to them of the ,Viiblic life of
,their
Blessed Lord was that he wenenli;;33,it doipg.pi,od. He
.was ,especially attentiVe to the Miseries and eVen the
corpiveal sufferings of mankind, of which they had
Intily examples in-the-Holy Scriptures.' Applying
those remarks, the preacher o.bservd that hie hearers
.fvere asked in common with every Christian congrega-.
tion that day in London, to contribute on behalf of 'its
liozpitals and dispensaries, where the sick and the
" Lza