The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-06-21 00:00:00

THE ROTISCHILDS.

The Economist, referrirg to the late Baron Roths-
child, remarks Thereis a fict about the honsa of
Rothschild under his control wiiich we have never seen
mentioned, and which deserves to be recorded. It has
done no mischief; and wh2n we 7ememberthe enormous
powers it wields, the deadly blaws it could, if so in-
clined, deliver to great banks, the temptation it must
sometimes feel to form alliances with particular States
or parties—to aid Vienna, say, against Berlin, or the
Second Empire against the Repshic, to have abstained
from mischief, and to have atted on cold, even if
selfish, reasonableness', is a very great merit. It in-
dicates the possession of the judbial mind. The baron
has never been accused of vagin; war with rivals, like
the great American capitalists or of 'making a re-
volution,' like a great F:ench ianker, or of entering
into vast speculations outside his business, like so
many of the contractorcapitaat of the great war, and
indeed, of our own time. He has been loaumonger
and banker, and not fighting fiiancier ; and to that
moderation in the use of his grat power some of his
success and not a little of his popularity must be
ascribed. In four great capitas, the classes which
possess nothing wish well to firm which, of all
others, most distinctly represent capital. That is a
very great proof of consummato ability in manage-
ment."

HOSPITAL SUNDAY IN LONDON.

The an.* ual collections in the churches, and in the
chapels of all denominations in the metropolis, on behalf
of the hospitals and Medical charities of London, were
made on Sunday.

To St. Paul's Cathedral the Lord Mayor went in
State. When the set-Vice commenced the congre-
gation was comparatively small, but as the ser-
vice proceeded the seats under the dome were better
filled. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Preben-
dary Burrows, vicar of Edmonton, from the Acts of the
Apostles, a. i v. 10: " Who went about doing good and
healing ail Who were possessed of the devil." The
preacher said it was a great honour that the Lord
required them to carry on the work which interested
Him during his sojourn on earth. The work of
of relieving sickness was the one in which the Lord
specially interested himself, and a great deal of his time
was spent in relieving bodily weakness. The work of ad-
ministering to the poor suffering people had been left as
a work for them to do, and he had to make an appeal on
behalf of the institutions which, in this country, did
that work. He trusted that this year an impulse had
been given to the cause of hospitals and good nursing by
the action of the Queen, who had specially distinguished
those nurses who had shown conspicuous merit in this
occupation. The reverend gentleman proceeded td
point out the advantages of hospitals for the poor,
where sanitary arrangements were perfect, the proper
diet ordered by the doctor was at hand, and many
comforts were provided which could never be obtained
in a poor household. At the afternoon service the
Archdeacon of London was the preacher. The col-
lection in the morning amounted to £6B 17s. 9d., and
that at the afternoon to £43 14s. 7d., making a total
of £ll2 12s. 4d.

At Westminster Abbey collections were made at
each of the three services. Canon Barry was the
preacher in the morning and Canon Farrar at the
afternoon service, which was attended by the Lord
Mayor and Sheriffs, and an overflowing congregation.
Preaching from St. Luke xii. 2L, "So is he that layeth
up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God,"
Canon Farrar directed a forcible appeal to the con-
science of the nation for an extended support to our
charitable institutions. He reminded his hearers that
whilst the wealth of the country had enormously in-
creased during the last century, the amoant devoted to
charitable purposes showed no corresponding aug-
mentation. The annual expenditure of London alone
reached £200,000,000 annually, and compared with
this the BUM raised for the Hospital Sunday Fund
seemed almost insignificant, the amount contributed
last year being but £24,500, although every religious
denomination was appealed to. In the complexi-
ties of modern civilisation- it was impossible for
the bulk of those who supported the charities of
the nation to find opportunities for any personal
share in the work of relief, and their efforts of kind-
ness being thus practically limited to gifts, he strongly
appealed to them to make the sum of their contribu-
tions worthy of the wealth and intelligence of a great
people, and not, as at present, indicative of iadif-
terence to charitable impulses.—The Rev. Stopford
Brooke, Minister of Bedford Chapel, Bloomsbury,
preached the sermon at the evening service, which was
held in the nave of the abbey. The morning and
afternoon collections together realised £196.

The sermon at the Chapel Royal, Savoy, was
preached by the Rev. Henry White, Chaplain to the
Queen, from the text St. John v. 2,3, 4. The preacher
said that all the miracles of the Gospel were also
parables. The "Bethesda" was the House of Mercy;
the Angel help in the House of Mercy was the
emblem and example of the blessed ministry
which men were charged to fulfil. The Angel
of Mercy was charged with a message for the
sinning, the desponding, and the suffering. Sin is
a tremendous error. The power of Christ to heal
sin was witnessed in His proclamation of mercy to all
who penitently accepted His invitation. He did not
weave sour philosophies about the depravity of human
nature, nor stand up as a denouncer of wandering
souls; He reared a "Bethesda" wherever He went,
and bade a welcome even to repentant Magdalenes
and penitent thieves. The Angel of Mercy was also
the minister of consolation to the suffering. On
this festival of the sorrowful it could not be for-
gotten there was a realm of pain and sorrow in
whicia thousands were dwelling—from which hundreds
would never escape save through the gates of death.
From that world the representatives of grief and in-
action and uncertainty appealed to all who were the
representatives of joy and strength and hope. Chil-
dren wrestling with mortality which they could not
understand, which they had done nothing to deserve,
which they could do nothing to alleviate ; young
men and maidens just crossing the threshold into
manhood and womanhood, stricken with some disease
the fruit of inherited depravity or of inborn deformity;
men and women in mid•career of life and duty
and responsibility severed from work and home by
some accident which might befall anyone on their
way home from that chapel these all looked
for mercy and succour from the hearts of those
whose health and strength were clear of disaster and
clothed with vigour. in olden times the Lord High
Almoner was a chief officer of State, in witness of the
high place which compassion should hold in the
governance of a kingdom. The claims of Christianity
rested not only on the truth of her dogmas and the
beauty of her worship, but upon the richness of her
charity and mercy. So that day was fulfilled in
London that "eleventh commandment," as Archbishop
Usher quaintly called it, "As I have loved you, that
ye also love one another."

At the Metropolitan Tabernacle Mr. Spurgeon
preached from the 11th verse of the sth chapter of
St. John—" He that made me whole, the same said
unto me, Take up thy bed and walk." The preacher
forcibly dwelt 'upon the acts of mercy which the
Saviour performed at the Pool of Bethesda among
the multitude of "impotent folk, of blind, halt,
withered, waiting for the moving of the water," spend-
ing thus the Sabbath in healing the sick and diseased.
Thus the Saviour had taught us the lesson that in
our hours of brightest joy—for such our Sabbath
should be to us—we should remember the
sick and suffering, and in doing so we should not only
follow his precept and example, but obey his com-
mand, "Minister unto the sick." From the words
which Jesus after healing the man addressed to him,
"Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee," it
might he conceived that the Saviour knew that the
man had been afflicted from the consequences of some
sin, and we learned from this that the true principles
of Christianity would not have us limit our aid to
the good only, but should be extended to sinners
as well, healing them first from bodily ailments,
and then urging upon them the duty of living
reformed lives, lest worst came upon them. The sick
man at the Pool of Bethesda had obeyed the com-
mand given him by our Divine Master, "to take up
his bed and walk," and we if we would in like manner
be healed of our infirmities and received as the chil-
dren of our Almighty Father, must be obedient to
the commandment to give aid to the sick, the weak,
and needy, of whatever class they might be, even to
those whom it was needful to admonish with such
words as "Sin no more." The collection, morning
and evening, contributed in small sums, reached the
total of £1.86.

At the Synagogues the collections were subscribed
on Saturday. 'lle average amount was somewhat
less than last year, but it is expected to reach
£l,OOO. At the Great Synagogue no sermon was
preached (in consequence of the indisposition of the
Chief Rabbi), but a collection was made amounting
to £250. The Rev. A. L. Green preached at
the Central Synagogue, and £l5O was collected. The
Rev. Dr. Hermann Adler, at the Bayswater Syna-
gogue, took as the subject of his sermon the narrative
of Hezekiah's illness and recovery. He cited a" case"
from a work of legal decisions compiled by a media‘val
Rabbi. A Jew had in his will bequeathed a le acy
'for a holy purpose." The rabbi, as authorized ex-
pounder of the Jewish law, was called in to decide the
specific application of the gift, whether to syna-
gogue, school, or charity, The Rabbi judged that
provision for the sick was the holiest of all
causes, and, in accordance with this decision, the
money was handed over to the hospital, or hakdesh,
literally " sanctuary," as it was then termed. The
amount collected was £6O, but it was anticipated that
additional sums would be contributed in the course of
the week.