A sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of Hereford, on Thursday the third of August, 1797, at the annual meeting to the General Infirmary in that city / By John Duncumb, A.M.

  • Duncumb, John, 1765-1839.
Date:
1797
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of Hereford, on Thursday the third of August, 1797, at the annual meeting to the General Infirmary in that city / By John Duncumb, A.M. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/16 (page 7)
    thing of a numerous herd of inferior affailants—and it will not fall by your force.”* Amongft other happy improvements, the firft: public inftitutions for the relief of the poor in cafes of illnefs or accident, date their origin from the in- trodu£tion of Chriftianity: nor is it unreafonable to fuppofe, that our Saviour’s narrative of the com- paffionate Samaritan might have contributed to fuggeft and promote thefe truly charitable eftablifh- ments. The Temple of Thefeus, at Athens, in affording a fan&uary for diftrefs of a different na¬ ture, perhaps approached the neareft to foundations of this kind before the Chriftian sera. But if Greece and Rome excelled in the fplendor of their public edifices, later ages have the fatisfadtion of exceed¬ ing them, in the purpofes to which they are applied,- and as long as the prefervation of mankind is deemed fuperior to their deftru£tion, the Temple of Mars muff not be compared with the Afylumfor fuffering humanity. Wherever the Chriftian doc¬ trines have been taught and received, thefe inftitu¬ tions have been eftabliftied with fuccels. <c Bene¬ volence has ever been the diftinguifhing charadleriftic of Chriftianity, as oppofed to every other denomi¬ nation of men—Jews, Mahometans, or Pagans: In the times of the Apoftles, and in the firft ages of Chriftianity, it fhewed itfelf in voluntary contri¬ butions for the relief of the poor and perfecuted, * Bilhop Watfon’s Reply to Paine’s Age of Reafon, p.335. the