CORNWALL HOSPITAL. 149 



wants of mankind have sprung from a different 

 source. Christians are taught to feel for one another 

 as children of the same heavenly Father — as members 

 of him of whom the whole family in heaven is named. 

 (Eph., iii., 15.) Since that memorable period, indi- 

 vidual charity has taken a wider range ; that which 

 never could have been accomplished by the most 

 zealous efforts of one, has been wisely undertaken 

 and successfully achieved by the combination of 

 many J in labours of love, too arduous for the powers 

 of single-handed benevolence. The truth and divine 

 origin of the Christian dispensation, was established 

 by miracles of mercy and loving kindness, and by 

 those of healing more frequently than by any other. 

 The first apostles of Christianity received a com- 

 mission to heal the sick as well as to preach the 

 gospel ; and when the working of miracles was no 

 longer necessary for the establishment of the faith of 

 Christ and of God, the holy principle of Christian 

 sympathy was still exercised in attempts to soothe 

 the sorrows and to relieve the distresses of mankind. 

 Hospitals and similar institutions for the relief of the 

 sick, honorably distinguish the Christian sera in the 

 history of the world. Nothing of the kind belongs 

 to heathenism, and the first notice of any such insti- 

 tution throughout the vast Roman empire, occurs 

 not till after the doctrines of Christ,~the creed of 

 compassion, had been preached from the Indus to 

 the Atlantic, from the islands of Britain to the girdle 

 of the globe. 



Wherever the Roman planted his conquering 

 eagle, he left traces of the greatness, the power, and 

 magnificence of the imperial nation. Their capital 

 still remains a city of wonders. Gorgeous buildings 

 for savage sports, prove that no cost was spared to 

 destroy men's lives. The Flavian Amphitheatre still 

 rears its colossal arcades, and outlives the wars and 

 the wasting of 1800 years. Temples, palaces, 

 bridges, and aqueducts, still attest the enterprise 

 and splendour of that victorious people. But amidst 



