46b SOUTH DEVON AND EAST 



the ruins of Rome, and the excavations of Pompeii, 

 where shall we find the remains of one building 

 raised as a refuge for wretchedness and want, a 

 retreat for misfortune or misery, an asylum for the 

 sick, the maniac, or the fatherless ? — No provision 

 for the poor and needy and him that had no helper, 

 no hospital where the friendless and outcast could 

 find the hand of skill ready to allay the fever's burn- 

 ing thirst, — to apply the healing balm to the wounded 

 flesh, — to clear the eye from its filmy curtain, or to 

 unlock the avenues of hearing, and admit once more 

 to the closed porches of the ear the grateful vibra- 

 tions of sound. None of these structures were found 

 in the street of the most opulent, the most polished, 

 the most distinguished cities of antiquity — habita- 

 tions of cruelty they had in abundance, but not one 

 Bethesda, not one house of mercy, established in the 

 spirit of his religion who came "not to destroy 

 men's lives but to save them." (Luke, ix., 56,) 



In some portion of that divine spirit we humbly 

 hope that the South Devon and East Cornwall 

 Hospital has been undertaken, in happy and well- 

 deviled union with its honored and long valued ])re- 

 decessor the Plymouth Public Dispensary. In such 

 circumstances and on such an occasion, the preacher 

 feels that not a few of the difficulties arising from 

 the importance of the office assigned to him, are re- 

 moved by the nature of the object which he is called 

 upon to commend to your hearts and hands as men 

 and Christians. The liberality already shown by so 

 many is a sufficient pledge that they will not be 

 wanting to aid the progress of that work, which their 

 munificence has enabled the directors to begin. Nor 

 will others fail to follow their worthy example, ac- 

 cording to the ability which God giveth. Your 

 preacher can have no difficulty in commending such 

 an institution as the present to your Christian su])- 

 port. It contemplates no disputed object. Com- 

 pelled as we may feel ourselves to differ in opinion 

 on some other occasions, from those whom we esteem, 



