their being; witnesses better than all our sermons for the universal
bounty and tolerance of that heavenly Father who causes the sun to
shine on the evil and the good, and his rain to fall upon the just
and on the unjust, and is perfect in this, that He is good to the
unthankful and the evil.

And, therefore, the preacher can urge his countrymen, let their
opinions, creed, tastes, be what they may, to support hospitals with
especial freedom, earnestness, and confidence. Heaven forbid that I
should undervalue any charitable institution whatever. May God's
blessing be on them all. But this I have a right to say,--that
whatever objections, suspicions, prejudices there may be concerning
any other form of charity, concerning hospitals there can be none.
Every farthing bestowed on them must go toward the direct doing of
good. There is no fear in them of waste, of misapplication of funds,
of private jobbery, of ulterior and unavowed objects. Palpable and
unmistakeable good is all they do and all they can do. And he who
gives to a hospital has the comfort of knowing that he is bestowing a
direct blessing on the bodies of his fellow-men; and it may be on
their souls likewise.

For I have said that these hospitals witness silently for God and for
Christ; and I must believe that that silent witness is not lost on
the minds of thousands who enter them. It sinks in,--all the more
readily because it is not thrust upon them,--and softens and breaks
up their hearts to receive the precious seed of the word of God.
Many a man, too ready from bitter experience to believe that his
fellow-men cared not for him, has entered the wards of a hospital to
be happily undeceived. He finds that he is cared for; that he is not
forgotten either by God or man; that there is a place for him, too,