force in the world-a love that could tenderly share the darkened
outlook as well as minister to all the needs of such as these.

The compassion of the Christ reached and lifted the hopeless heart
of suffering humanity as His touch soothed the torturing agony of
disease and brought hope and healing into a world hardened to pain.

It released a power the beneficence and helpfulness of which
increase year by year as science adds to its ability, and a growing
sense of responsibility widens its use.

The Christian era ushered in the day of hope for the sick-poor--a
day that has progressed steadily, to an ever-enlarging vision of
what was in the heart of Christ for the healing of the nations.

Ancient writers tell us of some efforts in pre-Christian days
toward the institutional care of the sick. The earliest records
mention the treatment of the sick in the Greek temples of Aesculapius
in 1134 B.C.; these were probably not for the poor. Seneca very
much later refers to the infirmaries established by the Romans for
the well-to-do classes.

In 226 B.C., the Buddhists in India are credited with some small
efforts to provide for the sick poor, as are also later the fire
worshipers of Persia.

"When the example and teachings of Christ began to bear fruit, and
when Jerusalem and the roads approaching it began to be crowded
with pilgrims, special accommodations for the use of the sick were
established. When monasteries and convents followed, they too,