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ever wiped away!"-But, this is not his voice. His lips are sealed up in the silent grave. You will hear him no more. You will see him no more, till you have passed these borders of mortality, and are yourselves ushered into the invisible and eternal world.

"Call to mind, my dear brethren, what you can recollect of his virtues. Imitate the meekness and the gentleness of his spirit; and, especially, the simplicity and the fervor of his prayers. God speaks loudly to us all in this providence, and bids us hasten in our preparation for death and eternity; seeing no degree of worth can save us, when once the voice of the eternal Judge shall call.

"But to you, my dear young friends, this is an unusually

solemn, speaking, providence; and to you, above all others, who have recently made profes sion of religion. One of the most precious and distinguished of your number is gone, gone to that world from whose sad bourne no traveller returns. His dust lies mouldering in a land of strangers. His spirit is returned to the God, who gave it. Are you prepared to follow him? Shall you meet him on the heavenly plains, when your spirits, like his, shall be unclothed of their earthly taber. nacles? He often wished it. He often prayed for it. May God of his infinite mercy hear his pray. ers and prepare your souls to meet him, and to rejoice with him in the regions of eternal bliss and glory. Amen."

SELECTIONS.

DEAF AND DUMB, CAPABLE OF INSTRUCTION.

THAT the deaf and dumb are capable of being taught, will appear from the following in teresting account of the success which attended the teaching of a young lady by the Rev. Mr. Dutens, which I send you in his own words, if you think it deserving a place in your very valua

ble work.

"Having never received any instruction, her opinions were not affected by the customs and prejudices of the times; she judged of every thing by her reason only she was therefore astonished at all she saw, and was utterly unable to comprehend the conduct of most of the

persons about her. She had hardly been four months in the house, when I understood her signs so well, that I could carry on a conversation with her more intelligibly, and with greater facility, than I could in any other language but my own in the same time; and having made this progress, I took singular pleasure in conversing with her. To me it was a sort of a study of the book of nature; and she, who had never before met with any one possessed of sufficient patience and complaisance to converse with her, evinced inex pressible satisfaction. She had many inquiries to make; and

her questions were so pertinent that they opened my eyes to a thousand things to which I had never attended, and which then, for the first time, appeared to me to be absurdities. I endeavored, as well as I could, to solve the difficulties which she on all occasions suggested; but that was not always in my power: and those which were founded upon her ignorance of our principles, gave me greater embarrassment than such as arose from her own reason. One day, for instance, we were reasoning upon the subordination necessary to good order; and from one thing to another, she led me, in spite of myself, to the Supreme Being, who governs all. I tried to avoid this subject, as too sublime for her capacity; but she possessed a natural logic, which never suffered her to abandon a question that she had not almost solved. She therefore gave me no rest, till I had explained to her the nature of the Supreme Being. I told her, that He is the author of all that exists: that it is He who governs the universe, regulates the course of the stars, and is the first cause of all that happens; who created man, sustains his existence, judges his actions, and rewards or punishes him. All this was communicated to her by signs, corresponding in her mind to these expressions; and she understood tolerably well every thing that I had said. She asked me, whether this Being was good? for that was the character which she valued most. I answered, "Yes." "Ah! why then," replied she with quick ness, has he caused me to be born deaf and dumb; me, who

never offended him? He has sent me into the world imperfect! He has never loved me from my birth; and I cannot understand why." It was impossible for me to lay before her all the rea. sons which might have satisfied her objection; but she acquiesced in what I said, and replied that since it was so, she was content, as all had their lots assign. ed to them. At another time, when the night was uncommonly fine, she came running to me, took me by the arm, led me to a window, and making a sign for me to look up to the sky, joined her hands, and entreated me to do the same, and adore the moon and stars. I was greatly surprised at this idea, and begged her to explain herself. She gave me to understand, that when her mother took her to church, they bid her join her hands, look up, and pray; and that seeing nothing above her but the sun, moon, and stars, she had imagined that the prayers were addressed to them, and in consequence of that had always addressed hers accordingly.

I assured her it was to that Supreme Being who made and who governs all things, that men offered up their vows; and that those objects which she worshipped, were the work of his hand. She asked, why he did not allow himself to be seen: I replied, that I would explain that hereafter, but that I first wished to enable her to understand me better; and I began to consider what means I could adopt to facilitate still further the interchange of our ideas. I applied to a professional man, named Baker, who by a method of his own had taught lady Inchiquin and her sister, and some

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other pupils. I saw some of his scholars; and was astonished at the facility with which they understood what I said, by observing the motion of my lips. They also answered me. Though not perfectly satisfied with my progress, I was not discouraged; and resolved to begin by communicating ideas to Miss Wyche. She was not long in learning to write; to her, it was, at first, nothing but drawing. I after. wards made her understand the meaning of words, by placing objects before her, and writing their names at the same time, shewing her that one was the sign of the other. She wrote fan, and a fan was brought; watch, and I drew out mine; feather, hat, &c. In short, every thing which strikes the senses was easily learnt. verbs as to walk, to run, to jump, to touch; and such adjectives as bong, short, straight, &c: all these required only the trouble of representing each of those actions or qualities, and writing its name at the same time. But when my object was to make her comprehend general and complex terms, I felt myself greatly at a loss. Duty, obligation or faith could not be expressed by signs; and I was obliged to find occasion for the use of them, in order to make her understand the words. I borrowed money of her, to give her ideas of loan, debt, and payment. I affected not to put faith in what she had told me, to explain the word believe; and by small degrees I increased her dictionary so much that in six months she was able to make herself understood, by writing, to those who were not familiar with her signs.

"My young pupil evinced the strongest desire for instruction. She felt that, by adding to her ideas, she enlarged the sphere of her existence. It was no easy

task for me to solve all her doubts, and to explain difficul ties which had occurred to her before she knew me. She fre quently recurred to our former conversations concerning God. She always testified the most profound respect in naming him, but as constantly wished to know why he would not allow himself to be seen. I told her, that he is present every where, though invisible to us. This astonished her much she considered a long time; and concluded by thinking the thing impossible. She informed me of her doubts; and I endeavored to direct her attention to the mental part of her. self; but she could not under stand me. I placed myself in the attitude of a man when he is thinking, and made a sign to her to do so: then touching her forehead, I asked her if she did not find that something was passing in her different from bodily action; if she did not perceive in her head feelings quite different from any thing she ever felt in her hands and feet. She understood, however, nothing of what I said: and fearing that it was her own fault, she became extremely uneasy; she entreated me, with clasped hands, not to be discouraged; and putting herself into the same attitude as before, with her head leaning on her hand, and her looks fixed in the air, she begged me to proceed. Still that day we made no progress. She wept much at what she imagined was her fault and went to bed in the utmost

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affliction. The next day, after breakfast, she told me that she had dreamed all night that we were walking together in Kensington gardens. I instantly seized that opportunity of continuing my lesson of the evening before. I made her understand that there was no reality in that idea, as we had been separate all night. She was convinced of this. I then wrote down the name of imagination, or dream, for what had passed in her mind during the night: she understood this perfectly, and immediately related to me all the extraordinary dreams she had had for ten years past. I listened to her with patience, delighted with having found the thread which was to lead me from the labyrinth in which I was involved; and when she was completely familiarised with the idea of dream and dreaming, imagination and imagining, I told her, that to dream was to imagine when asleep, and to think was to imagine when awake. She had scarcely seized this distinction, when something extraordinary appeared to be passing in her mind. She became absorbed in thought; but by her countenance, which was very expressive, I easily perceived what was the cause. I never saw any thing more inter. esting and more animated than her face at that moment. The ecstasy, the rapture that she felt, as she was suddenly struck with this ray of light, which illumin. ed her mind, can neither be painted nor described. She gave way to expressions of joy amounting almost to transport. At length, fixing her attention upon me, she told me, with an incredible VOL. II. New Series.

volubility of signs, that she per. fectly understood me, and immediately gave me fifty unequivocal proofs. She recollected all that I had said and done the preceding evening, and applied it most ingeniously to her present situation. When I perceived that she understood the matter clearly, I substituted the words to think, instead of_to_imagine when awake, which I told her had the same signification; and added the word mind, as equivalent to thought. She was not long in accustoming herself to these ideas: she shewed unwearied attention to all the operations of her mind. I afterwards made her remark the prodigious quickness with which her thinking faculty, or mind, could fly from one place to another, &c. She admired all this, and was greatly surprised that she had never before reflected upon it. She then understood how great a difference there was between the operations of the body and those of the mind; and she was sensible that there must be also a difference in their natures. These principles being thus thoroughly established, we returned to the consideration of the nature of the Supreme Being. I told her, that God is a mind, or spirit, but one of infinite perfection; that there are no limits to his power, &c. She approved what I said; and seemed deeply affected with love and respect, for a Being all powerful, and no less good than mighty. It will be easily perceived, that this conversation did not pass without difficulties: and that, on a subject so abstruse, it was necessary to employ all imaginable means to make myself understood. My

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pupil lost no opportunity of convincing me that she comprehended me; and I found myself amply recompensed for the zeal which I had shewn for her in struction, by the progress she made, as well as by the pleasure I received in tracing her ideas on all subjects. She possessed a natural good sense, which guid. ed her admirably well in all points of reason and justice; but she had so little idea of the laws of civil society and morali ty, that it was not easy to make her comprehend the improprie ty of any thing that was in opposition to her inclination."

Ch. Obs.

ON MAN'S SITUATION AS A SINNER.

THE inevitable certainty of death, the uncertainty of the time and manner in which each person shall die; with the mani. fold troubles and sorrows of life, the turbulency of the passions, the remorse, and terrors, and an. guish of the closing scene of wicked men, bear no faint resemblance to the confinement, chains, and tortures of a condemned criminal, terminating only in his execution. The miseries, which they occasion to each other, aptly represent those scenes, that meet the observation of such persons as are conversant with prisons; in which wretched men have little relief from the anguish of their own minds, except in reproaching and plaguing their companions in guilt; while the dissipated, sensual, and noisy pleasure, by which at times they stun reflection, and excite transient, turbulent joy, resembles

the drunken carousals of the criminals singing and dancing in their chains, and the infatuated levity of some of them even to the very moment of execution. But the believer has another prospect opened to his view; he is indeed a criminal, but he is pardoned and reconciled to his prince; a few days he must abide in his prison, previously to his regular discharge; but when the other criminals shall be led to execution, he will not only be set at liberty, but admitted to the presence and full favor of his gracious Benefactor, ennobled with the greatest dignities, and enriched beyond expression. In the mean time, the hopes and` earnests of such felicity support and solace his mind, and he knows amidst his pains and sorrows, that "blessed is he whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered."

The uncertain continuance of this vain life is the space allotted to us, by the long-sufferings of our offended God, to seek the reversal of that sentence which relates to our final condemnation. To direct our course in this im. portant pursuit, 66 unto us are committed the oracles of God;" "which are able to make us wise unto salvation by faith in Jesus Christ." Information, counsels, invitations, warnings, and promises, suited to our case, are there given us; means of grace are appointed, in which we may apply for every needful blessing; and especially the Holy Spirit is promised to all, who humbly de. pend on his gracious teaching, sanctifying, and comforting influences, and seek these blessings by earnest prayer; so that no man, (whatever his sins may be,)

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