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"But, as it is written, to whom he was not spoken of they shall see; and they that have not heard shall understand."

The fulness of prophecy stamps it with the character of Divinity. Stretching, as it does, through a long line of events, and embracing, within its scope, not only the immediate transaction to which it more directly referred, but those remote occurrences which are unfolded in the progress of God's providential dispensations; it eludes in its development the keenest conjectures of the mortal who ventures too rashly to explore all its secret premonitions; while in its wonderful accomplishments, so obvious and striking when they have actually taken place, it demonstrates that it could not have sprung from any other source than the Omniscient Mind.

Thus many of the psalms which alluded more immediately to the mighty monarch who penned them and his illustrious son, have been seen to have a more important reference to

One mightier than David, and more illustrious than Solomon.

Thus our Saviour's woful denunciation of ruin against the magnificent city which witnessed His ministry, and sufferings, and death, bears also, with portentous presage, upon the goodly structure of the whole visible creation, whose final catastrophe is to be more terrible than the awful overthrow of Jerusalem.

And thus, we may suppose, the same prophecy which Paul took up as the support of his labors among the Gentiles, looked forward to events which are now passing before our eyes; and which are yet to pass, until all the inspired predictions shall have received their full and glorious accomplishment. For, if Isaiah, from whose writings the words of my text were originally taken, had spread before his illuminated vision the Gentiles of Paul's time, why may we not reasonably conclude that, the Gentiles, the heathen of our day, were also included in his cheering predictions? And as a portion of those heathen, is it too bold an inference to suppose that he alluded to the Deaf and Dumb?

"But, as it is written, to whom he was not spoken of, they shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand."

I wish, therefore, my brethren, while pleading the cause of the Deaf and Dumb, to call forth your charity in their behalf from the most exalted and encouraging of all motives; -- that in aiding them you are but carrying into effect the will of God; that you are co-operating with Him; and that He is pledged to crown your labour with success, inasmuch as His own prophecy cannot otherwise receive its accomplishment.

And it is already receiving its accomplishment. I do not exaggerate the truth, when I say, that they already begin to see, to whom he was not spoken of; that they somewhat understand, who have not heard. For it is a most singular trait of the language of gestures and signs, that it is sufficiently significant and copious to admit of an application even to the most abstract, intellectual, moral, and religious truth. On this point I was once myself sceptical; but doubt has yielded to actual observation of the fact; and incredulity can no longer urge its scruples among those who have become familiar with the Deaf and Dumb. Were the occasion a proper one, I should not deem it a difficult task to satisfy you, upon the acknowledged principles of the philosophy of the human mind, that there is no more intrinsic or necessary connexion between ideas of whatever kind, and audible or written language, than between the same ideas, and the language of signs and gestures; and that the latter has even one advantage over the former, inasmuch as it possesses a power of analogical and symbolical description which can never belong to any combination of purely arbitrary sounds and letters. But I choose the rather to place it on the more safe and palpable ground of observation, and of fact. -- No one who has conversed with the intelligent laborer in this novel department of education, himself born deaf and dumb; no one who has witnessed the almost magical facility with which he conveys, by his own expressive language of signs, truths the most difficult and abstract, to his companions in misfortune; no one who has observed the ingenious, and often subtle inquiries which they are prompt to make on the various subjects which have been communicated to their minds; can withold his assent from the acknowledgement of the position, that all important, intellectual and religious truth may be taught them by the language of signs, and even before they are capable of reading and understanding ours.

Do not suggest then, my brethren, that I call you to lavish your efforts upon a fruitless and unpromising soil. -- It has long indeed been overrun with the thorns and briers of ignorance; but help us to plant and to water, and under the blessing of Him who giveth the increase, it shall become like the garden of God, and put forth blossoms, and bear fruit, which may yet flourish with immortal beauty in the Paradise above.