sounds, which we call words, this was not sufficient to produce language. It was also "farther necessary, that he should be able to use these sounds as signs of ideas within his own mind, whereby they might be made known to others, and the thoughts of men's minds be conveyed from one to another." So that without words, men could not understand, learn, or teach any thing that was said upon spiritual subjects. And as "the mind makes words to stand for the real essences of things," it could not, in the absence of things without words, think, distinguish, judge of, or reason upon them; having no marks whereby they could be presented to the intellectual faculties. Whence the extent, and certainty of knowledge, has so near a connection with words, that unless their force, and manner of signification be first well observed, there can be very little said clearly, and pertinently, concerning knowledge;" that is, we could know nothing, be certain of nothing. "And were language, as the instrument of knowledge, more thoroughly weighed, the way to knowledge would lie a great deal opener than it does." Certainly; for knowledge is not to be had without the pro

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instruments, and means to attain it. And language being the only path to wisdom upon spiritual subjects, shews the force of the Apostle Paul's divine philosophy, "That faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Mr. Locke's own observations upon language, touching its necessity, and use, (the truth of which is tested by the experience of every body,) fully refute his observation, "That traditional revelation cannot communicate any other ideas than those derived from nature." Upon this opinion of Mr. Locke is bottomed the theories of all the antichristian philosophers since his day, and, were it true, the ground would be a solid one. To put the refutation of that sentiment beyond all doubt, and to demonstrate by matters of fact, that faith really comes by hearing the word of God, and also to shew the use of language in communicating new ideas, "not otherwise attainable, I will here state two cases; one of which is taken from those instances which frequently occur in life, of which the reader has probably seen many; the other is extracted from the memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, at Paris.

The first case I derive from persons born blind, in which there is an entire want of the organ of sight, but who en joy the sense of hearing. In this case the perception of light through the eye is entirely, and necessarily precluded; without hearing, or verbal description, it would be impos sible for them to learn that light existed at all, notwithstanding the exercise of all the other senses; but by it they can learn through instruction by words, and the sense of feeling not only its existence but many of its properties. For the purpose of illustration, it is proposed that I teach one of the above description of persons the existence of light; he is acquainted with the language which is expressive of the ob jects, and their properties, addressed to the other four sen ses. I possess the organ of sight, a knowledge of the properties of light, and the language by which they are expressed. The blind person has never heard the word light spoken. I take him by the hand, and tell him that there is such a thing as light; the word to him is unmeaning, the archetype of which it is the sign being insensible to his mind; he asks me what I mean by the name? for the first inquiry, after the name is given, will, of necessity, be after its properties. I, in the first place, describe it to him negatively; I tell him that it is unlike any thing that he has ever felt or conceived of. I then describe it to him positively; I tell him that I am enabled to walk, run, &c. by its influence, without endangering any injury, and to do an infinite variety of other things. I proceed to prove this to him; I lead him along difficult ways, which are obstructed by many obstacles, and of which I inform him before we reach them. In one direction I tell him is a fence, about a certain number of paces, which I prove to him by leading him to it; in another direction I tell him is a ditch, and which I also lead him to; in another a waggon, a horse, a house, &c. Then I start him off in a run through the woods, and, by leading him, enable him to avoid the trees, and to escape unhurt; after leading him through an intricate way, over hills, and through vallies, for a length of time; the thunder begins to roar, and the wind to blow, indicative of an approaching storm; I tell him that we must return home for shelter, and that, by the influence of light, I will soon lead him there; we accordingly

change our course, and after travelling through woods, over fences, and across ditches, we arrive at the place from whence we set out, which he knows by the furniture of the house, and the relative position of the things belonging to it, together with the voices of the persons in it, &c. By all these facts, and circumstances, the word light is not only established in his mind, but to this name he annexes all the properties which have been disclosed. But we are not to stop here; for he is to learn in addition to what I have already taught him, many other things relative to light through the ear, by words. He has been in the habit of eating fruit, and vegetables of different kinds; I tell him that it is by the influence of light that all these have grown; and that without it, if they grew at all, they would be poisonous. I go on still further, and describe to him by words the amazing influence of this light upon men, and birds, and the beasts of the field, in enabling them to devise ways, and means for their subsistence, and safe protection; and also the extensive intercourse which it gives to men who enjoy it, with distant objects, countries, and persons; as it is through, and by the aid of light that we not only see distant objects, but that writing is executed. I describe to him the great luminary, the sun, which is the source; and fountain of this influence; and also the moon, and stars, which reflect their borrowed light from him upon our world. I now ask the reader, in the above case, to exclude the word light, and the descriptions annexed to it by words, and to say whether all the instruction imparted to the blind man is not destroyed? And to say whether by leading him, and the words I used in my revelation to him, (for such all that instruction may be called which he obtained from me by the influence of light in leading him, and by description in words,) did not communicate new ideas, and knowledge to him? The existence of light is ascertained to him, and many insensible relations of sensible things.

Precisely of the same character, and influence are the revelation of God's word, and the miracles which were wrought, in producing, and imparting the knowledge to our world of spiritual existences, their nature, and attributes; and also in teaching inen the insensible relations

which the different objects in the sensible universe sustain -We learn thereby the existence of beings as insensible to our senses as light is to the blind man; and we learn a relative character of all things as unknown to our senses, as were the growth of vegetables, the perception of distant objects, &c. (which are the effects of light) to the blind man's mind. We learn that all the objects of the sensible universe are creatures; we learn their origin, and their several destinies; amongst which are the immortality of man, &c. &c. We learn this by the revelation of the determinate will of him who created them. Gracious God! how all-important is thy word to man! It is the light of the world, and the light of Life!

I pass on to the case extracted from the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences at Paris.

"The son of a tradesman in Chartres, who had been deaf from his birth, and consequently dumb; when he was twen ty three or twenty four years of age, began on a sudden to speak, without its being known that he had ever heard. This event drew the attention of every one, and many believed it to be miraculous.-The young man, however, gave a plain and rational account, by which it appeared to proceed wholly from natural causes. He said that about four months before he was surprised by a new, and pleas ing sensation, which he afterwards discovered to arise from the ringing of bells; that as yet he heard with one ear, but afterwards a kind of water came from his left ear, and then he could hear distinctly with both; that from this time he listened with the utmost curiosity, and attention to the sounds which accompany those motions of the lips which he had before remarked to convey ideas or meaning from one person to another. In short, he was able to understand them, by noting the thing to which they related, and the action they produced. And after repeated attempts to imitate them when alone, at the end of four months he thought himself able to talk. He therefore, without having intimated what had happened, began at once to speak, and affected to join in conversation, though with much more imperfection than he was aware.

"Many divines immediately visited him, and questioned him concerning God, and the soul, moral good, and evil, and many other subjects of the same kind; but of all this they found him totally ignorant, though he had been used to go to mass, and had been instructed in all the externals of devotion, as making the sign of the cross, looking upwards, kneeling at proper seasons, and using gestures of penitence, and prayer. Of death itself, which may be considered as a sensible object, he had very confused, and imperfect ideas, nor did it appear that he had ever reflected upon it. His life was little more than animal, and sensitive. He seemed to be contented with the simple perception of such objects as he could perceive, and did not compare his ideas with each other, nor draw inferences, as might have been expected from him. It appeared, however, that his understanding was vigorous, and his apprehension quick, so that his intellectual defects must have been caused, not by the barrenness of the soil, but merely by the want of necessary cultivation."

The above case, (which is analogous to many others that have occurred,) can leave no doubt as to the manner of learning things not seen. It proves, to a demonstration, that the first revelations of God, were immediate, and miraculous, and conveyed by words, and that they have been perpetuated through words ever since; not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth. As soon as the man began to hear, "he listened with the greatest curiosity, and attention, to the sounds which accompany those motions of the lips" (for before, he could discern nothing but motion,) "which he had before remarked to convey ideas or meaning from one person to another." In short, he was able to understand them by noting the thing to which they related, and the action they produced, which he learnt (by repeated trials,) to imitate, when alone. Upon spiritual subjects the motion of the lips pointed to no sensible objects, and of course he could not note the things to which they related, nor have any idea of them, until produced through the origin of sound by words, and description. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God:" through faith we understand that the worlds were

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