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He enters upon the duty which has thus devolved upon him, not reluctantly, yet with diffidence and solicitude, principally fearing that the cause of the deaf and dumb may suffer, and yet hoping that God, in whose hands the feeblest instruments are strong, will deign to make our meditations not only productive of benefit to the unfortunate objects of our pity, but of eternal good to our own souls. And, my friends, how soon would the apologies of the speaker, and the implored candour of his hearers, pass into forgetfulness, could we feel that we are in the presence of Almighty God, and that the awful destinies of our immortal existence are connected with the events of this passing hour. May the Spirit of Grace impress these truths upon our hearts, while we take as the guide of our thoughts that portion of scripture which is contained in the
35th chapter of Isaiah, and the 5th and 6th verses.
"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert."
These words depict a part of the visions of futurity which gladdened the eye of Isaiah, and irradiate his writings with so cheering a lustre, that he has been called "the evangelical prophet." His predictions are assuming in our day, some of their most glorious forms of fulfilment. For although they had a more direct reference to the time of our Saviour, by whose miraculous energy, the ears of the deaf were opened, and the tongue of the dumb loosened, yet, without doubt, as might be proved from the general scope and tenour of the prophetic writings, they equally allude to the universal diffusion of the gospel in these latter ages of the church, and to its happy influence upon the hearts of all mankind. The same Saviour, who went about doing good, is also the Lord of this lower creation. He once performed the acts of his kindness by the mere word of his power; he now is mindful of the necessitous, and makes provision for them, through the medium of his providential dispensa-
