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On The Religious State, And Instruction Of The Deaf And Dumb

Creator: Collins Stone (author)
Date: April 1848
Publication: American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb
Source: Available at selected libraries

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WE regard congenital deafness as one of the sorest calamities that can befall a human being. The decree of Providence that closes, at birth, the ear of an individual to the admission of sound, shuts up his mind in a cell, where scarcely a ray of intellectual or moral light ever dawns upon his solitude. The deaf child may exhibit the same natural traits of character as his more fortunate companions. Yet he is a different being. Not only is his knowledge of the world, of the history of his race, and of every department of truth, bounded by his narrow observation, but his mind is a perfect blank with regard to all the momentous realities which concern him as a creature of immortality. He knows nothing of the existence of God, of his own spirit, or of a future life. Probation, accountability, retribution, are facts of which he has not the least conception. If he dies unblessed by education, he dies in this utter moral darkness, though he has lived in a Christian land; though from his youth he has frequented the temple of the true God, or daily bowed around the altar of family worship. To open the doors of his prison, and let in upon him the light of truth and the consolations of religion, is a work in which every benevolent mind must feel a deep interest.

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The opinions that are prevalent in the community, and even among the relatives of the deaf and dumb, as to the amount of their knowledge of religious truth previous to instruction, we believe to be very erroneous. It is a matter of immense consequence to the deaf-mute that his condition in this respect should be correctly understood. How, it may be asked, can he be in absolute ignorance of subjects so seriously affecting his well-being, and with which those around him are so familiar? He is capable of reason, and evidences of the being and providence of God are all around him. How can he help perceiving that every effect must have an adequate cause, and how natural is it for him to feel the necessity, and recognize the existence of a Universal Cause! Has he no such yearnings after something better than his present experience, no such shrinking from an "eternal sleep," as to suggest the thought that there is a spark within him which is destined to the immortality he desires? Is there not such a pressure of obligation upon his conscience as to convince him, by evidence which he cannot mistake, that he must feel in another state of being the consequence of his conduct in this? When he stands by the death-bed of one whom he tenderly loves, and the look of intelligence fades, and the pulse ceases to beat; in his desolation, does he not understand that death does its work only upon the shell; that all that he loved in his friend has entered upon a higher life, and they shall meet again? Perhaps he is a member of a Christian family. The sympathies of the family circle are entwined around him the more closely on account of his misfortune, and he is peculiarly the child of many prayers. He has often been pointed to the name of God, and to heaven as the place of His abode. He refrains from labor on the Sabbath, and takes a posture of reverence in the house of God, and in the devotions of the family. Can it be possible that this child has no idea whatever of spiritual existence, or any of the doctrines of natural or revealed religion?

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To considerations like these, we have only to oppose the decided negative of facts. The deaf-mute is surrounded by an atmosphere of light, but the simple truth is that scarcely a particle enters his mind. He never reasons concerning the origin or the destiny of the beings and things around him. Indeed, so heavy is the hand of his calamity upon him, so nearly does it depress him to the level of mere animal life, so dead are the germs of thought and feeling in his soul, that the great facts and truths relating to God and a future state, which would seem to be the birthright and aliment of every rational mind, rarely attract his attention or excite his curiosity.

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A few years since, a number of intelligent deaf-mutes, some of whom had completed their course at the Asylum, and others who were members of the school at the time, were examined with great minuteness as to their knowledge and habits of reflection on these subjects, previous to education. They were fully able to comprehend the meaning of the questions proposed to them, as their answers show; and as these were entirely their own, their testimony can be received without abatement as the true picture of the moral condition of the deaf-mute, before he is enlightened by the special efforts of Christian philanthropy. Our limits will allow us to give but a single reply to each of the questions proposed; and these will be taken at random, regard being had chiefly to their brevity.

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QUEST. 1. Before you were instructed in the Asylum, had you any idea of the Creator?

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ANS. ''While staying at home, I was ignorant of God, the Saviour of sinners, and the Redeemer of the world. My mind was without light, like an idiot, and I knew nothing about God, immortality, power and wisdom."

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