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With warmth she to her sister spoke,
But brought upon herself rebuke;
"One thing is needful, and but one,
Why do thy thoughts on many run?"

Lord, teach us this one thing to choose,
Which they who gain can never lose ;
Sufficient in itself alone,

And needful, were the world our own!

Newton.

THE MEANING OF THE WORD " AFTER" IN THE CHURCH SERVICE. ..

(From "Village Conversations on the Liturgy," &c.)

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Thomas.-There is one more question, William, that I should like to ask you." Pray what do you think is the meaning of 78 019p

"O Lord, deal not with us after our sins; "Neither reward us after our iniquities?" We cannot mean to beg that the Lord would have nothing to do with us after we have committed sin, and that he would never reward us after we had committed iniquity.

William.-No, it does not mean that; for that would be praying against ourselves. We mean to confess, that we have been guilty of sins and ini. quities; and, if the Lord were to deal with us according to our deservings, we should be justly punished: if He were to give us such reward-such wages as our iniquities deserved, we must perish; for "the wages of sin is death." We, therefore, plead for mercy, and beg of Him that he would not punish us according to our sins, nor reward us according to our iniquities.

T. I see it. After is a word, which, in old times, I suppose, meant according to.

W. Yes; and it is used in other places in the same sense. When we say to live after the commandments of God, we mean, "to live according

On the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb. 123

to them." The greater part of our Prayer Book is taken from Scripture. The above petitions are from Psalm ciii. 10. where both expressions are used; "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities."

V.

ON THE WORD "SANCTIFY."

THE word sanctify occurs frequently in the Bible, and the Prayer Book, and other religious writings. The following passage from Berens's Village Sermons, will serve to point out its meaning.

"You all profess, as one of the main articles of your faith, to believe in "God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth you, and all the elect people of God." Who SANCTIFIETH you? But are you sanctified by Him? The word "sanctify," you know, means, to make HOLY. Are you made holy? Are you attentive to all your duties to God, and to man, and governed by religious principles in all you say or do? You trust that, in baptism, you were made the children of God. But remember, that in order to be numbered among the children of God, it is necessary that you be led by the Spirit of God. And are you led by that Spirit? You trust that you are members of Christ, that you belong to Him. You are not His members, you do not belong to Him, unless you are influenced by His Spirit.'

LETTER IV.

ON THE INSTRUCTION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB. We cannot help expressing our best thanks to the writer of these Letters, for the very ingenious and elear instruction which they contain, on a difficult and peculiarly interesting subject.-EDITOR.

MY GOOD FRIEND,

I HOPE that, by this time, your dumb child has learned his alphabet on his fingers, and that he can write his letters on a slate. I wish you to try whether he is quite perfect in his letters. When you have a leisure moment, now and then, try him in this way. Give him his slate and pencil, making a sign to him to write; then shew him some letter with your fingers, and see whether he will immediately write that letter on his slate. Perhaps you may have been able to teach him to write, on his slate, a few little words, such as cat, dog, ball, hat, box, and perhaps you find that he wishes to learn the names of things, and that he brings you his slate sometimes, and then points at something, of which he wishes to know the name, that you may write it down for him.

If this is the case, you should always attend to his wishes, and write down the most easy words that he wants to learn ; but if this does not happen, you need not be discouraged, for dumb children are, as well as others, of very different capacities, and those who get on very slowly at first, will make a sufficient progress in time, if they are taught gently and patiently. So do not be in a hurry, only go on constantly doing a little. I advise you to get a little paper book, and, whenever he has a fancy for learning a word, which you can teach him, first spell the word on your fingers, and then do you copy it out, as neatly as you can into his book, with pen and ink. Every evening, make him read over the new words he has got into his book in the day, and at the end of every week see whether he remembers all the words that you have written for him in his book, and whether he can shew you the right things, when he reads the names, or if the things are not in sight, whether he can make the right sign for each of them. Be sure never to let

On the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb. 125 him spell any word, without making you sensible that he knows what the word means.

I have sent you, with this letter, a list of words, which you ought to make him go through regularly, in short lessons, four, or five, or six words at a time, just as you find that he is able to attend to them, and remember them. If your dumb child has a brother or sister, who learns to write at school, they would very easily teach him to copy these words on his slate, and then into a paper book. Before he goes to bed at night, either you or his brother or sister, should make him read over the words that he has written in the day, and make the signs for them, and try to speak as many as he can with his voice, in the manner I directed you before.

The signs, for the different parts of the body, such as eyes, nose, hand, and so on, will only be touching them in himself, or pointing them out, in another person. The same for clothing, or furniture, or any thing he can see in the house. Some other signs, I have told you of in my other letters, such as sun, fire, horse, cow, tree. I dare say he and you, will very easily think of any others you wish to make, for I have often found that the parents of dumb children could teach me about signs, much better than I could teach them. However, in case there should be any that you are puzzled about, I have added, to some of the words I have written, a description of the signs that I use for them in my school.

I hope you will have been able by this time, through the kindness of some gentleman or lady, that lives near you, to collect a number of pictures of animals, and other things, which will be very useful to you, for shewing your child the meaning of words. I think you will soon find that he will be pleased to learn the words father, mother, brother, sister, and then to add the christian and

surnames, thus father, John White; mother, Mary White; brother, William White; brother, Thomas White; sister, Mary White; and so on. He will also like to learn the names of his play-fellows, and he will soon get the notion, that all those of one family, have one surname, and different christian

names.

In my next letter, I will send you another list of words, and soon we shall get on to little sentences; but let us be "slow and sure.". And now I will tell you a few signs, by which you may make him understand the words, to-day, yesterday, and tomorrow. For yesterday I lean my head upon my hand, as if I were asleep, and then throw my hand back over my shoulder. For to-day, I make a sign of being awake, and lively, as if in broad day-light, and then point my fore-finger down straight for a moment, as if I was making a dot upon the table, or upon my other hand.

For to-morrow, I make the same sign of sleeping as for yesterday, but instead of throwing my hand back over my shoulder, I put out my hand straight before me, and point forwards.

1

In this manner you will be able, by signs, to talk to him about the time that is past and gone, the time that is now present, and the time that is to come; and I think the best way of making him thoroughly understand the signs, will be, by adding to them, the signs of something, which he knows did happen yesterday, is happening now to-day, and will happen to-morrow. Thus: William cried terday, point at William, make the sign for crying, stroking the cheek with two fingers from the eyes downwards, to shew how the tears run down, and make a crying face, then the sign of yesterday.

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William is good to-day; point again at the same child, make the sign for good, stroking the breast, and looking pleased and satisfied, then the sign to-day.

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