The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 329

organs were virtually wanting, two senses were sealed, two ohe.nnela of communi- ~tio~ wit~ the external world were closed._ '.fhe cas_e of t~is person, if not actually ldent1cal with that of a man deaf and dumb, 1s 11lustrat1ve of 1t. And oh, how great this .double privation I How difficult for those, whom God has blessed with the free use of all their bodily organs, to appreciate the privation of one who is deaf e.nd dumb I These twin calamities are, it is true, physiologically reducible to one. They stand related as cause and effect. Deafness at birth, or loss of hearing soon after, usually involves dumbness. Deafness is the radical defect, dumbness is its natural result. This man is said to be rcoolf>bs, which expresses the primitive want; while ,.o-y,>..d.>..os (the root is p.o-y, equivalent to ,...,, as in p.t1)(-8os, labour, equivalent to something great laid (6E) on one) expresses the natural and necessary consequence-the great obstacle to speech. This latter word, therefore, is wrongly rendered "stammering," and rather denotes one unable to utter ar_ticu_lat,e words. Hearing, like _sight, and as much as sight, is e.n inborn faculty; but speaki11g 1s a learnt art. Man of himself can utt,er sounds, and that is all, but not speak words. The latter he learns by bearing; but how can he learn without hearing, and how can he hear if he is born deaf? Further, in deafness the organ is wanting or defective; in dumbness the organ is present, but it might as well be absent, as it iii disabled and incapable of use. When the ear is stopped, silence seals the tongue. But, though the cause may thus be one, the calamity affects two senses, and debars the use of both. 4. Extent of this privation. On due consideration, it will be found that these "children of silence," as they have been called, are doomed to as severe deprivations as any to be found in the whole catalogue of human woes. By nature they are excluded from all those plP.asures which the ear drinks in and the tongue gives out. Nor do we refer merely or mainly to the melody of sweet soll.l'J.ds-to the thrilling tones of harmony, to the witching spell of minstrelsy, to the ,11pturous delights of music, as it is heard from the birds that make the woodland vocal with their notes, or from the itinerant musicians that stay for a few moments' space the step of the man of business, or cheer the spirit of the downcast; or as it swells in the concert, or sweeps so grandly in the oratorio, or is wafted aloft from a thousand voices on the open air of heaven. The deaf are excluded from other joys more homely, but not less hearty. They are shut out from the pleasant voice of childish prattle, from domestic or frien:Uy converse, from intellectual interchange of thought, from literary amusement, scientific research, or political intelligence. From all these sources of information, instruction, a.nd enjoyment they are by nature shut out. And here we come to the worst phase of their condition-the blank it leaves the mind. When sound is shut out, a chief entrance of knowledge is barred. The exclusion of sound is the exclusion of all that knowledge aud of all that multitude of ideas that sounds convey or suggest to the mind. 5. Contrast between the respective privations of the deaf and blind. We deeply commiserate the condition of the blind, from whom the fair face of nature is shrouded in darkness, whose eyes are never gladdened by the light of the sun by day or of the moon and stars by night, from whom the beauty of the human countenance and the loveliness of the landscape scenery are alike hidden, while "the shadow of death " rests "upon their eyelids." And yet the deaf mute is in a worse condition than even they. You can talk with that blind man, and tell him many things. He bas an ear to hear, and learns much from your lips. You can read to him, and he listens to the lessons of heavenly wisdom, or human philosophy, or every-day expe- rience, which you thus communicate. He is entertained at the same time that he lays up a store of useful knowledge. Not so the deaf mute; he is unimproved by all you say or read. Your speech does not instruct him, for he cannot hear. Books arc useless t.o him, for he cannot read because he is ignorant of sounds made visible. He learns not, for thus the key of knowledge is taken away. Deaf mutes are, therefore, shrouded in deeper than midnight gloom; they grope in a. "darkness that may be felt." 'l'hus one of the great inlets of knowledge is taken away; one of the main sources of enjoyment is hermetically sealed; one of the chief links that bind men in social intercourse is snapped; one of the silken bands that uuite men in intercommunion is severed. ThUB the deaf mute stands apart, and in lonely isolation from his fellow-men; thus one of the sweetest streams of human happiness is frozen up. We have thus lovked at the condition of the deaf mute of our own day, as closely resembling, if not quite the s::me with, that of the man that was brou 0bt to our Lord, as it is here ou, vu. 1-37.J 'l'HE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 327