rs and servants of
Jesus Christ, have deserted their Leader, gone back, and followed no
longer after Him? Then again, God speaks to us by the _Voice of His
Church_. There is no asylum in the world where you will find so many
deaf people as at a service in Church. Their ears are open to listen
to the praises of their friends, or the eager talk of the market, and
the place of business; but the warnings of God, the message of Christ's
pardoning love, the threat of punishment, or the absolving word, fall
unheeded upon deaf ears. How often from that altar has the loving
message been uttered--"Come unto Me, all ye that travail and are heavy
laden," "Take, eat; this is My Body, which was given for you," and the
deaf ears heard not, nor understood? How often has the wickedness of
sin been proclaimed in this place, and the deaf ears heard only of
_another's_ faults, without heeding the warning cry--"_Thou_ art the
man?" And these people go through life unconscious of their danger,
just as a deaf man would walk along a railway and never hear the sound
of the advancing train.

Notice, too, that those who are spiritually deaf have also an
impediment in their speech. This is shown in many different ways.
When I find persons who will not speak out boldly for the honour of
Jesus Christ, who will not confess Him before the world, I know they
have an impediment in their speech. When I find persons in Church
silent throughout the Service, making no responses, singing no Psalm,
or Chant, or Hymn, I know they have an impediment in their speech: they
will not put their tongue to its right use, which is to praise God with
the best member that we have. If I find a man saying what is false,
hesitating to give a plain, straightforward answer, I know that he has
an impediment in his speech, his stammering tongue cannot utter the
truth. If I hear a man wild with passion, using bad language, I know
that he has an impediment, he cannot shape good words with his tongue.
And so with those who tell impure stories, or retail cruel gossip about
their neighbour's character, they are all alike afflicted people, deaf
to the Voice of God, and with an impediment in their speech. And now
let us look at the means of cure. They are precisely the same as those
mentioned in to-day's Gospel. They brought the afflicted man to Jesus.
That is the first step. If we would find pardon and healing we must be
brought to Jesus. The Holy Spirit leads the sinn