The Talking Deaf Man - A Method Proposed, Whereby He Who is Born Deaf, May Learn to Speak, 1692 by John Conrade Amman
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page 9 of 35 (25%)
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talk one with another; for they desire to open the most inward
Recesses of the Heart, yea, and to transfuse their own proper Life into others, which thing cannot be more commodiously done, than by Speaking; for there is nothing which floweth forth from us, which carrieth with it a more vivid Character of the Life, than our _Voice_ doth; yea, in the _Voice_ is the _Breath_ of Life, part of which passeth into the _Voice_; for indeed the _Voice_ is the Child of the Heart, which is the Seat of the Affections, and of Desire. Hence it is, that sometimes we are not able to keep back the impetuous Motions of the Affections; but _out of the abundance of the Heart, the Mouth speaketh._ Thus, when we desire something in our selves, and yet are afraid to express it, the Heart labours like a Woman with Child, and becomes Anxious; but if we can pour it forth into the Bosom of a Friend, there presently ariseth great Tranquility, and we say, that we have emptied our Hearts: Yea, so full is the _Voice_ of the Life, which immediately flows from the Heart, that to talk long, extreamly wearieth us; but especially the Sick, who oftentimes can scarce utter three or four words, but they faint away. Therefore, to comprehend much in a few words, the _Voice_ is an Emanation from that very Spirit, which God breathed inth Man's Nostrils, when he Created him a living Soul. Hence also, _The Word of God, the Son of God, the Omnipotence of God_, &c. are in Holy Scripture oftentimes homonymous, or of the like, and same import. It is no wonder therefore, if _Voice_ be natural to a Man, though he be _Deaf_, because _Deaf Men_ Laugh, Cry out, Hollow, Weep, Sigh, and Waile, and express the chief Motions of the Mind, by the _Voice_ which is to an Observant Hearer, various, yea, they hardly ever signifie any thing by Signs, but they mix with it some _Sound_ or _Voice_. Thus the Exclamations of almost all Nations are alike; [_a_] is the _Sound_ of |
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