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Dialogues, Letters, and Essays, on Various Subjects; To Which Is Annexed, an Essay on Truth
Dialogues Letters and Essays on Various Subjects To Which Is Annexed an Essay on Truth Author:Andrew Fuller General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1811 Original Publisher: S. Swift Subjects: Philosophy / General Philosophy / Epistemology Religion / Christian Theology / General Religion / Christian Theology / Systematic Religion / Theology Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no i... more »llustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: ON THE PKOF. EB. A. N0 IMPROPER USJ2 OP TERUSr NOTWITHSTANDING the number of words found ia every language, they are far from being equal to the number of ideas in the human mind. Hence it is that one and the same term has a variety of meanings ; and hence arises the distinction between the proper, and im. proper, or figurative use of terms. The word abib, e. g. the first in the hebrew lexicon, signifies, (1.) verdure or greennett. Johviii. 12. (2.) an ear of corn on its first ap. pearance, being then of agreen colour. Lev. ii. 14. (3.) a month in the Jewish year, falling somewhere about March or April, when corn in that country began to tar. -- Here we see the progress of language, and the causes of different ideas being affixed to the same term. When a name is wanted to express an idea, men do not think of making a new one ; but call it by something already, known, to which it bears a rctemblance; and as this resemblance is frequently confined to one leading property, and sometimes to one that is not so, hence it comes to pass that the more objects a term is applied to, the further it commonly advances from the original idea. In mentioning the month Abib, e- g. a jew would think nothing of greennest or -oerdure, which is its true and primary meaning ; but merely of the time of his forefathers"" coming out of Egypt, and of the institution of the pass- over. Yet in arguments from the meaning of scripture terms...« less