Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 456

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Defense of an Essay, &c.

AUG.

ticable."

The fact here brought forward by Dr. Legge is that the word God may in English be used either with or without the article, and the inference he draws from it is, that it is an appellative noun of the class called relative, and not of the class called absolute. I state the matter in this way to avoid logomachy, for Dr. L. says in his Essay, “it is universally conceded that God is not a proper name;" and "Gramma- rians divide all nouns into two classes, which are now generally de- nominated proper and common; formerly, common nouns were called appellatives, and they include all nouns which are not proper ;" and that "a relative term may be as much an appellative as a generic term." He can therefore, only mean to affirm, that the individuals who have this common name are classed together under this appellative, because they sustain, or are supposed to sustain, a relationship towards men, which is common to them all, and not because of their possess- ing a being supposed to possess certain attributes or natural qualities, which are common to them all. What is there, then, in the known rules with respect to the use of the English article, that makes its use or non-use, a proper test for deciding such a question as this? Proper nouns designate beings in a definite manner, so that there is no need of any sign to point out the particular individuals, to which they are applied. Appellative nouns" (relative or absolute) “on the contrary, being common to all the individuals of the same species, when we wish to apply them to a single individual, or a certain num- ber of individuals of this species, or lastly to the whole species, it is of use to employ particular signs to indicate these various applica- tions." "The words, which serve to determine the extension of ap- pellative nouns, are denominated Articles.”

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Hence Dr. Legge, from his first example, “God made the world,” might infer that as the word God here designates a given being so definitely, “that there is no need of any sign to point out the particu- lar individual to whom it is applied," it must be a proper name; but he admits "it is universally conceded that God is not a proper name;" and this conclusion would be shown to be incorrect by his 2d, 3d and 4th examples of the use of the word. These last examples prove, be- yond a doubt, that the word is used as an appellative, but give not the slightest hint, as to whether the beings comprehended under this common appellation, were so called because of their sustaining rela- tionships, or possessing attributes common to them all. Dr. Legge admits that the word man, as well as the word God, may be used in these four constructions; e. g. "man built the house, a man built the house, the man built the house, men built the house;" but this does