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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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eacious , and sublime method , which , being introduced by God ' s own ? inspired agents , eveu among Jewish and Pagan converts , must be sufficient for those who have not been trained in the burdensome ritual of the former , or horrid ceremonies of the latter ; which , in fact , coming from such a source , must be the best . I remain a man of do party , a member of no church , and , 1 need scarcely add , No Foe to Innovation .
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Miscellaneous Cotrwtphndence . 559
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An Important ^ Simplification in Greek Grammar . The study of the Greek language is making a gradual but certain progress among us towards occupying such a place in general edncation as has never heretofore been allotted to it . There are
moreover weighty reasons which may assure us that this arises , not from the fashion of a particular age or country , but that it forms a part of that grand progress of impiovement throughout the human race which it is manifestly our happiness to witness , and which is destined , we cannot doubt , to be co-extensive with the globe , and to reach the utmost limits of time . It is reasonable to
expect that the progress of religion , virtue , and knowledge , will gradually tend , in some good measure , to repeal that decree of the confusion of tongues , which the commencement of the destined ages of idolatry , ignorance , and vice , called down on the builders of Babel . As nations become virtuous and wise , peaceable and useful intercourse Will be multiplied among them ; and that which facilitates such intercourse will of course be held
in esteem . And although there may be no sufficient reason to think that common vernacular dialects will ever cease to present considerable variety , yet it is every way probable , both from past experience and the nature of the case , that that variety will be continually encroached upon and diminished by the influence of a language which shall be universally cultivated among the educated classes of all nations , and whose
phraseology shall be constantly diffusing itself through the literary language of each . Thus we may anticipate not only that a certain learned language will become generally familiar to the well-educated throughout the world , but that the knowledge of this language will act as a leaven , continually assimilating even the popular dialects both to one another and itself , and producing a great measure of essential identity in the more literary aud re-
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fined phraseology even of them . If these speculations on the probable diffusion throughout the world of a common literary language are well founded , it can hardly , I think , be doubtful for what particular language this pre-ehjintnce is reserved . Its own unrivalled excellence ,
as well as its peculiar connexions with religion * history , and science , claim it indisputably for the Greek . The Greek is the true cosmopolite language— -the native idiom of Christianity , of freedom , of philosophy , and of eloquence , under every zone .
But having thus hinted at tfrose views which give importance to' every thing that facilitates the study of the Greek tongue , it will be proper , without further delay , to call the reader ' s attention to the particular improvement which it is the object of this paper to recommend to all whom it may concern : to all , that is , who are or may be engaged either in studying or teaching the language .
It consists in giving a simpler analysis of the Greek verb , by adopting which we may not only save the learner ' s time and the teacher's trouble , but attain a much juster acquaintance with the use of that important part of speech . If our common system represents the Greek verb as possessing or forming certain , tenses , which , in fact , do not belong to it , but are
wholly imaginary , it is evident that the learner is led into a serious error : an error which not only confounds the theory of the language , ( an evil of no small magnitude when affecting the most perfect and philosophical language that exists , ) but leads directly to practical mistakes . He who assigns a signification to imaginary forms , must withdraw , in his conceptions , that signification from the
forms which are real ; and hence will be led to an inadequate apprehension of the true use of these , and will , therefore , not be likely to do them justice when translating an ancient author . And it is still more evident , that such a man , when himself attempting composition , will fall into the yet grosser error of using words which neither have , nor can have , any real existence . But let ns descend to
particulars . Those for whose use this paper is designed , are aware that the complement of tenses usually assigned to the regular Greek verb includes certain tenses called the second aorist , the second future , and the perfec t middle , our grammars conveyiug the impression that such tenses appertain as a matter of course to every verb that is fully developed , or , in other words , to all but defective verbs : as
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1831, page 559, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2600/page/55/
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