this." The rest, commencing a new chapter, is as follows: "For the
righteous and the wise and their works _are_ in the hand of God, and indeed
both love and hatred man knoweth not: all things before their face _are_
vanity to all." Now, which of these several readings is the nearest to what
Solomon meant by the original text, or which is the farthest from it, and
therefore the most faulty, I leave it to men more learned than myself to
decide; but, certainly, there is no _inspired authority_ in any of them,
but _in so far as they convey the sense which he really intended_. And if
his meaning had not been, by some imperfection in the oldest expression we
have of it, _obscured and partly lost_, there could be neither cause nor
excuse for these discrepancies. I say this with no willingness to
depreciate the general authority of the Holy Scriptures, which are for the
most part clear in their import, and very ably translated into English, as
well as into other languages.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER THE GENERAL RULE.

LESSON I.--ARTICLES.

(1.) "An article is a part of speech placed before
nouns."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 11.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the article _an_ is here inconsistent with
the term "_part of speech_;" for the text declares one thing of a kind to
be the whole kind. But, according to the General Rule of Syntax, "In the
formation of sentences, the consistency and adaptation of all the words
should be carefully observed; and a regular, clear, and correspondent
construction should be preserved throughout." The sentence may be corrected
in two ways, thus: "_The_ article is a part of speech placed before
nouns;"--or better, "_An_ article is a word placed before nouns." [446]]

(2.) "An article is a part of speech used to limit nouns."--_Gilbert's
Gram._, p. 19. (3.) "An article is a part of speech set before nouns to fix
their vague Signification."--_Ash's Gram._, p. 18. (4.) "An adjective is a
part of speech used to describe a noun."--_Gilbert's Gram._, p. 19. (5.) "A
pronoun is a part of speech used instead of a noun."--_Ibid._; and _Weld's
Gram._, pp. 30 and 50; _Abridg._, pp. 29 and 46. (6.) "A Pronoun is a Part
of Speech which is often used instead of a Noun Substantive common, and
supplies the Want of a Noun proper."--_British Gram._, p. 102; _Buchanan's
Gram._, p. 29. (7.) "A verb is a part of speech, which signifies _to be, to
do, or to be acted upon_"--_Merchant's School