Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Writings of the Late John M. Mason, Consisting of Sermons, Essays, and Miscellanies, Including Essays Already Published in the Christian Magazine, 1832, Vol. 4 of 4
A community which has subsisted for ages, must always possess a number of usages and terms peculiar to itself. And although their Origin may be remote, and their force unknown to many Of its members, they suggest general ideas which serve the purposes Of common conversation and common life.. The fact may appear extraor dinary, but it is nevertheless true; for the pro portion Of men in any society who analyze the words and phrases which they have been accus= tomed to utter ever since they were able to speak, is comparatively small. The reader can bring this matter to an easy test by interrogating himself concerning expressions which are coeval with his earliest recollection; and he will probably be surprised to find that, in thousands Of instances, they have passed and repassed through his mind without his attempting to arrest them long enough to satisfy himself as to their appropriate sense. This want Of precision 1s accompanied with no bad effect, till something occur to touch an insti tution, a privilege, or an Observance, when the inconvenience may be sensibly felt. A popular notion is Often overturned by the interpretation 'of a word; and the multitude are astonished either at their own mistake, or at the effrontery Of those who charge them with committing it.
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