XXii. PROLEGOMENA. 



to deceive. Both of them imply a deceiver of 

 source of faihire. Now there are evidently such 

 sources ; one arises from private judgment, since 

 by the fall of man all human beings are im- 

 perfect ; the other source is the Devil, the 

 general deceiver, by whose temptations our nature 

 is corrupted. With respect to physical sensations, 

 a false image is a deceiving image. As for ex- 

 ample, if, on seeing a phantom of a horse before 

 us, from any deceptio visus, we should go up 

 and try to ride it, our expectancy would be 

 deceived, and our efforts yail. Absolute truth, 

 or truth absolved from falsehood, can only emanate 

 from Omnipotence, by whom alone ultimate ex- 

 pectancy, or the available fruits of truth, can 

 be guaranteed : and such truth is opposed to 

 false opinion, or that belief which, founded on 

 our own private imperfections, or suggested by 

 the great deceiver, will disappoint expectancy 

 or fail, and is, therefore, a fallible ground of 

 hope. 



Goodness, from the verb to gode, the Saxon 

 godan, signifying to diive or impel, is the 

 condition of being guided, goded, or driven ; an({ 

 implies a state of obedience to God the Almighty 

 Guide, who, by his Laws or rules laid down for 

 us, impels us forward in the straight path, which 

 we shall presently see to mean the directed path. 

 Good or obedience is, tlierefore, opposed to JSvil 



