XXXVl. PROLEGOMENA. 



An Act of Hope is a solemn declaration that we 

 firmly expect and desire the promises of God : 

 the Latin word spes and the verb sperare have 

 by root the same meaning as spirare, and 

 signify valde spirare or aspirarej literally a 

 sighing or breathing after something, and when 

 applied to religion, signify the powerful aspiratio 

 erga Deum, our ultimate tendency and the end 

 of our creation,* An Act of Charity is a solemn 



* I will just glance at a few more etymologies, just to show, 

 by comparison, that those already adduced are traced in the 

 spirit of language, and then I shall leave readers of more learning 

 to pursue the subject further, if they please. I shall take some 

 of the very examples, employed by Home Tooke for opposite 

 purposes, as they will best show how frequently the dupes of 

 arrogance and apostacy fall on the sword which they unsheath 

 against the authority of God. Church, he says, is aliquid 

 Dominicum; and then spins out a trumpery tirade against its 

 abuses : this etymology expresses, however, the real character 

 of the Catholic Church, the thing of the Lord. 



Fate, says the wordmonger, is from /an, and means some- 

 thing spoken. Destiny, something destined : but both these 

 words imply a universal speaker and designer ; so that a man's 

 fate is God's word, or decree of judgment against him, either 

 good or bad, as may be. 



Lot, from the verb to Jet, a condition permitted by God. 



Luck, from to look, or foresee, the upshot of God's foresight, 

 otherwise expressed by Providence, from ^jro and videre; when 

 contrasted to prudence, which is providence applied to man, it 

 means something obscurely sent us by the forecast of the Almighty 

 discernment, but not foreseen by man. 



Fault, like false, is from fallerc, to fail. 



CHANCE,~from cadere, implies the falling out of anything ; 

 but it implies /a?/m(//roj?i i/eaien or from God, and not simply 

 human accident. Otherwise we could not say a thing fell out by 

 chance, which would be equal to saying it fell by falling. 



Cant, chaunt, and accent, from canere; just as Song comes 

 from the verb to sing. 



Hood, from to hide, or shut in, signifies a covering. A 

 sisterhood is an enclosure of sisters. Flock is from fleckan, 

 aggregate : but I might multiply examples of such words without 

 end. I shall now pass to some of more religious import. 



