Let it not, however, be forgotten, that the powers of the
understanding and the intellectual graces are precious gifts of God;
and that every Christian, according to the opportunities vouchsafed to
him, is bound to cultivate the one and to acquire the other. Indeed,
he is scarcely a Christian who wilfully neglects so to do. What says
the apostle? Add to your faith _knowledge_, and to knowledge _manly
energy_: for this is the proper rendering of αρετην, and not
_virtue_, at least in the present and ordinary acceptation of the
word.[18]
[17] _Quod stat subtus_, that which stands _beneath_, and (as it were)
supports, the appearance. In a language like ours, where so many words
are derived from other languages, there are few modes of instruction
more useful or more amusing than that of accustoming young people to
seek for the etymology, or primary meaning, of the words they use.
There are cases, in which more knowledge of more value may be conveyed
by the history of a _word_, than by the history of a campaign.
[18] I am not ashamed to confess that I dislike the frequent use of
the word virtue, instead of righteousness, in the pulpit: and that in
prayer or preaching before a Christian community, it sounds too much
like _Pagan_ philosophy. The passage in St. Peter's epistle is the
only scripture authority that can be pretended for its use, and I
think it right, therefore, to notice that it rests either on an
oversight of the translators, or on a change in the meaning of the
word since their time.