Any religious act, especially a public act, viewed as a means[322] of serving God is called a service; the word commonly includes the entire series of exercises of a single occasion of public worship. A religious service ordained as an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace is called a sacrament. Ceremony is a form expressing reverence, or at least respect; we may speak of religious ceremonies, the ceremonies of polite society, the ceremonies of a coronation, an inauguration, etc. An observance has more than a formal obligation, reaching or approaching a religious sacredness; a stated religious observance, viewed as established by authority, is called an ordinance; viewed as an established custom, it is a rite. The terms sacrament and ordinance, in the religious sense, are often used interchangeably; the ordinance derives its sacredness from the authority that ordained it, while the sacrament possesses a sacredness due to something in itself, even when viewed simply as a representation or memorial. The Lord's Supper is the Scriptural name for the observance commemorating the death of Christ; the word communion is once applied to it (1 Cor. x, 16), but not as a distinctive name; at an early period, however, the name communion was so applied, as denoting the communing of Christians with their Lord, or with one another. The term eucharist describes the Lord's Supper as a thanksgiving service; it is also called by preeminence the sacrament, as the ratifying of a solemn vow of consecration to Christ.
SAGACIOUS.
Synonyms:
| able, | intelligent, | perspicacious, | sensible, |
| acute, | keen, | quick of scent, | sharp, |
| apt, | keen-sighted, | quick-scented, | sharp-witted, |
| clear-sighted, | keen-witted, | rational, | shrewd, |
| discerning, | judicious, | sage, | wise. |
Sagacious refers to a power of tracing the hidden or recondite by slight indications, as by instinct or intuition; it is not now applied to mere keenness of sense-perception. We do not call a hound sagacious in following a clear trail; but if he loses the scent, as at the edge of a stream, and circles around till he strikes it again, his conduct is said to be sagacious. In human affairs sagacious refers to a power of ready, far-reaching, and accurate inference from observed facts perhaps in themselves very slight, that seems like a special sense; or to a similar readiness to foresee the results of any action, especially upon human motives or conduct—a kind of prophetic common sense. Sagacious is a broader[323] and nobler word than shrewd, and not capable of the invidious sense which the latter word often bears; on the other hand, sagacious is less lofty and comprehensive than wise in its full sense, and more limited to matters of direct practical moment. Compare [ASTUTE]; [WISDOM].
Antonyms:
| absurd, | foolish, | ignorant, | obtuse, | silly, | sottish, | undiscerning, |
| dull, | futile, | irrational, | senseless, | simple, | stupid, | unintelligent. |