APPENDIX.

No. II.

MISCELLANEOUS EXAMPLES FOR THE EXERCISE OF

LEARNERS.

N. B. In such of the following Examples as are not in a syllogistic form, it is intended that the student should practise the reduction of them into that form; those of them, that is, in which the reasoning is in itself sound: viz. where it is impossible to admit the Premises and deny the Conclusion. Of such as are apparent syllogisms, the validity must be tried by logical rules, which it may be advisable to apply in the following order: 1st. Observe whether the argument be Categorical or Hypothetical; recollecting that an hypothetical Premiss does not necessarily imply an hypothetical Syllogism, unless the reasoning turns on the hypothesis. If this appear to be the case, the rules for hypothetical Syllogisms must be applied. 2dly. If the argument be categorical, count the terms. 3dly. If only three, observe whether the Middle be distributed. 4thly. Observe whether the Premises are both negative; (i. e. really, and not in appearance only,) and if one is, whether the Conclusion be negative also; or affirmative, if both Premises affirmative. 5thly. Observe what terms are distributed in the Conclusion, and whether the same are

distributed in the Premises. 6thly. If the Syllogism is not a Categorical in the first Figure, reduce it to that form.

1. No one is free who is enslaved by his appetites: a sensualist is enslaved by his appetites: therefore a sensualist is not free.

2. None but Whites are civilized: the ancient Germans were Whites: therefore they were civilized

3. None but Whites are civilzed: the Hindoos are not Whites: therefore they are not civilized.

4. None but civilized people are Whites: the Gauls were Whites therefore they were civilized.

5. No one is rich who has not enough: no miser has enough: therefore no miser is rich.

6. If penal laws against Papists were enforced, they would be aggrieved: but penal laws against them are not enforced therefore the Papists are not aggrieved.

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7. If all testimony to miracles is to be admitted, the popish legends are to be believed: but the popish legends are not to be believed: therefore no testimony to miracles is to be admitted.

8. If men are not likely to be influenced in the performance of a known duty by taking an oath to perform it, the oaths commonly administered are superfluous: if they are likely to be so influenced, every one should be made to take an oath to behave rightly throughout his life; but one or the other of these must be the case: therefore either the oaths commonly administered are superfluous, or every man should be made to take an oath to behave rightly throughout his life.

9. The Scriptures must be admitted to be agreeable to truth; and the Church of England is comformable to the Scriptures: A. B. is a divine of the Church of England ;

and this opinion is in accordance with his sentiments: therefore it must be presumed to be true.

10. Enoch (according to the testimony of Scripture) pleased God; but without faith it is impossible to please Him; (for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him): therefore, &c.

11. “If Abraham were justified by works, then had he whereof to glory [before God:] but not [any one can have whereof to glory] before God:" therefore Abraham was not justified by works.

12. “He that is of God heareth my words; ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”

13. Few treatises of science convey important truths, without any intermixture of error, in a perspicuous and interesting form: and therefore, though a treatise would deserve much attention which should possess such excellence, it is plain that few treatises of science do deserve much attention.

14. We are bound to set apart one day in seven for religious duties, if the fourth commandment is obligatory on us: but we are bound to set apart one day in seven for religious duties; and hence it appears that the fourth commandment is obligatory on us.

15. Abstinence from the eating of blood had reference to the divine institution of sacrifices: one of the precepts delivered to Noah was abstinence from the eating of blood: therefore one of the precepts delivered to Noah contained the divine institution of sacrifices.

16. If expiatory sacrifices were divinely appointed before the Mosaic law, they must have been expiatory, not of ceremonial sin (which could not then exist), but of moral sin if so, the Levitical sacrifices must have had no less efficacy; and in that case, the atonements under the Mosaic

law would have "made the comers thereunto perfect as pertaining to the conscience;" but this was not the case: therefore, &c. [Davison on Prophecy.]

17. The adoration of images is forbidden to Christians, if we suppose the Mosaic law designed not for the Israelites alone, but for all men: it was designed, however, for the Israelites alone, and not for all men: therefore the adoration of images is not forbidden to Christians.

18. A desire to gain by another's loss is a violation of the tenth commandment: all gaming, therefore, since it implies a desire to profit at the expense of another, involves a breach of the tenth commandment.

19. All the fish that the net enclosed were an indiscriminate mixture of various kinds: those that were set aside and saved as valuable, were fish that the net enclosed: therefore those that were set aside, and saved as valuable, were an indiscriminate mixture of various kinds.

20. All the elect are finally saved: such persons as are arbitrarily separated from the rest of mankind by the divine decree are the elect: therefore such persons as are arbitrarily separated from the rest of mankind by the divine decree, are finally saved. [The opponents of this Conclusion generally deny the Minor Premiss and admit the Major; the reverse would be the more sound and the more effectual objection.]

21. No one who lives with another on terms of confidence is justified, on any pretence, in killing him: Brutus lived on terms of confidence with Cæsar: therefore he was not justified, on the pretence he pleaded, in killing him.

22. He that destroys a man who usurps despotic power in a free country deserves well of his countrymen: Brutus destroyed Cæsar, who usurped despotic power in Rome: therefore he deserved well of the Romans.

23. If virtue is voluntary, vice is voluntary: virtue is voluntary therefore so is vice. [Arist. Eth. B. iii.]

24. A wise lawgiver must either recognise the rewards and punishments of a future state, or must be able to appeal to an extraordinary Providence, dispensing them regularly in this life; Moses did not do the former: therefore he must have done the latter.

25. Nothing which is of less frequent occurrence than the falsity of testimony can be fairly established by testimony: any extraordinary and unusual fact is a thing of less frequent occurrence than the falsity of testimony (that being very common): therefore no extraordinary and unusual fact can be fairly established by testi

mony.

26. Testimony is a kind of evidence which is very likely to be false: the evidence on which most men believe that there are pyramids in Egypt is testimony: therefore the evidence on which most men believe that there are pyramids in Egypt is very likely to be false.

27. The religion of the ancient Greeks and Romans was a tissue of extravagant fables and groundless superstitions, credited by the vulgar and the weak, and maintained by the more enlightened, from selfish or political views: the same was clearly the case with the religion of the Egyptians: the same may be said of the Brahminical worship of India, and the religion of Fo, professed by the Chinese: the same, of the romantic mythological system of the Peruvians, of the stern and bloody rites of the Mexicans, and those of the Britons and of the Saxons: hence we may conclude that all systems of religion, however varied in circumstances, agree in being superstitions kept up among the vulgar, from interested or political views in the more enlightened classes. [See Dissertation, Chap i. § 2. p. 234.]

28. No man can possess power to perform impossibilities; a miracle is an impossibility: therefore no man can possess power to perform a miracle. [See Appendix, p. 299.]