It will be observed that to avoid unnecessary prolixity, I have in most of the above syllogisms suppressed one

regard an uninquiring assent as a mark of commendable faith; and hence he has probably never even thought of proposing to himself the question, Why should I receive Christianity as a divine revelation? Christianity being nothing new to him, he is not stimulated to seek reasons for believing it, till he finds it controverted. And when it is controverted,-when an opponent urges-How do you reconcile this, and that, and the other, with the idea of a divine revelation? these objections strike by their novelty,—by their being opposed to what is generally received. He is thus excited to inquiry; which he sets about, naturally enough, but very unwisely, by seeking for answers to all these objections and fancies that unless they can all be satisfactorily solved, he ought not to receive the religion. "As if," (says the Author already cited) "there could not be truth, and truth supported by irrefragable arguments, and yet at the same time obnoxious to objections, numerous, plausible, and by no means easy of solution. There are objections (said Dr. Johnson) against a plenum and objections against a vacuum; but one of them must be true." He adds, that "sensible men, really desirous of discovering the truth, will perceive that reason directs them to examine first the argument in favour of that side of the question, where the first presumption of truth appears. And the presumption is manifestly in favour of that religious creed already adopted by the country. Their very earliest inquiry therefore must be into the direct arguments for the authority of that book on which their country rests its religion."

....

But reasonable as such a procedure is, there is, as I have said, a strong temptation, and one which should be carefully guarded against, to adopt the opposite course ;-to attend first to the objections which are brought against what is established, and which, for that very reason, rouse the mind from a state of apathy.

66

When Christianity was first preached, the state of things was reversed. Seeing that all these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet," was a sentiment which favoured an indolent acquiescence in the old pagan worship. The stimulus of novelty was all on the side of those who came to overthrow this, by a new religion. The first inquiry of any one who at all attended to the subject, must have been, not,— What are the objections to Christianity?—but, On what grounds do these men call on me to receive them as divine messengers? And the same appears to be the case with the Polynesians among whom our Missionaries are labouring: they begin by inquiring,-Why should we receive this religion? and those of them accordingly who have embraced it, appear to be Christians on much more rational and deliberate conviction

"

premiss, which the learner will be able easily to supply for himself. E. G. In the early part of this analysis it will easily be seen, that the first of the series of cumulative arguments to prove that the propagators of Christianity did suffer, would at full length stand thus;

"Whoever propagated a religion unwelcome to the Jews and to the Gentiles, was likely to suffer;

The Apostles did this;

Therefore they were likely to suffer," &c. &c.

It is also to be observed, that the same proposition used in different syllogisms may require to be differently expressed, by a substitution of some equivalent, in order to render the argument in each formally correct. This of course is always allowable, provided the exact meaning be preserved e. g. if the proposition be, "The persons who attested the Christian miracles underwent sufferings in attestation of them," I am authorized to state the same assertion in a different form, thus, "The Christian miracles are attested by men who suffered in attestation of their reality," &c.

Great care however should be used to avoid being misled by the substitution of one proposition for another, when the two are not (though perhaps they sound so) really equivalent, so that the one warrants the assumption of the other.

Lastly, the learner is referred to the Supplement to Chap. iii. § 1, p. 95, where I have treated of the statement of a proposition as several distinct ones, each implying all the rest, but differing in the division of the Predicate from the Subject. Of this procedure the above analysis affords an instance.

than many among us, even of those who in general maturity of intellect and civilization, are advanced considerably beyond those Islanders.

I am not depreciating the inestimable advantages of a religious education; but, pointing out the peculiar temptations which accompany it. The Jews and Pagans had, in their early prejudices, greater difficulties to surmount, than ours; but they were difficulties of a different kind.

INDEX

TO THE

PRINCIPAL TECHNICAL TERMS.

Absolute terms, page 123.

Abstraction. The act of "drawing off" in thought, and attend-
ing to separately, some portion of an object presented to
the mind, 128.

Abstract terms, 124.
Accident.-In its widest technical sense, anything that is attri-
buted to another, and can only be conceived as belonging
to some substance (in which sense it is opposed to
"Sub-
stance:") in its narrower and more properly logical sense,
a Predicable which may be present or absent, the essence
of the Species remaining the same, 134.

Accidental Definition.-A definition which assigns the Proper-

ties of a Species, or the Accidents of an Individual; it is
otherwise called a Description, 140.

Affirmative denotes the quality of a Proposition which asserts
the agreement of the Predicate with the Subject, 62.

Analogous. A term is so called whose single signification
applies with unequal propriety to more than one object,
122, 187.

Antecedent. That part of a Conditional Proposition on which
the other depends, 111.

Apprehension (simple.)-The operation of the mind by which

we mentally perceive or form a notion of some object, 54.

с с

Argument. An expression in which, from something laid down
as granted, something else is deduced, 73.

Categorematic. A word is so called which may by itself be
employed as a Term, 58.

Categorical Proposition-is one which affirms or denies a Pre-
dicate of a Subject, absolutely, and without any hypothesis,
62.

Common term-is one which is applicable in the same sense to
more than one individual object, 47, 60, 123.

Compatible terms, 124.

Conclusion.—That Proposition which is inferred from the Pre-
mises of an Argument, 25, 74.

Concrete term, 124.

Conditional Proposition-is one which asserts the dependence
of one categorical Proposition on another. A conditional
Syllogism is one in which the reasoning depends on such a
Proposition, 111.

Consequent. That part of a conditional Proposition which
depends on the other. (Consequens), 111.

Consequence. The connection between the Antecedent and
Consequent of a conditional Proposition. (Consequentia),

111.

Contingent. The matter of a Proposition is so called when the
terms of it in part agree, and in part disagree, 64.

Contradictory Propositions-are those which, having the same
terms, differ both in Quantity and Quality, 90.

Conversion of a Proposition-is the transposition of the terms, so
that the subject is made the Predicate, and vice versâ, 70.
Copula. That part of a Proposition which affirms or denies the
Predicate of the Subject; viz. is, or is not, expressed or
implied, 57.

Definite terms, 126.

Definition. An expression explanatory of that which is defined,
i. e. separated, as by a boundary, from everything else, 139.
Description.-An accidental Definition, 140.

Difference (Differentia.)—The formal or distinguishing part of
the essence, of a Species, 132.

Dilemma.-A complex kind of conditional syllogism, having

more than one Antecedent in the Major Premiss, and a
disjunctive Minor, 106.

Discourse. The third operation of the mind, Reasoning, 55.
Disjunctive Proposition-is one which consists of two or more

categoricals, so stated as to imply that some one of them
must be true. A syllogism is called disjunctive, the rea-
soning of which turns on such a proposition, 104.
Distributed-is applied to a Term that is employed in its full

extent, so as to comprehend all its significates,—every-
thing to which it is applicable, 44, 76.

Division, logical-is the distinct enumeration of several things
signified by a common name; and it is so called metapho-
rically, from its being analogous to the (real and properly-
called) division of a whole into its parts, 136.

Enthymeme. An argument having one Premiss expressed, and
the other understood, 115.

Equivocal.-A Term is defined to be equivocal whose different

significations apply equally to several objects. Strictly
speaking, there is hardly a word in any language which
may not be regarded as, in this sense, equivocal; but the
title is usually applied only in any case where a word is
employed equivocally; e. g. where the middle term is used
in different senses in the two Premises; or where a Pro-
position is liable to be understood in various senses, accord-
ing to the various meanings of one of its terms, 183.

Essential Definition-is one which assigns, not the Properties or
Accidents of the thing defined, but what are regarded as its
essential parts, whether physical or logical, 139.

Extreme.-The Subject and Predicate of a Proposition are called

its Extremes or Terms, being, as it were, the two boun-