aap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 375 



the fame with i\\2k.\. goodnefs which is mentioned in Scripture, where it 

 is faid that * God faw that his works were good,* * anfwering his 

 * fair idea,' as Milton has very well paraphrafed it. 



As to the Truth of which I am fpeaking, it is evident, JirJ}^ That 

 there muft be a Mind which perceives it ; fecondly^ That there muft 

 be perceptions in this Mind, which are compared together ; for it is 

 this comparifon or combination which makes what we call a propoji^ 

 tion ; and it is the truth of proportions that is the fubjedt of our 

 prefent inquiry. Thefe perceptions, thus combined together in pro- 

 pofitions, are what we call, in logical language, the terms of the pro- 

 pofition ; and the one of thefe terms is faid to be affirmed or 

 denied of the other ; fo that every proportion is either affirmative or 

 negative ; and what is affirmed or denied is called the praedicate of 

 the propofition ; and the terra of which it is praedicated or denied, is 

 thtfubje^ of the propofition : So that every propofition necelTarily 

 confifts of a praedicate and a fubjed *• 



All 



* According to the common ufe of language, it is fometimes not very ob- 

 vious which is the praedicate of the propofition, and which is the fubjedl. 

 In the natural order of things, the praedicate fliould go before the fubje£l ; 

 whereas, commonly, in Englifli, it is juft the contrary ; for we fay, God is 

 jujlf Man is unjuft ; where the praedicates, Jufi and unjujly are put laft, and the fub- 

 jefts, God ^nd Man, firft. In the learned languages, it may be either way; but, ac- 

 cording to Ariftotle's manner of analyzing thefe propofitions, the praedicate is al- 

 ways placed firft j and, if the propofition be affirmative, it is joined with x\\tfiibjeEl 

 by the prepofition tcxrx. Thus, the two propofitions I have mentioned, he would ex- 

 prefs in this way, ttKetita-w^ khvm 0e«v. '«S'»k/« kut* ec*6^uTov. And it is from this ufe 

 of the prepofition,, that the term Kxrnyo^ovftivav^ which is the Greek name for the prae- 

 dicate, and KXTnyo^id, are derived. Again, if the propofition be negative, the praedi- 

 cate is connected with the fubjed, according to Ariftotle's analyfis, by the prepofition 

 «T», or, evKXTXj as x^iKix XTTO Tov Q'.fj, Of, e<j KxTfc T»v QitUf ,God ij not unjuji. 



Tbl5 



