We now come to what is called Contradictories.  The formul` are as

follows: 'All A is B'; 'Some A is not B', and 'No A is B': 'Some A is

The rule to remember is that of two contradictory propositions, one

must be true and the other false.  If it is true that 'all men are sinners',

then it is false to assert that 'some men are not sinners'.  If it be true to

assert that 'No men are righteous', then it is false to affirm that 'Some men

are righteous'.  If, therefore, we discover that the Scriptures in one place

say 'There is none righteous', and in another place speak of a man as

'righteous', we are immediately aware that the word is being used in two

different senses.  Our proposition, therefore, needs amending, so as to read:

No men are righteous by nature.

Some men are righteous through grace.

The fourth kind of proposition is called the subalternate.  The formul`

for this are: 'All A is B'; 'Some A is B', and 'No A is B'; 'Some A is not

B'.  It stands to reason that if 'all men are sinners', then 'some men are

sinners'.  There can be no exceptions.  Of two subalternate propositions, the

truth of the universal ('all') proves the truth of the particular ('some'),

but the truth of the particular ('some') does not necessarily imply the truth

of the universal ('all').  This is a most important reservation, and one that

is often forgotten.  Because Christ has redeemed some men, it does not

necessarily follow that He has redeemed all; that still remains to be proved

on other grounds.

Let the reader ponder the following statements:

'Logic is the entire theory of the ascertainment of reasoned or

inferred truth'.

'Inconceivability is no criterion of impossibility'.

How many put forward as a valid argument such statements as: 'It is not

conceivable that a God of love should ... '.  This is not an argument.  It

has no valid premisses, and appeals merely to sentiment, bias or

sectarianism.  Again, do not be misled by such a statement as the following:

'An assertion is either true or false', for some propositions are called

'unmeaning' because they do not use the term in an intelligent sense.  What

is true is:

'A proposition must be either true or false, provided the predicate be

one which can be in an intelligent sense an attribute of the subject'.

It is because this is so, that we have devoted so much space and time

to the elements that go to make up the proposition, and seeing that we, as

students of the Word, find our material in the inspired words of Scripture,

what a need there is, before we begin to argue, to be as sure as possible

that the terms we use are fit representations of the truth as given by God.

'There are three operations of the mind which are immediately concerned

in Argument; which are called by logical writers: 1st, Simple