320 A BRIEF amaMa or ONTOLOGY. or it may sometimes stand in opposition to proportion, and then it may be called disproportion, as, there is a disproportion between finites, and infinites, i. e. there ii no proportion be- tween them. The word disproportion is generally used in a more vulgar sense; it signifies sometimes a very great difference between two quantities or numbers, as two is disproportionate to two thousand; sometimes it means, that one part or adjunct of a thing is too big or too little for the others ; so we say that the large nose of Naso was disproportionate to his face, or the small garden of Dioclesian was disproportionate to his former palace. These two following notes concerning agreement and differ- ence, belong eminently to Logic, and spew the reason of using a middle term in ratiocination. 1. Inwhatsoever two things agree toa third, they also agree so far among themselves. This is the foundation of affirmative syllogisms. 2. In two things whereof one differs from a third, while the other agrees to it, these two differ so far among themselves. This is the foundation of negative syllogisms. Let us proceed now to consider opposition which is counted one of the chief or highest kinds of differenceor disagreement. There are five sorts of opposites, which are generally men- tioned here, viz. disparates, as green, yellow, red, blue, &e contraries, as white and black ; relative opposites, as father and son ; privative opposites, as sight and blindness; and negative opposites, i. e. contradictories, as power and impotence, perfect and imperfect, or seeing and not seeing. But of these five perhaps three are sufficient ; for disparates should not be properly called opposites, since they are only different species under the same genus. Nor can all relatives be properly called opposites, as when two eggs are said to be like each other, or two friendswho are entirelyunanimous and agree- ing in their humours. We may observe here, that among contradictories some are express, others are implied. It is an expresscontradiction to talk of a godly atheist, though one expression be English and the other Greek ; for it signifies a man that owns no God, and yet owns and honours him. But a godly hypocrite is but an implicit contradiction, and so is a religious villain, one who owns God in words, but in works denieshim. It maybe worth while also to take notice of two sorts ofcon- traries, viz. They are termed mediate where there is some middle being or quality that partakes of both the extremes, as lukewarm between hot and cold; and grey between black and white. They are immediate where there is no such middle being or quality, as streight and crooked.
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