and _how propositions lie towards each other_. Nor is it a slight
benefit to know what is needed for the proof of a point, what is
wanting in a theory, how a theory hangs together, _and what will
follow if it be admitted_.'

[* Footnote: Dr. Newman in the 'Grammar of Assent.']

This great principle of order in thinking is what we are too apt to
forget. 'Give us,' cry many, 'safety in our opinions, and let who will
be logical. An Englishman's creed is compromise. His _bete noir_
extravagance. We are not saved by syllogism.' Possibly not; but yet
there can be no safety in an illogical position, and one's chances of
snug quarters in eternity cannot surely be bettered by our believing
at one and the same moment of time self-contradictory propositions.

But, talk as we may, for the bulk of mankind it will doubtless always
remain true that a truth does not exclude its contradictory. Darwin
and Moses are both right. Between the Gospel according to Matthew and
the Gospel according to Matthew Arnold there is no difference.

If the too apparent absurdity of this is pressed home, the baffled
illogician, persecuted in one position, flees into another, and may be
heard assuring his tormentor that in a period like the present, which
is so notoriously transitional, a logician is as much out of place as
a bull in a china shop, and that unless he is quiet, and keeps his
tail well wrapped round his legs, the mischief he will do to his
neighbours' china creeds and delicate porcelain opinions is shocking
to contemplate. But this excuse is no longer admissible. The age has
remained transitional so unconscionably long, that we cannot consent
to forego the use of logic any longer. For a decade or two it was all