REPLY
“I am happy to say that I have bestowed a good deal of thought on this very point. In fact, here is the very test of real genius. Any person, however frugally divine Providence has dealt by him, can argue if he has anything to argue on; but it takes a master mind to argue on nothing. But it can be done. I have often done it; in fact, ‘tis my habitual method.ASLD 129.5
“Taking the thing to be proved for the proof, is a good way. Thus, it is desired to prove that A is B. You can prove it thus: “It is universally acknowledged (by all but infidels and radicals) that A is B; hence we see that necessarily A is B, which is the thing that we set out to prove.’ Of course, you would not put it just in that bare shape before an audience; I have given you the essence of it; you must dress it up. Thus, you want to prove that the soul is immortal; you prove it thus: 1. The spirit is indestructible. 2. The immaterial part of man is not capable of dissolution; hence, then, we see that the soul is immortal. properly used, arranged in the flowing robes of ample speech, this is really one of the most effective forms of argument that I know.ASLD 129.6
“Another, almost equally good, is proving the premise by the conclusion, and then proving the conclusion by the premise, proving A by B, and then proving B by A. And if the people believe the conclusion already (or think they do, which amounts to the same thing), and if you bring in now and then the favorite words and phrases that the people all want to hear, and that they have associated with orthodoxy, ‘tis wonderful what a reputation you will get as a logician.ASLD 130.1
“Proving one thing clearly and conclusively, and then skillfully assuming that you have proved something else, is a master stroke.ASLD 130.2
“I regard, however, a judicious use of the Fathers as being, on the whole, the best reliance for anyone who is in the situation of my querist. The advantages of the Fathers are twofold: First, they carry a good deal of weight with the masses; and second, you can find whatever you want in the Fathers. I don’t believe that any opinion could be advanced so foolish, so manifestly absurd, but that you can find passages to sustain it on the pages of these venerable stagers. And to the common mind, one of these is just as good as another.ASLD 130.3
“If it happen that the point you want to prove is one that never chanced to occur to the Fathers, why, you can easily show that they would have taken your side if they had only thought of the matter. And if, perchance, there is nothing bearing even remotely or constructively on the point, don’t be discouraged; get a good, strong quotation and put the name of the Fathers to it, and utter it with an air of triumph; it will be all just as well; nine-tenths of the people don’t stop to ask whether a quotation bears on the matter in hand. Yes, my brother, the Fathers are your stronghold; they are Heaven’s best gift to the man who has a cause that can’t be sustained in any other way.”—National Baptist, March 7, 1878.ASLD 130.4
THE $1,000 PRIZE ESSAY.