HOW TO REASON. 
 
 BY REV. CHARLES CHAPMAN, M. A. 
 
 A LECTURE; 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE YOUNG MEN'S ASSOCIATION OF ZION 
 
 CHURCH, AND PUBLISHED AT THEIR 
 
 REQUEST, 
 
 Snd November, 1871. 
 
 MONTREAL: 
 F. E. &;iAFTON, PUBLISHER AND BOOKSBLUUl, ST. JAMES STREET. 
 
 1871. 
 
GAZETTE PRINTING HOUSE, MONTREAL. 
 
HOW TO REASON. 
 
 A Lecture delivered by the Rev. Charles Chapman, M.A., before 
 
 the Yoitng Meji's Associatiofi of Zion Church, 
 
 on the 2nd November^ 1871. 
 
 There is, I tliink, always a degree of curiosity excited by the announce- 
 ment of the subject of a lecture, which resolves itself into the form of 
 such questions as, — " What will it be ?" — "How will it be treated ?" — 
 " Will it be dry or interesting ?" It is probable that some of you have 
 asked substantially these questions with reference to the subject, " JSow 
 to Reason.''^ You say, — " Are we going to be taught lessons of Logic, 
 or are we to be entertained with examples of wisdom and folly in the 
 reasoning 01 certain men and books ?" Now, I may as well say once for 
 all, that when I first thought of speaking to you on the subject announced, 
 I had no Jntention of inflicting on you a dry and technical analysis of 
 what majPbe termed the logical order of ideas involved in every process 
 of sound argument ; nor was it my purpose to entertain you by an 
 exposure of some of the miserable sophisms which, under the cover of 
 the name of Reason, have deluded generations of men. Nor, again, was 
 I ambitious to create in your minds a wild delight in the mere exercise 
 of your reasoning powers, irrespective of the matter in hand, and heed- 
 less of the occasion which requires it — a wild delight akin to that of the 
 acrobat whose glory is to show to admiring eyes what a clever creature 
 he is in twisting and twirhng limbs and muscles as no other man can. 
 I am of more common place and practical stuflF than to seek such vague 
 and unsatisfactory ends in a public lecture. The study of the formal 
 laws of thought usually called Logic requires speciality of taste and real 
 hard work if you are to make headway in it, and is more suited to the 
 student's desk than to the social gathering where we seek to unite 
 instruction on sound principles with such a degree of the light and 
 cheery element as the close toil of daily life seems to demand for most of 
 you. It is true many of the dialectical riddles of the sophists in the age 
 of Socrates are amusing enough when looked at with the eye of modem 
 utility ; the fallacies which once reigned over the human intellect in the 
 sphere of Natural Science, Government and Theology, are curious 
 fossillised specimens, which, as antiquarians, we may collect and label for 
 
occasional entertainment, yet I am of opinion that in the great press of 
 topics of a more practical character which demand our attention, we may 
 say of each of these intellectual mummies — requiescat in pace. And 
 you may rest assured that as I do not want to see you distinguished 
 above other young men for a carping, cynical, querulous, disputatious 
 tone, so I hope to avoid everything which may tend to foster a mere 
 fondness for disputation — the fruitful parent of these disagreeable 
 qualities. 
 
 When the subject occurred to me as suitable for your association 
 and the friends who might be disposed to assemble with us, I was think- 
 ing of the immense variety of topics which in these days, come into 
 discussion among all classes of the community and of the risks whijh 
 young men frequently run by attempting to deal with some of the more 
 important of these, without having previously devoted attention to the 
 methods of treating them on the most clear and unchallengeable prin- 
 ciples of reason. One of the most remarkable features of the present 
 generation is the incessant and unwearied activity of the public mind. 
 Almost every subject, sacred and secular, is being subjected to an un- 
 relenting, because unsatisfied scrutiny, and our popular literature is now 
 devoted to the exposition or discussion of themes, once confined to the 
 thoughtful consideration of students and men of literary leisure. It is, 
 however, a mistake to imagine, as some not knowing literary history do, 
 that in the present age the most important subjects of human interest 
 have come to be discussed and scanned with keenly critical ey6s for the 
 first time. With the exception of researches in the domain of physical 
 science and of sacred and profane history, there has not been any very 
 decided advance upon the conclusions arrived at in other departments of 
 knowledge in centuries past. Our Chemistry, our Botany, our Astro- 
 nomy, our Geography, our Mechanical appliances and our Historical 
 enquiries, are amazingly in advance of what obtained in generations gone 
 by ; and a consciousness of this fact has something to do with the porten- 
 tous development of that vast intellectual pride and arrogance Avhich 
 unfortunately characterize the tone of many who should yet nourish tho 
 humility of the explorer of untraversed and perhaps untraversable regions. 
 A large number of the theories put forth as new in the department of 
 Philosophy are only resurrections of ghosts long since laid low. Why, 
 the fundamental position of the now famous Positive System of Comte 
 is the very same as that assailed so eloquently, by Plato, more than 2000 
 years ago, viz., that we can only know what our senses can reach, and 
 that therefore our knowledge of the Unseen and Eternal is impossible. 
 Although in carefulness of criticism and of historical research wo are 
 certainly improving on the methods of our ancestors, yet in most funda- 
 mental conclusions — i. c, reliable and unassailable conclusions, in tho 
 sphere of Morals, Metaphysics, ai^d Theology we are not much ahead. 
 
Men seem to forget that just as in the material world there are perma- 
 nent fundamental elements of being — light, air, moisture — which are 
 never annihilated and often not understood by the exercise of the 
 keenest and most relentless scrutiny, just so in the intellectual and 
 moral world, there are certain unchangeable elements of being — human 
 responsibility, God Holiness, Sin — which no ingenuity, no wit, no deter- 
 mined aversion can remove from actual life. And, speaking from a 
 considerable knowledge of our current literature, I am of opinion that 
 much of the smartness of speech, studied raciness of statement, and high 
 pitched writing on great subjects with which we are familiar, is often more 
 the result of inexperience and lack of calm conscious strength than of 
 depth of thought and complete mastery of the theme in hand. But in- 
 asmuch as we have to deal, as practical men, with this state of things, 
 it seems to me to be desirable to render some aid to those who wish to 
 keep their eyes free from the dust which these mighty modern Jehu's 
 cast up in the swiftness of their race to the good of all mental effort. 
 Men, young and old, are apt to be caught in the tangle of a miserable 
 net of reasoning. I have known some made sad and desponding who 
 once were bright and happy, simply by being, unawares, caught in the 
 net of a wretched argument which has bent down their free and cheerful 
 spirits to the low and miserable prospects of a doom at the close of life, 
 no better than that of the dog they play with, or the worm they crush 
 beneath their feet. 
 
 Let it be understood, then, that I don't want to make you so 
 skilful, that like the school-men of the middle ages, you may be able to 
 prove to your own and other people's satisfaction, how many hundreds 
 of angels could spin around on the point of a needle, but I do want to 
 lay down a few broad common sense principles which, if recognized and 
 applied in daily hfe, will enable you to read books with profit, enter into 
 discussions with advantage, and exercise your judgment on all great 
 subjects with some degree of safety. 
 
 There is, however, one thing I must premise as [an absolute 
 condition of your profitting by anything I may advise or suggest — it is 
 that you will take the trouble to tliinh. Nor let any one suppose that 
 this is a needless precaution. For some of us who have much to do 
 with human minds and with providing food for their nourishment, often 
 discover with regret that those whose benefit is sought in the instruction 
 imparted, fail to brace up their minds, to that degree of energetic 
 attention which is necessary to ensure a substantial addition to their 
 mental treasures. In that exquisite bit of combined philosophy and 
 humour — Kingsley's " Water Babies" — we read of a famous nation, 
 whose name, the Do-aB-you-likes was derived, like some of the old names 
 of the Bible, from the leading quality in the character they bore. It is 
 said of this great nation of Do-as-you-likes that such was their love of 
 
6 
 
 ease and comfort, that when they desired food they were above doing 
 such slow and tedious work as farming, gardening, cooking, and 
 handling gracefully knives and forks, and so, Avhen hungry they used to 
 lie on the ground under the apple trees and just open their mouth till an 
 apple was good enough to fall into it, or else would be somewhere 
 convenient for the roast pigs to run up to them to be oaten. I wonder 
 whether any descendants of this famous nation are to be found among 
 the promiscuous population of Montreal. I wonder whether there are 
 minds so easy-going that they expect to be fed and nourished by the 
 dropping of some delicious morsel that will require no cftbrt of mastication 
 or digestion. I hope they are not here. I hope all present will prove 
 to be of better stufP — persons given to thinking and determined to think. 
 You have no idea of the immense beneiit for life that is gained by a 
 resolute and vigorous determination to master a difficult subject. 
 
 The gain in such a case is not to be measured by the number of 
 facts or points of information that may be carefully stored in the memory, 
 nor by the glib facility with which you may henceforth be able to 
 converse on the topics in question, but in the greater power of thought 
 and grasp of comprehension, which become a permanent quality of the 
 mind, capable of general application to any subject that may arise to 
 demand consideration. Assuming then, that you intend to think ,1 
 would say 
 
 1. Be careful of the disposition you bring to the treatment of any 
 subject. 
 
 It is important to remember that anything you touch is, as soon as 
 you touch it, tinged with the pecuUarities of your own nature. Truth 
 exists, and is eternal. Light exists, and will endure. But Ught 'often be- 
 comes modified in its direction and in its appearance by passing through 
 a new medium — and so truth, when it comes into us, is apt to receive 
 the colouring of our own nature. Its essence is not destroyed any more 
 than the essence of light is when its colour varies, but its representation 
 may be so singular as to destroy much of its effect on others. Now, 
 this fact in mental optics has a two-fold practical bearing. 1. It should 
 cause us not to be too positive in the assertion of our own opinions. 
 What seems truth to us, may not be so to others, and that, not because 
 of our superiority, but because of some condition of mind we have formed. 
 The doctrine of Papal infallibility will appear one thing to the well-drilled, 
 credulous Romanist, and another to you, whose mmds have been other- 
 wise trained. Hence you cannot convert men who differ from you by 
 mere positive and dogmatic assertion. A measure of deference is always 
 becoming, and before other minds can be won over, much of the evil 
 work that has been done in them, and on them, should be undone by a 
 steady and imperceptible process of instruction. 2. It should make us 
 careful to keep our disposition pure and truth-loving. There is one 
 
sort of reasoning which goes on straight to its conclusion quite irrespective 
 of the character or mental habits of the reasoner. Whether a man be 
 vicious or holy, his proof that the three angles of a triangle are equal 
 to two right angles would be the same. His disposition would not affect 
 the demonstration of necessary truth. But, on the other hand, it makes 
 all the difference as to what] you think, desire, and are, when you begin 
 to handle matters which cannot be proved by figures, circles, and straight 
 lines. It is wonderful how easily men are convinced of what they wish 
 to be convinced of. Then they become brilliant geniuses, who see almost 
 at a glance what you are driving at, and in their eagerness to receive 
 the truth, are ready to exclaim, as the long train of reasoning is being 
 slowly unfolded — ' Hold, enough!' And, viee-vtrsa, we have all known 
 the immense difficulty of bringing men to sound conclusions when their 
 tastes and desires run in a contrary direction. So much is this fact 
 recognised that we have become reconciled to the ungenerous practice 
 of quoting words which compromise the ladies, but which evidently are the 
 reflex of the mind of the stronger sex — 
 
 If she will, she will, depend on't 
 
 If she won't, slie won't, so there's an end on't. 
 
 There have been some notable instances of the perverting power of 
 the disposition on the exercise of Reason. The chief cause of slave- 
 holders not being convinced of the wisdom and justice of Abolition was 
 their aversion to Abolition, because of the limit it would put on their 
 selfishness and greed. O^e of the chief barriers to Parisians arriving 
 at sound conclusions as to the issue of the late war, was to be found in 
 their desire to see and admit every small advantage on their side, and 
 not to see and admit the losses their arms had sustained. Hence they 
 were like men with a microscope at one eye and an inverted telescope 
 at the other. It was utterly impossible for them to know the truth 
 while a perverse disposition ruled over their intellect and will. The 
 Great Teacher points out this same consideration in His weighty words, 
 " If any man wishes to do the will of God he shall know of the doctrine 
 whether it be of God ; " i.e., If any one is seeking to know the truth he 
 shall surely find it if his wishes are of the right sort. I therefore say 
 to you, if you would find out the real truth about anything ; if you 
 would exercise your reasoning powers freely and unencumbered; if 
 you would read so as to give due weight to every just consideration 
 advanced, be careful to cherish a pure, truth-loving, candid spirit ; see 
 to it that your intellect is not clouded by a hankering after a conclusion 
 that shall accord with some cherised aversion or preference — be willing 
 to face the truth however facing it may go against your pride of 
 heart, your self-conceit, your earthly interests. This high and noble 
 condition of mind is one of the brighest ornaments of a man's character. 
 
It ^ves him amazing power whenever he expresses an opinion, Ic sets 
 him above the petty arts of the selfish, and enables him with calm and 
 loving spirit to rise to heights of vision over the fair realm of Truth, that 
 can never be trodden by the foot of the harsh declaimer or the man who 
 loves to see in Truth only a representation of his own earth-born passions. 
 It is next to impossible for an immoral man to study wisely and reason- 
 ably the principles of morality, or a deliberate liar to recognize all the 
 beauty and force of truth. I have known and have conversed with 
 infidels and atheists who have boasted of the conclusions to which they 
 had come, and yet who, to my certain knowledge, had never read the 
 Bible with honest care — nor had given any attention to the vast and inde- 
 structible evidences on which its veracity is known to rest. The natural 
 effect of such boastful ignorance and horrible blasphemy is to awaken 
 pity for the men who, because they do not like to have God to reign over • 
 them and mal- d them holy, wilfully divert their own eyes from the light 
 of truth. Give me the man who unites intellectual accuracy with moral 
 honesty — who strives to clear his perception of all the films of prejudice, 
 vice, and unholy aversion, and from very love of truth and righteousness, 
 pushes his enquiries into every nook and comer where truth may be 
 discovered. Being sound in disposition, other things being equal, he will 
 arrive at sound conclusions. 
 2. Cultivate the habit of correct thinking. 
 
 One of the great evils that infest the world is that of crude thought 
 expressing itself necessarily in obscure, ill-defined language. It is 
 impossible for a man to reason well on "ny subject unless he can think 
 clearly, as a habit of mind. The degree to which inaccurate thinking 
 abounds in the world would scarcely be credited by some persons. Mr. 
 Mill, in his book on Liberty, goes so far as to aflBrm that "on any 
 matter not self-evident there are ninety-nine persons incapable of judging 
 of it for one who is capable" (p. 11.) Whether this sweeping judgment 
 is correct or not, I think all men who have disciplined their minds to 
 severe thought, and are familiar with many crude productions of the age, 
 must feel how much the world suffers fr^m men presuming to reason 
 with great dogmatism who have not mastered the first elements of pre- 
 cision in the habit of thinking. It is so easy to repeat words and fabricate 
 sentences that many do not take the pains to enquire whether they really 
 are able, in precise language, to distinguish thought from thought. Most 
 of the fallacies in the arguments of bad reasoners arise more from 
 inaccuracy of conception than from a dishonest attempt to deceive 
 others. One of the surest methods of convincing a man is to make 
 him feel that you are able to analyse a thing to the utmost nicety, and 
 that your words exactly fit the ideas you intend to convey. Therefore, 
 I say, form the habit of thinking accurately on any subject brought under 
 your notice. Bring your powers of mental concentration and analysis 
 
to bear down upon it with all force, just as you concentrate the power of 
 the eye through a microscope on anything you wish to sec as it is. Don't 
 be the mere servants of words and phrases which hang about the memory 
 and sit on the tongue, ready, like so many idle masters, to put themselves 
 forward as the controllers of any thoughts that may be rising in the 
 brain. I have seen little Irish boys, bright, nimble and merry, clothed 
 in trousers made for their elders, and adorned with long-tailed coats 
 reaching almost to the ground ; and so I have seen, or thought I have 
 had a glimpse of, bright, useful ideas, covered up and disfigured by loose 
 and awkward words which are more a hindrance than an ornament. I 
 am aware that many people are fond of what is calbd " fine language," 
 " splendid eloquence," " flashes of genius," and " depth of thoughts," 
 that cannot be penetrated. But much that passes in the world as fine 
 language is after all only fine sound. The measure of excellence in 
 language is the clearness and force with which good ideas are made to 
 enter our minds. Obscurity of style, means crudeness in conception. If 
 a man cannot tell me in plain, precise words, exactly what he means, so 
 that I shall not confound it with something else, then I say he has no 
 correct thought to convey, but only a jumble of thoughts which ought to 
 be disentangled ; and one of the first steps to be taken in such a case is 
 to turn his perceptive and analytic faculty in upon the supposed thought 
 until he sees all through it, all around it, and all about it, and so knows 
 it to be in certain points unlike any other thought. We may have 
 feelings, apprehensions, latent yearnings, which will not take form and 
 colour, and consequently are not representable in precise form of speech. 
 But these can never be the materials of reasoning; they are bare 
 existences in a nebulous condition. It is this introduction of ill-defined 
 and undefinable sentiment as the basis of argument which vitiates and 
 renders useless much of the writings of the transcendental school of 
 philosophers, and which leads many less pretentious persons to confound 
 their undisciplined wishes and feelings with clear and sohd arguments. 
 
 I wish most earnestly you young men would strive to think closely 
 and clearly. It is not by reading a host of superficial books that will 
 make men of you. If you have lived in England you have seen how a 
 rough, heavy, lumbering clod-hopper, whose loose gait and slouching 
 habits have made the nimble u abs of our British city streets to smile, 
 is transformed, after he becomes a recruit, by being subjected to the 
 sharp, healthy discipline which turns out the active, well-developed 
 soldier. Just so there is many a fine mind that might be trained for 
 active service to mankind by a frequent use of the mental drill. If you 
 ask how this is to be accomplished I answer " You have all the materials 
 with you every day — facts around you ; books expressing thoughts in 
 words, and your own bvains to work on these." The habit of clear think- 
 ing is not acquired in a day. It is the work of a life. It may be 
 
10 
 
 secured in a measure hj every one who will be determined to understand 
 a subject, and who in his reading will make use of those authors who 
 really have something to say, and know how to say their something so 
 as to be understood. 
 3. Separate from the subject in hand everything not essential to it. 
 
 One of the first consequences of forming habits of correct precise thought 
 will be that you will soon see what does and what does not really belong 
 to the particular subject you are considering : in this will be a great 
 advantage, for you will then be led by common sense to put aside all 
 matters which, in the imagination of a crude mind, are made to belong to 
 the question at issue. If you are troubled with contentious companions, 
 and want to prove that a certain tree is an oak and not an elm, you will, 
 as soon as you see that the ivy upon it is no part of the tree, begin to 
 tear it away so that you may l?iy bare the real tree in all its native sim- 
 plicity. It is amazing what folds of luxuriant ivy — the growth of 
 dark, neglected minds — have entwined themselves around all the great 
 subjects of human thought. Thus the most important of all things. Religion, 
 has been surrounded by the luxuriant growth of ages, and many think 
 and reason about religion confounding the corruptions and obscurities of 
 time with the incorruptible and unchangeable Child of Eternity. There 
 is one frequent instance of this folly to which special reference may be 
 made. I have read books and heard persons reason about the question 
 of Divine Mediation on behalf oi miin ; and they have become warm and 
 strong, because, forsooth, there are some verbal variations in our English 
 Bible. Now is the oak not an oak because some ivy has grown over 
 part of its trunk ? Is a man not a man because the shoemaker has put 
 his feet in Chinese shoes ? The oak must be distinguished from the ivy 
 and the man from what is put on his feet. So the reality of Divine 
 Mediation is one thing ; the variations which have crept into Manuscripts 
 relating to it are another thing : as you may cut ofi" the ivy and cast 
 away the shoes and leave the oak and man naked, so you may cut off all 
 these questions about readings in versions and Manuscripts, while the 
 great truth of God's mercy in Christ, abides as a fact in human history, 
 as certain as that America was colonized by the English. 
 
 One of the chief evils of not separating from a subject things that 
 differ is, that weak and useless arguments will have to be invented for 
 proving what never need be proved ; the chiefest of all is that the sta- 
 bility of a perfectly defensible subject will be compromised by the weak- 
 ness of the argument in defence of those non-essential things with which 
 it is confounded. 
 
 The practice of separating from a subject all non-essential elements 
 is acquired by careful observation as to the difference of things, by a 
 distinct recognition of a thing, a fact or a principle as having an existence 
 apart from the accidents which in process of time may rise around them, 
 
11 
 
 and by cultivating on all suitable occasions the exercise of making clear 
 definitions. For purposes of instruction, and for constructing an argument, 
 it is an immense gain of power when you can hold up to the eye of others 
 the clear identical thing about which their thoughts are to be exercised. 
 You may not dazzle by brilliancy of words, but you will do what some 
 men never can do — lodge great principles in the souls of others which 
 will live and shine there for all ages. 
 
 4. Find out reasons which cover the ividest ground, and reduce all 
 reasojis to their simplest form. 
 
 On the citadel of Plymouth there is an immense gun acting on a 
 SAvivel, and so placed as to be turned round in a moment to any point of 
 the compass. Its power and position, combined with the skilful 
 mechanical apparatus of the swivel render it the most formidable 
 argument against any forces that might threaten the fortress from any 
 side. Such a gun is clearly of greater service than a score of small 
 pieces, which could only be pointed in a fixed direction and only carry 
 a trifling ball a short distance. Now, this disposition of warlike 
 arguments is a good example of what should be our course, in the use o^ 
 arguments, which destroy errors and not lives. Select in every instance 
 if you can, one great reason that will sweep the whole circle of the 
 horizon, and get it into such easy play that in a moment you may point 
 it against any host of small pleadings that may be drawn in array 
 against you. Have you never seen how sometimes a person has gone on 
 constructing an elaborate argument with wonderful skill and care, when 
 all at once a single sentence wisely uttered has demolished the whole ? 
 There is one good instance of this in a little book called the " Gospel of 
 the Resurrection." A very elaborate array of small and great argu- 
 ments is often drawn forth against the miracles recorded in our Lord's 
 life. One miracle is objected to for one reason, and another for another, 
 and again, general reasons are alleged against all. Now what does this 
 writer do ? He raises an historical argument on the commonly admitted 
 principles of historical criticism, and so establishes as a fact the actual 
 Resurrection of Christ from the dead. Having established this on 
 grounds of common historical criticism he is able to turn it in every 
 direction and sweep the whole army of doubts away as to the miracles of 
 the Saviour's life. The public, unquestionable, historically demonstrated 
 fact of Christ's Resurrection covers the whole ground of debate, and all 
 the smaller and more obscure miraculous events arc taken under the all 
 sufficient shelter of this one. 
 
 Then there is another instance to which I may just allude. The 
 question of the abolition of slavery was fiercely debated at one time, and 
 innumerable reasons were adduced, derived from considerations of race, 
 capability, ancient habits. Biblical expressions, social changes, and 
 pecuniary losses, &c., to defend the practice so hoary with age and so 
 
12 
 
 tlood-stained with cruelty. But instead of meeting all these arguments 
 separately, the best advocates of abolition put forth one all-comprehen- 
 sive and indestructible principle that man, because he is man, has free- 
 dom for his birthright, as certainly as that he has a heart to feel the 
 anguish of its deprivation. 
 
 But observe, you will only be able to lay hold of comprehensive 
 reasons when you have accustomed yourselves to think out general 
 principles and appreciate their vast and wonderful power. It is said of 
 horses and cows that they only know single objects. It may be said of 
 some men that by neglect of their reflective powers, they seldom rise 
 above knowing things in detail. Children think only of particular objects. 
 As they grow in strength they think out the principles of things. 
 Untrained minds are in a state of childhood. The unkempt youth who 
 follows the plough knows a horse, a man, a cart, a bird, a dinner, and 
 so-forth, but he has no notion of a general law of cohesion which runs 
 through them all. He may know a right action, but nothing of a right 
 principle of action. The reason why some books and discourses are 
 called hard and diflScult to follow is because they treat of general princi- 
 ples in their various bearings on subordinate principles and on indi- 
 viduals, and the readers, or hearers, have not trained themselves to think 
 out the principle of a thing. 
 
 In our readings and discussions we have chiefly to do with the 
 complicated, changeful world of mind, morals and manners, just as in 
 agricultural, mechanical and other pursuits of that sort, we have to do 
 with the world of material forms and forces. It is well for us to remember 
 that this complicated world of mind, morals and manners, is not a huge, 
 unmanageable, disorganized, lawless mass of thoughts, deeds, words and 
 habits — but is the expression of some general laws which work themselves 
 out as orderly and regularly as do the laws of gravitation and cohesion, 
 in the world of matter. You are aware that Chemists are so acquainted 
 with the elements that lie at the base of or enter into the air, the soil, and 
 the light, that from this knowledge they can form a judgment in a 
 moment of what vast and multiform changes would take place in the air, 
 earth and sea, if a variation should occur in the relation of the principal 
 elements of nature. Just so the man whose mind is familiar with 
 general principles sees at a glance the bearing of a great change in 
 human conduct and human thought. This is the comprehensiveness of 
 mind which, when existing in a high degree, makes great Statesmen, 
 great Philosophers, great Poets, great Theologians. It is the opposite 
 of that contractedness of vision which nourishes bigotry and produces 
 the small pettifogging attempts to regulate mankind according to a 
 narrow code of rules which chafe the shoulders of men, as rude-spun 
 leading strings chafe the lads whose upper lip is beginning to be adorned 
 with a much desired down. 
 
13 
 
 If you ask me how you can secure the desired facility in thus 
 acquiring and using general principles. I should say : study books that 
 deal in them ; place yourself in coutact with strong comprehensive 
 minds; take trouble to learn from teachers who are far above you in 
 breadth of i^hought ; cultivate the habit of looking at things in their 
 connexion with one another and with their causes ; and never forget that 
 there is no single thing, reason, or even; In the wide earth that exists by 
 itself, but is an expression of some general law or principle, as truly as 
 that every fall of stone, apple or feather is an expression of the universal 
 law of gravity. 
 5. Be careful of ivliat is assumed as a starting point. 
 
 As a general rule, whenever you take up a book or listen to an argu- 
 ment, the whole of what is written or said may be reduced or traced back to 
 two or three fundamental assumptions. One of the most important steps is 
 to throw aside all verbiage and superfluous matter, and see really what 
 the foundation is. And if ever you attempt to construct an argument 
 or to teach a class by a process of reasoning, take great care of what 
 you start with. If this be not sound, all will fall to pieces should any 
 one just put his finger on the weak point. Many of the books and arti- 
 cles which have appeared in England in support of the union of Church 
 and State, are elaborately written, and appear to be most compact pieces 
 of reasoning, but when you look closely at them they are found to rest 
 on the unexpressed assumption, that, apart from the patronage and 
 support of civil rulers, religion has not vitality enough to hold its own. 
 Just before leaving England I spent a week or two in Oxford, and one 
 day heard from Dr. Mozley, a most elaborate discourse preached before 
 the University, the object of which was to apologise lor Christian nations 
 entering upon war. He wanted to show that Christians must follow 
 warlike pursuits. And the whole argument rested on the assumption 
 that as Christianity — pure, peaceful, loving — happened to be born into 
 a wicked world, it must accommodate itself to this circumstance and act 
 accordingly — i. e., Christianity is too pure and good to bo carried fully 
 out as society is now circumstanced. The assembled dons of all the 
 colleges, the sanctity of the day, and my natural reverence for good 
 men, had something to do with the silence of my tongue ; but my heart 
 burned to say, that I considered the foundation of the whole argument 
 rotten to the core. For this compromise of Christianity with the condi- 
 tions of sinful life has been, and is, the bane of thousands ; and had the 
 blood of those who have fought battles been shed as martyrs because 
 they would not share in war, I believe that such noble and suflFering 
 adherence to the example and spirit of Christ would have done more to 
 subdue the world to Him than has been or could be done by the most 
 skilful compromise with the lusts of ambitious men. 
 
14 
 
 6. Always pay due regard to the subject matter in hand, and expect 
 
 only such prgof as it is susceptible of. 
 
 I have already intimated that there is a great difference between 
 demonstrative and probable reasoning. The one deals with necessary, 
 the other with contingent truth. It is unwise to expect all truth to be 
 subject to the same kind of evidence. And it is equally unwise, and is 
 indicative of narrow culture, to imagine that strict mathematical demon- 
 stration is more satisfactory than cumulative moral evidence. For the 
 understanding can see absurdities in rejecting cumulative moral proof, as 
 clearly as the eye can sec absurdities in rejecting mathematical demon- 
 stration. Indeed, there are many things even in Mathematics you can 
 only prove negatively — i. e., by showing how absurd it would be if they 
 were not true. And so some of the most important moral truths are set 
 forth in a clear light by indicating what would be if they were counted 
 not to be truths. Thus we read in the Psalms : " The fool hath said in 
 his heart there is no God," because, forsooth, it cannot be demonstrated, 
 in the same way as we demonstrate that the angles of the base of an 
 isosceles triangle are equal. But just suppose the contrary — that there 
 is no God — what then ? Why, you have the most absurd of absurdities. 
 A universe crowded with the most exquisite and wise arrangements — and 
 yet without an arranger ; a beauty and order far beyond what the 
 human mind can conceive or describe — and yet produced by nothing ; 
 a limited mind trying to imitate this wonderful variety in beauty and 
 order — and yet no mind greater than the human. This is as absurd as 
 to suppose that two parallel lines can include space, or that man can 
 think and yet not exist. 
 
 I say, then, don't be obstinate and one-eyed. Remember that 
 books and men may offer you enough for faith to rest upon till you rise 
 to higher regions, from the elevation of which you will gaze on wider 
 scenes and learn secrets which have been hidden from me foundation of 
 the world. 
 
 7. Prefer the plainest words you can find. 
 
 One of the greatest achievements of the mind is to make things 
 clear to others, and this is to be done by first knowing exactly what you 
 want to say, and then by choosing words which exactly fit the ideas you 
 have to convey. Don't suppose that any words will fit. Words are for 
 obscuring as well as revealing thought. Richness of words often means 
 cloudiness of thinking. Of some speakers and books it may be said still, 
 verba, verba, prceterea nil. If ever you attempt to speak or write use 
 language simple in construction, easy in its flow, and clear in its terms. 
 It is highly important to keep metaphors and figures of speech out of an 
 argument. They are most excellent in poetry and in didactic discourse, 
 and in appeal, but m an argument they arc a perfect nuisance. The 
 
16 
 
 employment of tliem in reasoning is like offering a stone when hungry- 
 ones ask for bread, or like throwing down apples of discord for fallible 
 ones to fight over. Perhaps you remember the story of the Scotchman 
 on his way home one night on horseback. He came to a stream crossing 
 the road, and was afraid to venture over. But observing a man leaning 
 over a gate he called out, " I say, man, is it deep ?" and the answer was, 
 " No, man — only muddy." I suppose that might oe said of many 
 compositions which present the appearance of profundity. 
 
 I will not weary you by any further details. If you would leani 
 how to reason well, let me say by way of summing up what has been 
 said : — Take heed to your disposition : be pure, truth-loving, free from 
 prejudice and aversions, willing to see and accept the truth at any cost. 
 Foith the habit of correct thinking by means of self-discipline and good 
 books ; separate from the subject you think or read upon whatever is 
 not a part of it, so that you may see it in its simplest integrity. Select 
 always those reasons which cover the widest range and thus dispense with 
 trifles and weaknesses. Take care not to assume, unawares, what may 
 not be admitted, lest you should build on a foundation that will fall away. 
 Make allowance for the different kinds of evidence suitable to different 
 kinds of subjects, and ever speak and write in the plainest and most 
 exact terms. 
 
 I dare say the counsels I have ventured to offer, may seem 
 inapplicable to some whose tastes and avocations do not permit of an 
 indulgence in the higher departments of literature, or in such discussions 
 as young men find pleasure in. Be it so. Yet even they can, I hope, 
 find a modicum of profit in observing what pains others must take if they 
 would excel in this line. The ladies are reasoners in their own way. 
 We have not their quick jnstincts which often, on moral subjects, spring 
 at the conclusion which we can only reach by hard and slow work. Yet 
 I trust the ladies will remember that they should not in these days rely 
 only on the impulse which springs at truth. We want to see them 
 braced up to take part in the more vigorous future which is before us. 
 And as to you young men, I hope you will count your minds to be your 
 true selves, that you will love truth with an imperishable affection, that 
 you will remember the important part you are to take in the development 
 of this young Dominion, and that you will regard the great land which lies 
 beyond the swellings of Jordan, as one of brightness and blessedness to 
 all who love what is true and good ; and thus learning meekly of Him 
 who is the Truth, and whom to know is Life Eternal, you will advance 
 from one degree of light to another, till the dimness and shadows of earth 
 shall give place to the light, and life, and joy of an Eternal Home, where 
 we shall know even as we are known. 
 
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