the statements made are true or not it does no harm to have them
challenged; if some dispute what has been said and others defend the
speaker it is certain that thought has been aroused, and thinking leads
to truth. That is why freedom of speech is so essential in a republic;
it is the only process by which truth can be separated from error and
made to stand forth in all its strength. We should, therefore, invite
discussion.

While acquaintance with the subject and heartfelt interest in it are the
first essentials of convincing speech, there are other qualities that
greatly strengthen discourse. First among these I would put _clearness
of statement_. Jefferson declared in the Declaration of Independence
that _certain_ truths are self-evident. It is a very conservative
statement of an important fact; it could be made stronger: _all truth is
self-evident_. The best service one can render a truth, therefore, is to
state it so clearly that it can be understood. This does not mean that
every self-evident truth will be immediately accepted because there are
many things that interfere with the acceptance of truth.

First, let us consider depth of conviction. Some people take their
convictions more seriously than others. In India I heard a missionary
speak of another person as having "no opinions--nothing but
convictions"; while one of the enemies of Gladstone described him as
being the only person he ever knew who "could improvise the convictions
of a lifetime." Depth of conviction gives great force to an individual
when he is going in the right direction, but he is difficult to change
if he is going in the wrong direction. When I visited the Hermitage for
the first time they told me of an old coloured man, formerly a slave of
Jackson's, who survived his master many years. He was, of course, an
object of interest and many questions were asked in regard to Jackson's
characteristics. One visitor inquired of him if he thought Andrew
Jackson went to heaven. He quickly responded, "If he sot his head that
way, he did."

Prejudice also delays the spread of truth. People sometimes brace
themselves against arguments. If I may be pardoned a personal
illustration I will cite a case of political prejudice that came under
my own observation. I was speaking in a town in western Nebraska, an
out-of-the-way place that I had seldom visited. A friend heard a man
say, "Well, I never heard him and I thought I would come and see what he
has t