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23. For there are some passages which are not understood in their
proper force, or are understood with great difficulty, at whatever
length, however clearly, or with whatever eloquence the speaker may
expound them; and these should never be brought before the people at
all, or only on rare occasions when there is some urgent reason. In
books, however, which are written in such a style that, if
understood, they, so to speak, draw their own readers, and if not
understood, give no trouble to those who do not care to read them and
in private conversations, we must not shrink from the duty of bringing
the truth which we ourselves have reached within the comprehension of
others, however difficult it may be to understand it, and whatever
labor in the way of argument it may cost us. Only two conditions are
to be insisted upon, that our hearer or companion should have an
earnest desire to learn the truth, and should have capacity of mind to
receive it in whatever form it may be communicated, the teacher not
being so anxious about the eloquence as about the clearness of his
teaching.
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