ELDER SMITH:

    Brethren and Sisters, I am happy at this time to read to you the proposition which is the province of Brother Rhodes to affirm in your presence and which Brother West, on the other hand, is to deny.

    We are not here to question the honesty of Brother Rhodes or Brother West and we want to accord both men due honesty. We believe that each believes he is in the right in his contention of the propositions to be read, and then I shall read to you Hedge's Rules of Logic, by which I understand each disputant has agreed to be governed throughout this discussion.

    PROPOSITION 1: The Scriptures teach that God, from the beginning, did absolutely predestinate all things, both good and evil, whatsoever comes to pass.

    The rules by which the speakers have agreed to be governed read thus:

1.    The terms in which the question in debate is expressed and the precise point at issue should be so clearly defined that there could be no misunderstanding respecting them.

2.    The parties should mutually consider each other as standing on a footing of equality in respect to the subject in debate. Each should regard the other as possessing equal talent, knowledge, and desire for truth with himself, and that it is possible, therefore, that he may be in the wrong and his adversary in the right.

3.    All expressions which are unmeaning or without effect in regard to the subject in debate should be strictly avoided.

4.    Personal reflections on an adversary should in no instance be indulged.

5.    No one has a right to accuse an adversary of indirect motives.

6.    The consequences of any doctrine are not to be charged on him who maintains it unless he expressly avows them.

7.    As truth, and not victory, is the professed object of controversy, whatever proofs may be advanced on either side should be examined in fairness and candor and any attempt to ensnare an adversary by the arts of sophistry or to lessen the force of his reasoning by wit, cavil or ridicule is a violation of the rules of honorable controversy.  

I do not believe that the eighth rule is given in full verbatim, but it simply means this: That no new matter is to be introduced in the final negative of any question.

     Thus, I believe, you have the first proposition, with Brother Rhodes in the affirmative and Brother West in the negative, to be governed by the rules as read to you. We are now ready to proceed.