Never chase a lie. Let it alone, and it will run itself to death.
Lyman Beecher (1775-1863) American minister, preacher, abolitionist
(Attributed)
Where cited, it is usually to "Naval Journal (March 1848)," and in fact it does appear in The Sailor's Magazine and Naval Journal, Vol. 20, No. 7 (1848-03), but only as column filler, clearly not its original source. Such filler was sold to magazines and newspapers to fill out unused column space.
Nor is that the earliest appearance. Identically or very similarly formatted and attributed copies can be found in The New Jersey Freeman, Vol. 3, No. 5 (1848-02-05); the Ohio Cultivator, Vol. 3, No. 24 (1847-12-15); The Youth's Companion, Vol. 21, No. 30 (1847-11-25); the Boston Advent Herald, Vol. 14 (1847-11-13); the Christian Watchman, Vol. 28, No. 40 (1847-10-01).
I cannot find an original source for Beecher saying or writing this.
The quote (including its following "I can work out a good character much faster than any one can lie me out of it") can be found in other, slightly later, sources without attribution to Beecher (e.g., 1853, 1856). The Book of Thought (1858) attributes it to [Bishop George?] Berkeley.
A similar aphorism appears around the same time, unattributed, in Bronson, Elocution; or, Mental and Vocal Philosophy (1845) ("Never chase a lie; for if you keep quiet, truth will eventually overtake it") and in the American Agriculturalist, Vol. 11, No. 18 (1853-12-07) ("Never chase a lie; for if you be quiet, truth will eventually overtake it and destroy it").
Quotations by:
Beecher, Lyman
Eloquence is logic on fire.
Lyman Beecher (1775-1863) American minister, preacher, abolitionist
(Attributed)
This phrase is widely attributed to Beecher, but I cannot find a primary source. It is possible the overall phrase is from a combination of different Beecher comments about Theodore Weld (1803-1895), one of the founders of the American abolitionist movement. Beecher one time described Weld being "as eloquent as an angel, and as powerful as thunder." More significantly, James Monroe, an Oberlin faculty member, mentioned Beecher and Ward in a lecture about early abolitionists (published in 1897):I was never so fortunate as to hear Theodore D. Weld ; but I constantly met those who had heard him, and all reports justified Dr. Lyman Beecher's description of his eloquence as "logic on fire."
Both or just the latter reference could have synthesized the attributed full Beecher quote, pairing "eloquence" to an actual phrase of Beecher's.
In 1848, the phrase "logic on fire," attributed to Beecher, shows up.
In 1881, it's recalled that "Set your logic on fire" was a common advice of Beecher's.
Throughout the latter half of the 19th Century, the phrase "logic on fire" is applied to the speaking ability of various preachers and orators, often without reference to Beecher, but, when it is attributed, it is to.
In summary, while "logic on fire" when speaking of eloquence or speaking style appears to be Beecher's (primary source unknown), the actual phrase starting with "Eloquence is" cannot be pinnned down as clearly.
It was as dark a day as ever I saw. The injury done to the cause of Christ [by disestablishment], as we then supposed, was irreparable. For several days I suffered what no tongue can tell for the best thing that ever happened to the State of Connecticut. It cut the churches loose from dependence on state support. It threw them wholly on their own resources and on God.
Lyman Beecher (1775-1863) American minister, preacher, abolitionist
Autobiography, Vol. 1, ch. 51 “Downfall of the Standing Order” (1864) [ed. Charles Beecher]
(Source)
Regarding the 1918 disestablishment of the Congregational Church in Connecticut, which Beecher had fought against. Prior to that the Congregational Church had been receiving direct tax funding by the state, which was the source of growing protest from other denominations.
Beecher went on to write about the disestablishment:They say ministers have lost their influence; the fact is, they have gained. By voluntary efforts, societies, missions, and revivals, they exert a deeper influence than ever they could by queues, and shoe-buckles, and cocked hats, and gold-headed canes.
They are perfectly aware how little ground there can be to hope that men may be reasoned out of their errours, when in fact they were never reasoned into them, but adopted them from prejudice, passion, or policy.
Lyman Beecher (1775-1863) American minister, preacher, abolitionist
Sermon (1823-10-15), “The Faith Once Delivered to the Saints,” Worcester, Massachusetts
(Source)
No great advance has been made in science, religion, or politics, without controversy.
Lyman Beecher (1775-1863) American minister, preacher, abolitionist
Sermon (1823-10-15), “The Faith Once Delivered to the Saints,” Worcester, Massachusetts
(Source)
A sermon on Jude 3, given at the ordination of Rev. Loammi Ives Hoadly, to the Pastoral Office over the Calvinistic Church and Society. Collected in Beecher, Sermons Delivered on Various Occasions (1828) [ed. Theophilus Marvin].
This is nearly always rendered:No great advance has ever been made in science, politics, or religion, without controversy.
That is the form recorded in Josiah Gilbert's inaugural Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1883), from which it was endlessly copied to similar collections.
