Book of Collections on the Art of Preaching

Argument or place from effects. The maximum proposition: Where the effect is, the cause cannot be absent.

COMPARISON of the greater is whenever that which is lesser is compared to the greater. From this place, we shall argue thus, John 15: "The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my word, they will keep yours." Argument from the comparison of the greater. The maximum proposition: What holds true in a greater thing should hold true in a lesser. Likewise, if the greater is present, that which is lesser is also present.

COMPARISON of the lesser is whenever a greater thing is conferred upon a lesser. An argument is taken from it in this way, Hebrews 9: "For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer being sprinkled sanctify those who are defiled unto the cleansing of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Holy Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Place from the lesser. The maximum proposition: What holds true in a lesser thing should hold true in a greater. Likewise, if the lesser is absent, the greater also appears to be absent.

EQUALS are called those things which are of the same condition. From that place, an argument is made thus, 1 Corinthians 9: "Do we not have the power to carry about a woman, a sister, as do the other apostles and the brethren of the Lord and Cephas? Or do I alone and Barnabas not have the power of doing this?" Place from the comparison of equals. The maximum: The judgment of equal things must be the same.

Now it must be spoken of those things which are assumed from the outside and are called testimonies, by which name are comprehended all things that are taken from some external matter to create faith.