After the evidence was completed, Bryan rose to address the jury. The issue was simple, he declared "The Christian believes that man came from above. The evolutionist believes that he must have come from below." The spectators chuckled and Bryan warmed to his work. In one hand he brandished a biology text as he denounced the scientists who had come to Dayton to testify for the defence.
证人作证完毕后，布莱恩起立向陪审团陈辞。问题很简单，他说，"基督徒相信人来自天上，进化论者则认为人一定是来自地下。"旁听的群众忍不住咯咯地笑了起来，布莱恩也就越说越起劲，他一只手挥动着一本生物学教科书，一边口中发话谴责那些来到戴顿为我作证的科学家们。
"The Bible," he thundered in his sonorous organ tones, " is not going to be driven out of this court by experts who come hundreds of miles to testify that they can reconcile evolution, with its ancestors in the jungle, with man made by God in His image and put here for His purpose as par t of a divine plan."
"《圣经》，"他用洪亮的嗓音大喊大叫道，"是不会被那些千里迢迢赶来作证的学者专家们赶出这个法庭的。这些专家们来到这里的目的是想证明主张人类祖先来自丛林的进化论和上帝按照天机，依其形象创造人类并安排到这个世界上来的看法，是并行不悖的。"
As he finished, jaw out-thrust, eyes flashing, the audience burst into applauseand shouts of "Amen". Yet something was lacking. Gone was the fierce fervour of the days when Bryan had swept the political arena like a prairie fire. The crowd seemed to feel that their champion had not scorched the infidels with the hot breath of his oratory as he should have. Dudley Field Malone popped up to reply. "Mr. Bryan is not the only one who has the right to speak for the Bible, he observed. "There are other people in this country who have given up their whole lives to God and religion. Mr. Bryan, with passionate spirit and enthusiasm, has given post of his life to politics." Bryan sipped from a jug of water as Malone's voice grew in volume. He appealed for intellectual freedom, and accused Bryan of calling for a duel to the death between science and religion.
他讲完话时，下巴翘得老高，眼里闪着光芒，听众席中立刻爆发出喝采的掌声和"阿门"的喊声。但似乎还是缺少了一点什么东西。昔日当布莱恩如燎原的烈火般席卷政界时表现出的那种火热的激情已消失殆尽。听众们似乎觉得他们的这位英雄没能充分发挥出应有的辩才将那些异端分子打个落花流水。达德雷费尔德马隆跳起来反驳布莱恩。"布莱恩可不是唯一有资格为《圣经》辩护的人，"他说。"在我们这一国度，还有些人将自己的全部生命都奉献给了上帝和宗教。而布莱恩先生却满腔热情地将自己的大半生命献给了政治。"布莱恩从水杯中呷了一口水，马隆说话的音调随之变得越来越高。他呼吁学术自由并指责布莱恩存心在科学与宗教之间挑起一场殊死决斗。