Chapter XII.
Why inferiors should not be despised in Conference.
For
it often happens either by
an illusion of the devil or by the occurrence of a human mistake (by
which every man in this life is liable to be deceived) that sometimes
one who is keener in intellect and more learned, gets some wrong notion
in his head, while he who is duller in wits and of less worth,
conceives the matter better and more truly. And therefore no one,
however learned he may be, should persuade himself in his empty vanity
that he cannot require conference with another. For even if no
deception of the devil blinds his judgment, yet he cannot avoid the
noxious snares of pride and conceit. For who can arrogate this to
himself without great danger, when the chosen vessel in whom, as he
maintained, Christ Himself spoke, declares that he went up to Jerusalem
simply and solely for this reason, that he might in a secret discussion
confer with his fellow-Apostles on the gospel which he preached to the
gentiles by the revelation and co-operation of the Lord? By which fact
we are shown that we ought not only by these precepts to preserve
unanimity and harmony, but that we need not fear any crafts of the
devil opposing us, or snares of his illusions.