Why the Lesser Should Not Be Despised in Discussion

For it often happens, whether by an illusion of the devil or through some human mistake (and every person in this life is liable to be deceived), that one who is keener in intellect and more learned gets some wrong notion into his head, while one who is duller in wit and of less account understands the matter better and more truly. And so no one, however learned he may be, should persuade himself in empty vanity that he has no need to confer with another. For even if no deception of the devil blinds his judgment, he still cannot escape the harmful snares of pride and conceit. For who can claim this for himself without great danger? The chosen vessel, in whom, as he declared, Christ himself spoke, says that he went up to Jerusalem simply and solely for this reason: to confer in a private discussion with his fellow apostles about the gospel he preached to the Gentiles by the revelation and the help of the Lord. By this we are shown not only that we ought to preserve unity of mind and harmony by these precepts, but also that we need not fear any crafts of the devil set against us, or the snares of his illusions. [a]