The cure of church-divisions, or, Directions for weak Christians to keep them from being…

DIRECT. XLII.

Your belief of the necessary Articles of Faith, must be made your own, and not taken merely upon the Authority of any: And in all points of Belief or Practice which are of necessity to Salvation, you must ever keep company with the Universal Church: for it were not the Church if it erred in these: And in matters of peace and concord, the greater part must be your guide; In matters of humane obedience, your Governors must be your Guides: And in matters of high and difficult speculation, the judgment of one man of extraordinary understanding and clearness is to be preferred before both the Rulers and the major Vote.

Your belief of the necessary Articles of Faith, must be made your own, and not taken meerly upon the Authority of any: And in all points of Belief or Practice which are of necessity to Salvation, you must ever keep company with the Universal Church: for it were not the Church if it erred in these: And in matters of peace and concord, the greater part must be your guide; In matters of humane obedience, your Governours must be your Guides: And in matters of high and difficult speculation, the judgment of one man of extraordinary understanding and clearness is to be preferred before both the Rulers and the major Vote.

IN several sorts of Controversies and Cases, you must prefer several sorts of Guides or Judges: It is a grand pernicious Error to think that the same mens judgments must be most followed in every Case. And it is of grand importance to know how to value and vary our Guides, as the Cases vary. And for the most part, every man is more to be regarded in his own way of study and profession, than wiser men in other matters, of other studies and professions: As a Lawyer is to be valued in the Law more than the ablest and most illuminated Divine: And a Philosopher