In reading philosophical, moral, or religious controversies, never raise your esteem of any opinion by the assurance and zeal wherewith the author asserts it, nor by the highest praises he bestows upon it; nor, on the other hand, let your esteem of an opinion be abated, nor your aversion to it raised, by the supercilious contempt cast upon it by a warm writer, nor by the sovereign airs with which he condemns it. Let the force of argument alone influence your assent or dissent. Take care that your soul be not warped or biased on one side or another, by any strains of flattering or abusive language; for there is no question whatsoever but hath some such sort of defenders and opposers. Leave those writers to their own follies, who practise thus upon the weakness of their readers without argument; leave them to triumph in their own fancied possessions and victories: it is oftentimes found, that their possessions are but a heap of errors, and their boasted victories are but overwhelming noise and clamour to silence the voice of truth.
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