saved who avoyd the mortall infection of these points and what caution must be used to preserve this Charity from crossing with Truth HAving discovered many Untruths in at least foure maine points of this Chapter wee are come to a fifth point whose truth is so powerfull that it overcomes mee and makes mee to acknowledge with the Author That it divides Protestants and right Romists so farre as salvation and damnation And I must cleere either side from uncharitablenesse in saying that these who faile in this point are in a state of damnation And it is very true that hee promiseth That this Reason strikes at the roote which is taken from the nature and propertie of Faith The point is this That whosoever doth give his faith and assent to all the Articles of Christian doctrine yet if hee doe it not upon the right and infallible motive hee hath no saving Faith Now hereunto wee subjoyne That true and right Papists or Romists doe not beleeve upon the true and infallible motive Therefore they can have no saving Faith And indeed though they have many and pernitious errors yet this is the great and generall error that makes up the Mystery of iniquity which wee call the Papacie and the Papists call the Church For the ordinary motive of faith in those who are the right and naturall members of the Head of that Mysterie is to beleeve the Articles of Faith because the Church whose mouth head and spirit is the Pope propounds and commands them to bee beleeved And this Author saith that the onely true and infallible ground is The Revelation of Almighty God and the proposition and direction of the Church Wherein first hee joyneth the Church with God in this ground of Faith and so gives as it were halfe of the ground of Faith to the Church from God and makes it halfe unsafe and damnable But even this halfe hee seemes elsewhere wholly to take away and so to leave men wholly to bee damned by a Faith wholly grounded on a motive which cannot raise a saving and supernaturall Faith for hee saith That if the Church hath not decided propounded and commanded a doctrine to bee beleeved by her children a man may thinke and doe as hee sees cause without incurring the crime of heresie Thus wee see that the Revelation of God is not a motive of Faith of it selfe but the Church is the motive of beleeving Gods Revelation so first wee see the Church to put God aside and to take place of him and knowing who is the Head Heart if not the Whole of this Church wee finde him just in his owne place and that is lifting himselfe up above all that is called God And secondly wee see the deadly motive and ground of Faith proposed by Papists to Popish soules even the word of a man and a Man of sinne on whom whatsoever Faith is finally grounded it can give nothing but damnation Neither are wee put by other Papists to lay pieces together to prove this their damning motive of Faith for besides the common voice of the people that they beleeve as the Church beleeves wee have before heard that the Rhemists acknowledge the Popes to bee an Order of Governors to whom wee are bound to cleave in Religion and to obey in all things And thereupon they infer that A Papist is a Christian man a childe of the Church and subject to Christs Vicar So the Christianity of a Papist and his being a child of the Church depends on his cleaving to the Pope and obeying him in all things But yet againe we may see it more acknowledged in their Writers Lorca brings forth Medina affirming that The Testimonie of the Church doth so farre partake of being the formall object or motive of faith that the utmost resolution of faith is into the authoritie of the Church and the proofes produced for it are to bee heard in the common language of Romists If it bee asked why thou beleevest the Trinity in Unity and thou answer Because God saith it It will then bee demanded of thee how thou knowest that God saith it thou hast no other Answer left but this Because the Church saith it and so are they taught in the Catechisme and so answer both the learned and unlearned Behold the common answer and common faith of Romists Now this object of faith being man and not God it cannot raise that supernaturall and saving faith whose object is the prime Veritie even God speaking to the soules of his servants And seeing this humane faith hath so possessed Romists that their Prophets doe make the obeying and cleaving to the Pope in his doctrine the very Character of a Christian and childe of the Church this Church consisting of these children thus adhering to the Pope is against such truely affirmed not to bee the Church and so may the Homily of our Church clearely bee interpreted which denyeth the Church of Rome that is the Pope and his Adherents to bee the true Church for thus to adhere unto the Pope and to lay beliefe on him is so farre from making a true childe and member of the Church that it makes a member of the Papacie and so of Antichrist it makes a Synagogue for Sathan and Hell and not a Church for Christ and salvation And whereas this Author both in this Chapter and the beginning of the eighth objects it to us that wee condemne their doctrines and account the Church of Rome to bee the Seate of Antichrist and the Synagogue of Sathan Hee hath here seene one reason of it and it is a reason of his owne and his fellowes even because the Romish Doctors and Champions tell us that the Church of Rome is made of those children which beleeve in the Pope And this faith being humane cannot make a Church to Christ but to the Pope and thus the Pope stands in the place of Antichrist for putting Christ out of his place and stepping into it whiles thus hee makes his sheepe to heare his voice before Christs yea both herein and often otherwise against Christ. But a second Reason may bee given of their calling the Church of Rome the Synagogue of Sathan the Church of Rome being taken in a larger sense even for all those parts of mankinde that have reference to Rome For they finde this Church of Rome overspred not onely with this false and Antichristian faith but with other mortall errours and abhominations such are grosse and almost universall Idolatry in the worship of Images and especially of the Sacrament confidence in workes for justification and merit and a grosse ignorance even a not knowing of Christ which before hath beene touched Now many seeing a field overcome with these deadly and killing weeds and so overcome that they seemed to cover the face of the field they tooke it to bee a field of Weeds and not of Corne And because the usuall manner of speaking is to say that a horse is blacke and
and expressing of other Articles so it is said by the Councell of Chalcedon that the Additions in the Creeds of Constantinople concerning the holy Ghost was onely that the Essence and God-head of the holy Ghost might thereby bee more cleared and expounded And Ruffinus speakes to the like effect A second reason of this variety might be the various measure of capacities Some measures of understanding and faith are small and it is not to bee denied but that some Articles which are now necessary to be particularly knowne and beleeved were then knowne onely and beleeved in grosse without danger of salvation And that there is now no toleration of lesse degrees in this kind for weaknesse of faith or shallownesse of capacity I thinke wise men scarce dare to affirme A third reason of this variety may be the various affection and intention of the designers of these heads For one perchance would be sure not to exclude any man from salvation that hath any true though never so little interest in it by the knowledge of never so few fundamentalls and therefore this man contracteth them Another hee feares lest by the lessening of them thereby to include the salvation of some others may bee excluded from salvation by not knowing or not beleeving those points which are lessened and therefore enlargeth them Now these reasons being given to defend this Authour and his fellowes against himselfe I will adde essayes of some certainty upon this variety A first That certainly so much must bee knowne and beleeved of God in Christ Jesus as may unite us to him and so make us partakers of his death and resurrection unto remission of sinnes and regeneration And therefore ordinarily his Incarnation Death and Resurrection are certainly to be knowne and beleeved Secondly That so many Heads and Articles as conduce to this union may be called Fundamentall because they knit and unite us to Christ the foundation Accordingly more of these points being knowne to one then to another and the more points working the union in one and the fewer in the other the more may be called Fundamentall to the one and the fewer to the other so a great house built on a rocke and by more stones knit unto the rocke then a lesser may bee said to have more fundamentalls then the lesser yet both have as true an union with the rocke each as other Thirdly it is good in teaching to enlarge the points as much as may be so to give a full measure of fundamentals for the largest measure of knowledge and capacity that no measure may want his fulnesse But in censuring to damnation it is good to contract the measure as much as truth will possibly give way to charity that the least measure of saving knowledge and faith be not damned Fourthly as the Teacher should enlarge his teaching so let not the Learner voluntarily shut or contract his learning knowing nor beleeving the grounds of Christianity but goe on as farre as his measure will give him leave untill hee have found Christ Jesus dwelling in his soule by his Spirit and by that Spirit witnessing to his soule that he is a Sonne of God even an heire annexed with Christ For then and onely then shalt thou have a comfortable certainty of the sufficiency of thy fundamentalls when thou feelest thy selfe an habitation of God by the Spirit Besides if God intend to lay in thee the foundations of a palace do not thou contract them into the foundations of a cottage CHAP. XI In opposition to the Cavaliers ninth Chapter containing a vaine Challenge of Protestants for not daring to declare their Fundamentalls divided into three Sections SECT I. Wherein are confuted his Cavills against the Apostles Creed as not containing all points Fundamentall THe title of this Chapter and the Chapter it selfe are at some discord For the title saith That the Protestants neither doe nor dare declare what are their fundamentall points of Faith and the Chapter even in the first words saith this It is usuall with many to affirme that the Apostles Creed containes all fundamentall points of Faith So it seemes that Protestants doe declare and doe not declare their fundamentall points and the Title beats them for not declaring and the Chapter beats them for declaring Thus the Protestants must bee beaten howsoever not indeed for declaring or for not declaring but because they are Protestants A right marke of faction which commonly makes an ill construction of all even of the good actions of those against whom it is factious But let us see how hee chastiseth us for our declaring These men when they are pressed grow soone ashamed of that opinion when they are told that in the Creed there is no mention made at all either of the Canon in holy Scripture or of the number or nature yea or so much as the name of Sacraments But let this Authour consider whether hee ought not to be ashamed who thus casting shame on Protestants casts it also on the Fathers For doe the Fathers in their rules of Faith make mention of the Canon of Scripture or the number or of the name of the Sacraments Let him survey them in Irenaeus Tertullian c. and hee shall see that they doe not And yet Tertullian saith of the rule of Faith Nihil ultra scire est omnia scire Againe doe you not thus cast shame on your own fellowes For do not many of your owne Doctors in their Explicites called by your selfe more fundamentall leave out the Canon of Scriptures and the number yea the nature and name of Sacraments If therefore they do say that it is a mortall sinne not to know explicitely these important points which are more fundamentall then may they bee ashamed to leave their Disciples in mortall sinne by not naming the Canon or number of the Sacraments explicitely to be beleeved And if you cleare them you shall cleare us also But withall give me leave to aske even in defence of these your fellowes Doe you thinke that no man can be saved that doth not know the number of Canonical Books if he beleeve the fundamentall points contained in those Books Or doe you thinke that one who was baptized in his infancy not knowing then the vertue and use of the Sacrament of Baptisme and dying before he come to the knowledge of the use of the Eucharist may not bee saved by beleeving in Christ and being regenerate by this faith Your owne Jesuite Becanus may stop your mouth when he saith That Faith is not so stirred up by the Sacraments that it is the effect of them and that otherwise the Sacraments would not profit children So till you answer him doe not require of us to bring in Sacraments as fundamentalls of that faith which is denied by your owne to be an effect of them But you are soone weary and I hope ashamed of this point and therefore wander to another not much more of kinne to
being his owne and not the Texts onely wee may upon request allow this place and the next of Christs prayer for unity Iohn 17 to intend unity of affections and yet hee will bee short of his unity in all points of Doctrine And it is wel known that if this were meant the present Romists themselves have not that unity neither those who farre excelled them the ancient Martyrs and Fathers And farre more guilty are they against the prayer of Christ in maintaining division of affections towards Patriarchall Sees and many eminent parts of the catholick Church for the Pope is like Ismael his sword against every man that will not submit to his universall Supremacy And according to this dividing Spirit of the Papacie is it this Authors businesse in this worke to make a division in the Church for false proving is making even where there is an unity for is not this his employment in this Chapter and more hereafter in taking away the distinction of points fundamentall to set Christians by the eares and one to damne another for differing in every little point of doctrine For thus hee saith even soone after his former places of unity and hee would faine have Saint Matthew and Saint Mark to say so with him Whosoever should faile of beleeving any one point of Christian doctrine should be as sure of condemnation as if he had beleeved but any one or none A Foundation laid of Babel it selfe even of division and hatred in the Church of God A Position to which I cannot bee silent for Sions sake nor for my brethren and companions sake whom this Position hath often slaine with death temporall and adjudged to death eternall For let it look as smooth as it will doe you breake up the bowels of it and you shall finde it full of bloud division and damnation This even this is it which hath wrought those fearefull Massacres Treasons Excommunications Fires whereof many horrid spectacles in the second Chapter have been presented And how should it bee otherwise but that it should produce such hellish effects when it teacheth Christians for every failing in the beleefe of any one point of Christian that is in their language Romish or Popish doctrine to accompt other Christians in the state of damnation and to hate them more then heathens So that if the Pope say that the Worship of Images Prayer in an unknown tongue without understanding Rats eating the body of Christ and such other errors bee points of Christian doctrine the man that beleeves them not though hee beleeve in Christ yea all other points but one of these hath forfeited his salvation and is fallen into the odious state of a combustible heretick and of a damnable person But this Author might have beene put in minde of more mercy by one of his allegations for though Christ in the place of Matthew by him alledged willeth that all Nations bee taught to observe whatsoever hee hath commanded yet his owne fellow Romists allow that the breach of some of Christs Commands are not damnable I might alledge a Command of Christ in the Lords Supper Drinke yee all of this which as concerning the lay people they have turned into Drinke yee none of this But I will passe to other Commands such as those are which command the keeping of the morall Law Matth. 5.17.28.48 and forbid every idle thought but the breach of these Commands by inordinate thoughts or small deviations the Romists can make not mortall and damnable but veniall How comes it then that they will allow us no veniall errors and failings in small points of doctrine but any one point of Christian that is in his sense Popish doctrine not beleeved is damnably mortall Is there not in this a great piece of Popish leaven even of the wicked mystery that sinnes against Gods Commands of morall obedience may bee veniall but against the Popes Commands in the least point of doctrine are altogether mortall And doth not the reason appeare to bee this That in the breach of a morall Law as that of coveting our neighbours goods God is offended but the Pope is not hurt but by not beleeving any one point which the Pope delivers for Christian doctrine his Inâ—rrability fals to the ground and so his Supremacy And it were better according to the policie of this wicked Mystery that all the world were burned or damned or set at division then that the Papacie should fall But thus doth the Pope set himselfe above God by valuing offences against himselfe of a more damnable nature then sinnes against God But well it is withall that they shew hereby that God is yet farre more mercifull then the Pope for God they say makes little sins veniall whereas the Pope makes little errors against Popish doctrine deadly and damnable But the truth is to those that are in Christ Jesus God doth make veniall both errors in lesser points of faith which grow by ignorance blindenesse or weaknesse of faith aswell as lesser errors in life by infirmity and weaknesse Christs bloud is a propitiation for all our sinnes aswell sins in the understanding as in the will And to those who attaine to that measure of faith which knits them to Christ Jesus Christ Jesus by his bloud will make other ignorances and unbeliefes in those points of doctrine to which they cannot attain veniall and pardonable and surely our Author is hardly driven to get a shew of proof from Scripture of this doctrine of division and damnation The place of Matthew could not serve for there was only a command to the Apostles to teach all Nations to observe all Christs Commands But we have seene above out of Romists that the breach of some of Christs Commands is not damnable but veniall wherefore another place must be forced to confesse it Accordingly that of Saint Marke is set on the rack but this place speakes not of not beleeving all and every point of doctrine delivered and decreed by the Pope and his adherents but the maine scope of the place is a casting of damnation upon men for the great point of not beleeving in Christ for in the Gospel this is an usuall sense of the word beleeving especially when it stands upon life and death And it seemes this Author can bring no plain place of Scripture to prove that he who beleeves not every small point of doctrine decided by the Pope shall bee damned for if he could these places had not been so unmercifully racked toward it But thus still behold a going on of the Mystery of iniquity Unity unto salvation is urged thereby to make division unto damnation Words are taken from Christ the Head therewith to tear his body into pieces But hereof wee may make this use That when a Papist preacheth to Protestants of unity then let them expect beware of division SECT IIII. The place taken out of the 18. of Matth. is cleared which the Cavalier had perverted to the
others doe and therefore doe exact a more explicite beliefe and consequently may bee accounted in some respects more fundamentall This I desire the Reader to observe because this confirmeth that which hath beene formerly spoken concerning the agreement between Fundamentals and Explicites and must serve hereafter for a Confutation of his owne objections against Fundamentals In the meane time that which paines him for the present is this That wee doe not beleeve every Decree or Errour of the Pope as well as these important grounds of Christianitie for thus hee presently subjoyneth There is no doctrine at all concerning Religion the beliefe whereof is not fundamentall to my salvation if the catholick Church propound and command mee to beleeve it So the Cavaliers quarrell against us is this That wee doe not make the worship of Images kindred of Gossips and such popish vanities fundamentall to our salvation as the Articles of the Trinity and Christs Incarnation A fearfull blasphemy and which should make his heart hate his hand for writing it but they well deserve to bee given up to the beliefe of such impious errours who receive not the love of the truth revealed in the word with duâ— estimation For such will easily equall the word of Man to the word of God and will not suffer the word of God to stand for a sufficient saving verity nor a sufficient ground of unity except man give his word for the word of God and Man add his word to the word of God For if the Pope give his word for a doctrine contained in Gods word then his Popish disciples must receive it and untill that they may without heresie not beleeve it and if the Pope adde his word to the word of God Gods word is not a sufficient ground of unity but the unity made by that word is to be torne in pieces if withall we do not joyne the word of the Pope in one beliefe with it Thus is the Pope made Christs Rivall and takes the faith of the spouse from her husband to himselfe And so whereas he would accuse us of an high craft our craft is no other then that simplicity of S. Paul by which hee did labour to espouse the Church as a chaste Virgin to one Husband which was Christ But this Romish doctrine is the very craft of the old Serpent and Dragon which goes about to seduce Eve the patterne of the Church from her Husband and to marry her to the Pope or rather to make her his Adulteresse But let him remember Whoremongers and Adulterers especially such great ones God will judge Yet this would hee approve by that which followes For there is no errour in faith which may not bee made damnable by the manner of holding it when it is done so obstinately as that in defence thereof a man denyes the authority of the Catholick Church But briefly I answer First that the Church cannot make a point of faith of that which is none Secondly Stapleton tells us that the Church hath no promise to bee infallibly directed in the decision and resolution of small or light points and so the Church not having this infallible direction cannot have authority to make such points fundamentall nor to command faith to them where she hath no infallible direction in them Thirdly the Church in these lesser points not having this authority hee doth not disobey the authority of the Church who beleeveth not these points which she hath no authority to command as points of faith Fourthly if the Church were this foundation and could make a point fundamentall yet the Pope and his confederacy for whom this Author fights is not the Church Fifthly the same Popish Church hath taught and propounded many grosse errours and untruths for points of doctrine which are so farre from being fundamentall to salvation that they shake the very foundation and so are rather fundamentall to damnation But here I cannot but complaine of this Author in that hee useth craft which himselfe accuseth for while he goes about to lay the Pope the Chimera of Rome for a foundation of faith hee names him not in his whole booke but still tells us of the catholick Church let him come forth plainly out of his Covert and shew us his catholick Church even the Pope and his adherents if he be not ashamed of them and not thus draw disciples to a fancy and a piece of Poetry under the reall and reverend name of the catholick Church But this may serve as a caveat to the Reader that the Cavalier tells us of the Church when the Pope is his errand Another point whereof he seemes to be ashamed is the worship of Images which he never reckons among the doctrines of difference but if it please him he may now fitly conjoyne them together and then his discourse may runne thus If the Pope decree the worship of Images it may be fundamentall to salvation if with the deniall of Idolatrie the Popes authority bee denyed Yet our Author having spoken that which is proved to be fearfully untrue in his sense that what the Pope and his conspiracy under the name of the catholick Church doe propound and command to be beleeved is fundamentall he is bold to say This untruth is unanswerably proved by the meere catalogues of heresies which have beene made by severall Fathers of the Primitive Church and especially by S. Austin in his Treatise ad quod vult Deum which I have toucht before and which I earnestly exhort my Reader to peruse at large This is so farre from being unanswerable that it hath beene answered and our Author can never make it good that those points which hee acknowledgeth to be of little importance in themselves were there declared to bee fundamentall for being obstinately maintained against the decision command of the Pope and his Councell eâ—ther private or publick so that the Author onely makes up with boldnesse and undertaking what hee wants in evidence and proofe And as in the following piece hee preferres his Reader to the sixth and fifth Chapters so I also referre him to the answer of those Chapters and there besides other solutions hee may see that the example of Saint Cyprian makes mightily against the Popes authority since it plainly appeares that Saint Cyprian did hold the Popes fallibilitie when he plainly held the contrary to that which the Pope had decided And thus being put besides his premisses hee is also deprived of his conclusion The distinction of points of faith into fundamentall and not fundamentall doth stand still in such full truth and power that the unbeliefe of points not fundamentall doth not presently forfeit salvation though the same points bee decided by the Pope and his conspiracy much lesse doe worship of Images Prayer in an unknowne tongue salvation by merits the Popes supremacy especially taken for a foundation of faith though decided and commanded by the Pope cause damnation by being unbelieved but rather by being believed
SECT III. The Papists as much bounden to declare their Explicites as the Protestants their Fundamentalls This distinction may bee rightly used for the manifestation of our union with the Fathers to prove the perpetuall visibilitie of the Church professing the same Fundamentalls with us but unjustly objected as a ground of our severitie against Papists who are punished here as Traytors for overthrowing the foundations of State not as Hereticks for contradicting the foundations of Faith HEe goes on I should bee glad to know of the Authors of this distinction what points of their faith which are controverted betweene them and us or betweene the Lutherans and them are fundamentall and which are not fundamentall Then he sayes That a fundamentall point being such that whosoever beleeves it not cannot be saved there is nothing which more imports a man exactly to learne then what is fundamentall and what not and yet there is absolutely no one thing which hath beene so frequently and so importunately desired as that they would give in some exact List or Catalogue of all and the onely fundamentall points of faith and yet there is no one thing wherein wee are so little satisfied and which upon the matter they doe so absolutely refuse And yet as hath beene here expressed if according to their grounds a man should faile of beleeving any one fundamentall point of faith by his not knowing through their fault that the point which he beleeved not was fundamentall hee must bee sure to perish and that for ever First to his question what are fundamentalls and what not hee ought to give an answer himselfe for hee himselfe hath told us Page 74. That some doctrines are of farre more importance then others because they may containe the very heads and first grounds of Christianitie more then others doe and therefore exact a more Explicite beliefe and consequently may bee accounted in some respects more fundamentall It being then acknowledged by him that there are such doctrines of farre greater importance then others that exact a more Explicite beliefe and are more fundamentall why doth hee not answer himselfe concerning that which himselfe affirmeth and yet withall questioneth Let him truly tell us or himselfe if hee please which are those doctrines of more importance that containe the heads of Christianity and are more fundamentall and give us a List of them and wee may tell him or hee may tell himselfe an answer to his question And then also may he by this List as by a Touchstone and Rule finde what differences betweene us and any others are fundamentall and not fundamentall So that hee being herein ingaged himselfe either hee hath spoken that whereof hee cannot give an account or else askes of us an account of that which hee knowes and wherein hee can answer himselfe And indeede the Authors owne partners or rather leaders have layd the foundation of these fundamentalls in their Explicites for their Heads Articles and Grounds of Religion to which they require an Explicite beliefe are such as those which we call fundamentall yea not onely wee but the Author himselfe calleth such points more fundamentall and his owne Priests call them positively fundamentall Besides the very rules of faith mentioned and rehearsed by Tertullian and Irenaeus and other Fathers the Symboles and Creeds of Nice other Councels and of Athanasius and Lirinensis his precipua Capita or chiefe Heads yea hee hath the word fundamentall are summes and acknowledgements of such fundamentals And now how can this Authour either bee so farre uncatechised as not to know such grounds of Religion or call Protestants the authours of this distinction and how can hee object any thing against Protestants or require any thing of them but object the like against his owne Teachers yea against the Fathers of the Church and require the like of them Accordingly how can hee aske an exact List and Catalogue of Fundamentals of Protestants more then of Fathers yea of his owne Doctors and Masters And indeed let him bring an exact List and Catalogue of all the onely Articles of Faith contained in the Fathers rules of faith and an exact List of all and the onely Explicites of the Romists and hee may quickly receive a Catalogue of our Fundamentals But this Authour is here againe exceedingly out of his way and that the Title of his Chapter might tell him by the warinesse of it for his businesse is not to deny a distinction of fundamentals and not fundamentals in regard of greater or lesser importance of the Articles themselves but this being granted to adjoyne and superedifie that though this distinction doe stand yet even points of lesser importance and in themselves not fundamentall may bee made fundamentall by the command and authority of the Pope So that his quarrelling at this distinction is not onely a quarrell from his errand but a quarrell against the Fathers and a quarrell against himselfe and against his fellow-Romists and if hee make quarrels against himselfe and his fellowes why may wee not leave them and him to make up their owne quarrell among themselves And accordingly whereas this Authour makes a fearfull noyse how dearely it concernes men to know which are fundamentals wee might turne him to get an answer for this out-cry from himselfe and his fellow-Romists yea from the Pope himselfe for Romists say that the Explicites are such points that hee who doth not know them cannot bee saved Then the Authours terrible words doe thus warfare against himselfe putting Explicites for Fundamentals That there is nothing in all Christian Religion which imports a man more exactly to learne then what are these Explicites without the knowledge whereof none can bee saved And an exact List and Catalogue should be given of these Explicites which yet the infallible Pope hath never given to his Papists So that if a Papist should faile of beleeving an Explicite by not knowing it to bee an Explicite hee must be sure to perish and that for ever Yet the Cavalier in wrath and warre against unity proceeds further in fighting against his owne confessed and undeniable distinction of Explicites and Fundamentals and hee so proceeds that it may easily bee seene that his anger puts out the eye of his judgement or carryes him beyond the kenne of it For thus hee saith Whereas if either they framed not the distinction of Fundamentals at all or else would clearly let men know which points alone were fundamentall then this would follow That whensoever wee should convince them in any particular Doctrine which is denyed by them and which yet was beleeved by the ancient Fathers they would bee obliged to confesse that either that point was not fundamentall which would dis-able them from railing at us for beleeving the same or else that the Fathers were of a different Religion in fundamentall points from them and that in their owne opinion those very Fathers could not bee saved which would put them to much prejudice