A vindication of the Animadversions on Fiat lux

and your conclusion upon a supposition of the rejection of errors and practises or the contrary to the Gospel or principles of Religion, is very infirm. The ground of all your Sophistry lies in this, that men who receive Christian Religion, are bound to resolve their faith unto the Authority of them that preach it first unto them: whereupon it being impossible for them to question any thing they teach without an impeachment of their absolute Infallibility, and so far the Authority which they are to rest upon, they have no firm foundation left for their assent unto the things which as yet they do not question, and consequently in process of time may easily be induced so to do. But this presumption is perfectly destructive to all the certainty of Christian Religion. For whereas it proposeth the subject matter of it to be believed with divine faith and supernatural, it leaves no formal reason or cause of any such faith, no foundation for it to be ⟨p. 340⟩built upon, or Principle to be resolved into. For how can Divine faith arise out of humane Authority! For acts being specificated by their objects, such as is the Authority on which a man believes, such is his faith, humane if that be humane, divine if it be divine. But resolving as we ought all our faith into the Authority of God revealing things to be believed, and knowing that Revelation to be entirely contained in the Scriptures, by which we are to examine and try whatever is by any man or men proposed unto us as an object of our faith, they proposing it only upon this consideration that it is a part of that which is revealed by God in the Scripture for us to believe, without which they have no ground nor warrant to propose any thing at all unto us in that kind, we may reject any of their proposals which we find and discern not to be so revealed, or not to be agreeable to what is so revealed, without the least weakening of our assent unto what is revealed indeed, or making way for any man so to do. For whilst the formal reason of faith remains absolutely unimpeached, different apprehensions about particular things to be believed, have no efficacy to weaken faith its self, as we shall farther see in the examination of your ensuing Discourse.

and your conclusion upon a supposition of the rejection of errours and practises or the contrary to the Gospel or principles of Religion, is very infirm. The ground of all your Sophistry lyes in this, that men who receive Christian Religion, are bound to resolve their faith unto the Authority of them that preach it first unto them: whereupon it being impossible for them to question any thing they teach without an impeachment of their absolute Infallibility, and so far the Authority which they are to rest upon, they have no firm foundation left for their assent unto the things which as yet they do not question, and consequently in process of time may easily be induced so to do. But this presumption is perfectly destructive to all the certainty of Christian Religion. For whereas it proposeth the subject matter of it to be believed with divine faith and supernatural, it leaves no formal reason or cause of any such faith, no foundation for it to be