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book_n	canonical_a	church_n	holy_a	3,204	5	4.9488	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58886	Dr. Sherlock's preservative considered the first part, and its defence, proved to contain principles which destroy all right use of reason, fathers, councils, undermine divine faith, and abuse moral honesty : in the second part, forty malicious calumnies and forged untruths laid open, besides several fanatical principals which destroy all church discipline, and oppose Christs divine authority : in two letters of Lewis Sabran of the Society of Jesus.	Sabran, Lewis, 1652-1732.	1688 (1688)	Wing S217; ESTC R16398	73,086	90

about infallibility We have the concurrent testimony of all Churches that we have those Canonical Books But let us suppose a while that your Church were infallible what greater certainty for that is the point you know which the Doctor was upon have you of it than we have of any particular Point of Faith as for the certainty of Reason and Argument That we have and would fain see you shew more What we believe is according to Scripture and doth not Contradict either Sense or Reason nor any other Principle of Knowledge Answer Never was a starved Cause so pitifully defended No wonder a Footman only doth not blush to appear in its Defence the Learned and judicious Gentlemen of the Temple had each of them too much Honor Conscience and Wit and therefore none of them would Patronize so wretched a Cause and support such weak Contradictions as the Excellent Master of the Temple so the Preface-maker calls him had blundered out Pray Sir review this last Discourse blush that your License Authorises it and hereafter have some care of your Reputation and set not your Name to such Stuff This is the Case on one side there is supposed an Infallible Interpreter of the Christians great Law-Book for thus Dr. Sherlock states the Case on the other are some men far the greater part unlearned and weak who allow not any sense to this Book which seems to them to Contradict either their Sense or Reason or any other Principle of their Knowledge And I am asked whether I proceed more prudently in receiving the sense of the Law from that Interpreter which is actually supposed infallible or in proceeding by the second method Sir if you are so weak or wilful as not to declare that I have a greater certainty in submitting to that infallible Interpreter your Counsel is not worth the asking and I appeal to that of the judicious Gentlemen of the Temple But I must not omit the untruth couched in those words We have the Concurrent Testimony of all Churches that we have those Canonical Books For no part of the Catholic Church no part of the Greek Scismatic Churches own the same Canon of scripture-Scripture-Books which you do Preservative Ibid. In particular we are assured that the Faith which we profess is agreeable to Scripture Answer fol. 5. If he means they have the same Proofs for this which Catholics have for the infallibility of the Church that is for the Continued Being of that Church which assures us that She is infallible in directing us for a Church Erring in so Fundamental a Point would cease to be the Church of Christ then it is evidently fase since each Christian in this Age hath the same Evidence of Her being the Church of Christ and of Her teaching all Truth and consequently of Her being as She declares infallible in thus teaching which he hath of Christ to wit the ancient Prophesies those of Christ himself his Miracles and the Miracles wrought in that Church according to the Promises of Christ besides the Conversion of Nations to Christianity c. These things Protestants do not so much as pretend unto as Proofs of their particular Sense in Interpreting Scripture Defence fol. 10. This is a pretty Conceit the infallibility of the Church that is to say the Being of the Church can't a Church be without being infallible We have heard much of Miracles but could never see any Answer Do you allow such Answers Sir that have so little of Sense and less of Piety Can a Church remain the Church of Christ and yet teach her self to be infallibly guided by the Spirit of Christ whil'st she is abandon'd to the Spirit of Error and that so far as Idolatry and the Evacuating of the Passion of Christ Are we come to own that Herod might well be excused from believing in Christ because he had heard much of his Miracles but could never see any Well Sir when you License such an other Discourse add to your Titles that of a Christian that we may think you are one Preservative fol. 23. If you must not use your Reason and private judgment then you must not by any Reasons be persuaded to condemn the use of Reason Answ f. 5. I never heard so much and so little of Reason All he says might with equal weight be said by a sick Man who dissuaded from choosing his own Remedies and desired to send for a skilful Doctor should answer ' T is impossible by Reason to persuade me not to use my Reason in governing my self by Reason as my own Reason teaches me which would be to Condemn Reason and yet be guided by your Reason or the Doctor 's Reason Such a Discourse would prove the Sick party at least somewhat light-headed What 't is a Symptom of in Dr. Sherlock I will not be positive Defence f. 11. Is this Sick Man persuaded to renounce his Reason or rather is it not that he should submit his judgment not renounce his Reason in that case to that Person whom he hath all the reason in the world to believe hath better knowledge and understanding of those things which are to be used for his recovery than himself And all this while methinks he is governed by Reason though he doth not think fit to trust his own skill But this bears no comparison Religion is or ought to be the Concern of all Answer The Footman prevaricates here or is ashamed of his Master 's gross Sophistry and will not stand by it 'T is Dr. Sherlock who pretends that a Catholic by following an infallible Guide renounces his Reason I contend that all the while he is governed by Reason and chiefly because that in a matter of that Concern he thinks not fit to trust his own skill which God hath as often declared to be too weak in any private person as he hath declared he would give to all such Pastors and Teachers as should guide them and Commanded each to repair to them to be guided by them But Religion is or ought to be the Concern of all a wise Observation So is or ought to be each ones health and the preservation of his life as therefore each one ought to advise with a good Doctor concerning his Health a good Lawyer for the preservation of his Fortune so and much more with a good Guide and since it can be had an infallible one for the securing of his Souls eternal happiness the Practice of Religion is the duty of all but the teaching it of those Doctors whom God hath appointed to that end as St. Paul teaches us Eph. 4. is not this Sir a most evident truth Preservative f. 25. Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve is such a plain and express Scripture that no reason can justifie the Worship of another Being Answ f. 6. A rare Consequence to Infer a Negative for an Affirmative Antecedent that bears no opposition with it 'T is like this a Subject must

Dr. SHERLOCK'S PRESERVATIVE CONSIDERED The First Part and its Defence Proved to contain Principles which destroy all right use of Reason Fathers Councils undermine Divine Faith and abuse Moral Honesty In the Second Part Forty malicious Calumnies and forged Untruths laid open besides several Fanatical Principles which destroy all Church-Discipline and oppose Christs Divine Authority In Two Letters OF F. LEWIS SABRAN of the Society of JESUS With Allowance LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel And are sold at his Printing-house on the Ditch-side in Black-Fryers 1688. TO THE READER YOU will find in the Postscript an Answer to the Preface set before the Defence which being a Heap of undigested Untruths and ill-contriv'd Calumnies I conceived it most proper to expose them that relate to me in particular after I have wiped off the Dirt which the Defence hath cast upon the Churches Doctrin Besides I thought my self bound in Justice and good Manners to yield the Preference to the Honest Footman whose Style is not near so Lewd and Unmannerly as the outragious Preface-maker's who may with reason be supposed a Minister that CANONICAL GOWN having these late Years been a constant Sanctuary to so many Libelling Slandering Prophane Reviling Peevish and Uncharitable Pens that the greatest part of those Books which in any of these kinds have appeared of late Years in this Kingdom have been the notunnatural Issues of these Meek Charitable Humble and Loyal Levites SIR THO' you have declared to some Friends That you do not conceive your self under any Obligation of Answering my first Letter the Licensing of a Book being I perceive but a Friendly Office and a cheap one too when Conscience only and Reputation may be concern'd in it and not obliging the Licenser to boggle at any Calumnies he meets with in it nor at any Falshood that imposes upon the Readers tho' in a Concern of so high a nature as the True Faith and Eternal Salvation However I will tempt your good Nature and Civility once more hoping that you may at least make use of Dr. Sherlock's happy Contrivance and when you are sensible that Five or Six Weeks Endeavors cannot suggest any Answer that may appear to Public View without betraying the weakness of your Cause and the unwarrantable Methods us'd in its defence you will find out some Honest Footman who will not blush to own all the Wrong and impertinent Reasoning which must make up a seeming Answer I am confident how unkindly soever you may deal with others that you owe Dr. Sherlock so much Deference as not to License a Book Printed in his Defence without his Perusal and Allowance Wherefore not to trouble the Footman whose Circumstances as we are told can expect but a small allowance of time I shall look on the Answers given by Dr. Sherlock's Second as offered or at least owned by him and Examin how he supports those Principles by which I pretend that he overthrows First All right use of Common Sense It is a Catholic Principle That he who has an Infallible Guide need not mistrust him so as to enquire farther whether he be in the right Way tho' he may and ought to improve himself in the knowledge of the Way he is directed in Dr. Sherlock in opposition to this self-evident Principle Preservat Fol. 3. charges the Catholic Church with this great Crime That it will not allow the reading of Heretical Books adding That God not only allows but requires it This seemed to me extravagant not to say impious and to all those who have inherited from St. Paul that Faith to which he exacts so firm and unwavering an adherency that if an Angel from Heaven should teach us Gal. 1. 8. any thing in opposition to it we ought not to mind him or to return him any other Answer than Anathema How can said I this positive Certainty stand with an Obligation of reading Heretical Books which oppose that Faith to frame by them and settle a Judgment By what Text doth God deliver this Injunction I asked farther how standing to the first Principles of Common Sense a Church that declares all Men bound to Judge for themselves could Countenance Laws which exact of Dissenters that they stand not to that their Judgment but Comply against it and that constrain their liberty of Judging by the dread of Excommunications Sequestrations Imprisonments Exclusion from the chiefest Properties of free-born Subjects even by Hanging and Quartering which is to make it Death not to act against a strict Duty of Conscience acknowledg'd by the Persecutors to be such These were three material Questions I waited Six Weeks for an Answer and he returns me at last by his Footman this wonderful one That I leave out what was said of the Bible Dr. Sherlock blaming the Church of Rome for not suffering her People to dispute their Religion or to read Heretical Books nay not so much as to look into the Bible it self that I take it for granted that all the Writings of Protestant Divines are Heretical Books nay the Bible it self too I wonder not the Doctor should give this his Answer by a Footman he hath yet I conceive some remnants of Modesty But is there here one word of Answer to my three Questions No not a syllable nor of Truth neither I reflected on no Divines of any Persuasion I found Heretical Books in the number of those which he blames our Church for not recommending and which he assures us God requires the reading of This being an Objection of a new Coin and a Proof of his own Invention I shew'd the Unreasonableness of the one and asked an Instance of the other passing by that trivial Calumny so often Answered That the Catholic Church suffers not her People to look into the Bible it self which supposes that we lock up the Bible as the Romans did their Sybillin Books whereas many thousands are commanded by the Catholic Church setting aside all temporal Concerns to make the reading of the Word of God their continual study and to teach daily the Doctrin of it to those who not having learnt to read or being of too weak a Judgment to carry away the Sense of a Book or too much taken up by their Trades and Employs by which they support their Families and earn themselves a necessary Livelihood have not the Leisure or Capacity to gather the Articles of Christian Belief or the different Parts of Christian Duties from it for to all others who conceive they may reap a Benefit from it leave is never deny'd to read the Bible translated to that end into all vulgar Tongues In the close an Answer is attempted and the Author of the Defence tells me He is not content with an Implicit Faith That we are commanded to try the Spirits and to try all things These are the Texts produc'd to maintain Dr. Sherlock's three Positions That we are obliged to read Heretical

the rest If therefore Protestants are in the wrong we are certainly in the right as far as we are opposite to them And besides since that all the positive Proofs that can be brought for the infallible Authority of Church-Teachers express also in what Church they are by evident Marks not to be found but in our Catholic Church it follows if the Protestants be in the wrong as to that Principle we are certainly in the right as to each Point of our Religion taught us by an unerring Interpreter Preserv f. 80. This that the Protestant Faith is uncertain may signifie two things First That the Objects of our Faith are uncertain and cannot be proved by certain Reasons Secondly That our Persuasion is wavering Answ f. 7. Besides the two mention'd it fignfies a Third thing also to wit That whatever Reasons there may be for a thing he who believes it hath not for the Motive of his Belief those certain Reasons There are for Example certain Reasons whereon to ground a Faith in Jesus Christ yet he that believes in Christ meerly because his Mother or a Minister hath taught him so to do hath a very uncertain and no Divine Faith. Defence f. 18. What can be the Gentleman's meaning I cannot conceive unless it be this That because Protestants take the Reason of their Faith from Scripture and not from the Church of Rome that therefore they can have no certain or Divine Faith which if it be I pity him if it be not I must desire him to explain himself Answer The honest Footman is grown very tender-hearted But is not this very plain that altho' there be very good Reasons for the belief of an Article of Christian Religion yet one that should believe it on the account of some silly Motive only such as I cited would have no Divine Faith But how can this be applied to Protestants who take the Reasons of their Faith from Scripture This I had shewed Fol. 6. but the Footman passes it by with this Answer only I shall say nothing to that Harangue so often Answered by our Divines It seems he had forgot those Answers or was conscious of their weakness Thus I discoursed there The Catholics prove that an uncertain or wavering Faith is no Divine Faith which the Protestants can never have of any one Article of their Religion because they never can have a certain one 'T is easily proved because they cannot have an act of Faith of any one Article till their Rule of Faith proposes it i. e. till they know certainly by their private Reading and Judgment what the Scriptures teach of it not by some one Text or two but by comparing all the Texts that treat of that Subject for the Sense of a single Text for Examp. My Father is greater than I cannot be had but by expounding it by other Texts on the same Subject Till a Protestant then hath a certain knowledge First that he hath all the Books of Holy Writ Secondly that all those he owns for such were really written by inspired Pens Thirdly that he hath a true and sound Translation in case he understood not the Original Languages and in case he doth a true Copy not altered by the Error or Malice of our Forefathers Fourthly since the Letter kills that he understands the true Meaning and Sense of each Text which relates to the Object of his Act of Faith Fifthly that he remember them all so as comparing them to see which be the clearer that must expound the obscurer and what is the true result of them all for any one which he understands not or hath forgotten may possibly be that one that must expound the rest he cannot have one Act of Faith. Now Catholics say this is impossible to most if not to all Protestants who are in each of these Points to Judge for themselves and not to submit to any Authority where a Doubt arises therefore few or no Protestants can in their whole Life-time frame one Act of Divine Faith concerning any one Mystery not that Scripture is not a very certain Rule but because they have chosen an useless because impossible and uncertain way of applying it Preservat ib. We believe the Apostles Creed and whatever is contained in the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles This is all we believe and I hope they will not say these things are uncertain Answer They are very certain but not to any Protestant whose Rule of Faith considering the Method he applies it by cannot make him certain of any one Article But the pleasant Answer which Justifies Turk Jew and Gentile For this is a Rule of Faith most sufficient according to Dr. Sherlock and a good Plea We believe all that God hath revealed and nothing else is not all that he hath revealed certain Here lies the Doctor 's gross Mistake that no one is an Heretic for not believing that what God hath revealed is true 't is impossible to fall into so mad an Heresie But Heretics are such for not believing him to have revealed what in effect he hath tho' he hath given sufficient Methods to come to the knowledge of it if they would use them Defence Do Jews Turks and Gentiles believe all that is contained in the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles Answer No Sir nor you neither If they believed all that God hath revealed as they pretend they would believe all that is delivered in the Bible which you pretend but upon as little ground What they think in their Judgment God hath revealed they believe what they think he hath not revealed they disbelieve that 's their Rule of Faith and 't is yours your own private Judgments being on both hands your Guides and not any Authority Established by Almighty God. Preservat f. 81. If these things which are believed by those who take their Faith from the Bible interpreted by their own final Sense be not built upon certain Reasons their Infallible Church can have no certainty of the Christian Faith. Answer Even this is most notoriously false since she is not Infallible by any Light of her own but by the Guidance of the Spirit of Truth Were not the Apostles when they had once acknowledged Christ to be the Son of God certain of all he revealed to them before he had given them certain Reasons for it It were a blind Impiety to think so Defence f. 19. Was there in that Case of the Apostles a certain Faith without a certain Reason An infallible Man must know things as they are or else he is mistaken Answer The Footman is very dull here and cannot distinguish between a certain Reason moving me to believe him that speaks and a certain Reason in the things that are delivered moving me to believe them This Second Dr. Sherlock requires saying That if these things which are believed be not built upon certain Reasons the Infallible Church seeing not any such Reasons can have no certainty of the Christian Faith. An