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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58868	An answer to Dr. Sherlock's Preservative against Popery shewing that Protestancy cannot be defended nor Catholic faith opposed, but by principles which make void all reason, faith, fathers, councils, Scripture, moral honesty.	Sabran, Lewis, 1652-1732.	1688 (1688)	Wing S214; ESTC R28119	9,604	10

I will not be positive in Fol. 25. We must allow of no reason against the Authority of plain and express Scripture we may reasonably conclude that God understands the Reasons and Nature of things better than We. This is a very true and Catholic Principle whence I may infer That our Doctor when he comes to apply it will sure enough be guilty of some most illogical Inference And behold I am in the right But Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve is such a plain and express Scripture Well go on therefore without any exposition no Reason can justifie the Worship of another Being A rare Consequence to infer a Negative from an Affirmative Antecedent 'T is like this A Subject must love his King and owe Allegiance to him alone therefore no reason can justifie the love of a Child for his Father or of a Wife for her Husband St. Augustin Q. 61. in Gen. drew the contradictory Conclusion from that Text he takes off all blame from Abraham who is said in Genesis to have adored or worshiped the people because 't is observable says the Saint that in the said Commandment 't is not said thou shalt worship God alone as 't is said and him alone thou shalt serve which in Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for such a Service of Latria is given to God alone Fol. 26. The Sense of the Law is the Law But when the Law is not capable of a different Sense or there is no such Reason as makes one Sense absurd and the other necessary the Law must be expounded according to the most plain and obvious sense of the words This Principle is sound you may then be sure of a false Inference at the heel of it He gives us that part of the first Commandment which he calls the second Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven c. and concludes so express a Law against Image-Worship that no reason must be admitted for it What if you be told that altho' the Jews had perhaps a Command of making no graven Image c. yet this being a positive Law and not confirmed in the Gospol doth not oblige us will this reason be admitted No. And yet you have no other motive to pass by as express a Law of sanctifying Saturday What if it be rejoyn'd That only the making to themselves by private Authority an Idol to adore it with Divine Worship is forbidden Can none of these Reasons be heard No. Then ●el●ze●● by God's Command making several Liknesses of things on Earth Salomon placing such in the Temple sinned against the first Commandment so do all Painters and Carvers and those who employ them and each Subject who stands bare-headed before the Chair of State. The truth is what sense they put on any Texts is the express Law against which no Reason must be heard so they challenge to themselves the Infallibility which they so sturdily deny to the Church of God. Yet this Topic he notably pursues for some pages against the Author of the Reasons for abrogatng the Test and in as many more against Catholic Tenets all and each misunderstood or misrepresented or no Articles of Catholic Faith. I conclude his admirable Principles and Inferences with one so singular that it deserves to be observed by all 'T is this fol. 45. No Argument from the necessity of a thing must be admitted to prove it is He instances thus If there be no Infallible Judge there can be no certainty of Faith which is requir'd in all Christians Tho' it be true and you think it to be true you must not allow this Consequence Therefore there is one The reason he gives for it is admirable Such Arguments do not prove that there be such a Judge but that there ought to be This is not only to misuse Human Reason but to deny Wisdom and Reason in God. Alphonsus the Royal Mathematician was ever look'd on as guilty of a horrid Blasphemy for having said he thought he could have order'd some things better than God did at the first Creation 'T is one of as deep a dye to think God ought to have done what we believe that he hath not done Principles of Dr. Sherlock which make void all Faith. The Catholics prove that an uncertain or wavering Faith is no Divino 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 what Scripture teaches of it not by any one Text but by comparing all the Texts that speak of that Subject For the sense of a single Text for Example 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 inspir'd Pens thirdly and since the Letter kills That he understands the true Sense of each Text which relates to the Object of that Act of Faith fourthly That he remembers them all so as comparing them to see which is the clearer that must expound the obscurer and what is the result of them all for any one 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 any or almost any man at least therefore very few Protestants if any at all can in their whole life have one Act of Divine Faith concerning any one Mystery tho' their Rule of Faith be never so good Now what says Dr. Sherlock to give Protestants any Certainty Fol. 78. Suppose the Protestant Faith uncertain how is the Cause of the Church of Rome the better Is Thomas an honest Man because John is a Knave If Thomas and John be accused severally of a Theft and the stolen Goods be found with John I conceive tho' this prove not Thomas so assuredly an honest man yet an honest Jury would I conceive bring him in Not Guilty That there is a true Faith and consequently a certain Rule of Faith all Christians acknowledge Protestants on one side choose one Rule how differently ever they apply it Catholics another I conceive then that if the Protestant Rule be proved uncertain 't is plain the Catholics Rule must be the certain One. Fol. 80. This may signifie two things first That the Objects of our Faith are uncertain and cannot be prov'd by certain Reasons secondly That our Persuasion is wavering One of the three modi sciendi or ways to come to the Knowledge of any thing Known to every Logician is Division But our Doctor it seems is not so far advanced for besides the Two mentioned it signifies a Third thing also to wit That

AN ANSWER TO Dr. SHERLOCK's PRESERVATIVE AGAINST POPERY SHEWING That Protestancy cannot be Defended nor Catholic Faith Opposed but by Principles which make void all Reason Faith Fathers Councils Scripture Moral Honesty Published with Allowance LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel And are to be sold at his Printing-house on the Ditch-side in Black-Fryers 1688. They are also to be sold at Lime-street Chappel-door AN ANSWER TO Dr. SHERLOCK's Preservative against POPERY SHEWING That Protestancy cannot be Defended nor Catholic Faith Opposed but by Principles which make void all Reason Faith Fathers Councils Scripture Moral Honesty TRUTH being all of a piece hath this advantage that it can never be opposed by Truth and Reason whatever charge is drawn up against it must prove either false in the Premises or erroneous in the Consequence The first Opposers of Catholic Truth in England being sensible of this fell presently to Forgeries clipping of Texts Fathers and Councils and by Misrepresentations to cast so much dirt upon the face of Truth as disfigured so her native Beauty that the common Herd not discovering so soon the Cheat were frighted into the opposite Errors glaz'd over with a false varnish This method they still follow'd on as long as the liberty of Press and Pulpit was deny'd to those who could easily have wip'd off that dirt and laid open such gross Cheats The Advice to Roman Catholics tho' reprinted since yet first set forth by Dr. Cumber in the time of the pretended Plot when whatever was boldly sworn or said against Innocence and Religion tho' false to the degree of impossibility was greedily swallow'd is a fair instance in this case whence such false Citations tho' they bore in the front of a Preface all assurance of Truth can be produced by dozens Now that Innocency and Truth have room to gather breath and speak for themselves the method is somewhat alter'd and those who write against Catholic Verities tho' they cannot wholly forget the old trick of Misrepresenting ever continu'd from Tyndall and Jewell to Dr. Tenison yet generally they make use of the second shift of erroneous Consequences and false Inferences not so readily seen through by less cautions and prepossest Readers From particular Propositions true in themselves they infer such general Assertions or joyn Principles so loose wild and erroneous to a plain Text of Scripture that any Error may shelter it self in the Close tho' the meanest Logician cannot but blush at so open a Fraud I happened to be lately present at a full mix'd Assembly in the City where this method well follow'd by the Answerer unto the Address to the Ministers of the Church of England being fairly laid open most of the Protestants there asham'd of it found no better salvo than to disown the Answerer as an ignorant Scribler who had betray'd his Cause The Name of him that licens'd the Paper should I conceive have covered it from such reproaches I know not the Answerer and will not charge him with any other fault than of having undertaken the defence of a bad Cause which may as well be the effect of Engagement and Prejudice as of Ignorance To justifie him so far I will give an instance taken from the Preservative against Popery that the Cause bears no better defence tho' it might otherwise have been expected from so fam'd an Author as Dr. Sherlock who yet could not support it but by such Principles as make void all use of Reason Faith Fathers Councils Scripture and moral Honesty as I shall make appear in few lines enlarging my self somewhat more on Reason the Gift I perceive which he most values himself upon especia●ly in a Cause in which he tells us 〈…〉 ●eanest Trades-man can now dispute against Popery with sufficient skill and undertakes to teach such how to baffle all the Catholics Principles of Dr. Sherlock which overthrow all right use of common sense He charges Catholics with this great Crime fol. 3. That they will not allow the reading heretical Books and proves his Charge because God not only allows but requires it Since one Error may infer another that Congregation indeed which allows to each man and even obliges him to stand to his own Choice and Judgment must allow that liberty and how his Fellow-Ministers can justifie themselves who use all endeavors to hinder their Flock from hearing Catholic Sermons and reading Catholic Books I know not much less how the Congregation established here lately by Law having declared that each man was bound as Dr. Sherlock often repeats it in his Preservative to judge for himself yet could force all Dissenters not to stand to that their Judgment but to comply against it and that by Excommunications Sequestrations Imprisonments Exclusion from all the Preferments and Advantages of a free-born Subject even by Hanging and Quartering this I confess comes not within the reach of common sense reason But for us Catholics who have inherited from St. Paul Gal. 1. 8. that Faith that if an Angel from Heaven should teach us any thing in opposition to it we ought not to mind him or return him any other Answer than Anathema How God should require from Us to read heretical Books I confess my reason cannot teach me He blames then this Inference You have an Infallible Guide therefore you are no more to seek Fol. 4. Ask them Whether they will allow you to judge for your selves in matters of Religion If they do not why will they trouble you with disputing you cannot be convinc'd unless you judge too and thereby resolve Faith into a private Spirit Here let our Protestant fix his foot and not stir an inch till they disown Infallibility This is to say 't is impossible to convince a man that in reason he ought to submit his Judgment to that of any other tho' infallible Doth not this pretty Logic make void all the right use of common sense and reason when it should lead us to submit to any just Authority We find St. Paul Act. 19. frequently disputing in the Synagogue he pretended to Infallibility through the Spirit of God who directed him But Dr. Sherlock takes the Jews part against him bids them not stir an inch not hearken to him till he disowns Infallibility Spoken like a Christian Doctor Fol. 6. What difference is there betwixt mens using their private Judgments to turn Papists or to turn Protestants The same as betwixt two sick men the One whereof chooses to put himself in an able Doctor 's hands whom he knows to have an Infallible Remedy whil'st the other chooses his own Simples and makes his own Medicin as between two at Law the One whereof is guided by his reason to take Advice from a Wise Counsellor the Other to be his own Counsel as between two Subjects the One whereof is guided by his reason to take up Arms for his King the Other to judge of his King 's Right and