Name not found in Scripture which so displeased the Arians heretofore and Calvin of late not by making any new Article of Faith but more clearly delivering what was ever believed by the Apostles and all Catholics from their time to this so that still we own Sanctae Scripturae sufficienter Continent omnem scientiam Necessariam Scotus Q. 2. prologi Viatori That Holy Scripture contain all that is necessary to a Christian to know in this life and with Bellarmin Non est de fide nisi quod Deus per Apostolos aut Prophetas revelavit aut quod evidenter inde deducitur That nothing is of Faith but what Christ revealed by the Prophets or Apostles or what is Evidently deduced from it The Church being only our Guide to the understanding of the true and full sense of Scripture This Pope Celestin owned to the General Council of Ephesus Agendum nunc est ut Labore Ep. 7. Communi Credita per Apostolorum successione detenta servemus That the whole work of the Church representative is only to Conserve by a clear Exposition of it what the Church diffusive retained in a continual Succession as first taught by the holy Apostles and so continually by their Successors This is all the Council of Trent pretended unto For Councils says an Eminent Member of it have the assisting presence of the Holy Ghost only to declare those Articles infallibly true which Christ from the beginning revealed And Secondly When Errors and Abuses arise to a growth to gather infallibly from what hath been revealed those Truths which all Christians are bound to believe and to follow in Faith and Manners Ad Extirpandos errores abusus infallibiliter etiam ex revelatis Colligere populo Christiano credenda Vega. usurpanda in fide moribus Then continues the same They are gathered in the Name of Christ when they declare only such things as were revealed by Christ and brought down to us in the Holy Scripture or certain Apostolical Traditions The Apostles themselves used no other Method and St. Paul as Infallible as he was owned That he presumed Rom. 15. to teach only what he had from Christ to which witness was born by Miracles Non Audio aliquid loqui eorum quae Per me non efficit Christus in veritate signorum And this infallible Certainty we allow to the Church only in such things as She declares necessary to be known and believed in order to our Salvation not in impertinent or indifferent things For we say still with Tertullian Nobis curiositate non opus est post Christum inquisitione post Evangelium We seek not curiously into any thing but what is clearly revealed but what was taught when the Gospel was first preached Our Church then hath not power to make new Articles of Faith nor ever pretended to it but is a mere yet infallible Witness to the anciently revealed ones In Her Name Tertullian declares Ibidem Nobis nihil licet ex nostro arbitrio inducere Apostolos Domini habemus Authores qui nec ipsi quidquam de suo arbitrio elegerunt quod inducerent We can bring in nothing of our choice the Apostles are the Authors of what we teach who themselves taught nothing of themselves Christ promised to be with them and their Successors Mat. 28. till the end of the World only in order to the declaring of these things which he himself revealed and taught especially in those forty days betwixt his Resurrection and Omnia quaecunque mandavi vobis Et loquens de regno dei Ascension when he taught them all that concerned the Kingdom of God on Earth his Church The infallibility of the Church being thus Expounded and such is that which Catholics believe and are guided by I cannot conceive how any Christian can object any thing against it who believes that what God revealed must necessarily be true and that Christ and the Holy Ghost be infallible I proceed then to prove that God hath revealed the Catholic Church should ever be guided by his holy Spirit and ever follow that Guide and never fall into any Error in Faith and to do it most convincingly against all Sectaries I will prove it by the Texts of Holy Scripture such as their very Bible offers and this not by two or three which would suffice but by a number and that I may not seem to give my own sense to those Texts I will join to them the Exposition of the Holy Fathers given in all Ages according to the sense of the Catholic Church By the Catholic Church I mean not only the Church of all Ages but the whole Church of any Ages and consequently the Catholic Church of this Age for it is the same Church there being but One as all our Creed teaches us I say as the Jews did yield a full belief to God and his Servant Moyses to God as the author of their Faith and to Moyses as the Exod. 14. Crediderunt domino Moysi servo ejus Propounder and Witness of it so each Catholic in any Age believes God and the Church of his Age that Church being Causa Exemplaris the Pattern and Exposition of his Faith. That this Church is an infallible Witness to all that Christ did teach is evident from the Commands laid upon us by the Prophets by Christ our Lord by the Apostles to receive with an entire submission all that it delivers for it is inconsistent with Gods infinite Veracity that he should oblige us to believe an Error Almighty God by Isay teaches us that all Nations shall resort unto Her as a Judge Adding Every Isay 2. 3. 54. 7. 60. 12. Ezech. 44. tongue resisting thee in judgment thou shalt condemn and the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish The plain reason for it is given by Ezekiel where God promises that when Controversies arise he will decide by his Churches Verdict They shall stand in judgment and shall judge according to my Judgment Hence St. Augustin looking upon the judgment of the Church as certainly that of God declares the only reason why St. Cyprian though in an Error yet was no Heretic to be because his Error was not yet Condemned Nondum plenario Concilio decisus l. 1. c. 18. de Bapt. Certissimam fidem ibid. c. 9. c. 4. Nolle primasdare vel sumae impietatis est vel praecipitis arrogantiae De util Gred. c. 17. Donec plenario rotiqs orbis Concilio quod saluberrime sentiebatur etiam remotis dubitationibus firmaretur Habere Jam non potest Deus Patrem qui Ecclesiam non habet Matrem c. Neque enim vivere foris possunt cum Domus Dei una sit Et nemini salus esse nisi in Ecclesiä possit Cypr. de Unit. by the Churches Representative a General Council That a most firm belief is to be yielded to such Decisions and that Not to submit to the Church is the
murmurant contra me quid est quod perditi me periisse contendunt certe enim hoc dicunt quia fui non sum Annuntia mihi paucitatem dierum meorum quam diu ero in hoc saeculo annuntia vit dixit ecce ego vobiscum sum usque ad consummationem saeculi totius orbis Communio Aug. l. 2. c. 2. cont Gaud. me How do those lost Men pretend that I Perish for they say I was and am not Tâ—ll me O Lord how short are my days how long I shall last on Earth And he announced it to me and said Behold I am with you to the end of Ages What can be said more plain This Church then or this Communion with lawful Bishops this Vniversal Communion as St. Augustin calls it will ever be guided by the Holy Ghost infallibly in the of Truth They believe right who are in this Communion they are in Error who are out of it This is the most palpable and most secure way of discerning the Truth Wherefore St. Augustin tells us that disputing against Fortunatus an Heretical Bishop he pressed him but in vain to answer one Question pretending that the Answer to it would as it was manifest to all clear their Controversie Whether he could give Letters of Communion which should be accepted of by Bishops in all Parts of the World whither ever he should assign him We ask Protestant Bishops here the same Question and because there is not One Bishop in the whole World out of his Majesty's Dominions that will own their Doctrin and acknowledge himself of the same Church with them we conclude with St. Augustin that there is no need of Quaerebam utrum Epistolas Communicatorias quas formatas dicimus posset quo vellem dare affirmabam quod manifestum esset omnibus hoc modo facillime illam terminari posse quaestionem Aug. Ep. 163. Huic generali Ecclesiae communicans Christianus Catholicus est ab hâc segregatus Haereticus S. Prosp in dim temp c. 5. a farther Debate it being evident they belong not unto and are no part of the Catholic Church and they may share betwixt us and themselves this Sentence of St. Augustin's Scholar S. Prosper A Christian in Communion with this Vniversal Church is a Catholic if separated from it an Heretic which is the very Sentence of St. John in the very Text which Dr. Sherlock's Footman cited against me I have been somewhat profuse on this Subject because it is of the greatest importance and to shew what silly Questions are proposed unto us as unanswerable to which each Leaf of Scripture each holy Father yield a ready Answer against them and for us No understanding Protestant can be disputed into this kind of Preser Fol. 17. Popery which owns an Infallible Church First because no Arguments or Disputations can give me an infallible certainty of the Infallibility of the Church I observed that this way of Reasoning was a Plea for the Answer Jews against Christ our Lord this Position proving that Christ our Lord who own'd himself Infallible did imprudently to Preach or work Miracles by which he exacted a certain firm Faith grounded upon his Infallibility in Teaching for since his Preaching and Miracles did not give an Evident infallible certainty of his Infallibility and such an evident one Dr. Sherlock must mean for the certainty we have of a real Infallibility cannot be in reality Fallible no prudent Jew or Gentile could be disputed by Christ into Faith. Arguments so offensive to pious Ears ought to meet with no other Answer than Prayers for him who offers them First he tells me the Arguments which I call offensive to Defence Fol. 7. pious Ears are mentioned 2 Tim. 4. 3. Next he asks me Whether my Reasons and Arguments for my Churches Infallibility and those which Christ offered with the addition of Miracles hold a Comparison Thirdly he tells me that Christ tho' Infallible tho' he wrought Miracles to confirm his Doctrin did not command them to be content with an Implicit Faith but the contrary Search the Scripture Joh. 5. 39. and Mark 12. 24. tells them they Erred not knowing the Scripture Then he concludes that Dr. Sherlock did not say that the Jews could not be disputed into Faith unless that Faith were infallible No he leaves that to be talked of by us who are the great Pretenders to it An Error ever draws on a greater to its defence and Heresie Answer seldom supports her self without Blasphemy we have both here in store As for his first Observation I understand not the meaning of it the Text hinted at being this There shall be time when they will not bear sound Doctrin but according to their own desires they will heap to themselves Masters having itching Ears I blamed not the Hearers but the Teacher and in this particular Case I am very well satisfied that the witty and Learned Gentlemen of the Temple are so far from hearing this Doctrin of Dr. Sherlock with itching Ears that they pity his Ignorance and blame his forwardness and blush at so weak and ill-knit a piece of Sophistry and therefore I willingly submit what I write in this Engagement to their Censure As to the Question he asks me his ignorance of our Belief prompts it to him For we believe our Church Infallible by the Infallibility of Christ who remains with her and of the Holy Ghost who guides her into all Truths And for this we bring the same Proofs to wit Prophecies Christ's Preaching it and his Miracles Confirming it besides the continual visible Event of Christ's Prophecies concerning his Church This Question then is very silly But his two Proofs are in another Strain by the First he intimates That Christ could not have challeng'd an Implicit Faith reasonably from the Jews A Position which to the shame of Christianity this last Age and pretended Reformation hath often offered and supported Contrary to Christ's own Sacred words who often urged the Jews to believe his words on the account of his miraculous Works by which if he had not proved the truth of his words he owned that they had not had sin The Matter is finely mended and Christianity is brought by these Men to a fair pass when Christ's words are not to be believed by an Implicit Faith. The Church of God tho' Infallible sends as much to the Scriptures as Christ did since that she offers each Point of the Faith she teaches as delivered immediately or mediately in the Holy Scriptures The Prophecies of himself which Christ cited were indeed to be sought and found in the Scriptures but 't is a pleasant Fancy to apply those words Search the Scriptures to all that Christ did teach as if the Gospels and whatever Christ did Preach contained no new Revelations nothing but what could be found in the ancient Testament A great stock of Patience is necessary to answer calmly such Impertinencies as are brought to support the Errors
's all the regard St. Paul bids us have for all such Innovators as pretend to a reformation of Faith which as Tertullian teaches is not liable to any because 't is not exposed to the least danger of failing the Gates of Hell Errors not being permitted ever to prevail against the Church which mov'd St. Augustin to declare thus his Sense We are certain Certi sumus neminem a communione genium se separare potuisse nam non quisque nostrum in suâ justitiâ sed in scripturis sacris quaerit Ecclesiam ut promissa est reddi conspicit Epist 48. Dic Ecclesiae si Ecclesiam non audierit sit tibi velut Ethnicus Publicanus Mat. 18. that no one can divide himself from the Communion of all Nations for not any one amongst us must seek the Church in his own Justice such as his own private Judgment frames but in the Holy Scriptures and he will find the Church such as she is there promised What Mark did our Blessed Lord set In whatever Offence received from a Brother whatever Scandal and there is not any greater than Heresie and Schism in case he hearken not unto obey not the Church let him be to thee as a Heathen or a Publican that is have no Converse with him separate thy self from him Certainly this Advice of Christ is perfectly opposite to that Obligation Dr. Sherlock would impose on all St. Irenaeus who received the true meaning of Christ's Doctrin from St. Polycarp St. John's Disciple understood it in a very different meaning when in his Fourth Book against Heresies he thus expressed himself ' T is necessary Qui in Ecclesiâ sunt Presbyteris obaudire oportet qui successionem habent ab Apostolis qui cum Episcopali successione charisma veritatis certum secundum placitum patris acceperunt reliquos vero qui absistunt à Principali successione quocunque loco colliguntur suspectos habere vel quasi Haereticos malae sententiae vel quasi scindentes eiatos sibi placentes aut rursus ut Hypocritas quaestus gratiâ vanae gloriae hoc operantes qui omnes decidunt à veritate l. 4. c. 42. to obey the Priests of the Church who have their Succession from the Apostles who with Episcopal Succession have received a certain Grace or Gift of Truth according to the Will of the Father all others who Separate themselves from the Principal Succession in whatever Place they may Combine together we must suspect as Heretics and of a wrong Opinion or as Schismatics proud Men full of the love of themselves or again as Hypocrites thus dividing themselves for Interests sake and Vain-glory who all of them are fallen from the Truth Is this to send us to read their Books St. Augustin also must be own'd of a very different Principle who having stated the Case as it is at present in this Nation gives this opposite Advice in his Third Sermon on the 30th Psalm Many Tongues contradict divers Heresies divers Contradicunt multae linguae diversae Haereses diversa Schismata personant linguae multae contradicunt veritati tu curre ad tabernaculum Dei Ecclesiam Catholicam tene à regulâ veritatis noli discedere protegeris in tabernaculo Domini à contradictione linguarum CC. 3. in Ps 20. Schisms and Divisions speak loud what Method is to be followed in this Case Run you to the Tabernacle of God the Catholic Church of which no Heresies contradicting one another can be Parts Do not depart from that Rule of Truth behold what Dr. Sherlock blames and calls Implicit Faith you shall be protected in the Tabernacle of God from these contradicting Tongues This is the true way taught and followed from the beginning of Interpreting Scripture of adhering to the genuin word of God when the Letter bearing several Constructions cannot reconcile different Opinions as the same holy Doctor observes We follow in this also the Authority of Canonical Scriptures when we follow what is Decreed Sequimnr sane in hâc re etiam Canonicarum Authoritatem Scripturarum cum hoc facimus quod universae Jam placuit Ecclesiae quam ipsarum Scripturarum commendat Authoritas c. L. 1. Cont. Cresc c. 31 32 c. by the Vniversal present Church which the Authority of the Scriptures themselves recommends unto us and because the holy Scriptures cannot deceive us whoever fears to be misled by the obscurity of this or any other Question let him consult about it that Church which we are without the least obscurity directed unto by the holy Scriptures This he had learn'd from St. John who assures the Members of that Church That they are not to seek any other Masters to teach them having that Holy Spirit Non necesse habetis ut aliquis vos doceat unctio enim ejus docet vos de omnibus 1 Joa 2. promised unto and guiding that Church which teaches them all truth St. Paul was of a very different mind as well as Religion from Dr. Sherlock when he orders even the Learned Bishop Titus to avoid an Heretic after one or two endeavors Haereticum hominem post unam secundam Correptionem devita sciens quia subversus est qui ejusmodi est delinquit cum sit proprio Judicio condemnatus Tit. 3. 10 11. to reclaim him knowing that such an one is cast off and is in sin being condemned by his own judgment which he opposes to that of the Church The first General Councils and the first Christian Emperors were of a different Religion and mind from this Doctor who Commanded all the Books written by Heretics to be burnt I will conclude this Point with St. Augustins Advice perfectly opposite to these unreasonable Principles a seasonable advice given to all Heretics wearied out with seeking in vain the truth by their own judgment without the direction of this unerring Guide Return and lie at Revertere sede in portu Catholicae fidei ubi nulla te possit fluctuosae curiositatis tempestas turbare Aug. in Hypognost Anchor in the Haven of Catholic Faith where no storm of a wavering curiosity can disturb you Dr. Sherlock in his Preservative f. 4. gives his Protestant this advice Ask them whether they will allow you to judge for your self in matters of Religion If they do not why will they trouble you with disputing You cannot be convinced 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 I observed that this was to say 't is impossible to convince a man that in reason he ought to submit his judgment to that of another though infallible That such a Principle makes void all the right use of reason when it should lead us to submit to a just Authority that St. Paul pretended to Infallibility through the assistance of the Spirit of God who directed him and consequently that if
this Principle of Dr. Sherlock be reasonable the Jews ought when he disputed in their Synagouge not to have stirr'd an inch not to have hearkened to him till he had disowned infallibility In the Defence the Honest Footman is ashamed of so unchristian a Principle and would disown it saying That it appears plain and natural to him that he may submit his judgment to an Infallible Judge and yet the Church of Rome may not be that Judge true but this is contrary to Dr. Sherlock's Principle For how long is the Protestant not to stir an inch till the Catholic hath proved his Churches infallibility There would have been some common sense and reason in that Advice but not so says Dr. Sherlock but till he disowns infallibility 'T is as evident then as Noon-day-light that Dr. Sherlock lookt upon infallibility pretended unto as inconsistent with disputing and pretending by reason to convince an other of the truth and that consequently he takes the Jews's part against St. Paul. The Footman Mistook here his Masters Errant Preservative fol. 6. Dr. Sherlock asks this Question What difference is there betwixt mens using their private judgment to turn Papists or to turn Protestants I answered the same as betwixt two sick men the one whereof chooses to put himself in an able Doctors hands whom he knows to have an infallible Remedy whilst 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 Council c. The Doctor 's second Answers by this Question And is not here private Judgment used all this while A shrewd Question indeed Dr. Sherlock had asked what difference there was in these two uses of private Judgment I produce the difference then as if the Question had been forgot still says the Footman there is use made of private Judgment it were as nice a Reply had one asked what difference is there betwixt an Ounce of Gold and an Ounce of Silver if when the different value is express'd he should wisely return this answer why there is still an Ounce in both cases Is there no difference then betwixt one who follows his fancy in choosing his way and him who chooses a good Guide and follows him because both choose do both equally rely on their fancy What Position can more abuse common sense Certainly the Ingenious and Learned Gentlemen of the Temple cannot but smile at this strange way of Reasoning in their Master so different from theirs Preservative fol. 9. They cannot with any sense dispute with us about the particular Articles of Faith because the sense given of Scripture and Fathers takes its Authority from the Church understanding it so I Replyed that the sense takes its Authority from God who spake the Word though we are certain that we have the true sense of that Word because we receive it from the Church which is guided in delivering to us both the Letter and Sense by the infallible Spirit of God that is to abide with Her for ever according to Christs promise Joh. 14. 16. I added that if John and William dispute which is the right way to a place John is not disabled of convincing William of his mistake because he receives the Reasons he uses from an infallible Guide This was plain and full what answers the Doctor 's second He cites some Catholic Divines how truly it belongs not to my present purpose saying that the words of Scripture brought in proof of Transubstantiation might be taken in a different sense from that which the Catholic Church hath ever received and delivered and that had not the Church ever taught that sense one might believe otherwise for all the Letter of Scripture Let it be so but what follows here But the necessity of an unerring Interpreter So that Text 1 Joh. 5. 7 8. There be three which give Testimony in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three be one and there be three which give testimony on Earth the Spirit Water and Blood and these three be one in the sense the Church hath ever received it in proves the strict Unity of God in the Trinity of Persons The Arians gave it a contrary and as natural a sense doth this prove that we follow not Scripture and this very Text in our belief of the Holy Trinity Once more I appeal to the Learned Gentlemen of the Temple hoping they will join with me maintaining against their Master that all the Judges of the Land may very reasonably convince by Law an impertinent Party though he should oppose that they may not do it because their Interpretation of the Law is to deliver the true sense of it The Preservative fol. 11. moves this Question Must the belief of an infallible Judge be resolved into every mans private judgment Must it not be believed with a Divine Faith and can there be a Divine Faith without an infallible Judge I gave this answer There can be no Divine Faith without a Divine Revelation nor a prudent one without a Moral evidence in the Motives of Credibility on which may be grounded the evident obligation to accept it The judgment being possess'd with that Moral infallibility rests not there but observing that goodness and mercy of God which cannot permit that falshood should be propounded in his Name with all the apparent marks of his Hand and Seal and without any like appearance on the Contrary inclined by a pious motion of the Will called by the famous Council of Orange affectio credibilitatis and strengthen'd by that Grace of God which bestows the Gift of Faith fastens on Gods Veracity and with a submission not capable of any doubt embraces the revealed truth If the infallibility of the Church were more than Morally evident it were impossible that any Heresy should be To this the Second of Dr. Sherlock hath nothing to oppose and is willing to submit if I can shew a Revelation that there is an infallible visible Church I will comply with so reasonable a demand and since not one in a thousand of those who oppose our Doctrin in this fundamental Point which once being cleared bears away all disputes understands what that infallibility means on which we ground the admirable certainty of each Point of our Belief give me leave Sir to be somwhat more prolix on this Subject than the narrow compass of a Letter would otherwise allow What is and whence proceeds this infallibility Many do suppose and object unto us that we hold a Man or many to be infallible in themselves a Title to which God alone can lay a Claim who only as he is truth so he is alone infallible They wilfully suppose that we place this infallibility in the sense and judgment of men so that whatever by their own Light they resolve and order must infallibly be true and just that such may frame new Articles
of Faith and a new Religion or at least Phanatick-like by Enthusiasms and new marvelous Revelations make new additions to our Faith so that we may have daily a different one their Votaries like a blind Herd being driven now to one Opinion then to another yet still supposing themselves infallibly right all this is a monstruous misrepresentation without one word of truth but men who themselves follow a lawless fancy and loose liberty must thus disfigure that admirable Guide which God hath left us otherwise they would soon be without any followers this account I shall deliver here of the infallible Guide which Catholics follow the Church of God will I am sure represent her in very different because in her true proper Colours Our Guide then is the Catholic Church either diffusive in its whole extent or representative in its Head and Bishops the Pope and a General Council for as in the State here in England we have a Common Law and a Statute Law the first not compiled by any one Lawgiver but delivered by all the Judges and Sages of the Law and preserved in all Courts and the daily use of the whole Kingdom the second delivered particularly by the Kingdoms Great Representative in its Head and Members the King and lawfully convened Parliaments So in the Church there is a general Faith first received from Christ and his Apostles and preserved by all Bishops in their respective Diocesses and in the mind and actions of each faithful Believer in the whole Catholic Church and when any difficulty arises by the opposition of new Heresies then the Church Representative the Pope and a General Council or Synod of the ablest and Holiest Bishops of the Catholic Church deliver their Sentence in favour of the ancient Truth ever followed in the Church which Decisions or Canons are like our Statute Law only declaring and applying to particular instances the Common Law or Belief of the Church We hold that this general Faith received from the Apostles and preserved in all the Members of the Catholic Church explained upon occasion by the Church Representative is infallibly true and this is all the infallibility the Catholic Church pretends unto neither the whole Church nor any person or persons in it are held to possess any intrinsick infallibility which we own to be proper to God alone Nay no man in this present state or condition of life as our Divines observe can be in himself impeccable or infallible all are of themselves subject to Error Scotus in 2. diff 2 3. Q. as well as to sin and whatever God doth in favour of his Church doth no more alter her defectibility than a strong man lifting up a great weight with a Child takes away the natural weakness of the Child which remains still the same though the weight not moveable to the Child be in effect drawn or lifted up Hence Rufinus observes that we do not say in our Creed I believe in the Holy Catholic Church as we say I believe in God the Father In Jesus Christ In the Holy Ghost By that Preposition that syllable in we separate the Creator from his Creatures Divine help from In Symb. art Eccless S. Cat. Hac prepositionis syllaba Creator a Creaturis secernitur divina humanis separantur Humane means but we say of these humane means appointed by Almighty God that although they be fallible and exposed to error in their own nature yet by Gods appointment and Grace they will prove infallible as to us and certainly lead to the knowledge of truth We do not say that they cannot of themselves deceive us but that God according to his promise directing them by his infallible Spirit it cannot possibly happen that they should deceive us If then says S. Thomas our Creed as many understand it teaches us to believe in the Catholic Church this is the sence of it That is to say our Faith leans on the Holy Ghost and the meaning of these words are I believe in the Holy Ghost who sanctifies the Hoc est intelligendum secundum quod fides nostra refertur in Spiritum sanctum Sanctificantem Ecclesiam holy Church and Guides her When God revealed to St. Paul that he should come to Rome and die there or to St. Peter that being grown old he should be Crucified were either of them immortal the one till he came to Rome the other till he became old not the least they were as srail as before as exposed to Diseases within as capable of being wounded and that mortally yet in a true sense they were immortal for that time because that by reason of the Revelation and protection of God it was impossible they should die before they came the one to Rome the other to old Age according to the Revelation Thus should God reveal to a Traveller in a wild Wilderness full of wild Beasts and beset by Thieves that he should pass certainly unhurt and not fall he nor those who follow him into the Hands of these or Claws of those this man would remain as weak as ignorant of the ways as exposed to danger as before yet would prove an infallible Guide to those who would follow him So supposing which I shall presently prove that God hath promised to the Catholic Church that his holy Spirit should guide her in all truth that she shall follow that true Guide and ever avoid falling into Error though each Member of the Church remain as fallible as weak as subject to Error as before yet it evidently follows that this Church will infallibly avoid all Errors never lead any of her followers into it and this is all we mean by the Churches infallibility A thing when thus rightly understood as clear as evident as certain as that God's Revelation cannot prove false as that the Holy Ghost and Christ himself who remains with the Teachers of this Church be in themselves infallible We do not expect any new Revelations or Lights we do not admit any new Article of Faith though where a doubt arises the Church hath infallibly power to declare what hath been revealed by Christ to the Apostles and Preached by them which perchance some part of the Church might have had a less clear understanding thereof and though when the sense of Scripture appears doubtful to some this Church can explain infallibly what the true sense and meaning is and deliver more explicitly what is implyed in the Word of Scripture for example if some doubts whether in the Mystery of our Lords Supper there be a true Change of the substance of Bread into that of the Body of our Lord. This Holy Church can declare that these plain words This is my Body do declare it and to avoid further mistake may give a new clearer Name to the old Mystery so revealed by Christ and Preached by the Apostles calling it Transubstantiation as She calls the Mystery of God one in Nature and three in Persons Holy Trinity a
highest impiety or the most rash arrogancy In fine that by the Authority of such Councils Truth is setled and confirmed and all doubts are removed The Oracle of Christ our Lord in this case stands Mat. 8. If he submit not to the Church let him be to thee as a Heathen and a Publican This St. Cyprian was convinced of when he declared That no one can have God for a Father who pays not to the Church the submissive Duties which a Mother hath right to challenge that as no one out of the Ark escaped death in the Deluge so no one can avoid perishing if he revolt from the Church that no one can live to God and be out of her Obedience because that God hath but one House and no body can be saved out of the Church Next the practice of the Apostles for as we find Acts 15. there being a debate about the Obligation that Christians lay under in reference to the Law they appointed Paul and Barnabas to go up and certain others of the rest to the Apostles and Priests unto Hierusalem upon this Question There was made a great disputation and the Conclusion was this Decision of the Church It seemed good to the Holy-Ghost and unto us c. according to the Promise made by Christ Joh. 15. 16. When the Paraclite comes He shall give testimony to me and You shall give testimony to me which words assert the future perpetual union in the same sense betwixt the Invisible infallible Spirit and the Visible Church Hence St. Cyril Patriarch of Hierusalem owned the true Church to be called Catholic not only by reason of her Continuation in all Ages and extent into all places but also by reason that She teaches Catholicly that is Vniversally without Ecclesia vocatur Catholica quia docet Catholice hoc est universaliter sine ullo defectu vel differentiâ omnià dogmata quae debent venire in cognitionem Omne hominum genus pié subjugat Principes privatos Cyr. Hier. Catech. 8. any Error or Variance all that a Christian ought to know submitting piously to her Authority all sorts of men both Princes and People St. Paul though an Inspired Scripture-writer owned this Ordinary Authority as the only sure Guide saying of himself Gal. 2. 1. I went up according to Revelation God ordering it for our Example and instruction and confer'd with them the Gospel which I preached lest perhaps I should have run or had run in vain Not that the Churches approbation added any thing to the truth which had been revealed to him whence he says To me those that seemed to be something added nothing So now the Churches Authority addeth nothing to the truth revealed in Scripture but offers infallibly that truth to be obey'd In which sense St. Augustin owned that he would not believe the Gospel were Ego vero Evangelio non crederem nisi me Catholicae Ec clesiae commoveret Authoritas ad Ep. fund c. 5. Etisi contumax superba obundire volentium multitudo Ecclesia tamen â Christo non recedit Et illi sunt Ecclesia plebs sacerdoti adunata Pastori suo grex adhaerens Ep. 69. he not moved to it by the Authority of the Catholic Church to wit the present one then declaring against the Manicheans for the Church as St. Cyprian had observed before him that is the people united to their Priest the Flock adhering to their Pastor never falls off from Christ though stubborn and proud multitudes of men fall off from Her. How can God abandon the Church to Errors and yet give her Teachers and Pastors the Power to exact a full submission of judgment this St. Paul bears witness unto 2 Cor. 10. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God casting down all imaginations or reasonings and every thing that exalts it self against the knowledge and bringing into Captivity all understanding in obedience to Christ and he declares to the Ephesians 4. 11. before cited that these Pastors whose teaching will preserve us from wavering and from being tost to and fro will still be until we all come unto the unity of Faith until the Body of Christ be built which will not be compleat till the Worlds End. Yet our Merciful God to bear away all cavilling excuses of those who should pretend the Church to have been lest and abandoned by her Teacher the infallible Spirit of God hath most clearly ingaged his unerring Word for the contrary This is my rest says he by David for ever and Psal 132. ever here will I dwell because I have chosen it And St. Paul assures us that this House of God is the Church of the living 1 Tim. 13. 15. God to omit the greater number of these Promises by Isay he offers these Thou shalt be no more for saken as the Synagogue Isay 60. 10. 62. 3. but thou shalt be called my delight in her upon thy Walls Hierusalem I have appointed Watchmen all the day and all the night in the calm of Peace and in the storms of Persecution for ever they shall not hold their peace There shall come Idem 59. a Redeemer to Sion and to them that shall return from iniquity in Jacob says our Lord as for me this is my Covenant with them my Spirit that is in thee and my words that I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy Seed nor out of the mouth of thy Seeds Seed from the present and for ever by Hieremy he promises I will give them one Hier. 32. heart and one way that they may fear me for ever I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them but will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me By Ezechiel he thus expresses himself There Ezech. 37. 24. shall be one Shepherd over them all they shall walk in my Judgements I will set my Sanctuary in the midst of them for ever By Malachy thus I will make her who was cast off the Church gathered amongst the Gentils a strong Nation and the Lord shall reign over them from hence forth and for ever And by the Prophet Osee he assures that Church That he hath Espoused her in Faith for ever Was it possible that God should reveal more expresly more fully that his Church should never fail to follow the directions of her Guide the Holy Ghost what wonder that all holy Fathers should continually deliver us a truth of which they had received so frequent and plain Revelations St. Cyprian following the Prophet Osee assures us that this Spouse of Christ can never fall into Adultery must remain Chast and unstained ever dwell in One House and Adulterari non potest sponsa Christi incorrupta est pudica unam domum novit Quisquis ab Ecclesiâ segregatus Adulterae jungitur à promissis Ecclesiae
separatur Cypr. de Unit. Eccles that consequently who ever forsakes her and adheres to an Adulteress any Heretical or Scismatical Congregation looses all right to the Promises made to the Church So certain was St. Gregory Nazianzen that this Si nunc vel ante suscepti sunt qui Apollinaris placita sectantur hoc ostendant nos aquiescemus Perspicuum enim Erit eos ut rectae Doctrinae assentientes susceptos fuisse nec enim se res aliter habere potest 〈◊〉 hoc consequuti sunt Church could never admit any Heretics into her Communion That as zealous an opposer as he was to the Apollinarists he owned he would acquiesce to them if they could prove they had ever been received into the Catholic Churches Communion which would be an undoubted proof that they were fallen into no Heresie And in that case it could not be otherwise but that they did assent to truth St. Athanasius owned this Rule so infallible that he conceived no other Arguments ought to be used against Heretics but this which alone Epist ad Cledon Tantummodo ad ea respondendum est quod ipsum per se sufficit ea Ecclesiae Orthodoxae noti esse nec Majores nostros it a sensisse Epist ad Epist Epist Corim. is sufficient that their Opinion was not the Doctrin of the Orthodex Church that our Ancestors were of another perswasion But what debate can there be of this truth amongst Christians after so plain a decision of Christs own Divine Mouth Matt. 16. 18. The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against her having first assured Peter that he was a Rock unmoveable and that on that Rock he would build his Church On Peter then and his Successors not on their Shoulders indeed as a Protestant Divine very briskly proved but on their personal unmoveable Faith this Church is ever to be built whence all holy Fathers have ever derived the Infallibility of Doctrin promised to the Church Let the great Patriarch of Alexandria S. Cyril be an Instance of it Tâ—â—s Sirname Petram opinor per agnominationem nihil aliud quam inconcussam firmissimam discipuli fidem vocavit in quâ Ecclesiâ Christi ita fundata firmata esset ut non laberetur esset inexpugnabilis inferorum portis in perpetuum manens Cyril in Dial. ad Prin. l. 4. of Rock says he is the unmoveable and most firm Faith of this Disciple on which the Church of Christ should be so founded and setled that it should prove impregnable to the Gates of Hell lasting for ever And that all might know that 't is the virtue of the Holy Ghost by whose Infallibility in Guiding the Church remains Infallible in being Guided our Saviour informs his Apostles of it and us by them Joh. 14. 16. He my Father will give you another Paraclite that may abide with you for ever and consequently with their Successors as a Land given to one for ever by force thereof belongs to his Heirs the Spirit of Truth whom the World knows not St. Ambrose who observed no such Promise made to particular Men reading Scripture had hence reason to conclude Let no Man make the Law the measure of his Faith but report it to Nemo fidem suam intra mensuram legis includat sed ad Ecclesiam conferat in quâ septiformis Spiritus gratia relucet uam Princeps ille Sacerdotum fulgore supernae divinitatis illuminat Lib. 7. c. 11. in Luc. the Church in which the Grace of the seven-fold Spirit shines whom that Prince of the Priests doth enlighten with Rays of the Divinity from above Hence Origen concuded That the Son of God as the Scriptures teach us is the Soul of the Body of Lib. 6. contra Gels Christ which is the Church of Christ That the Word of God by a wonderful Virtue moves together all the Members of his Church And can it enter into a Christians thought that a Body guided by the Holy Ghost moved by Christ shall ever go astray But Tertullian represents with a most sensible Energy the weakness of those who can harbor the least suspicion of it The Holy Ghost says he to this intent was sent by Christ to this end was asked of the Father that he should be the Teacher of Truth Did this Steward of God neglect his Office Did this Vicar of Christ permit the Church to believe to teach otherwise than Christ himself Preached by his Apostles St. Paul did not believe it possible when he called the Church not only the House of God but also the Pillar of Truth I omit here those plain Texts of Scripture to be found so frequently in it by which Christ declares this Churches Perpetuity only minding you Sir of that Saying of one of the most famous and Learned Primates of this Kingdom ' T is the same in the Church to Err and to Perish Idem est errare perire Ecclesiam Hanc sacrilegam vanitatem evertit Evangelica veritas Prophetarum atque SS Patrum non violanda authoritas Lanfranc contr Bereng Wherefore since the latter cannot happen if God in revealing cannot Err we may conclude with him that to say it can Err is a Sacrilegious Vanity which the Authority of the Prophets of the Gospels of the Fathers utterly reproves That what Promises were made to the Apostles for the Support and Continuance of the Church are made good to their Successors the lawful Pastors Reason it self evidently makes out God not withdrawing the Means whilst he designs the End. And St. Augustin expresses it fully in these words Commenting on those of the Royal Prophet For thy Fathers Children are born to thee The Apostles did beget thee they were sent they Preached they were thy Fathers but Genuerunt te Apostoli ipsi missi sunt ipsi praedicatores ipsi patres sed numquid nobiscum ipsi semper esse potuerunt Ergo eorum discessu deserta est Ecclesia Absit pro Apostolis nati sunt tibi filii constituti sunt Episcopi c. Aug. in Psal 44. could they remain for ever with us Was then the Church deserted by their departure God forbid For thy Fathers Children were born to thee Bishops were Constituted Think not thy self abandon'd because thou seest not Peter thou seest not Paul Out of thy Issue Fathers are given thee Hence in his Dispute he wonder'd at the sensless Position of Gaudentius Lib. 2. c. 8. contra Gauden the Donatist teaching that the Church had Perished and yet owning their Congregation to be the true Church since Donatus could not be a Father in the true Church had he not been a Son thereof had she Perished before he laid the Foundation of his Schismatical Body Against the same Heretics and the Schismatics of these Days he is as plain on the Psal 103. What mean some says he in the Name of the Church who abandoning me murmur against Quid est quod nescio qui recedentes a me
with which these late Heresies are patch'd up But the last Defence brought for Dr. Sherlock is surprising and I could well quarrel with you Sir as a Christian for Licensing it What do you own that we only are to look on the Faith even as Preached by Christ as necessarily Infallible Is it no part of your Belief that you are any way concerned in that that certain Faith which Christ exacted from the Jews St. Paul from each Christian must of necessity be Infallible 'T is impossible by Reason to prove that Men must not make use Preservative of their own Reason and Judgment in Matters of Religion That Men must use Reason to come to this Knowledge that Answer Fol. 5. God hath revealed what they believe is very certain As the Jews Exod. 14. Crediderunt Domino Moysi servo ejus Did believe God and Moses his Servant As all Nations believed Christ and his Apostles So each Christian now believes Christ and his Church the first as Author the second as Witnesses Commission'd from God of their Faith being moved by the Proofs they offered of their Commission So far Judgment Thus the Apostles believed Christ teaching himself to be the Son of God their Judgment having first been convinced that God spoke by him which Method appears more particularly in the Man born blind whom Christ our Lord cured and who Nin̄ Dominus esset cum illo was thereby convinced that God was with him taught by him and in consequence to that Conviction having barely heard from Christ that he was the Son of God he fell prostrate and adored him not exacting any farther proof beyond his Word After a full conviction that God speaks by those who Preach to us there is no farther use of Reason if we believe St. Paul but in order to the bringing into captivity all Vnderstanding in obedience to Faith. 2 Cor. 10. Defence f. 7 8. If my Sense and Reason will serve me to find out an Infallible Church it is a little severe to renounce it when I come there The Apostles were as Infallible as the Church can pretend to be now yet 1 Epist John 4. 1. Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits if they be of God. 1 Cor. 10. 15. I speak to wise Men judge you what I say And Acts 17. 11. we have this particular Commendation of the Bereans that they were more noble than those of Thessalonica in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily to see whether what they heard were conformable thereto or no. Answer Do I renounce my Reason when I embrace what my Reason hath convinced me to be infallibly true Sure Sir you have too much Sense not to own this to be a sensless Position But let us apply it to another Case When a Protestant is convinced and that if you please infallibly that the Word of God in the Bible delivers a Truth and his Reason hath convinced him of it is he not to abandon whatever Reason can object against the Mystery If you say he is not then a Man may doubt of the truth of Gods Word A very Christian Protestant Principle If you say he is then 't is not severe but most reasonable to renounce Reason when it opposes it self to a Truth infallibly Preached and received from an Authority acknowledged Infallible As for the three Texts I have before shewed how the First is wrested from its plain natural Sense to the opposite The Third is against him for the Bereans received First the Word with all readiness of mind and then searched the Scriptures to see in them those Texts which the Apostles used to convince the stubborn and so do Catholics The Second is neither directly nor indirectly to the purpose For St. Paul having brought a Reason why they were to abstain from such Meat and Drink as was offered to Idols to wit that since they did partake of the true Sacrifice of Christ's Body and Blood they could no more use what was Sacrificed to Idols than serve at two opposite Altars and adore the true God and the false ones he asks them Whether this Reason is not convincing Now I would know whether a Supreme Judge much more an infallible one doth disclaim his own Power because he offers evident Reasons for the Sentence he gives and shews the Parties obstinacy that should refuse to submit to them As for those words As to wise Men I speak the honest Footman little understands the meaning of them it being the Language of the Primitive Church when any thing was touched concerning the great Sacrament of our Blessed Lord's Body and Blood not to publish that high Mystery but to refer to the private Instruction about it which was given after Baptism and never trusted to the Catechumens an evident Proof that in this Sacrament there was a high Mystery beyond the Faith in Christ our Redeemer as Saviour of the World and Food of our Souls by his Passion without which no one was admitted to Baptism Thus St. Augustin ever expressed himself in this Subject The Norunt fideles norunt qui Initiaati sunt In Ps 39. 33. Ps 109. Hom 42. c. 4. l. 50. Hom. Orig. in Levit. Hom. 9. Chrys Hom. 27. in Gen. Hom. 5. ad Antioch c. Faithful know what I mean those understand me that have been Christned Thus Origen and St. Chrysostom before him and St. Paul himself I speak to you more boldly of this Mystery as to the wiser and more fully taught Pray Sir leave off Licensing such wretched Trifles and such wonderful wrested Texts or never expect there should be any Answer returned to them tho' how far this Motive will prevail with you I have some small reason to doubt Preserv f. 21. We have as much assurance of every Article of our Faith as you have of the Infallibility of your Church First because we are in general assured that the Scriptures are the Word of God. Answer f. 5. This is the great Point indeed which if a Protestant loses he loses all For 't is certain and evident that the Catholic hath the same assurance for each Article of his Faith proposed by the Church which he hath of the Churches infallibility as I have the same certainty of all that my Friend says to me which I have that he speaks nothing but certain truth He proves it first because he is in general assured that the Scriptures are the Word of God Hitherto there holds some parity though but lame but suppose it were entire the Conclusion would be this Catholics are as certain of the sense of Scripture as Protestants are that they have the Letter whence it follows demonstratively that when Protestants differ in the sense from Catholics they have less assurance for it than Catholics who have always the same assurance for the sense as Protestants have for the Letter Defence f. 6. and 7. You are Judges in your own Case
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-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
kinds of Bread and Wine yet notwithstanding the Authority of the Sacred Canons the laudable and approved Custom of the Church hath observed and observes that this Sacrament ought not to be Consecrated after Supper nor Confici received by the Faithful not fasting but in case of sickness and such other necessity as the Canon Law and the Church admit or allow of And so this Custom to avoid some dangers and scandals hath been reasonably brought in that although this Sacrament in the Primitive Church was received by the Faithful under both kinds since that it should be received by those who Consecrate Priests in both kinds by the Laity only under the appearance of Bread. Because we are firmly to believe and in no way to doubt that the entire Body and Blood of Christ is truly contained as well under the species of Bread as under that of Wine Behold the Council declares that it owns it no part of the Institution that the Sacrament be taken under both kinds no more than that it be taken at Night after Supper c. All these being but Circumstances belonging to that Discipline which wholly depends on Church Authority and is alterable at any time when there is reason for it And indeed if this be a Crime which Protestants cannot be capable of how comes it to pass that your Congregations receive your Sacrament kneeling fasting in the Morning in the Church notwithstanding the Institution of Christ Own Sir own Candidly this insinuation to have been a Calumny Preservative f. 45. No Argument from the necessity of a thing must be admitted to prove it is V. G. 'T is proposed to You that If there be no infallible Judge there can be no certainty of Faith though it be true and you think it to be true you must not allow this Consequence therefore there is one such Arguments do not prove that there be such a Judge but that there Ought to be Answ f. 6. This is not only to mis-use 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 That he thought he could have ordered some things better than God did at the first Creation 'T is one of as deep a die to think that God ought to have done what we believe he hath not done Defence f. 15. The Doctor says fol. 44. We should never admit any Arguments merely from the usefulness conveniency or supposed necessity of any thing to prove it is Now the Answerer leaves out supposed and so makes that absolute which was conditional If I thought says Dr. Sherlock all this were true as I believe not a word of it is that if there be not an infallible Judge there can be no certainty in Religion I should only conclude that it is great pity that there is not an infallible Judge Instituted by Christ But if you would have me conclude from these Premisses Ergo there is an infallible Judge of Controversies I must beg your pardon for that for such Arguments as these do not prove that there is such a Judge but only that there ought to be one and therefore I must Conclude no more from them Indeed this is a very fallacious way of Reasoning because what we may call useful convenient necessary may not be so it self and we have reason to believe it is not so if God have not appointed what we think so useful convenient and necessary c. And now I would fain know who it is that denies Wisdom and Reason in God. Answ It is a pleasant way of Answering in the Defence of a Person accused to have offended against the first Principles of Reason and Respect to say that he hath spoken wisely and dutifully elsewhere yet so Answers our Footman if it be an Answer meerly to add what is not blamed in an Author to what is blamed Dr. Sherlock says well in advising us to believe that not to be necessary which we know God hath not appointed therefore I did not touch or reflect on that saying but I say that the advice he gives to one who supposes there is a necessity of any thing towards the Eternal Salvation of Christians That tho' he believe it true yet he infers not Sure then God hath bestowed it Christ hath obtained it for us but rather God ought to have done it Christ ought to have obtained it but I do not therefore believe he hath This Advice I say is much more injurious to Gods Mercy and Wisdom than the Saying so much blamed by all Christians in Alphonsus the Salvation of Mankind being the ultimate Work of God towards his own Glory Whether this Charge be not just and Dr. Sherlock teach not this Doctrin in the words cited by the Answerer in the Case of one who supposes that there can be no certain Faith in a Christian and such a Faith Christ exacts in all by St. Paul and St. James c. without an infallible Guide and who believes it to be true I leave it Sir to your observation Principles of Dr. Sherlock which make void all Faith. SVppose the Protestant Faith uncertain how is the Preserv f. 79 80. Cause of the Church of Rome the better Is Thomas an honest Man because John is a Knave Answer If Thomas and John be accused severally of a Theft and the stoll'n Goods be found with John I conceive tho' this prove not Thomas so assuredly an honest Man yet an honest Jury would 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 soever they apply it Catholics another I conceive then that if the Protestant Rule be proved uncertain 't is plain the Catholic Rule must be the certain one Defence f. 17. You must first prove that 't is impossible for People to make to themselves two wrong Rules Answer I do not write against Dr. Sherlock's Errors but with this Supposition that he holds what generally is called if there be any such fixed thing the Doctrin of the Church Established by the Law in England I suppose he owns a Faith in Christ That this Faith ought to be firm certain not wavering for such is the Faith S. Peter and S. Paul require of us That this Faith altogether leans on Revelation That the Scriptures are the Word of God That if we understood the full extent of its true Sense and Meaning there would never be Error or Heresie amongst us Hitherto we agree Now the thing in question is by what Method we ought to come to that Knowledge as far as it is necessary to a Christian and I say that all the Methods are reduced to these two Heads That we are guided to the certain knowledge of what God hath revealed either by a Knowledge communicated to each of us or by a Knowledge communicated only to Guides apppointed to direct
not to be Punished is to declare they value not Gods Love and Grace like Children but meerly fear the Lash like Slaves and all Catholics look on such a Disposition excluding positively all regard to Gods Grace and Love as incapable of receiving forgiveness of Sins Christ hath made Atonement for our Sins but his Blood is to be applied by Baptism and in case of Relapse by perfect Contrition or Penitential Works during Life or Punishment after Death before all Pain due to Sin be remitted thus applied it frees us from the whole Curse of the Law. No Suffering or Punishment is the Death of the Soul as Dr. Sherlock supposes but only the privation of Gods Grace which is her Life and which is enjoyed through Christ as much in Purgatory as by penitent Saints on Earth in their penitential Sufferings and the mercy of our Lord appears as much in purging his Members from all Stains of the least sin by the Fire of Purgatory as here by the toilsom Labors of a penitential Life such as his dearest Servants were ever purified by St. Paul never taught that all things that are not seen or of another World are Eternal or else God would be Eternally Judging and so never Rewarding his Servants or Punishing his Enemies so that Dr. Sherlock's Demonstration hath not so much as the least appearance of a seeming Reason Having thus represented our Faith I conclude with S. Augustin Enchirid. c. 10. against Dr. Sherlock It cannot be denied but that the Souls of the Dead are relieved by the Piety and Devotion of their living Friends as often as the Sacrifice of our Mediator is offered or Alms-deeds are done in the Church for them but these things do bring profit only to those who in their Life-time did merit to receive profit by the like after Death For there is a certain State of Life neither so good that it needeth not these Helps after Death nor so evil but that it may be helped by the same I have already Answered in the first Section all those Calumnies which are repeated here concerning the Blessed Saints Intercessions for us Our Doctrin directly opposite to the slanderous Misrepresentations here offered is 1. We look on the Prayers of Saints as meerly humble Supplications for we hold that Christ only standeth our Mediator challenging he alone in Justice and by his own Merits to be heard in favor of us 2. We conceive Charity to be at least as proper to and inseparable from the Seraphical Souls of Saints as from any of Gods Servants on Earth and as much inclining them to Pray for their Fellow-Members of Christ's Mystical Body engaged here below in Miseries and Dangers 3. We never required the Prayers of Saints to render God good and merciful but only when joyned with our Prayers to render these a fitter Object of Gods Mercy and to reconcile the Effects thereof to his Wisdom and Justice 4. Whatever pity the Saints may have on us we look on it as on a small Stâ—â—lâ—e situâ—â—e Drop compared to the Ocean of Gods infinite Mercy of which that very Pity and the Intercession of Saints is a free Gift to us given with all other Blessings together with and as an Effect of his greatest Gift to wit his Eternal Son with whom in whom and by whom he hath given us all things This Faith of ours doth I conceive most evidently expose the shameless Calumnies which Dr. Sherlock hath disfigured her by Thirty Misrepresentations and Calumnies offered by Dr. Sherlock in his Third and Fourth Sections and some of his Phanatical Principles NEver did Man speak more without Book without Truth and without any respect to Shame or Conscience this Preservative deserving more the Fate of defamatory Libels than those two which he prises and recommends Fol. 78. No Provincial Letters Jesuite Morals burnt by the Hangman Narrative of the Minister Oats contains more Lies and Calumnies against the Persons of Catholics than the Minister Sherlock's Preservative against their Religion the latter is infinitely more Impudent because he accuses with an equally shameless Scurrility not single Persons but most Princes Bishops Universities Kingdoms of the Christian World and all the General Councils to boot I do own and will maintain it That no man ever Lyed in Print with more Confidence ever was so deafned by Passion to all the Reproaches of Conscience and Honor And had not a long Custom of saying any thing in the Pulpit tho' never so monstrously false that could render Catholic Religion odious or ridicule it by disfiguring it dictated to his peevish Distemper this Second Part of his Preservative it would not I conceive have been possible that all the Gall that can drop from a Christians Pen should in one Pamphlet have heaped so many and so defamatory Calumnies Take the following Instances 1. The Catholics by unwritten Traditions that make up a part Fol. 73 74 75. of their Rule of Faith mean such things as may be concealed from the knowledge of the World for 1500 Years never heard of before in the Church of God kept very privately and secretly for several Ages and totally unwritten By Tradition we mean a Revelation received from God by the Apostles conveighed by the continual teaching and preaching of Lawful Pastors strengthned by the visible practice of Christian Churches found in the Books of succeeding Fathers and Historians though not in Canonical Scripture which St. Paul recommended 1 Tim. 6. 2 Thes 2. de Sp. S. c. 27. Ipsam fidei praedicationem ad nudum nomen Contrahemus to Timothy faithfully to be kept as a depositum And commanded the Thessalonians to observe which if it be laid by says St. Basil We shall retain of the Preaching of the Faith but an empty Name and which is delivered to us as Preached by the Apostles by the same means and with the same security at least as the Letter of the Gospel is conveighed to us as written by them 2. They teach several External Observances to be much more Fol. 79. pleasing to God and therefore much better in themselves than true Gospel Obedience Moral or Evangelical virtues that they supply the want of true virtue Compensate for sin and make men great Saints We teach that Gods inherent Grace only Sanctifies us and that whatever External observance void of Evangelical virtue is a sinful Hypocrisie and only can make one a greater sinner 3. They teach that when a Priest Absolves men that forsake Fol. 81 82. not their sins God must confirm the Sentence of his Minister and therefore they are Absolved and need not fear whence they believe that God can be reconciled to sinners whilst they remain in their sins And therefore they must believe that God hath given power to his Priests to Absolve those whom he could not Absolve himself We teach that to receive Absolution without a real forsaking of our sins in lieu of forgivness of them adds a hainous Sacrilege 4.