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truth_n	age_n	church_n	time_n	2,142	5	3.6322	3	false

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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

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 T●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

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

so great a Doctor moved many to my knowledge to a happy Imitation of so Learned a Saint but they were too plain and solid to meet with even a seeming Answer from the boldest of their Mercenary Pens The only Trick left them was by some slie Insinuation some Calumny to divert the well-meaning Reader 's Attention and a Minister better known by his Forehead than Wit attempted it boldly in a Postscript He was however afraid of burning his Fingers with touching the Sermon it self but nibled at three Lines of the Introduction to it a Form of Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mother of our Lord taken out of the Thirty fifth Sermon of S. Augustin de Sanctis Then to support himself with big words he accuses me of Forgery and Disingenuity not for citing any thing otherwise than it lay in that Sermon but because forsooth this is not really St. Augustin's Sermon but a Spurious Piece unjustly Fathered upon him Then he as insolently triumphs as a weak Enemy who not daring to attack a Camp should brag of the Victory because he had most couragiously shot at random at an exposed Centinel Now Sir take a view of his Proofs and of those Forgeries he accuses me of in the two Letters which I writ in my own Defence His Proofs were these First the Title A Sermon on the Feast of the Assumption doth not agree at all to any thing that is near S. Augustin's time There was then not only no Feast of the Assumption therefore no Sermon could then be Preached on that Solemnity but not even any belief of such an Assumption This is a most weak pretence of a Proof For as I shewed that Day of Assumption when applied to any deceased Saint ever signified in the Language of Fathers the Day of their Death I cited several Sermons made by the Fathers as S. Cyril Amphilochius Methodius made on our Lady's Purification long before any Solemnity of it were observed in the Church of God That S. Hierom or an Author of the same Age William of Paris S. Bernard made Orations on the Assumption of our Blessed Lady altho' they doubted of her being assumed into Heaven in Body That the Sermon in S. Meliton's name own'd for his in the Fifth Century spake as fully on the real Assumption of our Blessed Lady as any Catholic ever did since And therefore it is evidently false that there was no such Belief in S. Augustin's time Farther I added That as Nicephorus witnesses Juvenal Patriarch of Jerusalem proved the truth of this Mystery as now piously believed in the Catholic Church to have been received of very ancient Tradition and that in the presence of Marcion the Emperor in whose time was the Fourth General Council Next I shew'd what a Cheat this Minister put upon his Readers by insinuating that the Thirty fifth Sermon I cited spake not of the Blessed Virgins Death but of her Assumption in the Sense which that word now vulgarly bears whereas the contrary is most evident and is expressed in such words as are found in all the ancient Writings of the Fathers on this Subject to wit In these the World is honor'd by so great a Virgins departure in what order or manner she passed hence to Heaven the Catholic Church doth no way recount neither is her Body found on Earth neither is her Assumption in the Flesh as it is read in the Apocrypha's found in the Catholic Church This is the true Opinion concerning her Assumption that not knowing whether in her Body or out of it as the Apostle hath it we believe her assumed above the Angels It is not evident from hence that this Minister most falsly imposed upon his Readers To this Accusation of mine he returns not a word of Answer to my Proofs only these insignificant Trifles That Nicephorus comes too late That S. Bernard doubted of our Blessed Lady's Assumption in Body That the first mention we find of Meliton's Book was Sixty Years after S. Augustin's time when it was declared Apocryphal Not a word to the Sermon under S. Hierom's name nor to any of my other Proofs His Second Proof was That very lately some Benedictin's at Paris in their late Edition of S. Augustin's Works had cast it into their Appendix as Spurious and that they told us that in their MSS. it wanted the Name of any Author but that the Louvain Doctors told us that in several Manuscripts which they used in their Edition of S. Augustin this Sermon de Sanctis was intitled to Fulbertus Carnotensis 1. I Answered That these were no Proofs or where they have an appearance of a Proof that 't is grounded on a Mistake 'T is no Proof at all on any side that in many Manuscripts there was no Name to the Sermon this is self-evident 2. That it is evident this Sermon was not of Fulbertus Carnotensis for the Sermon I cited assures us that the Church at that time taught nothing of the Corporal Assumption of the Virgin whereas Fulbertus in his Sermon of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin teaches That Christian Piety believed that Christ raised gloriously his Mother and placed h●r above the Heavens This was an undeniable Proof and therefore the Minister answers nothing to it However I added out of Courtesie that 't is no new thing that a Saint's Sermon should in some Manuscripts appear under other Names than their known Authors the same having happened to several Sermons of S. Chrysologus S. Ambrose c. That Syncletica's Life the undoubted Work of S. Athanasius was in some ancient Manuscripts intitled to Polycarp the Anchoret The Minister disproves not any one of these Instances To his vain Argument that the Style of this Sermon did seem to differ from that of S. Augustin's which is his private Opinion and of few late Writers I opposed the contrary Opinion of S. Thomas Aquinas who owned this Sermon to be S. Augustin's that eminent Doctor so well versed in this Saint's Writings that he was called Augustinus Contractus a Doctor to the defence of whose Doctrin the greatest part of Christian Divines are sworn Was not this a very full Answer Yet to shew how the Louvain Doctors owned the Invocation of Saints to have been S. Augustin's Doctrin I minded him that they receive his Eighteenth Sermon de Sanctis in which he speaks thus Having received these our Vows by thy Prayers obtain Pardon for our Sins What we offer let it by thee be pardonable What we ask with a faithful Mind let it become attainable Receive what we offer return us what we ask c. The Last Proof the Minister offers and which he values most is That one Isidore is quoted in that Twenty fifth Sermon de Sanctis thus Hence Isidore observes it is uncertain by this Saying whether the Sword of the Spirit is meant or the Sword of Persecution Now Isidore of Sevil in his Book of the Life and Death of Saints Chap. 68. hath these words Which indeed is

might Pray the more for us the Christians as St. Gregory Nyssen observes calling on the Martyr as on God's Tract 8. in Joa Serm. 27. de verb. Dom. l. 22. c. 10. de Civ In S. Thcod Mar. Minister who being Invocated by Men is able to Impetrate for them what Favors he pleases That Christ by refusing himself all Worship to God's Enemy the Devil teaches Vs to pay none at all to God's Saints and Angels is an Inference that no one but Dr. Sherlock was ever capable to make That to bring or invite Saints to the Feet of God's Throne to joyn their Prayers to ours is to set them in the Throne of God is a Position that seems to be supported in spite of all Sense and Reason The Catholics by Petitioning the Saints to Pray to God for them do most perfectly worship God and that by as immediate a Prayer as the Three Children in the Furnace of Dan. 3. Babylon as David in his 148. Psalm and others where he invites all Creatures to Praise God and whatever we admire in them being the Graces and Glory of God and the Worship which they pay him as directly leads to God as any other Prayer the best sort whereof is Thanksgiving or a Memorial of the Blessings we have received our selves from God. Besides since we are sure that they faithfully return to God as the Author of all that is praise-worthy in them whatever Praises they receive from us we honor and worship God more by Praying thus to them than he that should have held a Book of Prayers to St. Peter or St. Paul on Earth to read their Seraphical Prayers in The Catholic Believes there is but one God and one Mediator Jac. 4 between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus as he believes Jac. 5. there is one Lawgiver and one Judge and one Redeemer yet he believes that he who converts his Brother saves his Soul tho' Christ be the only Saviour because all other Means to Salvation have their efficacy from him Christ is the only Mediator by Nature and his essential Office by his own Merits only challenging in Justice to be heard having given himself a full Redemption so that he is as St. Augustin observes the Priest In Psalm 64. who being now entred into the vail alone there of them who have been partakers of flesh doth make intercession for us yet as the same Saint says without doubt the Martyrs intercede for us 'T is true we are bidden to come with confidence to the throne In Psalm 8● and 8● of glory that is with security that a full Ransom is paid for us of more than sufficient value to obtain whatever we ask but as the beloved Disciple observes that full confidence that they shall be heard is only for those whose Heart doth not check 1 Joan. 3. them with the consciousness of their Sins and we reach not the Pharisaical Pride of those who rank themselves with the Innocents We own Christ to be the Gate the Way he in whose Name we must ask and we say with St. Augustin That In Psalm 108 Prayer which is not made in the Name of Christ Mediator between God and Man not only doth not blot out sin but is it self a sin We are certain that whoever asks as he should in the Name of Christ will obtain what he asks and therefore finding our Prayers so often not to be heard and knowing that the very Prayer of a Sinner is odious to God whilst his Sins crie louder we put that adorable Name in the Mouth of Saints not by choosing them for our Mediators since their Prayers are of no other efficacy or value but thro' the Passion of Christ but for our Fellow-Intercessors as the Apostles themselves when on Earth asked the Prayers of others tho' absent by their Letters and we as much apply the Mediation of Christ to us by the Prayers of our Fellow-Members of his Mystical Body as we do by Alms-deeds and other pious Works which is no more a derogation to Christ than that St. Peter should work even greater Miracles than he himself because he wrought them in his Name and we honor God as much as those who laid their sick Friends where St. Peter's Shadow as he pass'd might cover them in lieu of calling immediately upon Christ whose Devotion was approved by Miracles We pay no other Worship to Images than the Jews by the Holy Ghost's Commands paid to the Ark or Mercy-seat or to the Cherubins for whatever Dr. Sherlock says to the contrary the same Worship may be paid to God's Throne as to his Footstool the Images are not the Object of our Worship but a Means to convey it to its proper Object which they represent We adore God every where and particularly where his Representative as a Crucisix is of Christ by a livelier Representation renders him more present to our Faith and we direct no other way our Worship towards a Crucifix than we do towards Heaven when we adore God there We adore but one substantial Image of God Christ Jesus but Pictures and Material Representations no more than our own Thoughts when in Contemplation we adore God tho' we have a singular Veneration for them as we have for the Bible proportion'd to that Civil Respect which we pay to the Images or Statues of our Kings If our worship of Creatures be Idolatry all the first Christians were great Idolaters who shewed so much Respect and Love to St. Paul and the other Apostles and confided so much on their Prayers which they asked with Tears for we own and practise no other sort of Creature-worship That Catholics have every where and even in this last Age destroyed all Idols and converted Nations from Idolatry is a certain Truth and therefore 't is as evident a Calumny that they have only changed the Names of Idols The Heathen Philosophers never pretended that their Prayers to Idols were only to ask the Prayers of Angels and Daemons not the least footstep of this appears in any one of them and the Silver-Smith Demetrius who accused St. Paul for teaching Act. 19. 26. Quoniam non sunt dii qui manibus fiunt that those were not Gods which were the work of mens hands sufficiently teaches us what Notion was generally received of Idols I have seen some part of the Catholic World as France the Low-Countries some Parts of Italy and Germany it hath been my great Employ to instruct the weakest Age and dullest People yet I profess I never met with any one that was in the least danger to take a Picture or Statue for a God or for a Saint that heard him And the Inquisitions against whose Severity Protestants so often declaim tho' they have often detected those who turned Jews a Persuasion most opposite to Image-Worship yet never discovered any one who by the use of Image or Statue was fallen into Idolatry We know God can hear us immediately and