the rest If therefore Protestants are in the wrong we are certainly in the right as far as we are opposite to them And besides since that all the positive Proofs that can be brought for the infallible Authority of Church-Teachers express also in what Church they are by evident Marks not to be found but in our Catholic Church it follows if the Protestants be in the wrong as to that Principle we are certainly in the right as to each Point of our Religion taught us by an unerring Interpreter Preserv f. 80. This that the Protestant Faith is uncertain may signifie two things First That the Objects of our Faith are uncertain and cannot be proved by certain Reasons Secondly That our Persuasion is wavering Answ f. 7. Besides the two mention'd it fignfies a Third thing also to wit That whatever Reasons there may be for a thing he who believes it hath not for the Motive of his Belief those certain Reasons There are for Example certain Reasons whereon to ground a Faith in Jesus Christ yet he that believes in Christ meerly because his Mother or a Minister hath taught him so to do hath a very uncertain and no Divine Faith. Defence f. 18. What can be the Gentleman's meaning I cannot conceive unless it be this That because Protestants take the Reason of their Faith from Scripture and not from the Church of Rome that therefore they can have no certain or Divine Faith which if it be I pity him if it be not I must desire him to explain himself Answer The honest Footman is grown very tender-hearted But is not this very plain that altho' there be very good Reasons for the belief of an Article of Christian Religion yet one that should believe it on the account of some silly Motive only such as I cited would have no Divine Faith But how can this be applied to Protestants who take the Reasons of their Faith from Scripture This I had shewed Fol. 6. but the Footman passes it by with this Answer only I shall say nothing to that Harangue so often Answered by our Divines It seems he had forgot those Answers or was conscious of their weakness Thus I discoursed there The Catholics prove that an uncertain or wavering Faith is no Divine Faith which the Protestants can never have of any one Article of their Religion because they never can have a certain one 'T is easily proved because they cannot have an act of Faith of any one Article till their Rule of Faith proposes it i. e. till they know certainly by their private Reading and Judgment what the Scriptures teach of it not by some one Text or two but by comparing all the Texts that treat of that Subject for the Sense of a single Text for Examp. My Father is greater than I cannot be had but by expounding it by other Texts on the same Subject Till a Protestant then hath a certain knowledge First that he hath all the Books of Holy Writ Secondly that all those he owns for such were really written by inspired Pens Thirdly that he hath a true and sound Translation in case he understood not the Original Languages and in case he doth a true Copy not altered by the Error or Malice of our Forefathers Fourthly since the Letter kills that he understands the true Meaning and Sense of each Text which relates to the Object of his Act of Faith Fifthly that he remember them all so as comparing them to see which be the clearer that must expound the obscurer and what is the true result of them all for any one which he understands not or hath forgotten may possibly be that one that must expound the rest he cannot have one Act of Faith. Now Catholics say this is impossible to most if not to all Protestants who are in each of these Points to Judge for themselves and not to submit to any Authority where a Doubt arises therefore few or no Protestants can in their whole Life-time frame one Act of Divine Faith concerning any one Mystery not that Scripture is not a very certain Rule but because they have chosen an useless because impossible and uncertain way of applying it Preservat ib. We believe the Apostles Creed and whatever is contained in the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles This is all we believe and I hope they will not say these things are uncertain Answer They are very certain but not to any Protestant whose Rule of Faith considering the Method he applies it by cannot make him certain of any one Article But the pleasant Answer which Justifies Turk Jew and Gentile For this is a Rule of Faith most sufficient according to Dr. Sherlock and a good Plea We believe all that God hath revealed and nothing else is not all that he hath revealed certain Here lies the Doctor 's gross Mistake that no one is an Heretic for not believing that what God hath revealed is true 't is impossible to fall into so mad an Heresie But Heretics are such for not believing him to have revealed what in effect he hath tho' he hath given sufficient Methods to come to the knowledge of it if they would use them Defence Do Jews Turks and Gentiles believe all that is contained in the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles Answer No Sir nor you neither If they believed all that God hath revealed as they pretend they would believe all that is delivered in the Bible which you pretend but upon as little ground What they think in their Judgment God hath revealed they believe what they think he hath not revealed they disbelieve that 's their Rule of Faith and 't is yours your own private Judgments being on both hands your Guides and not any Authority Established by Almighty God. Preservat f. 81. If these things which are believed by those who take their Faith from the Bible interpreted by their own final Sense be not built upon certain Reasons their Infallible Church can have no certainty of the Christian Faith. Answer Even this is most notoriously false since she is not Infallible by any Light of her own but by the Guidance of the Spirit of Truth Were not the Apostles when they had once acknowledged Christ to be the Son of God certain of all he revealed to them before he had given them certain Reasons for it It were a blind Impiety to think so Defence f. 19. Was there in that Case of the Apostles a certain Faith without a certain Reason An infallible Man must know things as they are or else he is mistaken Answer The Footman is very dull here and cannot distinguish between a certain Reason moving me to believe him that speaks and a certain Reason in the things that are delivered moving me to believe them This Second Dr. Sherlock requires saying That if these things which are believed be not built upon certain Reasons the Infallible Church seeing not any such Reasons can have no certainty of the Christian Faith. An
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
Sacrament considered with the Eyes of Faith and believe that this Sacrifice helps much to a holy life but not at all without it 30. Amongst them one can Merit for twenty so there is no need above one in twenty should be Good. Merit with us is Personal and not Communicative no one is better in the sight of God for the Piety of another and in what ever sense one may satisfie Gods Justice for the Penitential works he exacts from an other whose sin is remitted no one hath a title to the least degree of Glory and consequently hath any Merit by an others Sanctity or Merit Many more of this Man's Calumnies I pass by these Thirty and the other Ten I have laid down being a clear Evidence that he is the most confident Calumniator that ever Preached or Writ who dares say any thing without the least respect to Truth without any regard to Charity Honor or Conscience Now Sir give me leave to offer you some few of the many Fanatical Principles he advances as destructive to what you call your Church as to Christianity in general that in your second thoughts you may blush if you are capable of it for having set your Name to them and Licensed them to the Press The First God being a Spirit must not be sought for in Houses Fol. 48 50 51. of Wood and Stone because he must be worshipped in Spirit he must not be worshipped by any material or sensible Representations Those words Except your Righteousness exceeds the Righteousness of the Fol. 38. Scribes and Pharisees you shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven cuts off every thing that is External in Religion Do not these Principles remit all Christians to the Silent Meetings of Quakers Exclude the use of Churches rather than Barns Singing of Psalms and such other material Representations of the God whom we Praise The Second God and Christ are not present in the Assemblies Fol. 37. of Christians by any Figurative or Symbolical Presence There is no Symbolical Presence of God under the Gospel 'T is a great Fol. 34 55. Absurdity to talk of more Symbolical Presences of God than one for a Symbolical Presenc confines the unlimited Presence of God to a certain Place in order to certain Ends as for Example to receive the Worship which is paid him Now to have more than one such Presence as these is like having more Gods than one To say nothing of the absurdity of this Discourse which makes that Christian an adorer of two Gods who by Faith adoring God in Heaven and in his own Soul worships him in both places doth not this destroy the very Essence of your Sacrament the Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper which you own to be a Symbolical Presence of Christ The Third If God be better worshipped before an Image than Fol. 53 54. without one then the Worship of God is more confined to that Place where the Image is I cannot see how to avoid this whereas there is no appropriate Place of Worship under the Gospel And 't is the same tho' the Image be not appropriated to any Place but carried about with us for still the Image makes the Place of Worship This is an Argument for all Dissenters from you and all Fanatics against a Set Liturgy a Set Form of Prayer for if God be better worshipped by a Set Form of Prayer than without it then the Worship of God is more confined to that Place where that Set Form of Prayer that Set Liturgy is used and 't is the same tho' no set Place be appointed for that Set Form of Prayer c. The Parallel is exact The Fourth Having laid this Principle All that is meerly Fol. 34 36. External in Religion is taken away all Rites believed to be in themselves Acts of Religion and to render the Worshipper acceptable to God and this because God must be worshipped as a meer Spirit To defend the use of Baptism and the Lord's Supper he brings this only Reason Mankind by Sin hath forfeited all natural Right to Gods Favor they can challenge nothing but by Promise and Covenant such Covenants require a mutual Stipulation on both Sides Therefore they must be transacted by some visible and sensible Rites whereby God obliges himself to us and we to him Is not this last Inference destroyed by the former Principle taking away all Rites that are Acts of Religion all that is meerly External And on this Principle ought he not to teach that the mutual Stipulation betwixt God and us must be made by his interior Graces and our interior Worship because God must be worshipped as a meer Spirit Upon whatever account that interior Covenant requires a visible sensible Mark and our actual Communion with Christ another all the Communications of Gods Graces to us all our return of Worship and Adoration will equally admit of sensible Signs and Rites To avoid farther Prolixity I will end with the following Principle of his most injurious to Christ and an open and never to be coloured Blasphemy Fifth Principle There never was never can be an Infallible Fol. 68 69 70. Judge Christ himself was not an Infallible Judge altho' he were an Infallible Teacher I must my self judge of his Doctrin before I know that he is Infallible therefore Men were to judge of Christ's Doctrin before they believed him and they are thus to this day to Examin his Doctrin by the Law and Prophets and he never required that they should submit to his Infallible Authority without Examination He could not be an Infallible Judge obliging Men to receive all his Dictates as Divine Oracles without Examination 'T was impossible to know him to be Infallible but by judging of his Doctrin by the agreement thereof with the Principles of Reason and of former Revelations Doth a Christian teach this and a Christian approve and license it What JESVS our God blessed for evermore even when owned the Son of God even from us Christians cannot exact a Submission to his Infallible Authority without Examination of the truth of what he says by comparing it with the Principles of Human Reason He cannot oblige us to receive all his Dictates as Divine Oracles Was Christian Faith was the Author of it JESVS ever thus affronted Did the Apostles err did they act against Sense and Reason when they believed what he had taught of his Flesh being meat indeed Joh. 6. v. 69. only because he had the words of Eternal Life because his Dictates were Divine Oracles Were all men of this mind Christ would not indeed find any Faith on Earth What tho' we certainly know Christ to have taught and declared a Truth must we not upon his word submit to it and embrace it till we have consulted our Reason and found it can object nothing against it Were the weapons of S. Paul's 2 Cor. 10. 5. warfare such as could humble what raised it self against the science of God and bring into captivity all understanding in obedience to Christ and had the Word and Preaching of Christ less power Christ teaches it is not yet a sufficient Motive for me to believe Should an Angel from Heaven teach me this I would with St. Paul return him no other Answer than Anathema and do you Sir approve this Do you License men to teach to Christians they are not to submit to Christ's Word as to Divine Oracles that they must make themselves his Judges and Examin by their Reason whether he spoke truth or no Well Sir were it but not to give occasion to the spreading so horrid Blasphemies against our Lord and God I take my leave of you and of such Books Licensed by you and end with this Profession of my Catholic Faith Christ is an Infallible Judge I must not Judge of his Doctrin but believe it and submit to him I submit to his Infallible Authority without Examination I receive all his Dictates as Divine Oracles If tho' Summoned by me you still refuse to Subscribe to this Doctrin I will obey St. John's Counsel I will have nothing to do with you nor return to you so much as Ave or any Greeting but content my self with Subscribing to this Profession of my Faith LEWIS SABRAN Of the Society of JESUS
Books That God commands it That each one is to judge finally for himself I offer the following Observations on these Texts to your second thoughts With reason St. Paul commands each Christian to try all Omnia probate quod bonum est tenete 1 Thes 5. Nolite omni Spiritui credere sed probate Spiritus si ex Deo sunt 1 Joan. 4. Quoniam multi Pseudo-Prophetae exierunt in Mundum things and to retain what is good And St. John in plainer terms Not to credit every Spirit but to try the Spirits if they be of God for as St. John observes in that very place many false Prophets have appeared in the World And since ' t is necessary that Heresies arise there will ever be many such the Ministers of Satan as St. Paul minds us 2 Cor. 11. 15. transfiguring themselves like unto the Ministers of Justice We ought not then to believe each Man that pretends to the pure Word of the Lord to the Spirit of the Lord. The Question is How we ought to try these different Spirits Each Man says Dr. Sherlock is to read all Heretical as well as Orthodox Books to hear all False Prophets as well as the Teachers of Truth Each ignorant Tradesman Husbandman Day-Laborer having read the Bible heard and read what the Dissenting Divines can say is to Decide as Sovereign Judge without Appeal Alii Prophetia alii discretio Spirituum 1 Cor. 12. 20. All are to choose thus their Religion Not so says St. Paul On some only is bestowed the Gift of Interpreting on some only the Gift of discerning Spirits A necessary Caution for as St. Cyprian observes Hence arise all Heresies that People Hinc Haereses ortae quod unus in Ecclesia Dei ad tempus Sacerdos ad tempus Judex vice Christi non cogitatur l. 1. c. 3. cont Haer. De Ecclesia in Academiae porticum descendunt sensui communi sed suo non Ecclesiae se sistunt Contr. Hermog Nil laborant nisi non invenire quod credunt l. 2. c. 2. de Gen. con Man. Semper discunt numquam ad scientiam veritatis perveniunt 2 Tim. 3. Visum est Spiritui Sancto nobis Act. 15. do not consider that there is one Priest in the Church of God for the time one Judge in lieu of Christ but challenge each of them the Prerogative of Judging for themselves Heretics says Tertullian abandon the Church repair to Schools of Philosophy or Natural Discourse and the Judgment of their Reason appeal to Common Sense but to their own not to that of the Church They profess in their Creed to believe the Catholic Church but as St. Augustin said of the Manicheans All they endeavor is not to sind what they believe and having left the School of Christ and those Teachers he had appointed them they make good by their continual Debates about Religion without any fixure on a certain and unwavering Faith without any secure Principles to build on that Character which S. Paul gives of all Heretics They are ever seeking ever learning and never attain the science of truth What is their Duty then but to seek out those to whom the infallible Direction of the Holy Ghost is promised by Christ our Lord and accordingly given so that they have Authority to resolve all Doubts with a The Holy Ghost declares this and we declare it That no other Method can bring us to a steddy and unwavering Faith. St. Paul did acknowledge to the Ephesians when having warned them To be careful to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace he Ephes 4. 3 11. declares that God gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and other Pastors and Doctors to the consummation of the Saints unto the work of the Ministry unto the edifying of the Body of Christ and that not for some Age or Ages only but until we meet all unto the unity of Faith and Knowledge of the Son of God into a perfect Man into the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ that is to the last day of the General Resurrection this Method of standing to the Decisions of such lawful Pastors being necessary That we be not children wavering and carried about with every wind of Doctrin in the wickedness of Men in craftiness to the circumvention of Error That this is the Sense of the two Texts cited in opposition to it is most evident from the very places whence they are taken for St. John having advised Christians to try the Spirits gives this standing Rule and Method for all Ages He that knows God by a true Faith hears Vs he that is not of Qui novit Deum audit nos qui non est ex Deo non audit nos in hoc cognoscimus Spiritum veritatis spiritum erroris 1 Jo. 4. 6. God hears us not By this Mark you shall discern the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error Behold St. John condemning Dr. Sherlock who will have each Man Judge for himself of the Doctrin whereas St. John declares we must try the Spirits only by this Mark That they have the Spirit of God who hear with Submission their lawful Pastors whereas those who Judge for themselves without that Deference are certainly possessed with the Spirit of Error 'T is also evident that by VS he means all lawful Pastors and not the Apostles only for they were all dead when he writ that Epistle Could any Text be a fuller and more pressing Evidence for me or assure us more positively that an unerring Spirit guides the Pastors and Teachers in the Church of God and that whoever will not fall into Error must submit by an Implicit Faith to that Churches Authority and embrace the Doctrins which she teaches by her Prelates The other Text so unhappy these Men are in their choice is as full and plain to the same effect for St. Paul having first warned the Thessalonians in the foregoing Verse not to despise the Gift of Prophecy or Interpretation given to the Teachers of the Church for the Instruction of others he bids them by this Text not to receive all sorts of Interpreters but such only as had received from the Holy Ghost the Gift of Prophesying and were Commissioned by a lawful Authority to Preach But so far he was from advising them to converse with or read the Books of those that were Aliens and out of the Church that he had warned before the Ephesians with caution to converse with such But let us In sapientia ambulate cum iis qui foris sunt Eph. 4. 5. Si quis Evangelizaverit praeterquam id quod accepistis anathema Gal. 1. Irreformabilis fides observe the several Marks given by the Apostles and by Christ whereby to distinguish those who are to be admitted of from those who ought to be rejected St. Paul gives the Galatians this Rule Whoever Preaches beside what you have received be he accursed that
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
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
infallible Person must know what he knows as it truly is but needs not see how or why it can be so Preservat f. 82. 'T is their common Argument That there is a great variety among Protestants and that they condemn one another with equal confidence and assurance Answer 'T is one of your usual Artifices to leave out always the pressing part of our Arguments you should have added Tho' they use the same Rule of Faith and apply it by the same Method Thus proposed 't is an unanswerable Argument against your Rule of Faith and evidently proves it uncertain Defence f. 19 20. Here the honest Footman sends me for an Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet and bids me try my Skill upon him Thus he delivers the Answer given to J. S. first Letter and applied to the present Case 't is divided into five Propositions which to avoid repeating I 'll set down with the following Answer Answer First Arithmetick says Dr. Stillingfleet prescribes a certain way by Addition and Substraction to find out any Sum. 'T is granted Secondly Therefore it must be such that they who take it shall arrive by it at the exact Sum. That 's true also Thirdly But two Men who have made use of the same way differ at least a Hundred in casting up the Sum. This is impossible if they both really made use of that way as the words of Dr. Stillingfleet express But 't is very possible if the meaning be one of them doth not know the Rules of Arithmetick but only thinks he knows them or both know well the Rule but one blundered and set down one Figure for another Fourthly Therefore they who take only that way cannot by it arrive at the certain Sum. This is evidently false and the contrary true to wit Therefore they who take precisely that way and not another for it erring in the Theory or the Practice cannot but arrive by it at the certain Sum. But this following Conclusion might have been drawn from the Third Proposition taken in its Second most improper Sense which Dr. Stillingfleet gives to it Therefore those who err in the Knowledge or miss in the Application of the Rule of Arithmetick tho' they believe never so much in their own Judgment that they know and use the Rule right tho' they have used their best Endeavors tho' they firmly believe they have cast the Sum right yet certainly they have missed and are in the wrong This is the Conclusion which the Dean of Pauls should have drawn and then he might have concluded Still the Rule is certain to those who use it right But is this the Reverend Dr. Stillingfleet's full Answer and that in Dr. Sherlock's Case Stupidity it self would not own it T is an evident Demonstration against Dr. Sherlock's Position and Dr. Stillingfleet's Tenet It proves evidently that altho' Scripture be as infallible a Truth and thereby a Rule of Truth for from Truth only Truth can follow as any Rule of Arithmetick Ex vero non nisi verum yet as in one Case if two casting up an Account by the same pretended Rule differ in the total Sum this following Principle would not only be false but also after such a trial most absurd and sensless Every one is bound in reason to believe the Account he hath cast up to be right if he hath a Book of Arithmetick by him hath read it believes he understands it and hath used his best Endeavors to follow it So is this like Principle which Dr. Sherlock and all his Party stand for If two Men have the Bible read it endeavor to understand it and believing they do draw from the same Scriptures two different Conclusions two opposite Articles of Faith both are bound to stand to their private Judgment and to believe themselves in the right tho' all the World should accuse one or both of them in lieu of the true pretended Rule to have used a false one But let us suppose farther that an eminent Master of Arithmetick should shew to one of these Men where he erred against the true Rule of that Science where he misplaced a cypher otherwise than the Rule directs that this Man in lieu of submitting should appeal to his Book of Arithmetick by the which also the other teaches and the Dispute should be carried on by the one saying the Book teaches and directs thus whilst the other as sturdily pretended it teaches and directs otherwise In this Case were it a reasonable Principle Both must stand to their private Judgment in Interpreting of the Book and well they may for the Rule is certain which both follow Never did Man give a fairer and easier Victory to an Adversary than Dr. Stillingfleet doth to his by this Simile The dullest School-Boy will easily discern the Dean of Paul's patent Parallogism whereby he compares the written Word of God to the Rule it self of Arithmetick whereas the natural and only true Comparison is of the Book or Letter of Scripture with the Book of Arthmetick the true Sense of Scripture with the Rule of Arithmetick A Right-Line-Rule and a Square are the Rule of a Carpenter suppose a Carpenter had a bent and crooked Rule and that what he calls his Square opened at an acute or obtuse Angle this Man working by these would certainly make his Work wrong I ask you now where the Fault would be Certainly in his Rule in his supposed Square and Rule But is not a Carpenter's Rule exact Yes a Carpenter's but not this Carpenter's the Rule he pretends to follow is most Just the Rule which he actually follows is most false and erroneous And if many Carpenters pretending to work by a Right-Line and Square applying them the same way did all differ in the Irregularity of their Work it would be evident they had a false Rule for that 's ones Rule not that he pretends to have but what he actually works by Now to apply this to our Case The Word of God is not the Letter but the true Sense of the Bible for the knowledge of Scripture as St. Hierom observes consists not Scripturae non in legendo sed intelligendo consistant in the Reading but the Vnderstanding of it The Rule of Faith then is the Sense of the Letter of Scripture The pretended Rule is the true Sense of Scripture The real Rule that Christians use is that Sense of the Letter of Scripture by which they square their Faith for that is any ones real Rule by which he in reality acts The true Sense of Scripture is a certain Rule The Sense given to the Letter of Scripture is a most uncertain and frequently a wrong Rule The Rule Protestants pretend unto is a certain infallible Rule for Truth never misguides But their Rule of Faith is the Sense which each Man 's private Judgment gives to the Letter of Scripture for they square their Faith by it believe according to the same The Letter of Scripture is their Material Rule
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.