'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
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
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
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
as a piece of Wood is the Material Square of a Carpenter their application of Sense to this Letter is that which makes their real and Formal Rule as the streightness or crookedness of a Rule is the true Rule of the Carpenter that uses it 'T is against this I write and against Dr. Sherlock's Principle that tho' several Men using the same Method of making Rules find and own that their several Rules make different Lines yet it follows not says he that the Rules they work by are not true nor their Methods of making themselves a Rule erroneous Preservat f. 83 84. Were all Protestants of a mind would their Consent and Agreement prove the certainty of their Faith Answer f 7. Not at all but 't is a most ridiculous Inference of yours This is the same Rule and their Disagreement proves not their uncertainty All Union is not an Argument of the Spirit of God for People may combine to do ill But St. Paul assures us Disunion and Dissention is a certain Mark of the absence of the Spirit of God. Defence f. 21. You should have added in some not in all the disagreeing Parties If the Question be put amongst a company of Men to go rob such a House is it a Mark of the absence of the Spirit of God in those which do not agree to that Wickedness Answer Certainly this honest Footman is hired to write as wide as may be from Reason that in Comparison with it Dr. Sherlock's Errors may appear tolerable I speak of People led into Disunion by the same Principle which from thence I conclude to be no good one And I pray those who refuse to go and rob the House do they act in this Refusal by the same Principle by which others are moved to the Robbery If they be for Example out of Spite tho' their Refusal be just and good their Motive or Rule they act by and of that only I speak is stark naught Dr. Sherlock's Principle which makes void all Scripture-proof IF a Mystery appears against Sense and Reason Preservative fol. 72. we must have a Scripture proof as cannot possibly signifie any thing else or else it will not answer that Evidence which we have against it Sense and Reason proving it naturally impossible Answ f. 7. A Text which cannot possibly have an other sense doth not leave it in any ones liberty who owns Scripture to be an Heretic therefore the Church produced no such Texts against the Arians or Nestorians to whom the Mysteries of the Trinity and of Christs Human and Divine Nature in one Person appeared against Sense and Reason whence it evidently follows that according to Dr. Sherlock the Arians and Nestorians were bound not to believe the Trinity and Incarnation of Christ A happy Ministerial Guide and well led such as follow him Defence f. 22. The Trinity and Incarnation which the Arians and Nestorians disputed they are Mysteries indeed and might seem to be above Sense and Reason but they are not contrary to it But that Transubstantiation contradicts both is plain Answ The Footman had better have minded his Masters business than to pretend an Answer to what he doth not as much as understand Certainly the Mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation are not against Sense and Reason but they did appear so to the Nestorians and Arians and that is the Case put by Dr. Sherlock and therefore 't is evident that according to his Principle Arians and Nestorians were bound not to leave their Heresies Dr. Sherlock's Principle making void all use of Councils and Fathers AFter he hath respectively told us That Preservative fol. 73 Learned men may squabble about the Fathers he gives these Rules without which they be of no use 1. We must know that the Father is truly Author of the Book or the Council of such a Decree 2. That he was not corrupted by the ignorance or knavery of the Transcribers while they were in the hands of the Monks and to make this impossible he assures us They not only pared their Nails but also their very Habit and Dress to fit them to the Modes of the time 3. That the Father doth not in some other place Contradict what there he says 4. That he did not alter his Opinion after Answer f. 8. That 's to say some of these requisites not being possibly to be known no use is to be made of them Defence f. 23 24. These requisites that man that will build any thing upon their Authority must know or else he may be miserably mistaken yet this is not to deny any use of Fathers and Councils for Learned men may dispute about them Answ A rare Privilege granted to Learned Men that they may dispute about Fathers and Councils but not till they have resolved some doubts first which cannot possibly be resolved This is to sport pretty pleasantly but not to answer Dr. Sherlock's Principle which makes void all use of Civil Charity and Moral Justice to our Neighbor IT lies in his last Chapter in which he attempts Answer fol. 8. in vain to colour the Misrepresentations which his Party hath ever been guilty of It is when a mans Exterior Actions are naturally capable of a good and pious meaning and he ever and clearly declares that it is His. Yet to fasten upon him another opposite design and meaning taken from his opposers contrary Principle Than which there cannot be a greater and more unjust disingenuity this he calls to join Protestant Principles with Popish Practices For Example to insinuate That a Catholick thinks the blessed Virgin more Powerful in Heaven than Christ He tells us that he says ten Ave Maria's for one Lords Prayer And this though he knows that the first half of the Ave Mary is in memory of and thanksgiving for the Incarnation of Christ and the other half asks of the Virgin only to pray for us to Christ which is all the Power we allow her in Heaven Defence p. 24. The matter of Fact is true Suppose he doth not think her more powerful than Christ yet sure he must think her more merciful and ready to hear his Prayers Answ This is in lieu of excusing his Masters Malice and disingenuity meerly to make the Proverb Good like Master like Man. Mary her self her Merciful concern for us her Prayers are an Effect and Gift of the Mercy of Christ But to see how people will speak in spight of Sense when they are resolved to impugn Truth how can it prove that I believe a person more merciful than another because I repeat oftner my instances and Petition Naturally we call that a greater mercy which is sooner moved and yields to a single address But the whole is a most false Calumny as it insinuates that our Church applies her Devotions more to our blessed Lady than to Christ Our Mass our Church Office except now and then a short Prayer of three or four lines our Meditations our Fasts are all
directed to God and Christ from him only we expect the whole Mercy that must blot out our Sins and the whole Goodness that must make us Eternally happy Preservative f. 89. The Papist believes it unlawful to commit Idolatry and most damnable to Worship any Breaden God which is spoke like a Protestant but yet he pays Divine Adoration to the Sacrament which is done like a Papist Answ f. 8. This I call the most disingenuous Representation and the most false Calumny imaginable as a supposed and owned Truth to wit That Catholics Worship the visible Species in the Eucharist A most impudent slander no Catholic being guilty of it no more than the Apostles of Worshiping and Adoring the Cloths of Christ when they Adored him upon Earth Defence f. 21. There is no mention made of Species but the word is Sacrament Answ This is what I called disingenuity If he takes not Sacrament in the Catholic sense therein lies his fraud in Expounding by his opposite Principles our Actions and in the Catholic sense nothing hath a reference to his Accusation of a Breaden God but the visible Species of Bread. I concluded with this address to Protestants in Dr. Sherlocks words putting as I owned the word Scripture in the lieu of Fathers to shew that according to his very way of Reasoning the meer reading of Scripture could not serve for an useful Guide at least to the far greatest part of Protestants The Sentence is as follows Preservative f. 76. Amongst Christians there is not one in a hundred thousand who understands all Scripture and it is morally impossible they should and therefore there must be certainly an easier and shorter way to understand Christian Religion than this or else the generality of mankind even of profess'd Christians are out of possibility of Salvation Think well on it as you will answer at Gods Tribunal for the care you took of the one only necessary the saving of your Souls seek out that easier and shorter way and walk faithfully in it Defence f. 26 27. We do not only say but we find that Scripture in all points necessary to Salvation is plain and easie so that we may run and read 'T is true there are some Texts which we that are unlearned cannot readily find the true sense and meaning of but they are not such as immediatly concern Salvation and we are not destitute of helps as to these for we have learned and Religious Divines Answ Is it not pleasant to say that Scripture is plain and easie in all points necessary to Salvation and yet to see that those who use the same Method for the understanding of it differ as much as may be in the belief of these Points Is it not against plain Scripture to say that such Texts as the unlearned cannot readily find the sense of are not such as immediately concern Salvation whereas Scripture teaches us that there be Texts which the unlearned wrest to their own perdition Well I am weary in following this Footman running Extravagantly out of all Way and Reason Neither Sir have I any mind to add to this long Letter any farther Advice adress'd to your self If the exposing to your Eyes the Characters of the Books you License doth not move you not to prostitute so easily your Name to those heaps of disingenuous Cavils ill-laid Calumnies and monstrous Misrepresentations which you daily License it shall be to me a sufficient Note and Character of a Book not worth the reading much less the Censuring where ever I see you have opened it the Press which will in part ease of an ungrateful and unnecessary toil SIR Your Servant to all Christian Offices LEWIS SABRAN Of the Society of JESVS POSTSCRIPT THO' the Preface to Dr. Sherlock's Defence might very naturally have challenged to be first Answered yet because the Defence did attempt tho' most vainly to undermine the very Foundation of the Christian Faith that Rock of the Catholic Church on which Christ our Blessed Lord raised it whereas the Preface was stuffed chiefly with forged Calumnies against me I thought it my Duty and ever shall to pass by my own private Concerns till I had vindicated the Church of God. Now Sir I come to my own Defence I find my Adversaries Choler heated to the highest Ferment because I Answered the Celebrated Preservative an excellent Tract says he proved so acceptable by the Vniversal Entertainment it met with in a single Sheet which he says was a ridiculous Answer to so great a Book I omitted nothing Sir that even pretended to the appearance of an Argument and if your Celebrated Books swell so with words and prove void of Sense and Reason am I blameable for it He should have pointed at some pretended Proofs which I slighted to expose or have praised me for not wearying my Readers with a dull Prolixity But it seems we must copy these Men's Faults or abide their Censure He tells us next That the Accusations of Forgery of Clipping of Texts Fathers and Councils Run high on both sides That the Reader hath this certain way of knowing where the Guilt lies That the Church of Rome accuses us but do's not prove it but our Men do not only accuse them but prove it upon them This is indeed somewhat material and he instances upon my Forgeries on the one side and those that Dr. Comber Author of the Advice to Roman-Catholics is accused of on the other I am content to joyn issue upon this matter and having produced the Grounds on which these several Accusations are bottom'd I will leave the Decision to your and every unbiassed Reader 's Judgment having first owned Forgery to be the greatest Mark of a bad Cause and that even owned such by those who thus defend it He produces against me three Letters written as he says by one of their Learned Writers in which no less than One and twenty such Forgeries are proved upon me and Protestant like because I am accused concludes me guilty without taking the least notice of my full Answers given to those most false Calumnies he and his Learned Author following both the old Advice Calumniare fortiter aliquid adhaerebit Do but Calumniate boldly something will stick of the Dirt you cast First then I will shew the confident Impudence of my Accuser I Preached on the 25th of August last before his Sacred Majesty at Chester on the Conversion of St. Augustin from Heresie and a loose Life and throughout that Sermon I laid out in the B. Saint's own words those mistaken Reasons that hindred him and keep off present Sectaries from a due Reconciliation with the Catholic Church I offered evident Motives taken from the same Saint's words which obliged Him and do as efficaciously exact from all Protestants under pain of Eternal Damnation when a most dull Ignorance doth not excuse them to return to the Communion of that one only Church which they professed themselves Members of at their Baptism Those unanswerable Arguments of
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 hâ—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
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.