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
Dr. SHERLOCK'S PRESERVATIVE CONSIDERED The First Part and its Defence Proved to contain Principles which destroy all right use of Reason Fathers Councils undermine Divine Faith and abuse Moral Honesty In the Second Part Forty malicious Calumnies and forged Untruths laid open besides several Fanatical Principles which destroy all Church-Discipline and oppose Christs Divine Authority In Two Letters OF F. LEWIS SABRAN of the Society of JESUS With Allowance LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel And are sold at his Printing-house on the Ditch-side in Black-Fryers 1688. TO THE READER YOU will find in the Postscript an Answer to the Preface set before the Defence which being a Heap of undigested Untruths and ill-contriv'd Calumnies I conceived it most proper to expose them that relate to me in particular after I have wiped off the Dirt which the Defence hath cast upon the Churches Doctrin Besides I thought my self bound in Justice and good Manners to yield the Preference to the Honest Footman whose Style is not near so Lewd and Unmannerly as the outragious Preface-maker's who may with reason be supposed a Minister that CANONICAL GOWN having these late Years been a constant Sanctuary to so many Libelling Slandering Prophane Reviling Peevish and Uncharitable Pens that the greatest part of those Books which in any of these kinds have appeared of late Years in this Kingdom have been the notunnatural Issues of these Meek Charitable Humble and Loyal Levites SIR THO' you have declared to some Friends That you do not conceive your self under any Obligation of Answering my first Letter the Licensing of a Book being I perceive but a Friendly Office and a cheap one too when Conscience only and Reputation may be concern'd in it and not obliging the Licenser to boggle at any Calumnies he meets with in it nor at any Falshood that imposes upon the Readers tho' in a Concern of so high a nature as the True Faith and Eternal Salvation However I will tempt your good Nature and Civility once more hoping that you may at least make use of Dr. Sherlock's happy Contrivance and when you are sensible that Five or Six Weeks Endeavors cannot suggest any Answer that may appear to Public View without betraying the weakness of your Cause and the unwarrantable Methods us'd in its defence you will find out some Honest Footman who will not blush to own all the Wrong and impertinent Reasoning which must make up a seeming Answer I am confident how unkindly soever you may deal with others that you owe Dr. Sherlock so much Deference as not to License a Book Printed in his Defence without his Perusal and Allowance Wherefore not to trouble the Footman whose Circumstances as we are told can expect but a small allowance of time I shall look on the Answers given by Dr. Sherlock's Second as offered or at least owned by him and Examin how he supports those Principles by which I pretend that he overthrows First All right use of Common Sense It is a Catholic Principle That he who has an Infallible Guide need not mistrust him so as to enquire farther whether he be in the right Way tho' he may and ought to improve himself in the knowledge of the Way he is directed in Dr. Sherlock in opposition to this self-evident Principle Preservat Fol. 3. charges the Catholic Church with this great Crime That it will not allow the reading of Heretical Books adding That God not only allows but requires it This seemed to me extravagant not to say impious and to all those who have inherited from St. Paul that Faith to which he exacts so firm and unwavering an adherency that if an Angel from Heaven should teach us Gal. 1. 8. any thing in opposition to it we ought not to mind him or to return him any other Answer than Anathema How can said I this positive Certainty stand with an Obligation of reading Heretical Books which oppose that Faith to frame by them and settle a Judgment By what Text doth God deliver this Injunction I asked farther how standing to the first Principles of Common Sense a Church that declares all Men bound to Judge for themselves could Countenance Laws which exact of Dissenters that they stand not to that their Judgment but Comply against it and that constrain their liberty of Judging by the dread of Excommunications Sequestrations Imprisonments Exclusion from the chiefest Properties of free-born Subjects even by Hanging and Quartering which is to make it Death not to act against a strict Duty of Conscience acknowledg'd by the Persecutors to be such These were three material Questions I waited Six Weeks for an Answer and he returns me at last by his Footman this wonderful one That I leave out what was said of the Bible Dr. Sherlock blaming the Church of Rome for not suffering her People to dispute their Religion or to read Heretical Books nay not so much as to look into the Bible it self that I take it for granted that all the Writings of Protestant Divines are Heretical Books nay the Bible it self too I wonder not the Doctor should give this his Answer by a Footman he hath yet I conceive some remnants of Modesty But is there here one word of Answer to my three Questions No not a syllable nor of Truth neither I reflected on no Divines of any Persuasion I found Heretical Books in the number of those which he blames our Church for not recommending and which he assures us God requires the reading of This being an Objection of a new Coin and a Proof of his own Invention I shew'd the Unreasonableness of the one and asked an Instance of the other passing by that trivial Calumny so often Answered That the Catholic Church suffers not her People to look into the Bible it self which supposes that we lock up the Bible as the Romans did their Sybillin Books whereas many thousands are commanded by the Catholic Church setting aside all temporal Concerns to make the reading of the Word of God their continual study and to teach daily the Doctrin of it to those who not having learnt to read or being of too weak a Judgment to carry away the Sense of a Book or too much taken up by their Trades and Employs by which they support their Families and earn themselves a necessary Livelihood have not the Leisure or Capacity to gather the Articles of Christian Belief or the different Parts of Christian Duties from it for to all others who conceive they may reap a Benefit from it leave is never deny'd to read the Bible translated to that end into all vulgar Tongues In the close an Answer is attempted and the Author of the Defence tells me He is not content with an Implicit Faith That we are commanded to try the Spirits and to try all things These are the Texts produc'd to maintain Dr. Sherlock's three Positions That we are obliged to read Heretical
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
'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
about infallibility We have the concurrent testimony of all Churches that we have those Canonical Books But let us suppose a while that your Church were infallible what greater certainty for that is the point you know which the Doctor was upon have you of it than we have of any particular Point of Faith as for the certainty of Reason and Argument That we have and would fain see you shew more What we believe is according to Scripture and doth not Contradict either Sense or Reason nor any other Principle of Knowledge Answer Never was a starved Cause so pitifully defended No wonder a Footman only doth not blush to appear in its Defence the Learned and judicious Gentlemen of the Temple had each of them too much Honor Conscience and Wit and therefore none of them would Patronize so wretched a Cause and support such weak Contradictions as the Excellent Master of the Temple so the Preface-maker calls him had blundered out Pray Sir review this last Discourse blush that your License Authorises it and hereafter have some care of your Reputation and set not your Name to such Stuff This is the Case on one side there is supposed an Infallible Interpreter of the Christians great Law-Book for thus Dr. Sherlock states the Case on the other are some men far the greater part unlearned and weak who allow not any sense to this Book which seems to them to Contradict either their Sense or Reason or any other Principle of their Knowledge And I am asked whether I proceed more prudently in receiving the sense of the Law from that Interpreter which is actually supposed infallible or in proceeding by the second method Sir if you are so weak or wilful as not to declare that I have a greater certainty in submitting to that infallible Interpreter your Counsel is not worth the asking and I appeal to that of the judicious Gentlemen of the Temple But I must not omit the untruth couched in those words We have the Concurrent Testimony of all Churches that we have those Canonical Books For no part of the Catholic Church no part of the Greek Scismatic Churches own the same Canon of Scripture-Books which you do Preservative Ibid. In particular we are assured that the Faith which we profess is agreeable to Scripture Answer fol. 5. If he means they have the same Proofs for this which Catholics have for the infallibility of the Church that is for the Continued Being of that Church which assures us that She is infallible in directing us for a Church Erring in so Fundamental a Point would cease to be the Church of Christ then it is evidently fase since each Christian in this Age hath the same Evidence of Her being the Church of Christ and of Her teaching all Truth and consequently of Her being as She declares infallible in thus teaching which he hath of Christ to wit the ancient Prophesies those of Christ himself his Miracles and the Miracles wrought in that Church according to the Promises of Christ besides the Conversion of Nations to Christianity c. These things Protestants do not so much as pretend unto as Proofs of their particular Sense in Interpreting Scripture Defence fol. 10. This is a pretty Conceit the infallibility of the Church that is to say the Being of the Church can't a Church be without being infallible We have heard much of Miracles but could never see any Answer Do you allow such Answers Sir that have so little of Sense and less of Piety Can a Church remain the Church of Christ and yet teach her self to be infallibly guided by the Spirit of Christ whil'st she is abandon'd to the Spirit of Error and that so far as Idolatry and the Evacuating of the Passion of Christ Are we come to own that Herod might well be excused from believing in Christ because he had heard much of his Miracles but could never see any Well Sir when you License such an other Discourse add to your Titles that of a Christian that we may think you are one Preservative fol. 23. If you must not use your Reason and private judgment then you must not by any Reasons be persuaded to condemn the use of Reason Answ f. 5. I never heard so much and so little of Reason All he says might with equal weight be said by a sick Man who dissuaded from choosing his own Remedies and desired to send for a skilful Doctor should answer ' T is impossible by Reason to persuade me not to use my Reason in governing my self by Reason as my own Reason teaches me which would be to Condemn Reason and yet be guided by your Reason or the Doctor 's Reason Such a Discourse would prove the Sick party at least somewhat light-headed What 't is a Symptom of in Dr. Sherlock I will not be positive Defence f. 11. Is this Sick Man persuaded to renounce his Reason or rather is it not that he should submit his judgment not renounce his Reason in that case to that Person whom he hath all the reason in the world to believe hath better knowledge and understanding of those things which are to be used for his recovery than himself And all this while methinks he is governed by Reason though he doth not think fit to trust his own skill But this bears no comparison Religion is or ought to be the Concern of all Answer The Footman prevaricates here or is ashamed of his Master 's gross Sophistry and will not stand by it 'T is Dr. Sherlock who pretends that a Catholic by following an infallible Guide renounces his Reason I contend that all the while he is governed by Reason and chiefly because that in a matter of that Concern he thinks not fit to trust his own skill which God hath as often declared to be too weak in any private person as he hath declared he would give to all such Pastors and Teachers as should guide them and Commanded each to repair to them to be guided by them But Religion is or ought to be the Concern of all a wise Observation So is or ought to be each ones health and the preservation of his life as therefore each one ought to advise with a good Doctor concerning his Health a good Lawyer for the preservation of his Fortune so and much more with a good Guide and since it can be had an infallible one for the securing of his Souls eternal happiness the Practice of Religion is the duty of all but the teaching it of those Doctors whom God hath appointed to that end as St. Paul teaches us Eph. 4. is not this Sir a most evident truth Preservative f. 25. Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve is such a plain and express Scripture that no reason can justifie the Worship of another Being Answ f. 6. A rare Consequence to Infer a Negative for an Affirmative Antecedent that bears no opposition with it 'T is like this a Subject must
to lift up our Hands and Eyes to Heaven where the Throne of God is when we pray to him but the very Image for Example of Christ crucified is the Object of the Worship of Papists 6. By the Incarnation God is visibly represented to us in our Fol. 12. Nature but the Papists not contented with this contrary to the Design of God made Man make and adore other Images Fol. 13. of God. 7. They have the Worship of Creatures and Images still and therefore all the visible Idolatry that ever was practised in the World before 8. They only change the Heathens Country-Gods into Saints and Angels and give new Names to their Statues and Images As to internal Notions 9. The Pagan Philosophers made the same Apologies for their Worship of Angels and Daemons and Images which the Learned Papists now make And 10. 'T is doubtful whether the Unlearned Papists have not as gross Notions about their Worship of Saints and Images as the Unlearned Heathens had The Faith and Practice of Catholics as to their Worship THE Catholic hating above all Sins the vain and abominable Qui confidunt in eis Ps 133. Sacrificans diis Eradicabitur praeterquam Domino Deo soli Exod. 22. Idolatry of the Heathens says Amen to that heavy Curse of David on all those who put their trust in those strange and false Gods for those truly make a false God not who carve his Idol but who create him a Divinity in their Mind and Heart by having recourse to him by Prayers and Sacrifices and what Sacrifice more valuable than that of the Heart by a full return of confidence and dependence He acknowledges no other Name to be invocated no other Protection to be sought but of our Lord God thro' Christ in the Holy Ghost That there is no other Name under Non est in alio aliquo salus non enim est aliud nomen sub coelo datum hominibus in quo oporteat nos salvos fieri Act. 4. Ostende nobis Domine misericordiam tuam salutare tuum da nobis Ps 84. the Heavens in which we can attain Salvation 'T is God's Mercy and his only he calls upon from him only with the Prophet he seeks his Eternal Bliss So that he adheres to God alone Psal 84. and places therein his Virtue and Comfort That all his Prayers lift up his Heart towards God six his Hope on God increase his Love of God From him alone he seeks Relief in Want Protection in Adversity Grace in Temptations Security in Dangers Virtue during Life Victory in Death Happiness in Eternity As he abhors that Saying of the Poet Each Mans Security is best placed in himself so with St. Augustin he equally Aug. de Praedest SS cap. 1. fears that Curse of the Prophet Be he accursed who confides in Man. He owns with Ezechiel that the Protection of Noe Ezech. cap. 14. Daniel or Jacob will not avail their wicked Children and he places amongst them all those who put their trust not in their Creator but Creatures not on God but their Fellow-Servants He believes that each best Gift each perfect Good Jacobi 1. is from above and issues from the Father of Lights That whoever sweats under temporal Afflictions and thirsts after Joan. 7. ease and comfort who ever sighs under spiritual Infirmities and faints for want of relief whatever our craving Hearts pant for Jesus is ready by his Blessings to refresh us and that since he shed his precious Blood for us on the Cross 't is our fault in not addressing our selves to him with confidence if Isay's Promise be not fulfilled in us You shall with joy draw Isaiâ—e 12. abundant Waters of all Comforts from the Fountains of your Saviour his Wounds And therefore in all his Prayers he casts ever his Eyes on Jesus the Author of his Faith and the Perfecter of it it being the Essence of his Religion that it fix Quod uni Deo religemus animas nostras Aug. de verâ relig cap. 55. his Thoughts Hopes Wishes Prayers and whole Soul on God. This all our Pulpits ever Preach all our Universities and Divines teach all our Catechisms explain all our Books of Devotion move us to all our Liturgies public and private Prayers express If we honor God's faithful Servants now glorious in his Presence if we ask of them to joyn their Prayers to ours 't is God's Glory we aim at and God's Mercy we sue for All Divine Worship we pay to God alone an inferior Worship Cui honorem Rom. 13. we not only may but must pay whereever it is due as S. Paul commands us The reason of it is that all Worth and Dignity exacts a proportionable Value and Esteem and having it interiorly we ought to express it exteriorly and such Expressions we call Worship and those who may challenge it Worshipful If that Excellency and Worth be created and natural as Power Greatness Learning we call it Civil Worship such is paid to Kings Magistrates Parents If Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. 26. de S. Mim M. and uncreated we call it Divine Worship or Latria and pay it to God alone If created but supernatural 't is a Religious Worship but such as is paid to holy Fellow-Creatures as St. Basil observes Such is paid to holy Places as Churches to holy Things as the Sacraments to holy Persons as Prophets Prelates Princes living Saints and with more reason to those who in Glory possess God therefore as St. Augustin observes We give them that Worship of Charity and Fellowship Eo cultu dilectionis societatis c. Lib. 8. de Civit. c. 26. which we pay to Saints on Earth but with as much greater a Devotion as we are more certain of their Holiness now they are past all Dangers and Vncertainties but with that Worship which in Greek is called Latria which is a Servitude properly owed to the Divinity we neither worship nor teach to worship any one but God. 'T is false that Sacrifice is the Only Act of Worship which we appropriate to God we appropriate to him all positive Prayer or Worship and give none but Relative or directed finally to God to any Saint or Angel. It was a Calumny invented by Faustus the Manichaean that we had exchanged the Pagan Idols for others to wit the Shrines of Saints And St. Augustin having owned Religious Solemnities in honor of Lib. 20. c. 21. contra Faustum Saints praises them because the Christians then as Catholics now by them only sought to excite themselves to the Imitation of Saints to be associated to their Merits and to be helped by their Prayers minding that Heretic that Sacrifice is indeed the only Exterior Worship inseparable from Latria and therefore never to be offered to any but God and therefore then as now it is still practised no formal Invocation directed to any Saint was used at Holy Mass but only Commemorations that they
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