In 1687 he was made the royal chaplain to James II. A sermon he preached to the king on August 28 of that year on the invocation of saints led to a pamphlet war with William Gee, a Puritan. He also entered into a controversy with William Sherlock, the Anglican theologian and Dean of St. Paul's. He was the assumed author of "Dr. Sherlock Sifted from his Bran and Chaff" in 1687, which Sherlock answered. Sabran answered the reply with "An Answer to Dr. Sherlock's Preservative" and then "Dr. Sherlock's Preservative Considered" in 1688. That same year he was made the chaplain to the infant Prince of Wales.