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A59834 A papist not misrepresented by Protestants being a reply to the Reflections upon the Answer to (A papist misrepresented and represented.) Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707. 1686 (1686) Wing S3306; ESTC R8108 38,154 74

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them opis impetrandae causâ as the Council of Trent directs This is Matter of Fact and owned by the Representer Now we think this is to ascribe Divinity to them if Religious Worship signifies any Divinity in the Object of Worship This the Misrepresenter puts into the Character of a Papist which we never did and the Representer on the other hand denies that they believe any such thing which for ought I know may be true but the Question is Whether they do not give a Divinity to them by worshipping them And this we assert they do and this they may do without believing any Divinity in them V. Of the Eucharist AS for worshipping the Host we only charge them with worshipping the Consecrated Bread which we say is Bread still but which they say is the natural Body of Christ which was born of the Virgin and suffered on the Cross and for so doing some Protestants charge them with Idolatry in worshipping a Breaden God and some Papists acknowledge it would be Idolatry if what they worshipped were only Bread and not the natural Body of Christ but no Protestant ever gave such a Character of a Papist That he believes it lawful to commit Idolatry that he worships and adores what he believes only to be a Breaden God and the poor empty Elements of Bread and Wine The Question is not what a Papist believes but what the truth of the thing is not whether he believes the Host to be only Bread but whether it be so or not not whether he believes Idolatry to be lawful but whether he be not guilty of Idolatry in worshipping the Host and therefore this ought not to be put into the Character of a Papist for those who believe that he worships nothing but Bread and Wine and is guilty of Idolatry in it do not charge him with believing so And therefore the Representer who acknowledges the worship of the Host might very truly deny all the rest As for Transubstantiation we charge them with believing no more than what they themselves own That the Consecrated Bread and Wine is changed into the natural substance of Christ's Flesh and Blood which the Misrepresenter very fallaciously calls Christ's being really present under those appearances that our People may not perceive the difference between Transubstantiation which the Church of England denies and a real presence which she owns not under the appearances of Bread and Wine but in the use of the Consecrated Bread and Cup which differ as much as a Bodily and Sacramental presence Now if this Doctrine of Transubstantiation be true besides many other Absurdities we say Christ must have as many Bodies as there are Consecrated Hosts and that his Body must be on Earth and that in fifty thousand distant places at the same time though the Scripture assures us That he ascended in his Body into Heaven and is to continue there till he come to Judgment But we do not charge the Papists with believing these Absurdities for we cannot guess what they believe much less do we charge them with believing that there are as many Christs as many Redeemers as there are Churches Altars or Priests For there is we grant some little difference between Christ's having many Bodies and there being many Christs What an easy Task has the Representer to take off such Characters as these VI. Of Merits and Good Works HEre we only charge them with saying as the Council of Trent does That the Good Works of justified Persons are truly meritorious of the increase of Grace and of Eternal Life And though we think this is too much for any Creature especially a Sinner to pretend to Merit and know not how to reconcile Grace and strict Merit together yet we never charged a Papist with believing Christ's Death and Passion to be ineffectual and insignificant and that he has no dependance on the Merits of his Sufferings or the Mercy of God for attaining Salvation For it is plain the Council of Trent owns both the Grace of God the Merits of Christ and the Merits of Good Works The Representer indeed qualifies this by saying That through the Merits of Christ the good Works of a just Man proceeding from Grace are so acceptable to God that through his Goodness and Promise they are truly meritorious of Eternal Life The Answerer alleages the 32 d Canon Sess. 6. of the Council of Trent where no such Qualification is used which yet is the Canon purposely designed to establish the Merits of goods Works This the Reflecter grants pag. 8. and refers us to the 26 th Canon of that Session where there is not one word of the Merit of good Works and therefore how we should learn from that Canon in what sense good Works are said to merit I cannot tell but in the sixteenth Chapter of that Session this Doctrine is explained at large and there we may expect the fullest Account of it which in short is this That that Divine Vertue which flowes from Christ into justified Persons as from the Head to the Members and from the Vine to the Branches makes the good Actions of such Men acceptable to God and meritorious and that such good Works which are done in God do satisfy the Divine Law and truly and properly merit Eternal Life That this is called our Righteousness because we are justified by its inhering in us and the Righteousness of God because it is infused into us by God through the Merits of Christ and that the Goodness of God as to this matter consists in this that he will have his own Gifts to be our Merits And therefore in the 32 d Canon they pronounce an Anathema against those who shall say that the good Works of a justified Man are so the Gift of God as not to be his own Merits So that though they do indeed own the Grace and Promise of God and the Merits of Christ as the Cause and Foundation of their own Merits yet they do assert that the inherent Righteousness and good Works of a justified Man have that intrinsick Vertue as to satisfy the Divine Law and to be truly meritorious of the increase of Grace and Eternal Life This we think injurious to the Grace of God and the Merits of Christ they think it is not and we never said they did VII Of Confession WE charge them with making a particular Confession to a Priest of all our Sins committed after Baptism necessary to obtain Pardon and Forgiveness and with attributing a Judicial and Praetorian Authority such as is exercised by Judges and Magistrates to the Priest to forgive Sins And tho we do not say that he believes it part of his Religion to make Gods of Men yet we say and prove it too that this is a Power which God has reserved wholly to himself We do not charge them with saying that the Absolution of the Priest is valid without any thoughts or intentions of Amendment in the Penitent but they do say that