Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n
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A34077
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The plausible arguments of a Romish priest answered by an English Protestant seasonable and useful for all Protestant families.
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Comber, Thomas, 1645-1699.
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1686
(1686)
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Wing C5481; ESTC R16555
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28,548
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65
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saith The Sin against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven neither in this World nor in the World to come Math. xii 32. which plainly supposes some Sins not pardoned here may be forgiven there and that is one ground of Purgatory Prot. This is far from a clear Proof for here is no mention of Purgatory and this Phrase The World to come in the Gospel often signifies the Days of the Messiah Heb. xi 5. and vi 5. And the Jews expected that Messiah whom they believed as yet not come should pardon divers great Sins which could not be expiated by Legal Sacrifices and therefore Christ speaking to them in their own Phrase tells them This Sin against the Holy Ghost should never be pardoned under the Law nor under the Gospel But suppose this Phrase do signifie The next World Christ says not any other Sins shall be forgiven then but only that this Sin shall never be forgiven there nor here which is only a Phrase to set out it shall not be forgiven at all So Gen. xxxi 24. to speak neither good nor bad signifies to say nothing at all Po. Doth not S. Paul say Every Mans work shall be made manifest for the Day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by Fire and the Fire shall try every Mans work of what sort it is And a little after If a Mans work shall be burnt he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by Fire 1 Cor. iii. 13 15. Is not this a clear Proof of Purgatory Fire Prot. This place speaks only of Teachers and the Persons are not to be burnt but their Works that is the False Doctrines which any of them teach and the whole place is Metaphorical and obscure and that last Phrase of being saved but so as by Fire is no more but a way of expressing a thing that shall be done with great difficulty Psal lxvi 12. Zech. iii. 2. So that you may as well pretend Sinners are in Purgatory here because we are commanded to save them with fear pulling them out of the Fire Jude ver 23. And if this place be to be understood Literally it must be referred to that Fire which shall burn all the World at the Day of Judgment which I have been told is that which the Fathers understand by the Day and the Fire here mentioned and so it hath no relation to Purgatory which you must either prove as we do Heaven and Hell from clearer places than this or we shall not believe it Po. We have S. Peter also on our side who tells us That Christ went by the Spirit to Preach to the Spirits in Prison which sometimes were disobedient when once the Long-suffering of God waited in the Days of Noah while the Ark was preparing wherein few that is eight Persons were saved by Water 1 Pet. iii. 19 20. Prot. This place is obscurer than any of the former and so very unfit to build an Article of Faith upon But the plainest Sense of it is That Christ by his Spirit in Noah did Preach to those Wicked ones before the Flood whose Souls and Spirits were as it were Imprisoned in their Bodies and those who were saved by this Preaching were but a few and those were saved by Water and not by Fire And as far as we can gather from this Text and 2 Pet. ii 3 5. these Persons who were Preached to remained disobedient and were not saved at all so that you have no shadow of ground to fix Purgatory on this place Po. What think you of that Prison into which if we be cast by God who is the Sinners Adversary they shall by no means come out thence till they have paid the uttermost Farthing Math. v. 26. Is not this Purgatory Prot. I think it is nothing to your purpose for Christ useth it as an Argument why we should Repent and make our Peace with God while we live whereas Purgatory gives Men pretences to put off their Repentance till Death and fills them with false Hopes to be delivered afterwards And out of this Prison there is no means to be delivered but by the Persons own satisfying the whole Debt whereas you think the Prayers and Alms of others may get Men out of Purgatory Nor doth the Text say that the Sufferer can pay the utmost Farthing but rather suppose it impossible and so his lying there till he pay the utmost Farthing must be meant of his lying in Hell for ever And Christ mentions Hell in that Chapter Ver. 22 29 30. But there is no word of Purgatory here or any where in Scripture and therefore pray try if you can prove it from Reason since Gods Word is not for you Po. Is there not great difference between some sins and others and if God be a Righteous Iudge he will make different punishments so that it is very reasonable to believe that Venial Sins shall only be punished with temporary fire not with eternal Flames Prot. If we consider the Holiness of the Law or the infiniteness of the Majesty offended all Sin even the least deserves Damnation as its just Wages Rom. vi 23. and the least Sin unrepented of may prove Mortal because it is not so much now under the Gospel the Sin as the final impenitence which Damns Men and he that will not repent shews he would Eternally Sin so that whatever the instance be he deserves Eternal Damnation Yet alas no Man that repents not fully while he lives is only guilty of these lesser Sins which in such persons never go alone they are always guilty of greater Sins which merit Eternal Flames And that place of S. John on which you ground your distinction of Mortal and Venial Sin speaks of the event of Mens Sins not of the nature of them So that if we see Men sin without any signs or hope of their Repentance he doth not oblige us to pray for such 1 John v. 16. Po. But is it not said that nothing which is unclean shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Rev. xxi 27. Wherefore reason teacheth that they who are Defiled with any Sins even those that are Venial must be Purged e're they can come into the Kingdom of Heaven Prot. Surely poor Catholics are hardly used to pay so much Money and endure so many Pennances on pretence of purging away their Venial Sins and yet after all their Fastings Whipping and Pilgrimages their Absolutions Holy Water Alms and Extreme Unction still they are to endure a Torment as grievous though not as long as Hell Fire for these light Transgressions Besides we cannot imagine how Fire can purge a Soul unbodyed nor why Purgatory should be needful to cleanse us from some Sins when Scripture declares the Blood of Christ cleanseth us from all Sin 1 John i. 7. Or how Men who are to be Saved by Christ should be condemned to Purgatory when St. Paul saith There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. viii
he doth hear all that Men say of themselves whether they be Hypocrites or true Penitents and therefore we are advised to confess all our Sins daily to God the Supreme Judge and to labour to prove our Repentance to be sincere to him by amending our lives And we are not obliged to go to a Priest but in weighty Cases and on great Occasions Po. This is one great Complaint we have against your pretended Reformation that you do not oblige Sinners to 〈◊〉 any satisfaction for their Offences and have laid aside the Sacrament of Pennance Prot. We do account it necessary for notorious and scandalous Offenders to do a publick Pennance that their Shame and Sorrow may be as evident as their Crimes and this they are to do for Satisfaction to the Church 2 Cor. ii 7. And we hold it necessary in more secret Sins that the Sinner do heartily bewail them humbly confess them to God and utterly forsake them for the time to come and upon these terms we doubt not God will forgive them for Christs sake according to his Promises in Holy Scripture Prov. xxviii 13. Ezek. xviii 21. and we will trust Gods Word sooner than yours Po. But after God hath pardoned the Sinner as to the eternal Punishment due to him which Christ bought off He must satisfie the Divine Iustice for temporal Pains still remaining due to those Sins by submitting to the Pennances laid on him by his Priest Prot. This is a meer Device of your own not grounded on Holy Scripture for there it is declared that Christ hath delivered us from all the Course due to us and saved us to the uttermost and cleansed us from all Sin and made our Peace so that if we have Interest in him there is no Condemnation to us 'T is true God may and doth sometimes Câ—â—â—â—â—se good Men after he resolves to pardon them 2 Sam. xii 14. which is not to satisfie his Justice but to warn them not easily to run into the like Offences Heb. xii 6. And true Penitents have voluntarily put on Sackcloth and laid in Ashes and Fasted and Prayed c. But this was to shew the sincerity of their Repentance and the reality of their Sorrow for offending God or to make themselves more fit to pray earnestly for the averting the Divine Displeasure But Gods Word never makes these Acts any part of Satisfaction to God nor do we find one Precedent of Christ or his Holy Apostles enjoyning such Acts purely to satisfie Gods Justice for any remaining Punishment Po. Well you cannot deny it is more for the honour of Gods Iustice to enjoyn the Offenders to make him some satisfaction rather than to teach them he will freely forgive and you must grant it is more likely to restrain men from future Crimes if they suffer in Body or Goods for those that are past Prot. But it is not much for Gods Honour that when your Church pretends God will not remit these remaining temporal Pains without men do their Pennance yet she will remit the Pennance it self for a certain Price and so Money will buy off that which you say Christs Death doth not satisfie for And indeed none but the Poor almost do any Pennance with you the Rich who can gratifie the Priest well are Absolved and Indulged and however you order it in your Church there are as many notorious and customary Sinners for all these Pennances and Payments as any where else yea they sin with less fear and regret than others because they foresee a Pilgrimage or a little Fasting a few Lashes or a Sum of Money will make their Peace with the Priest and so they take little Care by a sincere Amendment to make their Peace with God Po. I suppose you reflect upon our Indulgences which are no other than the use of that Power of remitting Sins which Christ gave to S. Peter and in him to the Chief Pastor of the Catholic Church and doubtless it is a most comfortable thing when S. Peters Successor or his Delegates do so solemnly declare us clear from those Sins we have confessed Prot. S. Peter never sold this Power Acts viii 18. for he affirms We are not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold 1 Pet. i. 8. Had he used the same gainful Trade which the Pope drives he could not have said Silver and Gold have I none Acts iii. 6. So that you must not mention that holy Apostle as your Patron till you follow his Example and grant Pardons to none but them that upon a strict search are found truly Penitent and upon these terms which Christ makes necessary the Poor must have them as soon as the Rich and both freely But while your Church makes a meer Merchandize of them and grants them out to raise Money to enrich a Nephew to marry a Niece of the Popes or to aggrandize a Favourite and sends them into remote Countries to Men and Women whose Faces he never saw and of whose Penitence he hath no assurance we Protestants must look on them as a holy Cheat a hindrance of true Repentance and a trick to get Money Po. You are quite mistaken the Church designs nothing by these Indulgences but the Penitents Salvation the Money is a voluntary Offering and can you blame Holy Church for receiving the Oblations of the People Prot. It is no Crime to receive voluntary Oblations provided they be dispensed to the Poor But here is a certain Price set and the Money received goes in part to the Popes Coffers and in part to the wealthy Delegates or to rich Monasteries and it appears that Money is the main thing because Poor Men cannot get them nor will they give an Indulgence freely to the Indigent though never so penitent whereas the Rich that shew little signs of true Repentance may have them and are thereby hardned in their Sins Nor is it this Point alone but most of those disputed between us and you that are stiffly defended on your part because they advance the Wealth and Power of your Church Such is the Popes power to receive Appeals Images Relicks Saying Masses to deliver Souls Confession Pennances and two more not yet mentioned viz. Purgatory and the pretended Sanctity of your Religious Orders Po. 'T is not the Advantage we have by these Doctrines but the certain Truth of them which makes us so desirous you should believe them as appears in this Article of Purgatory which I shall prove first by Scripture and then by Reason to be a great Truth Prot. The Scripture declares very often and very plainly that there are two places of eternal Rewards and Punishments Heaven and Hell and if there be any Third place to which most Men are to go to suffer very great temporary Pains I doubt not but God hath revealed it as plainly and clearly as he hath done Heaven and Hell and therefore let me see you prove it by plain Texts of Holy Scripture Po. Our Saviour