Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	good_a	life_n	merit_v	5,864	5	10.8367	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34972	I. Question: Why are you a Catholic? The answer follows. II. Question: But why are you a Protestant? An answer attempted (in vain) / written by the Reverend Father S.C. Monk of the Holy Order of St. Benedict ...	Cressy, Serenus, 1605-1674.; Cressy, Serenus, 1605-1674. Why are you a Catholic?	1686 (1686)	Wing C6900; ESTC R1035	63,222	76

Remission and Heaven too for a few Prayers recited for visiting a certain number of Churches or disbursing a small sum of Money Quid ergo verba audio cum fact a videam Cath. All that you alledg being confessed what prejudice can that bring to you or me I told you that several School-men in their Speculations do attribute more to Indulgences then the Church gives them warrant for and this they themselves acknowledg So it fares in all Religions that Opinions do in number far exceed Articles of Faith No wonder therefore if Popes do enlarge their Graces according to the measure of Opinions not condemned And who justly blame them since they themselves reap no profit by all the Alms given Indeed in the former Ages great Scandal was given by the avarice of such as published Indulgences and collected the charitable Alms of devout people Of which Scanda● ●●e Church taking notice utterly abolished that Office and commanded Bishops in such occasions to assume from among the Canons of their respective Churches to be Collectors of Alms withal strictly forbidding them to accept any reward at all for their labour §. 84. Matters standing thus what harm flows to any by Indulgences so published Though perhaps not one in a hundred gains the full vertue of such Indulgences yet something they do certainly gain some reward they will reap from performing the good actions enjoyned which probably would otherwise never have been done by many However they loose nothing at all They are taught not to expect remission of unrepented sins or to gain Heaven by an Indulgence for none are capable of the fruit thereof but such as have with Contrition confessed their sins and received absolution and consequently are in the state of Grace but yet remain obnoxious to temporal punishments from which an Indulgence duely made use of doth free them §. 85. One incommodity indeed may justly be apprehended by a too profuse and frequent concession of Indulgences which is the enervating of Ecclesiastical Discipline to prevent which the Church as I said in the entrance into this Point expresly and earnestly admonishes that the granting of them may be done with great moderation according to the antient and approved Custom of the Church Now If all this care will not yet satisfy you however surely you will have no excuse for leaving the Church upon this account because though there be never so many mistakes or abuses in the ordinary teach of Private Doctors and common practice about Indulgences you will not need to concern your self in any of them since if you think fit you may keep your money in your purse perform your Devotions in your private Closet endeavour to fulfil all Canonical Penances which have been or by the utmost rigor of Ecclesiastical Discipline ought to have been imposed on you for all your sins and so freely abstain all your life time from making use of an Indulgence Prot. Enough hath been said on this subject proceed if you think fit to the next 10. Of Iustification and Merit of Good Works §. 86. Cath. After the discoursing of Confession Penance and Indulgence it will be seasonable and proper to treat of the Fruit arising from or by occasion of them which is the Merit of Good Works and Iustification There is scarce any Point of Catholic Doctrine from which Protestants have sought greater advantage to multiply foolish Books and senceless Sermons then this touching Iustification and oft it falls out that their zealous Invectives against the Church are then most loudand bitter when explaining themselves they presently agree with the Churches sense Of this as soon as I have sincerely acquainted you with our Catholic Doctrine I am content you should be the Judg. §. 87. First then it is acknowledged that the Church teaches That men are justified indeed by the imputation of Christs Iustice and by Remission of their sins but not by these only so as to exclude Grace and Charity shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost that is in effect That God does not justify nor remit sins to persons while they persist in their sins and in a hatred of him Again the Church making use of the ordinary expression of the Holy Fathers teaches That a person justified truly merits eternal Life by his good Works Now this word Merit the word I say but not the true sense of it when they will permit us to explain it is very offensive to Protestants But you having obliged your self to avoid partiality will judg of the Churches sense by what she further adds for explication of this Point and for clearing her self from the imputation of encouraging men to glorify themselves and to trust in their own abilities for purchasing remission of sins and salvation §. 97. Thus then she further teaches it is necessary to believe that sins neither are nor ever have been remitted but by Divine Mercy freely extended to us for the merits of Iesus Christ. Again We are said to be justified freely because not any of those things which precede our Iustification whether Faith or Works can merit that Grace In the third place Eternal life ought to be proposed to the Children of God both as a free Grace mercifully promised to them through Iesus Christ and also as as a Recompence which is faithfully rendred to their Good Works and Merits by vertue of that Promise Fourthly although in Holy Scriptures so much is attributed to Good Works that Iesus Christ himself promises that a Cup of cold water given to the poor shall not fail of a Reward and that the Apostle testifies that our light and momentary tribulation worketh fur us a far more exceeding eternal weight of glory Yet God forbid that a Christian should either trust or glory in himself and not in the Lord whose Goodness towards all men is so great that he is pleased that the Free Gifts bestowed by him on them should be their Merits I will add only one passage more out of a great heap to the like effect We who of our selves as of our selves can do nothing by our Lords cooperation who gives us strength can do all things Thus man hath nothing in himself for which he can glory but all our glorying is in Christ in whom we live in whom we merit in whom we satisfy bringing forth fruits worthy of Repentance which fruits take their vertue from him are offered to the Father by him and accepted of the Father for him Thus are we instructed by the Church in the Council of Trent and moreover in the Canon of the Holy Mass we are taught thus to pray Mercifully vouchsafe O God to admit us into the Society of thy Apostles and Martyrs not weighing our Merits but pardoning our offences through Iesus Christ. §. 89. Can you now say Sir that the Roman Church teacheth her Children to glorifie themselves and to rely upon their own Merits or indeed to esteem their Merits to

be their own she must cancel the whole Scripture if she would affirm that without a good life and Holiness we may see God Or if she would affirm that God has not obliged himself by a world of Promises to reward our Good Works with Happiness infinitely exceeding the value of them But withal to preserve in our hearts that most essential virtue of our Christian Professor Humility She further instructs us that our Works as Merits are the pure free Gifts of God and effects of his meer Grace which alone affords them all their value That they are accepted and rewarded by God only for the Merits of Iesus Christ. Yea further that our Natural Corruption still remaining and mingling it self in our best actions we can have no assurance that they are indeed such as God has promised to reward And however that though we now stand yet we have no assurance that we shall not fall In a word the whole Substance of her Doctrine touching the present Subject directs us to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling and when we have done all we can to acknowledg our selves unprofitable Servants having only done our duty if we have indeed done that and consequently if God do reward us it is to be ascribed to his own free Goodness and Grace in which alone we place our trust and not at all in our own imperfect Merits §. 90. And now Sir judg whether the Roman Church teaching these Doctrines can with any shew be accused or suspected to have a design to nourish Spiritual Pride in her Children and whether the first contrivers of Schism had reason to publish to the world as the principal ground of their rupture this Article of Iustification and Good Works and in opposition to her to make the people believe that the Faith by which they are to be justified must be a strong resolute Fancy of their Election and an assurance of their Salvation that a holy life has no influence therein yea that Good Works do rather harm then good and lastly that this monstrous kind of new invented Faith once had can never be lost again nor their right to heaven prejudiced by never so many or never so heynous crimes Among them there is no working our Salvation with fear and trembling Assurance of Salvation in them annihilates the great Christian vertue of Hope This in the midst of a world of Sins they will be assured of Salvation to which Assurance Catholics dare not pretend in the midst of all their Mortifications Humiliations and assiduous Devotions Since therefore Sir you are so afraid of Pride as indeed we have all reason to be be you the Iudg which of these Parties affords you best means to avoid it and so best deserves your choice Prot. A short consideration will serve the turn for that purpose Be pleased to proceed 11. Of Invocation of Saints §. 91. The next Point censured by you is the Churches Doctrine touching Invocation of Saints thus expressed in the Council of Trent It is good and profitable to call upon the Saints and to have recourse to their prayers aid and assistance whereby to obtain from God many benefits by the Merits of his Son Iesus Christ who is our Redeemer and Saviour In this Point I shall briefly offer to you these considerations 1. That it is a general Tradition of Gods Church from the begining and not contradicted by sober Protestants that glorified Saints do incessantly Pray for the Militant Church on earth 2. It is unquestionable that we may desire to receive benefit in particular by such their Prayers 3. That it contradicts all reason and modesty in our Adversaries to charge the addressing our Petitions to them for that purpose with the horrible crime of Idolatry since we do no otherwise beg the Intercession of Saints then we do that of our sinful Brethren alive acknowledging God alone to be the Author and fountain of all good §. 92. Hence it follows that the worst title that malice it self can with any shew of reason affix to this our Practice is that it may be esteemed superfluous in case it can be demonstrated that Saints at such a distance cannot hear nor know our Requests in particular Yet neither would this enervate the Churches Doctrine or Practice which by eminent Divines is proved to be laudable and profitable though they did not always hear us neither indeed has the Church any where determined her Belief that they do so But lastly if it be the Church her self and not some private Catholic Writers that you would question about this Subject observe that in her public Liturgy and Mass celebrated on all the Feasts of Saints she continually addresses her Petitions directly to God alone desiring him to grant us such special Blessings by the Intercession of such and such Saints Now it cannot be doubted but that Charity and mutual assistance among fellow members of the same Body is very acceptable to God whensoever and wheresoever performed We are taught to beleive a Communion of Saints we doubt not of their Charity to us our Communion therefore with them must be to testify our joy for their Happiness and our assurance that their Intercessions for us are more prevalent with God then the Prayers of our living imperfect Brethren Therefore since we may and ought on occasions to beg these and to desire God to hear them for our good much rather surely ought we to do the same with regard to the glorified Saints I leave it therefore to your conscience whether you can judg that a separation from Gods Church on this quarrel can be justified Prot. At least I shall never hereafter impute Idolatry to her for this Practice 12. Of Veneration of Images and Relics of Saints §. 93. Cath. The next Point of Catholic Doctrine and which has an affinity with the last regards the Veneration due to Holy Images and Relics which is equally censured by Protestants It is thus expressed in the Confession of Faith set down by Pope Pius the fourth I do most firmly assert that the Images of Christ of the Virgin-Mother of God as likewise of other Saints are to be had and retained and due honour and Veneration to be given to them and also to their Relics §. 94. Now to justify the use which Catholics make of Images the Veneration due to them and that such Veneration is most unjustly and calumniously by some Protestants interpreted to be Idolatry will be no hard task to perform For common reason and the experience of all mankind instruct us that men do naturally desire and delight to think or talk oft on such things past or persons absent from whom they have received some Signal benefit and much more if they expect an addition of like benefits But besides this if the very thinking or speaking of them with affection be it self a Duty advantagious to us and conducing to our happiness we will thank any person and we will