Chapter V · MERITORIOUS SATISFACTION.

From the perfect equality of Unwritten Tradition and the Written Word of God, we may next proceed to the doctrine of Meritorious Satisfaction.

I. The Church of Rome lays down her decision, respecting what she calls Works of Satisfaction, in manner following.

So great is the abundance of divine munificence, that we are able to make satisfaction to God the Father through Jesus Christ, not only by punishments either spontaneously undergone by ourselves for the avenging of sin or imposed upon us by the will of the priest according to the measure of our offence, but also (what is the greatest argument of love) by temporal flagellations inflicted of God and by us patiently endured. [40a]

II. Thus speaks the Roman Church: let us now hear the declarations of Holy Scripture.

1. When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which it was our duty to do. [40b]

2. Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one, a Pharisee; and the other, a Publican. The Pharisee stood, and prayed thus with himself: God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. I fast twice in the week: I give tythes of all that I possess. And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven; but smote upon his breast, saying: God be merciful to me a sinner! I tell you: This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one, that exalteth himself, shall be abased; and he, that humbleth himself, shall be exalted. [40c]

3. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude: that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law. [40d]

4. If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God: and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now, to him that worketh, is the reward reckoned, not of grace, but of debt. But, to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. [40e]

5. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. [41a]

6. They, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. [41b]

7. We are all as an unclean thing: and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. [41c]

III. Let us next attend to the language of the old orthodox Fathers.

1. Clement of Rome, in the first century, speaks as follows.

All, therefore, have been glorified and magnified, not through themselves or through their own works of righteousness which they have done, but through the will of God. Wherefore, being called through his will in Christ Jesus, we are justified, not through ourselves, or through our own wisdom or intellect or piety, or through the works which we have wrought in holiness of heart; but through faith, by which the Almighty God has justified us all from everlasting. [41d]

2. The author of the Epistle to Diognetus, in the first or second century, speaks exactly to the same purpose.

What else can cover our sins, than the righteousness of Christ? In what can we lawless and impious wretches be justified, save only in the Son of God? [41e]

3. Ambrose of Milan, in the fourth century, still holds the same language.

(1.) By what labours, by what injuries, can we lighten our sins? The sufferings of this time are, in reference to future glory, altogether unworthy. Hence, toward man, the form of celestial decrees proceeds, not according to our merits, but according to the mercy of God. [42a]

(2.) Would that the Lord would not reject, but collect, this my mere stubble in the harvest, these empty wild oats of my fructification!—It is fitting, therefore, to believe; both that penance is to be performed, and that pardon is to be granted: nevertheless, in such manner, that we should hope for pardon, as from faith, not as from debt. [42b]

4. Augustine, in the fourth and fifth centuries, exactly agrees with his predecessors.

The sins are thine: the merits are God’s. To thee punishment is due: and when the reward shall come, he will crown his own gifts, not thy merits. [42c]

IV. Let the patient enquirer now judge for himself: whether the romish doctrine, that Punishments, either self-inflicted, or commanded by a priest, or sent in the course of God’s providence, can make satisfaction to the Father through Christ in our behalf, be the doctrine either of Scripture or of the early Church.

V. But, if no man can make satisfaction for his own sins: still less, according to the monstrous phantasy of Supererogation, can he make satisfaction for the sins of others.

Yet this impious absurdity was openly advanced in the papal bull for the observation of a jubilee is the recent year 1825.

We have resolved, says Pope Leo, BY VIRTUE OF THE AUTHORITY GIVEN TO US FROM HEAVEN, fully to unlock that sacred treasure, composed of the merits, sufferings, and virtues, of Christ our Lord and of his Virgin-Mother and of all the Saints, WHICH THE AUTHOR OF HUMAN SALVATION HAS ENTRUSTED TO OUR DISPENSATION.—To you, therefore, venerable brethren, Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, it belongs to explain with perspicuity the power of Indulgences: what is their efficacy in the remission, not only of the canonical penance, but also of the temporal punishment due to the divine justice for past sin; and what succour is afforded, out of this heavenly treasure, from the merits of Christ and his Saints, to such as have departed real penitents in God’s love, yet before they had duly satisfied by fruits worthy of penance for sins of commission and omission, and are now purifying in the fire of Purgatory, that an entrance may be opened for them into their eternal country where nothing defiled is admitted.

1. Where is Pope Leo’s PROOF of the validity of his claim to an authority given to him from heaven: by virtue of which authority he fully unlocks a sacred treasure, composed of the merits of Christ and the Virgin Mary and all the Saints, and entrusted by the blessed author of our salvation to the wisdom of his doling out?

Let such PROOF be produced, if the Romish Clergy can produce it, either from the Bible, or even from the received doctrine of the primitive Church Catholic.

2. By what evidence does Pope Leo SUBSTANTIATE his assertion: that Souls in Purgatory are benefited by the supererogatory merits of the Virgin Mary and the Saints strangely associated with the all-sufficient merits of the Redeemer?

Let the Romish Clergy, if they be able, SUBSTANTIATE this most extraordinary allegation.

3. Where is Pope Leo’s PROOF of the very position, upon which the whole of his bull professedly reposes; the position, to wit: that The Virgin Mary and the Saints not only have merit enough to make satisfaction for their own sins, but have even merit to spare for the benefit of less privileged souls in Purgatory?

From the Bible or from the Doctors of the primitive Church, let his venerable brethren, Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops, bring forward, if they can accomplish such a feat, the PROOF of this very remarkable position.