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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	good_a	merit_n	merit_v	6,691	5	10.7705	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A71250	A second defence of the exposition of the doctrine of the Church of England against the new exceptions of Monsieur de Meaux, Late Bishop of Condom, and his vindicator, the first part, in which the account that has been given of the Bishop of Meaux's Exposition, is fully vindicated ...	Wake, William, 1657-1737.	1687 (1687)	Wing W260; ESTC R4642	179,775	220

in ambiguous Terms whilst you charge Me with it The word Merit you say is Equivocal and the two Senses you give it are First To signifie that We do by our own Natural force alone deserve the Reward of Grace and Glory And in which Sense if you pretend that we charge you with pleading your own Merits you do certainly most falsly accuse us The other Sense you give the word is That our Good Works may be said to Merit because they apply the Merits of Jesus Christ to us and are the Means by which we attain Eternal Life in vertue of the Promises of God and Merits of our Blessed Redeemer In which were you sincere for all the impropriety of the Speech yet we should not be far from agreeing with you But now what is all this to your praying to God to hear you by the Merits of the Saints This may do well in its proper Article but here it serves only to amuse the Reader with that which is nothing to the purpose that so he may be disposed to forget what you were to prove Jam dic Posthume de tribus Capellis 51. You tell us then in the next Paragraph That you pray that God would not respect your own Unworthiness Reply p. 24. but regard the Merits of his Saints and for their Sakes i. e. for their Merits Hear your Prayers or accept your Sacrifices But where then is the Misrepresentation For this is the very thing we charge you with viz. That not content to Address your selves to God in the Name and through the Merits of our ONLY Mediator Jesus Christ you have sought out to your selves other Intercessors in whose Name and through whose Merits to offer up both your Prayers and Sacrifices to God. And whether we do not in this very justly accuse you let your Addresses themselves satisfie the World. O Blessed John the Baptist reach out thy Hand to us and be to us continually a Holy Intercessor to the Clemency of the most High Judge that through THY MERITS we may DESERVE to be freed from all Tribulation O God! by whose Grace we celebrate the Memories of thy Saints Saturninus and Sisinnius Grant that by THEIR MERIT we may be helped through our Lord. Mercifully accept O God our Offerings which we have made unto thee for the SAKE of the Passion of thy Blessed Martyrs Saturninus and Sisinnius that by their Intercession they may be made acceptable to thy Majesty And in the Breviary of Salisbury we find this to be a part of the Constant Service Be propitious we beseech thee O Lord unto us thy Servants Breviarium in usum Sarum in Servit B. Virg. par 2. through the glorious Merits of thy Saints whose Reliques are contain'd in this Church that by their pious Intercession we may be protected in all Adversities Grant we beseech thee Almighty God that the Merits of thy Saints whose Reliques are contain'd in this Church may protect us c. It were infinite to recount all the other Prayers which run in the same strain throughout all your Offices insomuch that the very * Missal Rom. p. 367. Canon of the Mass is infected with it I will mention only one Instance more which is indeed a singular one not so much because of the Expression of it wherein the General word of Merit is restrain'd to the particular Merit of his Death as because it was made to one who died in Actual Rebellion against his Prince and concerning whom therefore it was for some time debated amongst you Whether he were damn'd or saved BY the BLOOD of Thomas a Becket which he SHED for THEE make us to ascend to Heaven whither He is gone Mornay de la Messe p. 826. Saumur 1604. 52. It remains then that you do recur to the Saints not meerly for their Prayers but that by their Merits and Intercession they would obtain Grace and Pardon of God for you This is the Doctrine of your Catechism Catech Trid. par iij. p. 256. de Invoc SS n. 24. tit Sancti suis Meritis nos adjuvant That the Saints help us by their own Merits and are therefore the rather to be worshipped and invoked because they both pray continually for the Salvation of Men and that God bestows many Benefits upon us by their Merit and Favour 'T is from hence that the Master of the Sentences interprets your praying for their Intercession to be the same thing as to pray that by their Merits they would help you And Aquinas Aquin. 22dae q. 83. art 4. We pray to the Saints says he not to inform God of our Petitions by them but that by their PRAYERS and MERITS our Prayers may become effectual Bellarm. de Beat. SS l. 1. c. 17. We may say to the Saints says Card. Bellarmine Save me or Give me This or That provided we understand Give it me by thy Prayers or Merits So that in all this we say no more of you than what both your Doctrine and Practice warrant us to do 53. Let us see therefore how you excuse your selves in this Matter You say That your Concluding of all your Prayers Through Jesus Christ our Lord shews that you desire all at last by his Merits But indeed this is but a poor Shift and as a very Learned Man has long since told you Dr. Jackson Tom. 1. p. 941. that Close comes in in your Addresses much after the same manner that the mention of a certain Sum of Money does in Deeds of Trust only pro formâ And you are never the less guilty for this Conclusion of what we charge you with viz. That you join the Merits and Intercession of the Saints with the Merits and Intercession of Christ for Pardon and Acceptance And to the end that you may see what sensless Petitions you hereby make to God in these Addresses I will only take one of your Prayers in the literal meaning of it Idem ib. and apply it in a plain Paraphrase to your Pretensions by way of Petition to some Earthly Prince Thus then you pray upon the Third of May. Grant we beseech thee Almighty God that we who Adore the Nativity of thy Saints Alexander c. may by their Intercession be deliver'd from all Evils that hang over us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now changing only the Names this according to your Exposition will be the Paraphrase of it I beseech your Sacred Majesty that you would vouchsafe to pardon my Offences against you and deliver me from those Evils that hang over me for them at the Intercession of your Lord Chancellor c. and in Honour of this his Birth-day and that for the Sake of the Prince your Son our Royal Lord and Master In this extravagant Petition the very Transcript of the foregoing Prayer he must be blind who sees not that the Conclusion of it for the Princes sake c. is very impertinent and does not at all hinder but that the

fifty Years after that Austin the Monk came into England 2dly you say that Austin found only two Customs among the Christians here that he could not tollerate 'T is true indeed upon the second meeting that he had with the Brittish Bishops Bede Lib. 2. c. 2. he told them That though in many things they were contrary to the custom of his Church yet if in those two mentioned they would obey him and joyn with him in preaching the Gospel to the Saxons he would bear with them in the rest But did they therefore acknowledg his Authority in complying with his Desires so you would make us believe They were Obstinate say you TILL God was pleased to testify his Mission and the Authority he came with by the Authentick Seal of Miracles As for his Miracles we have no great Opinion of their Authority since we read in the passage to which I just now referr'd you that Antichrist himself shall come with this Attestation Gal. 1.9 It is the Doctrine that must give credit to the Miracles not these to the Doctrine Should an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel than that which we have received St. Paul has commanded us for all the Wonder to bid him be Anathema But I return to the History in which you so notoriously prevaricate that I cannot imagine how one that pretends in this inquisitive Age to deliver the Antiquities of his own Country durst betray himself so notoriously ignorant of it See Sir Bede Loc. cit the words of your own Author Bede expresly contrary to your Allegation But they answer'd that they would do nothing of all this nor receive him for an Arch-Bishop Insomuch that Austin came to high words with them threatning them with that Destruction which they afterwards to their cost met with from his new Saxon Converts And your illustrious Annalist Card. Baron Annal. Tom. 8. An. 604. Baronius cannot forbear making some severe Reflections upon the State of our Island at that Time as if God had therefore given it into the hands of the Barbarians because of the refractory and schismatical Minds of these Bishops 23. Ibid. Reply Your Adversaries you say acknowledg that when St. Austin came into England he taught most if not all the same Doctrines the Roman Catholick Church now teaches c. 24. Answ If S. Austin as you call him taught the same Doctrine which Pope Gregory the Great taught who sent him hither and whose Disciple we are told he was I must then put you in Mind that a very Learned Man has lately shew'd you and I may reasonably presume you could not but know it that he did not teach most much less all the Doctrines which you now teach No Sir the Mystery of Iniquity was not yet come to Perfection and tho your Church had even then in many things declined from its first Faith yet was it much more pure than now it is Protestants Apology p. 57 c. 2d Edit Had you when you took this Pretence from your Friend Mr. Brerely look'd into the Answer that was at large made to it I am perswaded you would have been asham'd to have again advanced so false and trifling an Objection Look Sir I beseech you into the Protestants Appeal Prot. Appeal lib. 1. cap. 2. or if that be too much for one of your Employments look into the Treatise to which I refer you There you will find 1. Vind. of the Answ of some late Papers p. 72 c. That the Scripture was yet received as a perfect Rule of Faith. 2. The Books of the Maccabees which you now put into your Canon rejected then as Apochryphal 3. That Good Works were not yet esteem'd meritorious Nor 4. Auricular Confession a Sacrament That 5. Solitary Masses were disallow'd by him And 6. Transubstantiation yet unborn That 7. The Sacrament of the Eucharist was hitherto administred in both kinds And 8. Purgatory it self not brought either to certainty or to perfection That by consequence 9. Masses for the Dead were not intended to deliver Souls from those Torments Nor 10. Images allow'd for any other purpose than for Ornament and Instruction 11. That the Sacrament of Extreme Vnction was yet unform'd and even 12. The Pope's Supremacy so far from being then establish'd as it now is that Pope Gregory thought it to be the fore-running of Antichrist for one Bishop to set himself above all the rest These are the Instances in which you have been shewn the vast difference there is between Pope Gregory's Doctrine and that of the Council of Trent and which may serve for a Specimen to satisfie the World with what Truth you pretend that we acknowledg that S. Austin when he came into England taught most if not all the same Doctrines that you now teach And this may also suffice for your next Argument founded upon it viz. 25. Add pag. 7 8. Reply That these Doctrines and Practices were either then taught and exercised by the British Christians also or they were not If they were not taught by them certainly we should not have found them so easily submitting to them If they were taught by the British Bishops also then they were of a longer standing than S. Austin's time and we must either grant they were introduced by the first Preachers of the Gospel here or evidently shew some other time before St. Austin when this Church embraced them 26. Answ A Dilemma is a terrible thing with Sense and Truth but without them 't is a ridiculous one as I take this to be For 1. It is evident from what I have before said that Austin did not teach the same Doctrines nor establish the same Practices that you do now teach and establish but did indeed in most of your Corruptions differ from you So that like the unwise Builder you have erected a stately Fabrick and founded it upon the Sand. 2. Had he been as very a Romish Missionary as your self yet is your Argument still inconclusive For whereas you suppose the Brittish Bishops submitted to him they were on the contrary so far from either obeying his Authority or following his Prescriptions that as I have shewn you they utterly rejected both and I will presently add that for above a hundred Years after his Death they utterly refused so much as to communicate with his Proselytes nor esteem'd them any more than Pagans So that I may now turn your own Argument upon you that seeing they had such an Abhorrence for Austin and his Followers that they look'd upon them no better than Heathens it very probably was because they neither approved what he taught nor saw any cause to submit to that Authority to which he pretended You see Sir what an admirable Argument you here flourish with and how little cause we have to expect any great Sincerity from you in other matters when in the very History of your own Country you so wretchedly prevaricate and against the express Authority

some kind of impropriety in the Speech and we must understand it so not as if Divine Worship were due to the Cross but to Christ crucified upon it A strange liberty of interpreting this which turns plain Affirmatives into downright Negatives and this contrary to the sense not only of your greatest Authors as I have shewn but in their opinion contrary to the sense of your Church too These all say with the Rubrick that a Divine Worship is due to the Cross you declare 't is no such thing No God forbid Such Worship is upon NO ACCOUNT WHATSOEVER to be given to the Cross but only to Christ represented by the Cross I will not desire you to consider what wise arguing you make of what your Pontifical here says That the Cross must take place of the Emperor's Sword because Christ is to be worship'd with Divine Worship It shall suffice me to leave you to the Censures of your own Learned Writers and Inquisitors who have already pronounced this Exposition to be false scandalous and savouring of Heresie Only let me once more caution you to remember the hard fate of poor Monsieur Imbert of Aegidius Magistralis and the French Traveller I just now mention'd For however it may be safe enough to dissemble with us here yet will it behove you to take great heed that you alter your tone if ever you should chance to fall into those Parts where the Old Popery Doctrine is still the measure of the Inquisitors Proceedings 36. My next Instance was from your form of blessing a New Cross To your Cavil about my omitting some words I have said enough heretofore but the dear Calumny must be continu'd tho not only those two words were added but so many more set down that you seem as much dissatisfied with my length here as you pretended to be with my brevity before 37. You pray That the Wood of the Cross which you bless may be a wholsome remedy to mankind a strengthner of Faith an increaser of Good Works the Redemption of Souls a Comfort Protection and Defence against the Cruel Darts of the Enemy You incense it you sprinkle it with Holy Water you sanctify it in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and then both the Bishop and People devoutly ADORE it and Kiss it 38. This is in short the sum of that Ceremony In which you desire to know what is Amiss I answer That take this whole Office together with the Ceremonies Prayers and other Circumstances of it and it is Superstitious and Idolatrous and I shall not doubt once more to repeat what before so much offended you That the Addresses you here make look more like Magical Incantations than Christian Prayers For 39. First If we enquire into the design of this Ceremony it is to Consecrate a piece of Wood or Stone that it may become a fit Object of Adoration which being directy contrary to the Second Commandment cannot be done without a very great Sin. 40. 2dly To this End secondly you pray that several benefits may proceed from this Wood of the Cross and if those words signify any thing whereby you beseech God that it may be a wholsome remedy to Mankind a strengthner of Faith c. We must then look upon it that you do believe that by this Consecration there is a Virtue if not residing in it for all these purposes yet at least proceeding from it which your Council of Trent confesses was one of the things that made the Worship of Images among the Heathens to be Idolatrous Nor will your little Evasion here stand you in any stead Reply p. 32. that you pray only that the Cross may be a means for the obtaining all these Benefits and that this is no more than a Preacher may desire for his Sermon or the Author of a good Book for what he is about to publish For 1. A piece of Wood or Stone carve it into what Figure or Shape you please is not certainly so proper a means for the conveying of such Benefits to men as a good Book or a good Sermon are And therefore what may be very naturally desired for the One cannot without great Superstition be applied to the Other I may and I heartily do pray that what I am now writing may be a saving remedy to you by correcting your Faith and encreasing your Charity because I am perswaded here are Arguments proper to such an End if it shall please God to dispose you impartially to consider them but now I believe you would think me very Extravagant should I pray to God to sanctify the Paper on which 't is printed or my Bookseller's Sign that sells it as you pray to God to sanctify the WOOD of the Cross that as often as you see the leaves of this Book or look upon the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard these good effects may be wrought in you 41. Again 2. As the thing it self is not a proper means of producing these Effects in us so the manner by which you pray it may be done renders it yet more Superstitious To get instruction by hearing or reading to have ones Faith confirm'd or Charity enlarged or Zeal heightned by pious Considerations or powerful Motives all this is very natural and we may therefore lawfully pray to God for to bless them to us in order to these Ends. But to pray to God that by bowing our selves down before a Cross we may find health of Soul and Body to sanctify a piece of Wood that by ITS MERITS it may free men from all the Sins they have committed this must be more than a natural Effect neither the thing nor action being proper to produce it and whether such Requests be not more like Magical Incantations than Christian Prayers I shall leave it to any indifferent person to consider 42. But 3dly That this which you pretend is not all that your Church designs by those Prayers is evident in that this Exposition cannot possibly be applied to several of those things which you ask of God in those Addresses For instance you pray That the blessing of the Wood upon which our Saviour hung may be in the Wood of the Cross which you consecrate and that by the Holiness of that he would Sanctify this that as by that Cross the World was delivered from Guilt so by the Merits of this the devout Souls who offer it may be free from all the Sins they have committed Now tell me in Conscience if you dare speak the truth Is not all this somewhat more than to pray that the Cross may accidentally become a means of working good Effects in you Reply p. 32 33. by putting you in mind of the price of your Redemption Do you not here see somewhat which your Council of Trent calls the Idolatry of the Gentiles viz. an encouragement to Worship the Cross as if some Divine Virtue were in it for which it ought to be Adored For so certainly