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[a] Not by Works of Righteoufnefs which we have done, but according to His Mercy He faved us through Jefus Chrift our Saviour. We have no other Saviour, nor can be Saved by the Merits of any other. None other can Merit from God. The greateft Saint that ever was is faved only by Mercy, and the Forgiveness of his Sins. Let us therefore not Truft to the Supererogated Works of thofe, which were not able to fave Themfelves. [b] That every Mouth may be stopped, and all the World become Guilty before God. [c] For in His Sight fball no Man living be Justified. Ther is none Righteous, no not one.

may

But befides all this, there are Degrees of Glory in Heaven. So that if any could Supererogate, yet has he nothing to fpare to others, becaufe, he has Received the full of his Reward himself. This fhuts up Purgatory for Ever, by Exhaufting every Penny of that Treasury referved for Redemption from thence.

And the Expectation of having those many Sins called Venial with you Remitted after Death, does naturally make Men more Careless in their Life. And trufting to the Merits of others, will Abate their Diligence in being nicely Righteous themselves.

L. But we find fome Inftances Fathers of Prayers for the Dead.

among the

G. Some few among the Fathers you may, but none in Scripture. But what were these

Prayers

[a] Tit. ii. 5, 6, [6] Rom. iii, 19 [c] Pfal. cxiv. 2.

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Prayers? They were for Peace and Reft to those who were Supposed to be in Peace, yet might receive Increase of Happiness even before the Refurrection, as fome fuppofe Heaven it self to Confift in an Eternal Increase of Blifs. But without this, We may Pray for Continuance of Peace to those who are in Peace, though we know it will furely be; as when we Pray Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done. We know it muft be, but this fhews our Affent and Wishes for it. And in this Senfe we alfo Pray for the Dead, That it would pleafe God, [a] Shortly to Accomplish the Number if His Elect and to haften His Kingdom, that we, with all those that are Departed in the true Faith of His Holy Name, may have our perfect Confummation and Blifs, both in Body and Soul, in His Eternal and Everlasting Glory. And we Blefs Him, [b] for all His Servants Departed this Life, in His Faith and Fear; befeeching Him togive us Grace fo to follow their good Examples, that, with them, we may be Partakers of His Heavenly Kingdom. So that we Pray for Them as well as for our Selves, that we with them, may be Partakers, &c. But neither thefe Prayers of ours nor those of the Ancients, have any Relation to Purgatory or delivering Souls from thence, as from a Place of Torment.

Some of the Ancients had an Imagination of a Purging Fire through which Sinners were N 2

to

[a] Order for the Burial of the Dead. [b] Communion Office. Prayer for the Church Militant.

to pass, but they meant the General Conflagra tion at the Laft Day. Which comes not at all to your Notion of Purgatory. But I would not trouble your Lordship with Excurfions, or Debating every Branch of thefe Difputes, only give you a Summary View of the Heart of the Caufe, and to fee where the Matter Pinches. And indeed, my Lord, my Endeavour with your Lordship is rather to State the Cafe, than to Argue upon it; for Truth needs no more than to be fairly Shewn, it Convinces of it felf; and Beft when it is Naked, without the Fucus of Philofopky and Diftinctions which are Endless.

Thefe will put a Colour upon Implicit it self, and make you believe you Understand what you know nothing of! My Lord, give me Leave to fay, your whole Religion is Implicit, not only as to the particular Points we have Difcourfed, but your whole Publick Worship is fuch, while your Prayers are in a Language not Understood by the People. How then can they [a] Pray with the Understanding, as the Apostle requires? And how can they Say Amen, Seeing they Understand not what is faid?

L. They have Prayers of their own, and carry little Prayer Books with them which they Read while the Priest is Repeating the Publick Offices.

G. But this is not Joining with the Prieft, and they cannot fay Amen to his Prayers.

What

[a] i Cor. xiv. 15, 16.

What then have they to do at Church? This is not Communion. It is purely Implicit, and nothing else but Opus Operatum. It is an Invention without Precedent, for it never Entered into the Head of Man or Church fince the Creation except only the Church of Rome. And of which the Apostle gives this Character, [4] Will they not fay ye are Mad?

What is it fhort of this which Suarez fays? [b] That it is not neceffary to Prayer that the Perfon Praying fhould think of what he speaks. This is Opus Operatum, with a Witness! And a Parrat may be taught thus to Pray. And how do they Pray with the Prieft, who are talking of Bufinefs, or Chatting of News while he is Offering up their Prayers to God, in a Language of which they Underftand not one Word, and therefore cannot give Attention to it? And these are the Greatest Number, viz. of the Common People who cannot Read, and fo cannot carry Private Books of Devotion with them; though if they did, it would not be Joining with the Priest, nor could these be called Common Prayer, which are Offered up with One Accord, pursuant to St. Chryfoftom's Prayer, with which our daily Publick Prayers do Conclude.

And now, My Lord, upon the Whole, if the Advantage does not feem to your Lordfhip to lye on our fide, in all the Particulars before

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[a] Ibid.ver. 23. [b] De Orat lib. 3. c. 14. and Salmeron. &c.

before Mentioned; yet can you have any Doubt of the Safety of your Soul in our way? Since all our Danger is, Omitting fome things that might be Profitable, but cannot be called Neceffary: Whereas if the Error lyes on your Side, you are Involved in Manifold Superstitions, and of Adding to and Subtracting from the Word of God.

L. I confefs nothing fticks with me but the Church, of being in the Church, and preserving the Unity of the Church.

G. Therefore I began with that, and defire to Clofe with it, for it is the Jugulum Caufe.

I have fhewed wherein the Unity of the Church did Confift, according to the Inftitution of Christ, and as the Primitive Fathers Understood it, that is, an Unity in Faith, and in the Mutual Love and good Correspondence of Chriftians and Sifter Churches; though one Sifter must be Elder than another, and Rome was not the Eldest: One might be Greater or more Powerful than another, and this did vary, according to the Courfe of this World: Jerufalem was at firft the only Church of Christ, than Antioch became the Greateft of the Gentle Church, where Christianity firft Received its Name, afterwards Rome became the Greateft, from being the Seat of the Roman Empire, but Constantinople was the first Affumed an Univerfal Supremacy, when he became the Head of that Empire. And this was it which Broke the Unity of the Sister Churches, and filled them with Schifms and Divifions among themfelves

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