them, and enquire into the Number of Distempers, from which they have been free'd? If you do this, you will be fo far from Laughing at what we do, that you will be wil ling to join with us in fo good a Practice. L. 1. Ep. 55. Pray, Sr, follow the Advice of this good Saint, and leave off joining with Hereticks and Pagans in Ridicu ling Practices, which venerable Antiquity has so solemnly recommended to us.

I shall only add St Ambrofe's Words after his Difcovery of the Reliques of St Gervafius and Protafius, which alone fuffice to confute any Thing, you can fay up on this Subject. You have known (fays he) nay you have seen many difpoffeß'd, many cured, as foon as they touch'd the Shrowd of the holy Bodies, from their Infirmities. The ancient Miracles of Chrift are renew'd. You See many cured by the Shadow, as it were, of their Bodies. How many Handkerchiefs are they touch'd with? How many Veils by Touching the facred Reliques become Inftruments of the greatest Cures? Every one is glad to touch the most diftant Hem, and if he do's it, he will be beal'd. Ep. 22. Now, Sr, you may laugh on if you please. But even your Proteftant Tranflators of Mr Du Pin Cent. 8. p.120. confefs, that it pleafed God for the Testimony of his Doctrine and Truth to work great Miracles by the Dead Bodies of his Saints in Witneß, that they had been his Messengers, and Inftruments of his Will.

G. My Lord, God may work Miracles by what « Means he pleases. pag. 132. «

L. Now, Sr, you are very good indeed. For you grant ma all I defire.

G. But do's this confecrate the Dead Body of e every Saint to be a Means of Grace, and a W or- « ker of Miracles? pag. 132. «

L. Sr, that is your ridiculous Confequence, and not mine. All I fay is, that when God Works Mi

6.16. racles by the Body of any Saint, he certainly do's work Miracles by it.

» G. Many Miracles were wrought by the Rod of » Mofes, is every Rod therefore a Means of Grace either Ghoftly or Bodily? Or may we confecrate any » Rod to be fuch a Means? pag. 132.

L. No, Sr. But if God pleafes, he may work Miracles by any Rod. And fo he may work Miracles by the Body of any Saint; and if he do's work Miracles by it, we may furely believe, that he do's work Miracles by it.

» G. Nothing is fuch a Means to us, but what » God has commanded and appointed to be done Baptifm, and the Lord's Supper. pag. 132.

L. What, St! Did God command and appoint Aprons and Handkerchiefs, which wrought Miracles, Act. 19. v. 12. to be fuch Means of Grace as Baptifm, and the Lord's Supper?

» G. It is the Inftitution and not the Example, that makes any Thing a Means of Grace to us. Elfe we might go and imitate all the Miraculous Actions of » Mofes, or of Chrift, and call them Means of Grace » to us, because so used by them. pag. 132. 133.

L. Sr, it is the Inftitution, and nothing but the Inftitution of Christ that makes fuch Means of Grace as Baptifm, and the Lord's Supper. If therefore you fpeak of Means of Grace ftrictly taken, the Sacraments alone are fuch Means, as I have already frequently inculcated. But you are either very thick of Hearing, or have a short Memory. For you take no Notice of any Thing I fay, but go on Repeating the fame Grofs Miftakes twenty Times over as confidently, as if they were first Principles, or Truths allow'd of by me.

I tell you therefore once for all that the Sacraments alone are Means of Grace strictly taken ; which

never fail of Producing their Effect, but when fome wilful. Obstacle is put to it. But in a large Senfe any Thing may be call'd a Means of Grace, which God is pleased to make Ufe of at any Time as an Inftru ment to convey his Blessings to us, tho it be not ordain'd by any Expreß Institution in Order to that End.

Now if you fpeak of Means of Grace ftrictly taken, what you fay, viz. that nothing is fuch a Means to us, but what God has commanded and appointed to be done is true indeed, but nothing to the Purpose. But if you speak of Means of Grace in the largest Senfe, tis abfolutely falfe, nay incoherent with what you faid just now, viz. that God may work Miracles by what Means he pleases. For, if he can work Miracles, as moft certainly he can, by what Means he pleases, he can work them by Inftruments, which are not strictly Means of Grace, as the Sacraments are: unless you will maintain, that whatever Inftrument God makes Ufe of to work Miracles by, becomes immediately a Sa crament, that is, a Means of Grace strictly taken; and then Saint Peter's Shadow, and all the Aprons and Handkerchiefs, which touch'd St Paul's Body, and wrought great Miracles, were Sacraments, or Means of Grace ftrictly taken.

Either therefore every Thing, by which God Works Miracles, is ftrictly a Means of Grace, or not: if it be, then the Aprons and Handkerchiefs, that touch'd St Paul's Body, were strictly Means of Graces which is abfurd. If not, then the Reliques of Saints may also work Miracles without being strictly Means of Grace. Whence it plainly appears, that whatever you have faid have faid, or can fay concerning our Multiplying Means of Grace is wholly built upon the Equivocal Meaning of those Words; which you Pleasure to repeat even to a Surfeit for no other Rea

take a

5.16 fon, but because they are Equivocal; and therefore proper to caft a Mift before ignorant People's Eyes,

» G. My Lord, as to the Reliques in your Church, » many of them have been notoriously detected; " and it has been found out, that the Dead Bodies of » Malefactors have been taken for the Reliques of » Saints, and great Miracles said to be done by them. » pag. 133.

L. I hope, Sr, you do not mean, that great Miracles have been laid to be done by Bodies, after they have been found out to be the Bodies of Maiefaltors. Nor do I believe upon your bare Word that Miracles have been attributed to the Bodies of real Malefactors, even before your pretended notorious Detec tion of them. Perhaps you only mean fuch a notorious Malefactor as St Thomas of Canterbury: who was found guilty of high Treafon, and had all his Goods confifcared above three hundred Years after his Death, I may fafely fay by one of the most ridiculous Farces, that ever was acted upon the Theater of this World.

» G. The fame Relique, as the Head or Finger of » fuch or fuch a Saint is shewn in feveral Places, and each contend that their's is the right, and each » have Miracles avouch'd for them. pag. 133.

L. Sr, this was fully anfwer'd at our last Meeting upon the Subject of Miracles, [1. Part. §. 25.] to which I refer you.

» G. Many Inftances of this with Vouchers un» deniable you will find in the Devotions of the Roman » Church. How then can you worship fuch Reliques in » Faith, without which it is a Sin? pag, 133.

L. Sr, I have already told you the true Meaning of St Paul's faying, whatever is not of Faith is Sin, viz, that whatever is done against Conscience, or with a bad Intention, is Sin which may as well be applied to a Man Mistaking Stockfish for Ling, as to the Subject

under

under Debate. For, fuppofe we should mistake falfe Reliques for true ones, the Saint, whofe Reliques we fuppofe them to be, is ftill honour'd by us; and the Miftake is as innocent, as when we give an Alms for God's Sake to a Cheat; which is no uncommon Cafe. But I observe once more, that whenever you speak of the Refpect we pay to Reliques, you take Care to call it Worship; because the Word is ambiguous and may fignify Divine Worship, as well as an inferiour or Relative Honour, and you piously hope that it will be taken in the wrong Senfe. I therefore defire you to take Notice, that we worship Reliques, or the Images of Chrift and his Saints no otherwife than you wor ship the Altar, or the Bible, when you bow to it. If you deny that you worship them in Paying that Ref pet to 'em, we do the fame. If you grant you worship them, then Creatures may be worshipped with a Relative Honour, and you cannot blame us for it.

In Effect no one Word is more Equivocal than the Word Worship, and it is manifeft, that all Reafoning from fuch Ambiguous Words is nothing at the Bottom but Fallacy and Amusement, and a meer Defign to confound and perplex People in Order to hide from them the true State of the Question. Pray, St, remember this, when you speak of Images, which I prefume will come next upon the Board."

G.

YE

§. 17.

Of Images.

Es, My Lord. For not only the Saints, and « their Reliques, but their Images are with you « made a diftinct Means of Grace; For in the Confe. « cration of the Image of a Saint it is faid, that who- « ever shall worship such a Saint, coram hac Imagine, s

II. Part.

N