merit vs righteousness

merit

noun
  • The sum of all the good deeds that a person does which determines the quality of the person's next state of existence and contributes to the person's growth towards enlightenment. 

  • Usually in the plural form the merits: the substantive rightness or wrongness of a legal argument, a lawsuit, etc., as opposed to technical matters such as the admissibility of evidence or points of legal procedure; (by extension) the overall good or bad quality, or rightness or wrongness, of some other thing. 

  • A claim to commendation or a reward. 

  • A mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence. 

  • Something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward. 

verb
  • To be deserving or worthy. 

  • To deserve, to earn. 

righteousness

noun
  • The quality or state of being righteous. 

  • Holiness; conformity of life to the divine law. 

  • The act or conduct of one who is righteous. 

  • A righteous act, or righteous quality. 

  • The state of being right with God; justification; the work of Christ, which is the ground justification. 

How often have the words merit and righteousness occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )