RELICS. 



remains of the body or clothes of feme faint or mart^'r, de- 

 voutly preferved in honour to his memory, carried at pro- 

 ceflions, killed, revered, &c. 



The abufes of that church in point of relics have been 

 very flagrant. F. Mabillon, a Benedidline, complains of 

 the great number of fuipefted relics expofcd on altars : he 

 owns, that were there to be a Itrift iiiquifition into the relics, 

 vail numbers of fpurious ones would be found offered every 

 where to the piety and devotion of the faithful ; and adds, 

 that bones are frequently confecrated, fo far from belonging 

 to faints, that, in all probability, they do not belong to 

 Chriflians. 



The catacombs are an inexhauftible fund of rehcs ; 

 yet it is ftill difputed who were the perfons interred in 

 them. 



In the eleventh century, a method was introduced of try- 

 ing fuppofed relics by fire. Thofe which did not confume 

 in the lire were reputed genuine ; the reft not. 



It is an ancient cuftom, which ftill obtains, to preferve 

 the rehcs in the altars on which mafs is celebrated. To 

 this purpofe, a fquare hole is made in the middle of the 

 altar, big enough to receive the hand ; and in that is the 

 relic depofited, being firft wrapped in red filk, and inclofed 

 in a leaden box. 



The Romanifts allege a confidcrable degree of antiquity 

 in behalf of their relics. The Manichees, it feems, out of 

 hatred to the flefli, which they held an evil principle, are 

 recorded as refufuig to honour the relics of faints ; which is 

 efteemed a kind of proof, that the Catholics did it in the 

 firft ages. 



Indeed, folly and fuperftition blended thcmfelves with 

 religion at too early a period. Even the touching of linen 

 cloths on relics, from an opinion of fome extraordinary' 

 virtue derived from them, appears to be as ancient as the 

 firft ages ; there being a hole made in the coffins of the 

 forty martyrs at Conftantinople, exprefsly for this pur- 

 pofe. 



This practice of honouring the rehcs of faints, on which 

 the church of Rome, in fucceeding ages, founded her fu- 

 perftitious and hicrative ufe of them, as objefts of devotion, 

 as a kind of charms or amulets, and as iniiruments of pre- 

 tended miracles, feems to have originated in a very aneient 

 cuftom, that prevailed among Cluriftians, of afiembling at 

 the coemeteries or burying-places of the martyrs, for the 

 purpofe of commemorating them, and of performing divine 

 worfhip. When the profeffion of Chriftianity obtained the 

 protection of the civil government, under Conftantine the 

 Great, ftatelv churches were erefted over their fepulchres, 

 and their names and memories were treated with every pof- 

 fible token of affedlion and refpeft. (See Saints.) In 

 procefs of time, this reverence of the martyrs exceeded all 

 reafonable bounds ; and thofe prayers and religious fervices 

 were thought to have a peculiar fanftitv and virtue, which 

 were performed over their tombs. Hence probably pro- 

 ceeded the pradlice, already mentioned, which obtained in 

 the fourth century, of depofiting rehcs of the faints and 

 martyrs under the altars in all their churches. This prac- 

 tice, however, was then thought of fuch importance, that 

 St. Ambrofe would not confecrate a church, becaufe it had 

 no relics ; and the council of Conftantinople in Trullo or- 

 dained, that thofe altars fliould be deniolifhed, under which 

 there were found no relics. The rage of procuring relics 

 for this and other purpofes of a fimilar nature became fo 

 exceflive, that, in 386, the emperor ThecJofius tlie Great 

 was obliged to pafs a law, forbidding the people to dig up 

 the bodies of the martyrs, and to traffick in their relics. 



Such was the commencement of that refpeft for facred 



relics, whicli, m after ages, was perverted into a fom'ial 

 worfhip of them, and became the occafion of innumerable 

 procedions, pilgrimages, and miracles, from which thi 

 church of Rome hath derived incredible advantage. To- 

 wards the clofe of the ninth century, it was not enough to 

 reverence departed faints, and to confide in their intercef- 

 fions and fuccours : it was not enough to clothe them with 

 an imaginary power of healing difeafes, working miracles, 

 and delivering from all forts of calamities and dangers ; their 

 bones, their clothes, the apparel and furniture they had 

 poireflcd during their lives, the very ground which they had 

 touched, or in which their putrified carcafes were laid, were 

 treated with a ftupid veneration, and fuppofed to retain the 

 marvellous virtue of healing all diforders both of body and 

 mind, and of defending fuch as poflefTed them againft all the 

 affaults and devices of Satan. The confequence of this 

 wretched notion was, that every one was eager to provide 

 himfelf with thefe falutary remedies ; for which purpofe, 

 great numbers undertook fatiguing and perilous voyages, 

 and fubjefted themfelves to all forts of hardfhips ; w-hile 

 others made ufe of this delufion, to accumulate their riches, 

 and to impofe upon the miferable multitude by the molt 

 impious and fliocking inventions. As the demand for relics 

 was prodigious and univerfal, the clergy employed all their 

 dexterity to fatisfy thefe demands, and were far from being 

 nice in the methods they ufed for that end. The bodies of 

 the faints were fought by fafting and prayer, inftituted by 

 the prieft, in order to obtain a divine anfwer and an infal- 

 lible direction ; and this pretended direilion never failed to 

 accomphfli their defires : the holy carcafe was always found, 

 and that always in confequence, as they impioufly gave out, 

 of the fuggeftion and infpiration of God himfelf. Each 

 difcovery of this kind was attended with exceflive demon- 

 ilrations of joy, and animated the zeal of thefe devout 

 feekers to enrich the church ftill more and more with this 

 new kind of treafure. Many travelled with this view into 

 the Eaftern provinces, and frequented the pkces which 

 Clu-ifl and his difciples had honoured with their prefence, 

 that, with the bones and other facred remains of the firft 

 heralds of the gofpel, they might comfort dejefted minds, 

 calm trembling confciences, fave finking ftates, and defend 

 their inhabitants from all forts of calamities. Nor did thefe 

 pious travellers return home empty ; the craft, dexterity, 

 and knavery of the Greeks found a rich prey in the ftupid 

 credulity of the Latin relic-hunters, and made a profitable 

 commerce of this new devotion. The latter paid confidcr- 

 able fums for legs and arms, fliulls and jaw-bones, (feveral 

 of which were Pagan, and fome not human,) and other 

 things that were fuppofed to have belonged to the primitive 

 worthies of the Chriftian church : and thus the Latin 

 churches came to the pofleffion of thofe celebrated relics of 

 St. Mark, St James, St. Bartholomew, Cyprian, Panta- 

 leon, and others, which they fhew at this day with fo much 

 oftentation. But there were many, who, unable to pro- 

 cure for themfelves thefe fpiritual treafures by voyages and 

 prayers, had recourfe to violence and theft : for all forts of 

 means, and all forts of attempts, io a caufe of this nature 

 were confidered, when fuccefsful, as pious and acceptable 

 to the Supreme Being. 



Befides the arguments from antiquity to wliich the Papifts 

 refer, in vindication of their worfliip of relics, of which the 

 reader may form fome judgment from this article, Bellar- 

 mine appeals to fcripture in fupport of it, and cites the fol- 

 lowing pafTages, -viz. Exod. xiii. 19. Deut. xxxiv. 6. 

 2 Kings, xiii. 21. 2 Kings, xxiii. i6, 17, 18. Ifaiah, si. 



10. Matth. xi. 20, 21, 22. Afts, V. 12 — 15. Afts, xix. 



11, 12. See Popery. 



7 Relici 



