The Two Babylons - Chapter V Rites and Ceremonies II. Relic Worship - Alexander Hislop - 1858

Alexander Hislop

Nothing is more characteristic of Rome than the worship of relics. Wherever a chapel is opened, or a temple consecrated, it cannot be thoroughly complete without some relic or other of he-saint or she-saint to give sanctity to it. The relics of the saints and rotten bones of the martyrs form a great part of the wealth of the Church. The grossest impostures have been practised in regard to such relics; and the most drivelling tales have been told of their wonderworking powers, and that too by Fathers of high name in the records of Christendom. Even Augustine, with all his philosophical acuteness and zeal against some forms of false doctrine, was deeply infected with the grovelling spirit that led to relic worship. Let any one read the stuff with which he concludes his famous "City of God," and he will in no wise wonder that Rome has made a saint of him, and set him up for the worship of her devotees. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library