is was the first step made in the
_Christian_ religion towards the veneration of the Martyrs: and tho it did
not yet amount to an unlawful worship; yet it disposed the _Christians_
towards such a further veneration of the dead, as in a short time ended in
the invocation of Saints.

The next step was the affecting to pray at the sepulchres of the Martyrs:
which practice began in _Dioclesian_'s persecution. The Council of
_Eliberis_ in _Spain_, celebrated in the third or fourth year of
_Dioclesian_'s persecution, A.C. 305, hath these Canons. Can. 34. _Cereos
per diem placuit in Coemeterio non incendi: inquietandi enim spiritus
sanctorum non sunt. Qui haec non observarint, arceantur ab Ecclesiae
communione._ Can. 35. _Placuit prohiberi ne faeminae in Coemeterio
pervigilent, eo quod saepe sub obtentu orationis latenter scelera
committant._ Presently after that persecution, suppose about the year 314,
the Council of _Laodicea_ in _Phrygia_, which then met for restoring the
lapsed discipline of the Church, has the following Canons. Can. 9. _Those
of the Church are not allowed to go into the _Coemeteries_ or _Martyries_,
as they are called, of hereticks, for the sake of prayer or recovery of
health: but such as go, if they be of the faithful, shall be excommunicated
for a time_. Can. 34. _A _Christian_ must not leave the Martyrs of
_Christ_, and go to false Martyrs_, that is, to the Martyrs of the
hereticks; _for these are alien from God: and therefore let those be
anathema who go to them_. Can. 51. _The birth-days of the Martyrs shall not
be celebrated in _Lent_, but their commemoration shall be made on the
Sabbath-days and Lords days_. The Council of _Paphlagonia_, celebrated in
the year 324, made this Canon: _If any man being arrogant, abominates the
congregations of the Martyrs, or the Liturgies performed therein, or the
memories of the Martyrs, let him be anathema_. By all which it is manifest
that the _Christians_ in the time of _Dioclesian_'s persecution used to
pray in the _Coemeteries_ or burying-places of the dead; for avoiding the
danger of the persecution, and for want of Churches, which were all thrown
down: and after the persecution was over, continued that practice in honour
of the Martyrs, till new Churches could be built: and by use affected it as
advantageous to devotion, and for recovering the health of those that were
sick. It also appears that in these burying-places they commemorated the
Martyrs yearly upo