f the
heathen gods, amongst their followers," &c. He is unable, however, to
produce any other argument in support of the worship of relics than the
example of those who had practised it. "Was it wrong," he exclaims, "of
the bishops of Rome to celebrate divine service on the graves containing
the bones of St Peter and St Paul, which, according to Vigilantius, were
nothing better than dust? The Emperor Constantius must then have committed
a sacrilege by translating the holy relics of Andrew, Luke, and Timothy,
to Constantinople; the Emperor Arcadius must be then also considered
sacrilegious, as he has translated the bones of the blessed Samuel from
Judea to Thrace; then all those bishops who consented to preserve mere
dust in vessels of gold or wrapt in silk, were not only sacrilegious, but
were fools; and, finally, that all these people must have been fools who
went out to meet these relics, and received them with as much joy as if
they were the prophet himself alive, because the procession which carried
them was attended by crowds of people from Palestine to Chalcedon, singing
the praises of Christ, whose servant Samuel was."

There is no abuse in the world which cannot be justified, if the example
of persons occupying a high station or that of great numbers is sufficient
for it. The advocates of the adoration of relics in our own days may
defend it by the fact that about half a million of people went in 1845 to
worship the holy coat of Treves, and that still more recently great
honours were paid to the relics of St Theodosia at Amiens, by a number of
distinguished persons,--bishops, archbishops, and even cardinals. The
_autos da fe_ of the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions could not be
wrong, since kings, queens, and the most eminent persons of the state,
approved them by their presence. Idolatry cannot be an error, since so
many monarchs, statesmen, and learned men, had conformed to its rites;
whilst, on the other side, the same reason may be pleaded for the penal
laws of Ireland, and other enactments against the Roman Catholics, because
they were established and maintained by so many parliaments. Jerome
maintained that it was a calumny of Vigilantius to say that the Christians
burnt candles in daylight, though he admitted that it was done by some men
and women in order to honour the martyrs. He did not approve of it,
because their zeal was without knowledge; but he thought that on account
of their good intention, th