hose accounts, brought thither by Vespasian and Titus. Now, this is
such a clumsy fabrication,--they might just as well tell us that the Turks
went to Jerusalem in order to carry off the true cross to Constantinople!

Vespasian conquered and ravaged a part of Judea before he was elected
emperor, and his son Titus completed that conquest by the capture and
destruction of Jerusalem. They were both Pagans, and had no more regard
for Christ than if he had never existed on earth. Consequently to maintain
that Vespasian and Titus carried off the above-mentioned relics to Rome,
is even a more flagrant falsehood than the stories about Godfrey of
Bouillon and St Louis.

Moreover, it is well known that the times of St Louis were very
superstitious. That monarch would have accepted as a relic, and
worshipped, any thing that was represented to him as having belonged to
the Holy Virgin; and, indeed, King Louis and other crusaders sacrificed
their bodies and their goods, as well as a great portion of their
country's substance, merely to bring back with them heaps of foolish
trifles, having been taught to consider them as the most precious jewels
of the world.

It must be here mentioned, that in Greece, Asia Minor, and other eastern
countries, people show, with full assurance, counterpart old rubbish,
which those poor idolaters imagine they possess in their own country. How
are we to judge between the two contending parties? One party says that
these relics were brought from the East; but the Christians now inhabiting
those lands maintain that the same relics are still in their possession,
and they laugh at our pretensions. How can it be decided betwixt right and
wrong without an inquiry, which will never take place? Methinks the best
plan is to let the dispute rest as it is, without caring for either side
of the question.

The last relics pertaining to Jesus Christ are those which relate to the
time after his resurrection,--as, for instance, a piece of broiled fish
which St Peter presented to him on the sea-shore. This fish must have been
strongly spiced, and prepared in some extraordinary manner, to be
preserved for so long a period. But, seriously, is it likely that the
apostles would have made a relic of a portion of the fish which they had
prepared for their dinner? Indeed, I think that whoever will not perceive
this to be an open mockery of God, deserves not to be reasoned with.

There is also the miraculous blood which has