In the Realm of Relics by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 23, 1915

In the Realm of Relics

By C. M. S.

The Western Watchman (Catholic) of September 2, in referring to the return of the Liberty Bell from the San Francisco exposition and the homage paid it by school children and others along the way, says:—

School children have reverently kissed this cracked old bell, city councils and governors of States have gazed on it with religious awe, and women have wept with gladness at its approach. A guard of honor accompanies the sacred relic everywhere. All this is well; for that which the bell represents is worthy of honor. Have not men died for liberty? Now what we should like to know is, Wherein is sin committed in honoring the friends of Christ and the relics of the saints? St. John says the truth shall make you free.

There is positively no analogy between the way in which the people of the United States look upon the Liberty Bell, and acted toward it on the occasions referred to, and the way in which the Roman Church teaches her members to look upon relics of the dead “saints” and to act toward them. The children who kissed the bell and the people who honored it by their presence at its various stopping places did not do so as an act of worship, nor expect by so doing to receive any aid in the matter of their salvation. Rome can find no excuse in that for what she does with her relics, and teaches her members to do. For instance, the supreme worship of latria is accorded by the consent of leading Roman theologians to all alleged relics of the Passion, such as the nails of the cross, the crown of thorns, the seamless coat; while dulia (a lesser degree of worship) is allowed to relics of the saints. See Dens, Theol., Vol. V, page 45. In the fourth century Ambrose would not consecrate a church which was without relics; in the seventh century the Council of Constantinople ordered altars to be demolished that had no relics; in the ninth century relics were credited with healing virtues, especially with the power to defend the possessors against the assaults of the devil. See “Romanism Analyzed,” page 254. In 1891 Leo XIII promised “complete absolution and remission of all sins,” and “the remission of seven years of the penance imposed on them or otherwise due by them,” to all pilgrims who would visit the church where “the holy coat of Treves” was on exhibition, and pray for the extirpation of erroneous doctrines. Hundreds of thousands did so, and some prayed to the coat for salvation and protection, as well as for the extirpation of erroneous doctrine.

The Western Watchman asks, Where is the sin? We answer, When we worship anything but God, we commit idolatry, and idolatry is one of the sins most frequently condemned in the Bible. Not even angels may be worshiped. The apostle and prophet John says of his own act on one occasion:—

“And I John am he that heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel that showed me these things. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not: I am a fellow servant with thee and with thy brethren the prophets, and with them that keep the sayings of this book: worship God.” Rev. 22:8, 9.

The same warning and prohibition against worshiping any being but God is given also in Rev. 19:10. He who knows that God does not allow even the worship of angels, does not need to be told that God will not permit the veneration or worship of the relics of the dead.

The Western Watchman editor concludes: “St. John says the truth shall make you free.” These are not the words of John, but of our Lord himself, as recorded in John 8:32. The truth does make us free. It frees us from bondage to superstitious and idolatrous practices, such as, for instance, the worship of relics and praying to them; the worship of saints and angels and praying to them; the worship of the Virgin Mary, prayers to her, and looking to her as a mediator between human beings and God; belief in the unscriptural doctrine of purgatory; and prayers in behalf of the dead. From these and many other such things the truth will set men free; and if all men everywhere were permitted free study of the Bible, God’s great fount of light and truth, they would not be found indulging in such unprofitable and forbidden practices. C. M. S.