Resting on Relics by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 30, 1915

Resting on Relics

By C. M. S.

The faith and trust of the Christian rest upon the Word of God, the promises of God, the power of God, the authority of God, and the love of God. The follower of Christ does not rest his faith upon the word of man, the authority of man, or upon anything for which man is responsible. In fact, we are very definitely warned against trusting in the human or resting our faith thereon. “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Ps. 146: 3, 4. Nevertheless, in an editorial in the Western Watchman (Catholic) of September 2, we read:—

It appears certain that the Holy Father, Benedict XV, has granted to priests of the whole world the privilege of celebrating three masses on All Saints’ Day. The church never forgets her departed children, and the chalice used in the mass rests on the relics of her saints. It was so in the catacombs.

A faith resting upon the relics of dead human beings, whose breath has gone forth, who have returned to earth, whose thoughts have perished, is faith only in caricature and not in reality. So far as results are concerned, it is a faith as dead as the relics upon which it rests. The Word declares, “Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 3: 11. But the Roman Church lays a foundation for the faith of her adherents. It is “the relics of her saints.” The Word further declares, “The fire itself shall prove each man’s work of what sort it is.” Verse 13. That which is founded upon Christ Jesus will stand; that which is founded upon the relics of the saints or anything else of man’s devising, will be swept away in the fires of the great day. C. M. S.