the fourteenth Canon of the fifth Council of
Carthage,
A.C. 398.
Item placuit, ut altaria, quae passim
per agros aut vias, tanquam memoriae Martyrum constituuntur,
in quibus nullum corpus aut reliquiae Martyrum conditae
probantur, ab Episcopis, qui illis locis praesunt,
si fieri potest, evertantur. Si autem hoc propter
tumultus populares non sinitur, plebes tamen admoneantur,
ne illa loca frequentent, ut qui recte sapiunt, nulla
ibi superstitione devincti teneantur. Et omnino
nulla memoria Martyrum probabiliter acceptetur, nisi
aut ibi corpus aut aliquae certae reliquiae sint,
aut ubi origo alicujus habitationis, vel possessionis,
vel passionis fidelissima origine traditur. Nam
quae per somnia, & per inanes quasi revelationes quorumlibet
hominum ubique constituuntur altaria, omnimode reprobentur.
These altars were for invoking the Saints or Martyrs
buried or pretended to be buried under them.
First they filled the Churches in all places with
the reliques or pretended reliques of the Martyrs,
for invoking them in the Churches; and then they filled
the fields and high-ways with altars, for invoking
them every where: and this new religion was set
up by the Monks in all the
Greek Empire before
the expedition of the Emperor
Theodosius against
Eugenius, and I think before his above-mentioned
Edict, A.C. 386.
The same religion of worshiping Mahuzzims quickly
spred into the Western Empire also: but
Daniel in this Prophecy describes chiefly the
things done among the nations comprehended in the
body of his third Beast.
Notes to Chap. XIV.
[1] Chap. xi. 38, 39
[2] Orat. de vita Greg. Thaumaturg. T. 3.
p. 574.
[3] Vide Hom. 47. in. S. Julian.
[4] Epist. 27. ad Eustochium.
[5] Edit. Frontonis Ducaei, Tom. 1.
[6] Ad. an. 381, Sect. 41.
[7] Hist. Eccl. l. 2. c. 23.
[8] L. 4. c. 24.
[9] Hom. 66. ad. populum, circa finem. & Hom. 8, 27.
in Matth. Hom. 42, 43. in Gen. Hom. 1. in 1 Thess.
[10] Exposit. in Psal. 114. sub finem.
* * * *
*
The end of the first Part.
* * * *
*
PART II.
* * * *
*
OBSERVATIONS
UPON THE
APOCALYPSE
OF
St. JOHN.
* * * *
*
CHAP. I.
Introduction, concerning the time when the Apocalypse_
was written_.
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