garment or the one wearing it. (Matt. 9:8; Acts 3:8, 9) There is nothing in the record to the contrary.—Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48.

The Israelites kept certain things, as the pot of manna, Aaron’s budded rod, the stone tablets of the Law, but these were kept as a court record, as a testimony or witness before the people, and on no occasion were they dragged out, worshiped and used to cure ailments of the people. (Heb. 9:4; Ex. 25:10, 16; Num. 17:10; Deut. 31:26, 27) Then there was the mighty sword of Goliath, that had been wrapped up and kept in the Lord’s house as a witness of what Jehovah had done to that proud and haughty boaster. But none of Israel worshiped or venerated that bloodstained relic.—1 Sam. 21:9.

That such “souvenirs” were not to be venerated is shown by what happened to the brazen serpent that Moses raised up. It was kept for many years as a symbol of Jehovah’s saving power, but when the nation turned away from God and began showing devotion and homage to that relic, good king Hezekiah, with God’s full approval, had it destroyed. This is a case bearing directly on the question of relic worship, and it positively, irrefutably and unquestionably condemns such form of idolatry.—Num. 21:8, 9; 2 Ki. 18:4-6.

Furthermore, God’s law at Numbers 19:11-13 clearly defines dead bodies as unclean, not “holy”. The bones of Jacob and Joseph, in due respect to their wishes in the matter, were buried in the land of promise rather than in Egypt. Be it noted, such bones were not hung up in the tabernacle or used to decorate Solomon’s temple or enshrined in some niche in the hope that they would cure ills of those making pilgrimages to see them. No, their bones were buried in the ground. (Gen. 50:5-13, 25, 26; Ex. 13:19; Josh. 24:32; Acts 7:15, 16) How the Devil would have liked to get hold of the bones of Moses! But the Lord God took care of that matter and buried them in a place no one knew, lest His chosen people should stumble and fall into the heathen practice of worshiping relics of Moses. (Deut. 34:5, 6; Jude 9) Likewise, in the case of Jesus’ human body, it was disposed of by the Lord in such a way the relic collectors never got their hands on it.—Matt. 28:5, 6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:1-3.

There is not a particle of evidence that the body of the first Christian martyr, Stephen, or the bones of the martyr James, were distributed around or sent on a tour as relics by early Christians. To the contrary, the scripture definitely states that Stephen was buried in the ground. (Acts 8:2) These Scriptural facts, therefore, give no comfort or support to those who teach that the bones of “saints” and martyrs should be revered and worshiped, and hence the Hierarchy appeals to tradition and heathen customs for support.

PAGAN ORIGIN OF RELIC WORSHIP

In addition to what God’s holy Word the Bible says on the matter there are other very good reasons why true Christians should not venerate or worship religious relics. The practice and custom did not originate with Christ or his apostles or with God’s chosen nation of Israel. It is clearly a pagan invention and hence of the Devil, pure and simple, and the Catholic Encyclopedia admits as much. It says that the veneration of relics is “a primitive instinct” and is associated with many other religious systems besides that of Catholicism. It goes on to tell how the ancient Greeks superstitiously worshiped the bones and ashes of their heroes, how the Persians “treated with the deepest veneration” the remains of Zoroaster, and how “relic-worship amongst the Buddhists of every sect is a fact beyond dispute”.

Other authorities have shown that the ancient Egyptians, Assyrians and Babylonians likewise venerated the relics of their lords and princes. “In the realms of Heathendom the same worship had flourished for ages before Christian saints or martyrs had appeared in the world. . . . From the earliest periods, the system of Buddhism has been propped up by relics, that have wrought miracles at least as well vouched as those wrought by the relics of St. Stephen, or by the ‘Twenty Martyrs’ [mentioned by Augustine].” (Alexander Hislop’s The Two Babylons, pages 177,178) In Kandy, Ceylon, a 400-year-old temple contains what is said to be Buddha’s tooth, “venerated by many millions of people.” (The Ceylon Daily News, April 1, 1950) Into the presence of this relic the British foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, was brought on January 1, 1950, in the hope it would miraculously cure his ailments.—New York Times, Jan. 16, 1950.

The heathen idea of attributing magical powers to bones, skulls, teeth and skins is so much older than Christianity, the above Catholic authority chooses to call it “a primitive instinct”. In reality it is nothing more than fetishism, concerning which the Encyclopedia Americana (1942 ed., vol. 11, p. 158) says: “It is the lowest of the unsystematic forms of worship found among uncivilized tribes, and exists especially among the Negroes of Africa, but also among the natives of both Americas, the Polynesians, Australians, and Siberians.” When Catholic Portuguese mariners sailed down the west coast of Africa they could see little difference between the worship of “sacred” bones, skulls and charms by the natives, and their own worship of religious relics and amulets which they called feitiços, and from which we get the name fetish.

M’Clintock & Strong’s Cyclopœdia (vol. 8, p. 1028) well sums up the whole matter when it says: “There is no doubt that the worship of relics is an absurdity, without the guarantee of Scripture, directly contrary to the practice of the primitive Church, and irreconcilable with common-sense.”

Fraudulent Religious Relics

AS AN honest, upright and sincere person you love truth and righteousness. You love those who speak the truth, who are honest and can be trusted. Naturally you hate all liars, thieves and cheats. Fakers of all kinds you despise, and especially so when you discover them to be among your closest friends in whom you have in times past put your implicit trust. And if there are any such masked frauds moving among your circle of associates you are happy and glad if your real friends point them out, in order that you in turn may warn other honest persons like yourself. It is therefore as true friends of the honest-hearted that we call attention to the relic racketeers that operate in the name of religion, and who have for many centuries filched from and plundered credulous people with their fake merchandise. Here are the facts.

Relic worship is of pagan origin and was introduced in the Roman Catholic religion many centuries ago. The Catholic Encyclopedia (vol. 12, pages 734-738) not only admits this, but also discloses other very startling facts about where these relics