a warning. Acts xix. 13 ff. * ©rjffaupbs otiVt^tos. Martyr. S. Ignat. cap. Tii. (Patrum ApostoUc. Opera, ed. Dressel, p. 214). The genuineness of the Martyr-Acts of Ignatius, however, is dis- puted by many. Ta rifjLiuiTepa \idoiu iroKvTeXwv Koi SoKiawTepa vnsp xp^c'i^ov oara, avrov^ Epist. 454 THIRD PEKIOD, A.D. 311-590. things in the Acts of the martvrs Perpetua and Cyprian. The author of the Apostolic Constitutions ' exliorts that the relics of the saints, who are with the God of the living and not of the dead, be held in honor, and appeals to the miracle of the bones of Elisha, to the veneration which Joseph showed for the re- mains of Jacob, and to the bringing of the bones of Joseph by Moses and Joshua into the promised land.* Eusebius states tbat the episcopal throne of James of Jerusalem was preserved to his time, and was held in great honor.^ Such pious fondness for relics, however, if it is confined within proper limits, is very natural and innocent, and appears even in the Puritans of !New England, where the rock in Ply- mouth, the landing place of the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620, has the attraction of a jilace of pilgrimage, and the chair of the first governor of Massachusetts is scrupulously preserved, and is .used at the inaugm*ation of every new president of Harvard University. But toward the middle of the fom*th century the venera- tion of relics simultaneously with the worship of the saints, as- sumed a decidedly superstitious and idolatrous character. The earthly remains of the martyrs were discovered commonly by visions and revelations, often not till centm*ies after their death, then borne in solemn processions to the churches and chapels erected to their memory, and deposited under the altar ; * and this event was annually celebrated by a festival.* The legend of the discovery of the holy cross gave rise to two church festivals : the Feast of the Invention^ of the Ckoss,* on the third of May, which has been observed in the Latin church since the fifth or sixth century ; and the Feast of the Eccl. Smym. de Martyr. S. Polyc. c. 18 (ed. Dressel, p. 404), and in Euseb. H. E. iv. 15. ' Const. Apost. lib. ri. c. 30. The sixth book dates from the end of the third century. - Comp. Gen. 1. 1, 2, 25, 26 ; Ex. xiii. 19 ; Jos. xxiv. 32 ; Acts vii. 16. ' Hist. Eccl. vii. 19 and 32. ■* With reference to Rev. vi. 9 : "I saw under the altar {vTroKdru tov ^vaicuTTtj- plov) the souls of them that were slain for the word of God," &c. ' Festum translaiionis. ^ Festum inventionis s. crucis. § 87. WOllSIIIP OF EKLIC8. DOGMA OF THE EESUKKFCTION. 455 Elevation of the Cross,' on the fourteenth of September, which has been observed in the East and the West, according to some since the consecration of the church of the Holy Sepul- chre in 335,