Robinson, one of the most reliable of explorers, says, " The hy- pothesis which makes the second wall so run as to exclude the alleged site of the Holy Sepulchre, is on topographical grounds untenable and impossible." 2 That is, assuming the truth of the statement of the Evangelists that Christ was crucified without the walls, it is topographically impossible that the alleged site of the Holy Sepulchre should be the true one. And thus the whole foundation of the legend of finding the cross on that spot falls to the ground. Dr. Robinson winds up his long discussion of this question in the following words : " Thus in every view which I have been able to take of the question, both topographical and historical, whether on the spot or in the closet, and in spite of all my previous prepossessions, I am led irresistibly to the conclusion, that the Golgotha and the tomb now shown in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, are not upon the real places of the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord. The alleged discovery of them by the aged and credulous Helena, like her discovery of the cross, may not improbably have been the work of pious fraud. It would perhaps not be doing injustice to the Bishop Macarius and his clergy, if we regard the whole as a well laid and successful plan for restoring to Jerusalem its former consideration, and elevating his see to a higher degree of influence and dignity." 2
Dr. Newman says we must either admit the discovery of the cross, or believe the Church of Jerusalem guilty of imposture.3 It is hard to decide how much is due in this matter to fraud, and how much to superstitious credulity. That both prevailed for ages in the Church is an undoubted historical fact. Are we to be- lieve all that Gregory of Nyssa said of Gregory of Neo-Caesarea, or what the fathers relate of St. Anthony ; are we to admit all the legends of the saints, to avoid charging credulity or fraud against good men ? It is lamentable that good men advocated the prin- ciple that it is right to deceive for a good end. It is undeniable that the doctrine of pious frauds has been avowed and acted upon in the Church of Rome ever since it began to aspire to ecclesiastical supremacy. Was not the pretended donation of Italy by Con- stantine to the pope a fraud ? Are not the Isidorian Decretals a fraud ? Are not the miracles wrought in proof of the delivery of souls from purgatory, frauds ? Is not the alleged house of the
i Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai, and Arabia Petrcea. A Journal of Trav- els in the year 1838, by E. Robinson and E. Smith. Brawn up from the Original Dia- ries, etc. By Edward Robinson, Professor of Biblical Literature in the Union Theological Seminary, New York. Boston, 1841, vol. ii. p. 69.
2 Ibid. p. 80. 8 Essays on Miracles, p. 297.
462 PART III. Ch. XIX. — THE LAW.
Virgin Mary at Loretto a fraud ? Is not the foot-print (ex pede Hercules) on a marble slab in the Cathedral of Rouen, a fraud ? Is not the feather from the wing of the Archangel Gabriel pre- served in one of the Cathedrals of Spain, a fraud ? The whole Catholic world is full of frauds of this kind ; and the only possible ground for Romanists to take is, that it is right to deceive the people for their good. " Populus vult decipi," is the excuse a Romish priest once made to Coleridge in reference to this matter.
Secondly, pious frauds are practised, not only in the exhibition of false relics, but also in falsely attributing to them supernatural power. Dr. Newman says : " The store of relics is inexhaustible ; they are multiplied through all lands, and each particle of each has in it at least a dormant, perhaps an energetic virtue of super- natural operation." 1 Bellarmin of course teaches the same 2 doc- trine. Cyril of Jerusalem says, " Et Elisaeum qui semel et iterum suscitavit, dum viveret, et post mortem : vivus resurrectionem per suam ipsius animam operatus est, ut autem non animae solum justorum honorarentur, sed crederetur etiam in justorum corpori- bus jacere vim, projectus in monumentum Elissei mortuus proph- etse corpus attingens, vitam concepit, 4 Kin. iv. 13, ut ostende- retur, absente etiam anima inesse vim corpori sanctorum propter animam justam. quae in eo habitaverat." 3 Dr. Newman says that miracles wrought by relics are of daily occurrence in all parts of the world. It is not that people are favourably af- fected by them through the imagination or feelings, but that the relics themselves are imbued with supernatural power. Thus Dr. Newman, one of the most cultivated men of the nine- teenth century, has come round to the pure, simple, undiluted fetichism of Africa.
^)ur Lord warned his disciples against being deceived by lying wonders. The Bible (Deut. xiii. 1-3) teaches that any sign or wonder given or wrought in support of any doctrine contrary to the Word of God, is, without further examination, to be pro- nounced false. If, therefore, such doctrines as the supremacy of the pope ; the power of priests to forgive sins ; the absolute neces- sity of the sacraments as the only channels of communicating the merits and grace of Christ ; the necessity of auricular confession ; purgatory; the adoration of the Virgin and of the consecrated wafer ; and the worship of saints and angels, are contrary to the
1 Lectures on the Position of Catholics in England, p. 284.
8 See above, pp. 300, 301.
1 Catechesis [Uuminandorum, xviii. 16; Opera, Venice, 1763, p. 293, a, b.