sues this subject with his usual acuteness, and then observes, that miracles are now wrought, but not with the celebrity of former times, and not being often committed to writing, they are not read to the people as are those recorded in the Scriptures. He then proceeds to detail the facts, which I have mentioned, to some of which he was an eye-witness. De Civit. Dei, ut supra. T. vii. p. 663. and seqq.-The three Greek historians, Socrates, Sozomenus, and Theodoret, who lived in this century, have recorded a singular fact, in which the Emperor Julian, who had renounced the Christian Faith, was, in the preceding century, concerned. Being at Antioch, near which was a celebrated grove sacred to Apollo, he consulted the oracle, anxious to learn something that imported him to know. No response was given; and the Priests assured him, that none could be given, till some bodies were removed that were buried near the grove.
These were the bodies of St. Babylas, once Bishop of Antioch, and of his companions, Martyrs. Julian ordered the Relics to be removed, which was done with great pomp. But fire, as it was believed, from heaven, not long after this, fell on the temple, of which the walls only remained, as attested by St. John Chrysostom, who himself relates the same his tory. Lib. contra Gentiles. T.i. p. 647.
COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE, L. C.[1] “ Let those altars be overturned by the Bishop of the place, which are erected about the fields and the roads, as in memory of the Martyrs, in which is no body, nor any Relics. —Care also must be
- ↑ Seventy-three Bishops assisted at this Council, which was called for the purpose of re-establishing the ancient discipline of the African Church, and of reforming abuses. It was held in 398, and is commonly called the fifth of Carthage; though in the order of time it is only the third.
