The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire · ¶46

In the long period of twelve hundred years, which elapsed between the reign of Constantine and the reformation of Luther, the worship of saints and relics corrupted the pure and perfect simplicity of the Christian model: and some symptoms of degeneracy may be observed even in the first generations which adopted and cherished this pernicious innovation.

Edward Gibbon · Project Gutenberg #733 (Milman edition) — public domain
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