departed mortal could ever have been sanctioned by Heaven: "Thus saith
the Lord, the God of David thy father; I have heard thy prayer, I have
seen thy tears; _I_ will heal thee. I will save this city for mine own
sake, and for my servant David's sake." [2 Kings (Vulg. 4 Kings) xix.
15. and xx. 6.] Of what saint in the calendar was ever such a thing as
this spoken? {27}

I have already intimated my intention of referring, with somewhat more
than a cursory remark, to the position assumed, and the argument built
upon it by writers in communion with Rome, for the purpose of nullifying
or escaping from the evidence borne by the examples of the Old Testament
against the invocation of saints. The writers to whom I refer, with
Bellarmin at their head, openly confess that the pages of the Old
Testament afford no instance of invocation being offered to the spirits
of departed mortals; and the reason which they allege is this, No one
can be invoked who is not admitted to the presence of God in heaven; but
before Christ went down to hell[2] and released the spirits from prison,
no mortal was admitted into heaven; consequently, before the
resurrection of Christ the spirit of no mortal was invoked. The
following are the words of Bellarmin at the close of the preface to his
"Church Triumphant:"--"The spirits of the patriarchs and prophets before
the coming of Christ were for this reason not worshipped and invoked, as
we now worship and invoke the Apostles and martyrs, because they were
yet shut up and detained in prisons below[3]." Again, he says, "Because
before {28} the coming of Christ the saints who died did not enter
heaven and saw not God, nor could ordinarily know the prayers of
suppliants, therefore, it was not customary in the Old Testament to say,
'Holy Abraham, pray for me,' &c.; but the men of that time prayed to God
only, and alleged the merits of the saints who had already departed,
that their own prayers might be aided by them."