vol. iv. p. 77.]

Strange and startling as is this sentiment of Jerome, it is, you will
observe, utterly irreconcileable with the theory, that the reason why
the ancient Church did not {31} pray to the saints departed, was because
they were not yet in heaven.

On this point, among Roman Catholic writers themselves, there prevails a
very great diversity of opinion, arising probably from the difficulty
which they have experienced in their endeavours to make all facts and
doctrines square with the present tenets and practices of their
Church[5]. Thus, whilst some maintain that Elijah was translated to the
terrestrial paradise in which Adam had been placed, not enjoying the
immediate divine presence; others cite the passage as justifying the
belief that the saints departed pray for us[6]. But not only are
different authors at variance with each other on very many points here;
the same writer in his zeal is betrayed into great and palpable
inconsistency. Bellarmin, anxious to enlist the account given by our
Lord of the rich man and Lazarus, to countenance the invocation of
saints by the example of the rich man appealing to Abraham, maintains
that section of Holy Writ to be not a parable, but a true history of a
matter of fact which took place between two real individuals; and of his
assertion he adduces this proof, that "the Church worships that Lazarus
as verily a holy man[7];" and yet he denies that any of the holy men
were in heaven before the {32} death of Christ. Either Abraham was in
heaven in the presence of God, or not; if he was in heaven, why did not
his descendants invoke his aid? if he was not in heaven, the whole
argument drawn from the rich man's supplication falls to the ground.

[Footnote 5: See De Sacy on 4 Kings i. 1. See also Estius, 1629.