This, however, is not the place
for recommending a study of the remains of Irenaeus; and every one at all
acquainted with the literature of the early Church, knows well how
valuable a store of ancient Christian learning is preserved even in the
wreck of his works.
On the subject of the invocation of saints, an appeal {116} has been
made only to a few passages in Irenaeus. With regard, indeed, to one
section, I would gladly have been spared the duty of commenting upon the
unjustifiable mode of citing his evidence adopted by Bellarmin. It
forces upon our notice an example either of such inaccuracy of quotation
as would shake our confidence in him as an author, or of such
misrepresentation as must lower him in our estimation as a man of
integrity.
Bellarmin asserts, building upon it as the very foundation-stone of his
argument for the invocation of saints, that the souls of the saints are
removed immediately on their dissolution by death, without waiting for
the day of judgment, into the presence of God, and the enjoyment of HIM
in heaven. This point, he says, must first be established; for if they
are not already in the presence of God, they cannot pray for us, and
prayer to them would be preposterous. [Bell. lib. i. c. 4. vol. ii. p.
851.] Among the authorities cited by him to establish this point is the
evidence of Irenaeus (book i.
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