theatra, n. 1, torn. vi. 318. ^ Hexaem. 1. v. cap. 25, § 90: "Fleat pro nobis Petrus, qui pro se bene flevit, et in nos pia Christi ora convertat. Approperet Jesu Domini passio, quEe quotidie de- licta nostra condonat et munus remissionis operatur." ^ De viduis, c. 9 : " Obsecrandi sunt Angeli pro nobis, qui nobis ad prjesidium dati sunt ; martyres obsecrandi, quorum videmur nobis quoddam corporis pignore patroeinium vindicare. Possunt pro peccatis rogare nostris, qui proprio sanguine etiam si qua habuerunt peccata laverunt. Isti enim sunt Dei martyres, nostri prje- sules, speculatores vitae actuumque nostrorum," etc. Ambrose goes farther than the council of Trent, which does not command the invocation of the saints, but only commends it, and represents it not as duty, but only as privilege. See the passage already cited, p. 437. § 84. THE WORSHIP OF MARTYRS AND SAINTS. 441 hear our prayers, and ascribes to departed saints a sort of omni- presence, becanse, according to Rev. xiv. 4, they fullow tile Lamb whithersoever he goeth.' He thinks that their prayers are much more effectual in heaven than they were upon earth. If Moses implored the forgiveness of God for six hundred thou- sand men, and Stephen, the first martyr, prayed for his mur- derers after the example of Christ, should they cease to pray, and to be heard, when they are with Christ? Augustine infers from the interest which the rich man in hell still had in the fate of his five surviving brothers (Luke xvi. 27), that the pious dead in heaven must have even far more interest in the kindred and friends whom they have left behind." He also calls the saints our intercessors, yet under Christ, the proper and highest Intercessor, as Peter and the other apostles are shepherds under the great chief Shepherd.' In a memorial discourse on Stephen, he imagines that martyr, and St. Paul who stoned him, to be present, and begs them for their intercessions with tlie Lord with whom they reign. ^ He attributes miraculous effects, even the raising of the dead, to the intercessions of Stephen.^ But, on the other hand, he declares, as we have already observed, his inability to solve the difiicult question of the way in which the dead can be made acquainted with our wishes and prayers. At all events, in Augustine's practical religion the worship of the saints occupies a subor- dinate place. In his " Confessions " and " Soliloquies " lie al- ways addresses himself directly to God, not to Mary nor to martyrs. The Spanish poet Prudentius flees with prayers and confes- sions of sin to St. Laurentius, and considers himself unworthy to be heard by Christ Himself." ' Adv. Vigilant, n. 6 : " Si agnus ubique, ergo et hi, qui cum agno sunt, ubique esse credendi sunt." So the heathen also attributed ubiquity to their demons. He- siodus, Opera et dies, v. 121 sqq. ^ Epist. 259, n. 5. ^ Sermo 285, n.