No. XXXVIII.
PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD.
To the fool, who hath said in his heart, There is no God it
is a matter of little consequence, whether the religion of his
forefathers afford a reasonable ground of hope or not. He may
therefore consistently neglect all inquiry into the nature and
evidences of that religion in which he happened to be born.
He does not believe in it, whatever it may be, and such an
inquiry could have no interest for him. Not so with the Jew
or the Christian, who honestly believes, as he has been taught,
that there is, in another world, an abode of bliss, and another
of woe. His earnest desire must be to know how he may attain
to the one and escape the other; and if his religion does not
afford him a hope, a reasonable, well-grounded hope of salvation,
it is not worth the having. We say a reasonable hope, for as it
has pleased God to endow us with reason and understanding,
and to give us his Word to guide our reason, no other hope
can or ought to satisfy us. In examining, then, the modern
Jewish religion, one great test of its value is, whether it affords
a hope on which a reasonable man can rely, and upon which he
can hazard his eternal welfare. We think not, and we have
already given some reasons for this opinion. The inconsistency
and contradictory nature of the rabbinic doctrines respecting
justification and atonement appear to us so glaring as to destroy
all confidence in the hope which they propose: and the custom,
which prevails at this and other festivals, of praying for the
dead, proves, beyond a doubt, that the rabbinic hope is a
mere delusion. Amongst the prayers of the Feast of Tabernacles,
we find the following declaration and prayer:—
(
Hebrew characters)
"It is customary among the dispersions of Israel, to make mention of the souls of their departed parents, &c., on the day of atonement, and the ultimate days of the three festivals; and to offer prayers for the repose of their souls.
"May God remember the soul of my honoured father, A. B.
