, the Coptic, the Maronite and Syriac rites.
They all assured me that the schismatic Christians of the East among whom
they live have, without exception, prayers and sacrifices for the dead.

Now, I ask, when could those Eastern sects have commenced to adopt the
Catholic practice of praying for the dead? They could not have received it
from us since the ninth century, because the Greek church separated from
us then and has had no communion with us since that time, except at
intervals, up to the twelfth century. Nor could they have adopted the
practice since the fourth or fifth century, inasmuch as the Arians,
Nestorians and Eutychians have had no religious communication with us
since that period. Therefore, in common with us, they received this
doctrine from the Apostles. If men living in different countries drink
wine having the same flavor and taste and color, the inference is that the
wine was made from the same species of grape. So must we conclude that
this refreshing doctrine of intercession for the dead has its root in the
Apostolic tree of knowledge planted by our Savior.

Fifth--I have already spoken of the devotion of the ancient Jewish church
to the souls of the departed. But perhaps you are not aware that the Jews
retain to this day, in their Liturgy, the pious practice of praying for
the dead. Yet such in reality is the case.

Amid all the wanderings and vicissitudes of life, though dismembered and
dispersed like sheep without a shepherd over the face of the globe, the
children of Israel have never forgotten or neglected the sacred duty of
praying for their deceased brethren.

Unwilling to make this assertion without the strongest evidence, I
procured from a Jewish convert an authorized Prayer-Book of the Hebrew
church, from which I extract the following formula of prayers which are
prescribed for funerals: "Departed brother! mayest thou find open the
gates of heaven, and see the city of peace and the dwellings of safety,
and meet the ministering angels hastening joyfully toward thee. And may
the High Priest stand to receive thee, and go thou to the end, rest in
peace, and rise again into life. May the repose established in the
celestial abode ... be the lot, dwelling and the resting-place of the soul
of our deceased brother (whom the Spirit of the Lord may guide into
Paradise), who departed from this world, according to the will of God, the
Lord of heaven and earth. May the supreme King of kings, through