" REQUIESCANT IN PACE."
[To THE EDITOR, OF THE " SricoTATos."] Sin,—With the profound respect which I feel for the Spectator, make bold to call in question your reasoning about requiescat in pace, in the Spectator of November 11th. You say : "It seems to us a very odd sort of theology to maintain that we may legitimately hope for what we may not legitimately pray for." And you ask : "What is prayer except the expression of a fervent desire subject to the better and purer will of the Almighty P We pray for rain with submission to God's will if our prayer is not in conformity with it. Why may we not pray for the salvation of human souls under the same conditions ?" I am not going to trespass on you with a discussion of the general subject of prayer for the salvation of departed souls, which, I suppose, is what you mean by "human souls" in the above extract. There is no question about. the consistency with the teaching of the Gospel of intercession for the souls of the living,—souls still in the tabernacle of earthly, flesh. But I must maintain, notwithstanding its "odd theology," that I may "legitimately hope for what I may not legiti- mately pray for."
Prayer, in the sense of petition (that in which, I presume, you use it above) looks exclusively to the future for its answer, whereas hope will apply also to the present. In writing this letter to you, Sir, I can say most truly, "I hope that you are well." But can I say, "I pray that you are well" P We pray for rain (to take your illustration) before it comes, but we cease to pray for it when it has come. submit that there is no parallel between the cases.
I apprehend, as regards requiescat in pace, that it may fairly be understood as simply expressing a hope that the departed soul is resting in peace,—that it may have pleased God to save it. But if that interpretation is not accepted, then there is room enough for the precatory view, without any necessity of understanding the aspiration as having reference to eternal salvation. The notion is no uncommon one (prayer to departed saints implies it) that the spirits of the dead may interest themselves in the concerns of the living. This, of course, has no relation whatever to any change in their own eternal condition. The lines (Moultrie's, I think) which a child is represented as addressing to a departed mother, are founded upon the supposition :— " Is not thy shade still lingering near P
Am I not still thy sours employ P"
Or, again, the wish may contemplate the memory of the deceased, which may be fairly open to imputations. He may have made enemies in his lifetime—justly provoked opposition and reproach—so much so that his conduct is not likely to be forgotten. Resentment and abuse may be but too sure to survive him, and follow him into his grave. But what says even heathen morality to this P De mortais nil nisi bonum. What says Christian charity P Beprioscant in pace. Nay, the application may be made even to the bodily remains, especially in these days of churchyard desecration. King Josiah's command, on the finding of the sepulchre of the old prophet, "Let no man move his bones," might be well trans-
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