Prayer for the Dead by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 13, 1887

Prayer for the Dead

By Editor

Quite recently three lodges of the Knights of Pythias, at Little Rock, Arkansas, united in a service of sorrow and season of prayer for the dead of their order. This was in accordance with a law of the Grand Lodge, enacted in 1884, making it obligatory to hold such a season of prayer for the dead once a year. At the service referred to, the hall was crowded, and the service was said to have been solemn, yet, "resplendent with beauty and pure thought for those who have gone, and for those who have yet to cross the dark river." It is said also that "the deep strains of the organ seemed to tell those who heard it that there was a Great Beyond." We can heartily endorse the following comment by the Christian Standard:—

"How can any enlightened Christian have fellowship with such superstition and mockery? If we are to trust what we have seen with our own eyes, these Knights of Pythias had better bestow their sympathies and their prayers on the living of their order, that they may be kept from patronizing saloons and drinking freely of beer on their gala days."