2 Timothy 1:18

18. Lord grant If Onesiphorus was deceased, here, say the Romanists, is a prayer for the dead. In the early epitaphs of the catacombs, as Mr. Withrow informs us, a rare instance or two is found of a devout wish for the bliss of the dead. One, dated A.D. 268, reads, “Mayest thou live among the holy ones.” Another, 291, reads, “Refresh thyself among sainted spirits.” And so the English service for burial of the dead, “Beseeching Thee, that it may please Thee of Thy gracious goodness to accomplish the number of Thine elect, and to hasten Thy kingdom; that we, with all those that are departed in the true faith of Thy Holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in Thy everlasting glory.” Wesley, in his Journal, thus describes the tomb of Bishop Bedell: “A plain flat stone, inscribed, ‘Depositum Gulielmi Bedell, quondam Episcopi Kilmorensis:’ over whom the Rebel army sung, ‘Requiescat in pace ultimus Anglorum’ May he rest in peace, last of the Englishmen.”

All these ejaculations were not prayers for the redemption of the wicked dead, but devout accords with the divine will in the final glorification of the holy dead, with us.

Of the Lord A similar repetition of the word Lord in Genesis 19:24. Probably St. Paul, in the course of writing the sentence, remembers that Christ is judge in that day without taking into view the fact that he had already mentioned him as Lord. Thou, as being at Ephesus, knowest very well; Greek, better, that is, than I; or better than you know his well-doing in Rome.