custom, and kept the sabbath in the same place.

12:39. And the day following Judas came with his company, to take away
the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their kinsmen,
in the sepulchres of their fathers.

12:40. And they found under the coats of the slain, some of the donaries
of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbiddeth to the Jews: so that
all plainly saw, that for this cause they were slain.

Of the donaries, etc... That is, of the votive offerings, which had been
hung up in the temples of the idols, which they had taken away when they
burnt the port of Jamnia, ver. 9., contrary to the prohibition of the
law, Deut. 7.25.

12:41. Then they all blessed the just judgment of the Lord, who had
discovered the things that were hidden.

12:42. And so betaking themselves to prayers, they besought him, that
the sin which had been committed might be forgotten. But the most
valiant Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forasmuch
as they saw before their eyes what had happened, because of the sins of
those that were slain.

12:43. And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver
to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead,
thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection.

12:44. (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise
again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,)

12:45. And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with
godliness, had great grace laid up for them.

With godliness... Judas hoped that these men who died fighting for the
cause of God and religion, might find mercy: either because they might
be excused from mortal sin by ignorance; or might have repented of their
sin, at least at their death.

12:46. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the
dead, that they may be loosed from sins.

It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead...
Here is an evident and undeniable proof of the practice of praying for
the dead under the old law, which was then strictly observed by the
Jews, and consequently could not be introduced at that time by Judas,
their chief and high priest, if it had not been always their custom.

2 Machabees Chapter 13

Antiochus and Lysias again invade Judea. Menelaus is put to death. The
king's great army is worsted twice. The peace is renewed.

13:1. In the year one hundred and forty-nine, Judas un