Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1874-05-23
DISPOSING OF THE DEAD.
Burial Customs in Ancient and MOderI
Times,

Burial Customs in Ancient and Modern
Times.
For nearly a century earnest efforts
have been made to introduce cremation
in Christian lands, as the most expedi-
ent mode of ~disposing Of the dead. But
those who have, in consequence, re.
quested to be burned when dead hardly
equal in number the Christian martyrs,
who, during the last eight hundred
years, have chosen to be burned alive.
Probably the only historical account
of an American preferring cremation is
the case Of Henry Laurens, president of
the first American congress, who hell
peculiar views on the purifying powers
Of fire, and whose infant daughter had
narrowly escaped burial while in a state
of suspended animation. Without the
uncommon occurrence that rendered
burial repugnant to him, and without
the strange notions that made cremation
appear specially desirable, the most
learned arguments would probably
have failed to persuade him to commit
his body to the flames, as they have
failed to induce the Christian world at
large thus to dispose OF their dead.
From a scientific point of view, moth
ing can be more admirable than the
newly-proposed method Of disposing of
the dead by conducting superheated
steam into a clay r%etort, and reducing
the body in ten minutes, to about four
pounds of ashes. But Jews, Moham-
medans, and Christians, for religious
reasons, have buried their dead these
thousands of years; and for agesto come,
every me born in lands whose religions
teach the resurrection of the body, will,
even after being at variance with the
doctrines current around him, feel such
n tender regard for a ~lifeless body that,
following his impulse, he will lay it,
like some one sleeping, gently into the
ground. There is nothing irreligious
in burning the dead, and Christians per-
ceive, as well as others, that the God
who raises the bodies from the grave
can also put them together from ashes,
whether preserved in urns, or scattered
to the winds. In fact, it is hardly pos
sible to give n scientific or a religious
reason for Directing to cremation. We
do, however, object to it, simply be-
cause it is against Il feelings to treat
the dead otherwise than with the same
tenderness and care which they would
receive from us if they were still living,
and asleep or helpless. This feeling
may partake of the nature of supersti-
ton; but, as superstitions are difficult
TO eradicate when once rooted, it may
also be accepted as the reason why that
feeling is so difficult to overcome. It
IS not our desire to argue here whether
,uch a feeling is commendable. The
dead are removed beyond the limits of
human reasoning; only a lump of cold
flesh and blood remains, with which the
living may do whatever reason dictates.
But man will not reason. He turns
only to the traditions of the heavenly
revelations, or earthly superstitions of
his fathers, and he disposes of the dead
as they teach him to do. Here the
power of science is utterly broken, and
sentiment alone dictates.
The vast field of cieeds, sown with
mans trust in a future existence, has
but two divisions. In one is cultivated
the belief that there is another life in
store, which is entered upon as soon as
this life is ended. The smaller portion
is covered with religions that postpone
mans advent into another world to very
remote periods. The dead OF this faith
are carried to cemeteries, or sleeping
places, where their bodies are laid, 20
sleep until some future day, when they
rise again. Those outside Of the pale
Of Jewish, Christian, or Mohammedan
creeds, die in the faith that only the
sOul survives, and that it is at once
translated into another form of exist
Il Their bodies may be allowed to
moulder IN a grave but they may just
as well be consumed by fire, or given to
the beasts Of prey. They are unclean
things, or shackles which the soul will
never come to reclaim. The survivors
may dispose of them as necessity die
tates, or fancy prefers.
The ancient Aryans, the forefathers of
the grea nations Of Western Europe,
believed in a world other than this,
where, without the imp rfections of the
human body, and in the glory of a
celestial body, the faithful were to en-
JOY a life, similar to that of the Moham-
medans, in paradise. They burned their
dead, that the earthly body might at
once be translated into a heavenly form.
which Agni, the god Of fire, was expec-
ted to bestow. Cremation was, to the
.ncient people of India, a sacrifice by
which man attained unto the re-
giou of tn gods. There was a creative
power in an ordinary burnt Offering,
and it was to be supposed that some.
thing new would arise ont of a burning
corpse. Yama, who, as the first man on
earth, had learned the way to the next
world, showed the new. corners at once
into the mansions above.
Buddhism teaches that the human
body is the source of evil /; hence. life
Is pain, and freedom from it is blessed.
ness. The soul has to pass through
numerous existences, as god, demon.
man, or beast, before it is capable of
entering Nirvana, where it will find
peace, having learned, in its various
transmigrations, to be impossible to
both pleasure and pain. As each death
may be the end of all the wanderings
of the soul, it is incumbent to burn or
otherwise rapidly destroy the body. lest
through mans neglect q soul be doomed
to iuhabit the body again /; aud the DOS.
of the dead reaching Nirvana
renders the cremation of friends not
easons of grief, but of Joy.
The Greeks of the Homeric poems
burned or exposed their dead, but the
after was done only to wound the feel
ngs of the enemy. Great heroes were
IGNORED by their friends with elaborate
ceremonies. When Patroclus was slain,
our horses, nine dogs, and twelve Tro.
n prisoners, were killed to be burned
ith him. the embers OF the pyre
ere extinguished with wine, and the
mes we're gathered into a golden urn.
hich was put aside to be buried some
ture day with the ashes of Achilles.
thus appears that in the most ancient
Us OF Greece the custom prevailed OF
ering human sacrifice TO the dead,
{ Il fell early into disuse.
lac homans disposed OF their dead
aofaa respects il tho same manner as
'0ueka u the later times Of the