The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-05-22

Christianity spread, IL was gradually
discontinued, falling into disuse in the
fourth century of our era. The corpse,
when buried, was sometimes placed In
coffin of Assam stone, which came from
Asses, in Troas, and which had the
property of consuming, in forty days,
the whole body, with the exception of
the teeth, whence it received the name
of SGrcOppGgtts, or fesh-eater. When
the dead was consumed by fire, the
nearest relative gathered the bones and
ashes, sprinkled them with perfumes,
and placed them in a vessel called gL77aa,
which was made of various materials,
according to the circumstances Of indi-
yiduals.
In the Feeiee Islands parents are gen
orally killed by their children. Some
times the aged people make up their
minds to die; sometimes the children
give notice to their parents that they
are burden. A family consultation is
thereupon held, a day appointed, and
the grave dug. The aged person has
his choice of being strangled or buried
alive. The Feeieeans consider this Gus
tom so great a proof of affection that
none but children can be found to per-
form it. The reason is. that they are
persuaded that they will instantly pass
into another state of existence, where
they will be just what they were when
they died. The Feegeeans generally
bury the body in sitting posture.
] New-Zealanders were buried in their
| houses, which were left with all they
| contained. They believed in future
state that " as entered upon immediate
! IL after death, and missionaries could
not induce them to accept the doctrine
| of the resurrection of the dead. Sim
ilarly, the islanders of Torres Straits
use the ordinary huts as dead houses (;
| and, in the great Central African king
! dom of Bornou, every one is buried IN
/ der the floor of his own house, without
monument, and sometimes the house IS
! occupied as usual, but among the great
! it is abandoned. Thu Dahomans, YOru-
! has, and the other races of the Gold
| Cast, do the same.
The Tahitians do not bury their dead
at once, but put them, carefully pro-
| tected, on a raised platform until en-
| tirely decayed then the bones are col
| Iected, scraped, cleaned, and buried.
| Son etimes the head is not deposited
with the rest of the body, but In box.
| They believe in the survival of the soul,
and destroy children, and the old, and
diseased.
Z
has always striven to expedite the dis
solution of the body, a small number
of races have, from the most remote
antiquity, made it a subject of tender
and serious consideration to guard the
human body after death from all chance
of destruction. These races fOstered
the belief that the dead were to be re-
suscitated, after a more or less extended
period hence it was necessary that the
body should be preserved from all in
jury, and, if possible, from all cOrrup-
ton, that the soul might find it unin-
jured on the day of resurrection. Nopeo-
pie have paid more care and labor on the
preservation of the dead than the Egyp-
tians. They believed that, after sub
terranean pilgrimage, the soul was to re-
enter the body, and give it movement
and life. The Jews also believed in the
resurrection OF the dead, and hence
they covered the corpses with spices, to
preserve them for while from cQrrup-
ton. Eighty pounds of spices we've
used at the funeral of Rabbi Gamaliel,
and Nicodemus furnished a hundred
pounds weight of mixture of myrrh
and aloes for the burial of Jesus. Ev
cry Jew wished to be buried in that land
wf1re the Messiah should come to
reign, and call the dead from their
graves. Jacobs and JOseph's embalmed
remains were returned 10 the land of
Canaan and it was a popular belief
among the Jews that the bodies of the
righteous, wherever else buried, rolled
back to Canaan underground. This
land of the resurrection was called by
them "the land of the living" and the
sepulcbres were "houses of the living"
The Christians of the first century
l. I,n
of cemetery, which means sleeping
place" or dormitory." 1t was taught
TINT every one would rise from the
grave wherever he had heard the word
of God and believed in it. Hence, as
the Jews wished to be buried in Canaan,
so every Christian wished to be laid in
the ground adjoining his church. A
church yard, consecrated by the bene-
diction of the sprinkling of holy water,
took, therefore, the place of the Holy
Land Unbelievers could not be in
tered in it and, where municipal laws
rendered it incumbent to receive also
the bodies of heretics, they were buried
in q portion of the cemetery which was
not considered as forming part of the
sacred ground, and which, in fact, had
not been consecrated. There is horror
in every mode of disposing of the dead,
and no scientific process can very mate
rally lessen ii. It is the duty of intell-
gent men to make such provision for
the dead as will not iniure the living.
Nevertheless, man will always be less
intent on performing his funeral rites in
accordance with the latest researches in
chemistry than in manner intended to
relieve the painful feelings which at
tend them. Grief for TIE dead will al
ways suggest such rites as correspond
with the traditional ideas of what is the
most loving and honorable. mode of
parting with the remains OF the deceased,
and il matters little whether it is after
the manner of the Feejeeans or Tabi-
tians. Greeks or Romans, Brahmans or
Buddhists, Parsees or Scandinavians,
or any other people.
In the present state of popular feel
ing on this subject in our country, we
must be satisfied when we see the dead
deposited in the ground IN such man
ner that the earth can completely alb
sorb and neutralize the products of de-
composition. Cremation does not yet
commend itself TO our hearts. Some
future day, when all our religious, su-
perstitious, or traditional ideas, are
changed. and our hearts are completely
set GA living solely by the laws OF
science, then We shall probably offer
premium for the discovery of an instan-
taneous destruction of the Hfeless
bodies of those we love.
--=----==--
Submarine Rockets.