Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-12-17
BURNING THE DEAD.
REV. T. DE WITT TALMAGE EXPLAINS
THE HlNDOO CREED.

and the Christian Faith--A City of Idola-
ters-India's Religious Stronghold Being
Undermined by Efforts of Missionaries
BROOKLYN, Dec. 16.-Rev. Dr.. Tai
mage today delivered the third of his Sc
fies of round the world sermons through
the press, the subject being ''The Burn
ing of the Dead - and the text: ''Thev
have hands, but they handle not; feet
have they, but they walk not; neither
speak they through their throat. They
that make them are like unto them. -
Psalm CIV, Z, s.
The life of the missionary is luxu-
rious and indolent life. Hindooism is a
religion that ought not to be interfered
with Christianity is guilty of an i'm
pertinence when it invades heathendOm.
You must put in the same line of rever
ence Brahma, Buddha. Mohammed and
Christ To refute these ISLANDERS and
blasphemies now so prevalent and to
spread out before the Christian world
the contrast between idolatrous and
Christian countries / preach this third
sermon in my round the world series.
In this discourse 1 take you to the
very headquarters of heathendom, to the
very capital of Hindooism, for what
Mecca is to the Mohammedan, and what
Jerusalem is to the Christian, Benares,
India, is to the Hindoo We arrived
there in the evening, and the next
morning we started out early, among
other things to see the burning of the
dead. We saw it, cremation, not as
many good people in America and Eng
land are now advocating it-namely,
the burning of the dead in clean and or
derby and refined crematory, the hot
furnace soon reducing the human form
to powder to be carefully preserved
in an urn-but cremation as the Hin
docs practice it.
We got into boat and were rowed
down the river Ganges until we came
opposite to whSre five dead bodies lay,
four of them women wrapped III red gar
ments and a man wrapped in white.
Our boat fastened, we waited and
watched. High piles of wood We're on
the bank, and this wood is carefully
weighed on large scales, according as the
friends of the deceased can afford TO pay
for it. In many cases only few sticks
can be afforded, and the dead body is
burned only little and then thrown
into the Ganges. But where the rela-
tives of the deceased are we'll to do an
abundance Of wood i'll pieces four Or five
feet long is purchased. Two or three
layers Of sticks are then put Oh the
ground to receive the dead form. Small
pieces of sandalwood are inserted to
produce fragrance. The deceased IS lifted
from the resting place and put upon
this wood. Then the cover is removed
from the face of the corpse, and it is
bathed with water of the Ganges. Then
several moro layers of wood are put
upon the body, and other sticks are
placed on both sides of it, but the head
and feet are left exposed. Then guam
THY Of grease sufficient to make every
thing infammable is put on the wood
and into the mouth of the dead Then
one of the richest men in Benares, his
fortune made in this way, furnishes the
fire, and after the priest has mumbled
a few words, the eldest son walks three
times around the sacred pile and then
applies the torch, and the fire blazes up,
and in short time the body has be-
como the ashes which the relatives
throw into the Ganges.
Tho Sacred River.
We saw floating past Us on the Ganges
the body of child which had been only
partly burned because the parents could
not afford enough wood. While we
watched the floating form of the child
a crow aIighted upon it. In the mean
time hundreds of Hindoos were bathing
in the river, dipping their heads, filling
their mouths, supplying their brass
cups, muttering words of SO called
prayer. Such mingling of superstition
and loathsomeness and inhumanity I
had never before seen. The Ganges is to
the Hindoo the best river of all the
earth, but to me it is the vilest stream
that ever rolled it's stencil in horror to
the sea. I looked all along the banks for
the mourners for the dead.
saw in two of the cities nine crema-
tions, but in no case a sad look or a
tear. ] said to friends: ''How is this?
Have tho living no grief for the dead?''
/ found that the women do not come
forth on such occasions, but that does
not account for the absence of all signs
of grief. There is another reason more
potent. Men do not see the faces of their
wives until after marriage. They take
them on recommendation Marriages
thus formed, of course, have not much
affection in them. Women are married
at and 10 years of age and are grand
mothers at 80. Such unwisely formed
family associations do not imply much
ardor of love. The family so poorly put
together-who wonders that it is easily
taken apart? And SO 1 account for the
absence of all signs of grief at the Gre
nation of the Hindoos.
Benares is the capital of Hindooism
aud Buddhism. but Hindooism has