The Yale expositor., 1894-12-21
RELIGION OF JESUS.
1T IS LIGHTING UP DARKEST
INDIA.
Hlndooism Going Down Before the
Truths of the Humble Nazarene-Dr.
Talmage Praises the Self Sacrifice OF
ChrIst's Missionaries.

Talmage to-day delivered the third OF
his series of round the world sermons
through the press, the subject being
the Burning of the Dead" and the
text: "They 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 1l5:vii-viii
The life of the missionary is lux
urious and indolent life; Hindooism is
a life that ought not TO be interfered
with; Christianity is guilty of an inn
pertinence when it invades heathen-
dom; you must put in the same line OF
reverence Brahma, Buddha, Moham-
med and Christ. To refute these
ISLANDERS and blasphemies now so pre-
valent, and to spread out before the
Christian world the contrast between
idolatrous and Christian countries, l
preach this third sermon in my
round the world" series.
In this discourse / 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 Chris
tian, 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 England are now advocating 1t,
namely, the burning of the dead IN
clean, and orderly, and refined crema-
tory, the hot furnace soon reducing the
human form to a powder to be care
fully preserved in an urn; but crema-
ton as the Hindoos practice 1t. we
got into q boat and were rowed down
the river Gauges until we came OPP
posite to where five dead bodies lay'
four of them women wrapped in red
garments, and man wrapped III
white. Our boat fastened, we waited
and watched. High piles of wood
were on the bank, and this wood is
carefully weighed on large scales, ac
cording 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 Gauges.
But where the relatives OF the de-
ceased are well to do, an abundance OF
wood in pieces four or five feet long is
purchased Two or three layers OF
sticks are then put on 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 Gauges.
Then several more layers OF wood are
put upon the body, and other sticks
are placed on both sides of it, but the
head and feet IRE left exposed. Then
a guantity % grease s:c.tta.crttene 20 make
everything inAammable is put on the
wood. and into the mouth of the dead.
Tlen one of the rich men in Benares,
his fortune made in this way, furnishes
the fire. and, after the priest has
mumbled few words, the eldest son
walks three times around the sacred
pile, and then applies the torch, and
the fire blazes up, ano in a short time
the body has become the ashes which
relatives throw into the Gauges.
Benares is imposing in the distance
as you look at it from the other side of
the Gauges. The forty-seven CHATS, or
flights of stone steps, reaching from the
waters edge to the buildings high up
on the banks, mark a place for the as
cent and descent of the sublimities.
The eye is lost in the bewilderment Of
tombs, shrines, minarets, palaces and
temples. 1t is the Qualification of steps,
the triumph Of stairways. Bat looked
e" CLOSE by. the temples, though large
and expensive, are anything but at
tractive. The seeming gold in many
cases turns out to be brass. The pre-
cious stones IN the wall turn out to be
paint. The marble is stucco The
slippery and disgusting steps lead you
to images of horrible visage, and the
flowers put upon the altar have their
fragrance submerged by that which is
the opposite TO aromatics-
After you have seen the CHATS, the
two great things in Benares that you
must see are the Golden and Monkey
temples. About the vast Golden tenn
pie there is not as much gold as would
make an English sovereign. The air
itself is asphyxiated. Here we see men
making gods out of mud and then put
ting their hands together in worship
of that which themselves have made.
Sacred cows walk up and down the
temple. Here stood a Fakir with a
right arm uplifted, and for so long a
time that he could not take it down,
and the nails of the hand had grown
until they looked like serpents wind
| ing in and around the palm.
We took carriage and went still
further on to see the Monkey temple,
so called because in and around the
building monkeys abound and are kept
as sacred. All evolutionists should
visit this temple devoted to the family
from which their ancestors came.
These monkeys chatter and wink, and
climb, and Look wise. and look silly,
and have full possession of the place.
We were asked at the entrance of the
Monkey temple to take off our shoes