Connecticut western news., 1894-12-20
BURNING THE DEAD.
REV. T. DE WITT TALMAGE EXPLAINS
 THE hlNDOO CREED.

REV. r. DE WITT TALMAGE EXPLAINS
 THE HlNDOO CREED.
 No Companion Between Heathen Beliefs
 and tho Christian Faith-A City of Idola.
 ters-India's Religious Stronghold Being
 Undermined by Efforts of Missionaries.
 BROOKLYN, Dec. 16.-Rev. Dr. Tal- agetoday delivered tho third of his se- ries of round the world sermons through the press, the subject being "The Burn ing 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 oxv, 2, 8.
 The life of the missionary is luxu- rious and indolent life. Hindooism is religion that ought not to be interfered with. Christianity is guilty of an inn pertinenoe when it invades heathendom You must put in the same line of rever- ence Brahma, Buddha, Mohammed and
 
 blasphemies now so prevalent and to spread out before the Christian world the contrast between idolatrous and Christian countries I preach this third sermon in my round the world series.
 In this discourse I 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 tfe 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 derly and refined crematory, the hot furnace soon reducing the human form to powder to be carefully preserved in an urn-but cremation as tho Hin doos practice it.
 We got into boat and were rowed down the river Ganges until we came opposite. to where five dead bodies lay, four of them women wrapped ill red gar ments and 8 man wrapped in 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, 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 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 from the face of the corpse, and it is bathed with water of the Ganges. 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 are left exposed. Then quan- tity of grease sufficient to make every thing inflammable 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 few words, the eldest son walks three times around the sacred pile and then applies the torch, and the fre blazes up, and in short time the body has be- come the ashes which the relatives throw into the Ganges.
 The Sacred River.
 Wesaw 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 8 crow alighted upon it. In the mean. time hundreds of Hindoos were bathing ill 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 its stench in horror to the sea. looked all along the banks for the mourners for the dead.
 saw in two of the cities nine crema- tions, but in no case sad look or tear. said to friends: "How is this? Have the 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 2 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 1t is easily taken apart? And so account for the absence of all signs of grief at the cre- nation of the Hindoos.
 Benares is the capital O, Hindooism and Buddhism, but Hindooism has trampled out Buddhism, the hoof of the one monster on the grizzly neck of the other monster. It is also the capital of filth, and the capital of malodors, and the capital of indecency The Hindoos say they have 300, 900, 900 gods. Ben ares being the headquarters of these deities, you will not be surprised to find that the making of gods is profitable business. Here there are carpenters making wooden gods, and brass workers making brass gods, and sculptors mak- ing stone gods, and potters making clay gods. cannot think of the abomina- tions praotioed here without recoil of stomach and a need of cologne. Al though much is said about the carving on the temples of this city, everything is so vile that there is not much room left for the sesthetic. The devotees en- ter the temples nineteen -twentieths un- clothed and depart begging. All that Hiudouoicy,o cap do for a m an or yoYoa n if