The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-12-19
BURNING OF THE DEAD"
Subject Of Rev. DR.. Talmage's Ser
mon Through the Prese.
He Tells OF His visit to Sacred Bcnares
and Describes the Hindoo CremA-
tions-some Abominations of
HIndOoism on the Banks
of the Gangog.


of the GangOs.
For the third of his series of Round
the World sermons through the I. 1ss,
DR.. Talmage chose for his subject The
Burning Of the Dead" the text being
'"rhey 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. Psalms CIV, 7,6
The life Of the missionary is luxur-
ious 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 heathen-
dom; you must put in the same line
of reverence Brahma, Buddha, Mo-
hammed and Christ To refute these
ISLANDERS and blasphemies now so preva-
lent, 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 / take you to the
very headquarters of ofheathendom, to the
J 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 nextmorn-
ing 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 it, namely, the
burning of the dead in clean, and order
ly and refined crematory, the hot fur
mace soon reducing the human form to a
powder to be carefully preserved in an
urn; but cremation as the Hindoos prac-
tice 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 in
red garments, and 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 q
few sticks can be afforded. and the dead
body is burned only little, and then
thrown into the Ganges.
J But where the relatives of the de.
ceased are well-to-do, an abundance oil
wood in pieces four or fve feet long is
purchased. Two or three layers oi
sticks are then put on the ground tt
receive the dead form. Small pieces o.
sandalwood are inserted to produce
fragrance. The deceased is lifted from
the resting place and put upon thi'
wood. Then the cover is removed from
the face of the corpse and it is bathet
with water of the Ganges. Then sew
eral more layers of wood are put upol
the body and other sticks are placed OF
l both sides of it, but the head and fee
are left exposed. Then quantity o
Z. grease sufficient to make everythin,
infammable is put on the wood an,
| into the mouth of the dead. Then on
: of the richest men in Benares, his for
r tune made in this way, furnishes tn
: fire, and, after the priest has mumble'
a few words, the eldest son walks thre
i times around the sacred pile, and thel
o applies the torch, and the fire blazes u
and in short time the body has be
: come the ashes which the relative
: throw into the Ganges.
We saw floating past us on the Gan
ges the body Of child which had bee
= only partly burned, because the parent
C could not afford enough wood. Will
IS we watched the floating form of tn
e child crow alighted upon it. In tn
d meantime hundreds of Hindoos wer
!: bathing in the river, dipping thei
e heads, filling their mouths, supplyin
IS their brass cups, muttering words G
n so-called prayer. Such mingling o
/ superstition, and loathsomeness, an
1 inhumanity had never before seer
The Ganges is to the Hindoo the bes
river of all the earth, but to me it
the vilest stream that ever rolled il
e stencil in horror to the sea. locke
d all along the banks for the mourner
e. for the dead. saw in two of the citie
II nine cremations, but in no case sa
q look or tear. / said to friends: "Ho,
?; is this? Have the living no grief fc
o. the dead?" found that the women d
le not come forth on such occasions, br
" that does not account for the absenc
ID of all signs of grief.
st There is another reason more poten
<; Men do not see the faces of their wivt
10 until after marriage They take thel
K. on recommendation. Marriages thu
Se oa formed, of course, have not much a
,e fection in them. Women are Marie
y; y; at seven and ten years of age, and al
st grandmothers at thirty. Such unwis
ID ly-formed marriage associations do M
y imply much ardor of love. The famil
,y SO poorly put together-who wondel
llvv that 1t is so easily taken apart? An
ID SO account for the absence of all sigI
g. g. of grief at the cremation of the Hi
I'd docs.
,S; Benares is the capital of Hindoois
I'd and Buddhism, but Hindooism hi
ne trampled out Buddhism, the hoof of IL
i, one monster on the grizzly neck Of tt
OF other monster. 1t is also the capital
80 filth, and the capital Of malodors, ar
Of the capital Of indecency. The Hindo,
say they have soo,OOo,Ooo gods. B
IT, mares being the headquarters of the
deities, you will not be surprised
find that the making of gods is pro
. table business. Here are carpente
making wooden gods, and brass worl
ers making brass gods, and sculpto
!, making stone gods, and potters malxir
: clay gods cannot think Of the abor
nations practiced here without recc
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