The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-03-21

is no lOHBST COilSlueItu an dIlOSelHSI
pagan and mad thing to be burned
rather than buried.
Thus people are more ready nova
days than they were formerly to listen
to argument upon this subject.
The sanitary reasons for cremation
are such as appeal forcibly to most in
telligent people. At present, while
there are, no doubt, many who would
not consent to,cremation for themselves
or for their families there are but few
! who do not consider it an admirable
act, even a necessary procedure, in the
case of some parts of the community
I Our cities are growing so tremendously
fast, presenting problems such as no
other genera ton has ever had to meet
that the question of the disposal Of the
dead becomes very serious and per-
plexing and imperative problem indeed.
And the old-fashioned graveyard does
not meet 1t,
That quiet, consecrated garden, with
the hedge about it, and the old church
in the middle of it, with its pleasant
trees like the Paradise of Eden, and it's
grassy walks between the graves, was
quite different place from the modern
| CITY CGIlclGIy, MIlGIt IldtuuS anu pa
gan monuments mark the burial places
of the rich, while the poor are thrust
into the earth in long lines, crowded
closely together as they were in life.
AMstocracy In the graveyard Slums
in the cemetery! The devout assoeia-
lions of burial are lost in these great
fields, amongst the vulgar tombs, where
the dead encroach upon the living and
| poison the wells.
| A. house Of the departed a shrine Of
our own saints, built in the midst of
the city adorned like the Pantheon at
Paris with golden frescoes, the walls
recalling old stories of sanctity and he
roism, with words of comfort from the
sacred scriptures, and the ashes of the
dead reverently laid away, without dis
tinction Of rank or money,-this would
be better, Flowers could grow there,
sweet music could be played there,
prayers could be said there, and the
living could commune there with the
spirits of the dead.
Or, better still, there might be revi-
val Of the good, old custom of laying
the dead away in the churches. Crema-
ton would make that impossible.
IltdNtll anu tttIlll fHpulQ Nllbs SNCiii
close together There would be no
more removal of the relics of the dead
miles away out of our sight. And that
devotion to the dead which at present
prompts the erection of great piles Of
carved stone beside a grave, effecting
no good purpose whatsoever would lead
to the enriching and beautifying Of the
house Of God, so that all worshippers
would be uplifted.
l am especially interested, however, |
in the spiritual significance of the prac- |
tice Of cremation. I believe that 1t is
in accordance with true religion, espe- |
cially in these two particulars; 1t agrees |
with the right idea of the resurrection |
of the body, and it symbolizes the SUI
prernacy of the soul.
The body which Is put in the grave !
will never come out again. "They that |
are in their graves fffall come forth"
Yes,-but that is not to be understood
as a literal and scientific statement Of !
the resurrection The dead are not 'ln |
their graves" The dead will rise but |
not in the body which is buried. That |
buried body vanishes away. Day by |
day and year by yeaf, through process
the physical body returns to its original |
elements, earth to earth, and dust to |
dust. The medieval pictures are not |
to be believed, which show the dead |
crawling painfully like worms out Of i
their graves. The body, is laid away
In the earth, and that Is the end Of It,
Between burial and burning there Is
nd difference in the final result. The
difference is In the process. The inevi- /
table change is wrought, in the one
case slowly, in the other quickly; In |
one by the action OF clean fame, in the
other by the action of damp earth
When the soul leaves the body it leaves
1t forever The resurrection body is
not the physical body, not the natural
body, but that strange thing, the
spiritual body" St Paul says that
the relation of this present body to that
which shall be hereafter is like the re-
lation Of the seed to the flower or Of
the grain to the stalk. IT is the same,
and yet not the same. There is indi-
vidual identity. on goes the human
being into the other life just the same
human being. That is the heart of the
doctrine Of the resurrection of the body.
The notion that cur future state de-
Ponds in any way upon the disposition
which is made of our dead body has no
place in the Christian religion. II may
be found in Homer VINO pictures the
soul of the unburied wandering discon-
5olate along the bank of the black river
unable to rest until earth is cast upon
he body 1t is altogether pagan. Je-
ius Christ taught no such thing. We
believe no such thing
Here is a hero hurrying into burn
ng house, taking his life in his hand
hat he may give 1t for the life of an !
I,za..-,,4-- T..e........ao ~