The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1895-01-31

Rev. II. Dewitt Ialmage delivered
the third of his series of round-the-
world sermons through the press on
the subject of Burning the Dead"
basing it on 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 arc like unto them.-Psalrn, CIV, 7-s.
The life of missionary is luxu-
rious and indolent life. Hindooism is
religion that ought not to be inter
fered with. Christianity is guilty OF
an impertinence when it invades
heathendom; you must put in the same
line of reverence Brahma, Buddha,
Mohammed and Christ. To refute
these ISLANDERS and blasphemies now so
prevalent, and to spread out before
the Christian world the contrast be-
tween idolatrous and Christian coun-
tries, | preach this sermon in my
'round-thc-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 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 England are now advocating it,
namely the burning of the dead in
clean, and orderly. and refined
crematory, the hot furnace soon
reducing the human form to a
powder to be carefully preserved
in an urn; but cremation as the Hin
docs practice it. We got into a 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 a 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 de-
ceased 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
| the relatives of the deceased are we'll
| to-do, an abundance of wood in pieces
| four to 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 sandal-wood 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 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 quantity of
| grease sufficient to make everything
infammable is put on the wood, and
| into the mouth of the dead. Then one
| of the richest men in Benares. his fort
une 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, and in a short time the body
| has become the ashes which the rela.
tives throw into he Ganges.
We saw floating past us on the
Ganges the body of a 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 alighted upon it. In
the meantime hundreds of Hindoos
were bathing in the river, dipping
their heads, filling their mouths, sup
| plying their brass cups, mutterine
words of so-called prayer. Such q
mingling of superstition and loath
someness, and inhumanitv I hac
never before seen. The Ganges i.
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 tt
the sea. l looked along the banks fol
the mourners for the dead. | saw il
two of the cities nine crelnations, bu
in no case sad look or tear.
said to friends: "How is this? Hay,
the living no grief for the dead?"
found that the women did not com,
forth on such occasions, but that doe
not account for the absence of al
signs of grief There is anothe
reason more potent. Men do not Sc,
the faces of their wives until after mar
riage. They take them on recon
mendation. Marriages thus formed
of course, have not much affection il
| them. Women are married at sever
and ten years OF age, and are grand
mothers at thirty. Such unwisely
formed family associations do not i'm
ply much ardor of love. The famil,
so poorly put together-who wonder
that it is easily taken apart? And S
/ l account for the absence of all sign
| of grief at the cremation of the Hin
/ docs.
The god of the Golden temple is silva
or the poison god. Devils wait upo
! him. He is the god of war, of famine
| of pestilence. Es is the destroyer
He has around mis- neck a string 9
skulls. Before him bow men who's
hair never knew comb. They ca
carrion and that which is worse. Bell
and drums here set up Q racket Fl