The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-12-09
Highest Of ali ii Leayening Power-Latest U. s. Govt Report
R@!A!.!l! ksssHs
ABSOLUTELY PURE

and say that the dead ought to be Gre
this view be forever held in allegiance, let
the advocates of cremation forever keep
silence, if they must desecrate already
wounded souls by their theories and in
wade the solemn scene of death with a
evolutionary doctrine that would CRATE
like a rasping file upon the wounded
hearts OF the stricken mourners. ad,
vocate cremation to the public, but / seal
my lips in Individual cases of mourning
and death. l think that the only way to
teach this doctrine at all is by a conscien-
tious presentation of its truth to the
minds of the people, ~endeavoring to grad
ually educate them up to it's superiority
over the usual method of ~disposing of the
With great delicacy, with sound judg-
ment, with frank candor and tender re-
gard for the feelings of all, the claims
of cremation ought gradually make their
way in modern thought and life and I'M
der. the process of thorough instruction,
begin to revolutionize the present system
OF burying the dead.
There are many strong arguments in
favor OF cremation, arguments that are
worthy of careful consideration even by
r res op ysn n : Of f. the h system t ! need esd. only
written on the subject pro n con to see
the exact status Of the question. But
there are two arguments / wish to pre-
sent briefly to your attention tonight and
ask you to con5cientiolsly consider their
claims in proving the superiority of Gre
NATION over burial.
ia okAASo Vdlt0o
should prevail; our g~raveyards are a
menace to the health of the community,
NO matter how deeply in the ground the
dead are buried, the contamination comes
to the surface, is carried by the winds
and brings disease into the city. In
crowded cities this is especially true.
doubt be traced TO the cemeteries. The
water is often contaminated, while the
proximity of many homes to the city Of
the dead is a constant source of danger
IN fine 1nhQ hTfQ MTG I a6f TIC r6Qnnnf tho
dead, but we also owe respect to the liv>
ing:
The Investigations of a student of sci
ence revealed the fact that on the grave
of a victim of cholera were found millions
OF these death giving bacteria, while the
very air In the vicinity was full of the
| a city like New York or London, where
the death rate is enormous and where
weekly a great number are buried in the
the city escapes pestilence as much as
1t does. Thousands and thousands of de-
cayfng bodies are in the midse of a dense
| population, many the victims of Infectious
disease Do you wonder hat the advo-
Gates of cremation ask that his danger
be removed?
OF course in smaller towns or new places
this objection is not so applicable but
still 1T lis not healthy to live with a grave
yard near by. The process of the chem
ica1 dissolution of the body is always at
the air and carry death with them, and
when the number of burials is continually
increasing the danger is multiplied. On
manded by the condition of our rapidly
| growing cities and increasing population.
Second, on religious. grounds I favor
the System 3. T l beheye It Wholly in accord
Gospel, aye, more than that, I hold the
present system to be fruitful of much
error and many false conceptions on the
relation Of body and spirit. Again and
again is the truth reiterated that the body
Is a heap of dust, a vile body" It Is
called; the corruptfble, the temporal, the
mere habitation of the soul.
"Flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God" Is the mandate of reve-
lation. Speaking of the body, Pau writes
raised in i~ncorruptaon; It is sown in dis
honor; it is raised in glory; it is sown a
natural body; 1t is raised a spiritual
p s There K ga 3 natural body and there
The Bible teaches us that the true man
is the spiritual life back of the body.
What we love in our friends and relatives
flesh, the soul m the mind, which God
recalls when the heart ceases to beat,
the part that we loved is no longer there;
the personality has vanished; only the in
animate piece of flesh remains.
1t is right and natural to revere the case
that held the soul, but is IT right to spend
care upon what God has said is mere
dust? Is It not a sort of blind idolatry to
worship hat which can never see God?
that which Is now no more part of the
life that a departed thar our own bod
les?
1t is impossible to discuss his subject
at length. I only wish to call your atten-
ton to the fact that it is wholly out of
accord with the teachings Of Scripture to
seek to preserve by embalmment and me-
tallic cases a body that God says shall
return to dust. The souls of our departed
are living on In q new m spiritual body;
they are freed forever from the old In
easement of the flesh we now revere.
What we loved is gone; what remains
shall never belong to them again.
Why preserve it, then, by burial? Why
expend our affections upon corruptible
flesh? The light has fled, the candle is
burned out, and shall we abjectly sit in
desolation before the refuse and the
ashes? Not so; it is better to hasten
Gods decree by a wise and prudent meas
ure n let the poor body be ashes at
once. The immortal spirit triumphs over
the flesh, and it is the new spiritual body
of u loved one, not the old, carnal one
we hone To see again