Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 45.djvu/829

Rh great divisions: (1) The simple closing np of the body in earth or stone; (2) the burning of the body and the entombing of the cinders; (3) the embalming of the body.

The first of these, i. e., the simple inclosing of the body in earth or stone, is not only the most widely diffused of the three, but also the earliest of which we have any record. It is referred to again and again in Scripture, although the other methods also are mentioned. A beautiful description of one of the most ancient of Bible burials is found in the twenty-third chapter of Genesis. It was considered by the Hebrews one of the greatest calamities and deepest marks of dishonor to be deprived of burial. So we read in the prophecy of Jeremiah against Jehoiakim, "He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem." Evidently, next to the simple exposure of the body, which savored too much of cruel neglect, burial was the first means that would suggest itself to the human race for the disposal of the remains of the dead. In the beginning the rite was no doubt simple and unostentatious; but, as civilization advanced, it became more and more ornate, reaching in some lands and ages a pitch of ceremonial magnificence which seems incredible to us now, but relics of which are still seen in our modern funeral displays. There can be nothing more magnificent than the obsequies of a high dignitary of the Greek or the Roman Church. But still, to those outside these churches all such ceremonies appear just a little tawdry and garish. It is doubtful whether there is, or can be, any funeral ceremony so truly solemn as that which is held in Westminster Abbey. In such a burial there is everything calculated to evoke the most reverential, the most solemn thoughts—the dim religious light stealing through the painted windows far up against the sky; the long vista of arch and pillar and tomb; the silence, broken only by the solemn service for the dead, the deep roll of the organ, and the voices of the singers like the singing of angels far away; more than all else, the thought that everywhere about us lies the dust of those who once filled the world with their fame, from the days of St. Edward the founder, yes, from the days of Sebert the Saxon king. A burial at Westminster marks the highest point ever reached by this form of sepulture. It stands at one end of the series. At the other end stand those hideous rites which have been practiced in many a heathen land; in Ashantee, in Dahomey, in ancient Mexico, in certain of the south sea islands, and (formerly) in India. Let me epitomize two or three extracts bearing on this: "Herodotus tells us that when a king died in ancient Scythia, those who attended him cut off one ear, shaved their heads, wounded themselves on the arm, forehead, and nose, and pierced the left