114 ON THE ORIGIN OF CREMATION, 
These incidental intimations of the sentiments of the an- 
cients, coincide with the information which the accurate Evu- 
staTuivus has given us on this subject. “ It was a custom,” he 
observes, “ among the Greeks to burn their dead, which cus- 
“ tom still remains among some northern barbarians : and they 
“ do this to indicate, that the spiritual part of man, being 
“ carried upwards as in a chariot of fire, rises with heavenly 
* objects, but that the earthly remains behind *.” 
The Jews, as Grorrus has remarked, at least as early as the 
age of Justin Marryr, had adopted the idea that the souls of 
the dead lingered about their bodies, and were subject to the 
power of demons. This opinion, he adds, passed to the Chri- 
stians, as appears from the reasoning of Justin with the Jew 
Trypno, concerning the Witch of Endor, who, he thinks, really 
raised the Prophet Samuet +. Jusrin, indeed, in another 
place, appeals to necromancy (vexvouerréas), as a proof of the 
separate existence of the soul {. 
The same idea, that the soul for a considerable time after 
death retains some intercourse with the mortal part, is expres- 
sed by some later Jewish writers. They hold, that for twelve _ 
months after this event, the soul is more or less with the body, 
hovering over it: and hence some have been induced to go and 
dwell among the tombs, and inquire at spirits ||. Others, how- 
ever, greatly limit this time: “ For three days,” they say, “ the- 
“ soul goes to the grave, thinking that the body may return ; 
“ but 
\ ’ ~ 
* “Ori bos gy “EAAnce xo THs vaxgouse 0 3) xe) eg exe mee gee meeves Tick Tay Boptiay Bagagar. 
3 Reiss en: rag en 49 sane 3 « seas 
oroiouy oe TOUTO EXEbVOL, 7% e0s ewer Tov FO ey decoy Tou edeairrov eevaaPoenbey acne ey ORNATE 
TH uel, meorpesbes seis dugdvoss. To OF vyHivor, xerw meses EusTaTu. in Iliad. A. ver. 52. 
+ Gror. in Matt. viii. 28. { Apol. ii. p. 65. ed. Lut. Par. 1615, 
) Nishmat Chayim, Par. ii. c, 22, p. 81. T. Bab, Beracot, fol. 18, 2. 
