88 ON THE ORIGIN OF CREMATION, 



Speaking of those who unnecessarily exposed themselves to de- 

 struction, under the false idea of being martyrs, he adds, " In 

 " vain do they give themselves up to death, as the Gymnoso- 

 " phists of India rashly cast themselves into the flames *. 



As it is acknowledged even by heathen writers, that the 

 most ancient mode was that of inhumation, a question natural- 

 ly occurs, which, although from deficiency of evidence it may 

 be impossible to solve in a satisfactory manner, affords ample 

 ground for curious and interesting disquisition. It is this ; 

 Whence might the practice of cremation originate ? or, in other 

 words, What could induce men, in opposition to the feelings of 

 nature, to devote the mortal part of this frame, which they 

 had cherished so tenderly during life, as far as possible to appa- 

 rent destruction, after the departure of the spirit ? 



By the primitive Christians it was objected to cremation, 

 that the practice involved in it the idea of inhumanity to the 

 body. Hence Tertullian having remarked, that some of the 

 gentiles disapproved of the mode of burning, because they 

 wished to spare the soul, which hovered over the body after 

 death, subjoins, " But we have another reason, — -that of piety, 

 " not as flattering the reliques of the soul, but as detesting 

 " cruelty even to the body; because, being itself man, it does 

 " not deserve to be subjected to a penal death f." In another 



place, 



* ®xvxtm 5s iu.vt%s x7n3:$oxtrt vital, Kx9u7rtg n-x't ot t&v \vdZv yvfiyorcQiTx: fta.Txnt> irvci. tVsi Ss 

 at ipiv^wvvpoi £t< to <rZpx S<«SaA>.««, &c. Clem Alexandr. Strom, lib. iv. p. 351. edit. 

 Lugd. 1616. 



+ Et hoc enim in opinione quorundam est r propterea nee ignibus funerandtim 

 aiunt, parcentes superfluo animae- Alia est autem ratio pietatis istius, non reli- 

 quiis anirose adulatrix, sed crudelitatis etiam corporis nomine aversatrix, quod et 

 ipsum homo non utique mereatur pcenali exitu impeudL Tertullian. de Aninu 

 c 5h 



