Burnley, May 4. 1850.
_Burial Service_.--During a conversation on the various sanitary
measures now projecting in the metropolis, and particularly on the
idea lately started of re-introducing the ancient practice of burning
the bodies of the deceased, one of our company remarked that the
words "ashes to ashes," used in our present form of burial, would in
such a case be literally applicable; and a question arose why the
word "ashes" should have been introduced at all, and whether its
introduction might not have been owing to the actual cremation of the
funeral pyre at the burial of Gentile Christians? We were none of us
profound enough to quote or produce any facts from the monuments and
records of the early converts to account for the expression; but I
conceive it probable that a solution could be readily given by some of
your learned correspondents. The burning of the dead does not appear
to be in itself an anti-christian ceremony, nor necessarily connected
with Pagan idolatries, and therefore might have been tolerated in the
case of Gentile believers like any other indifferent usage.