USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The Albany Rural Cemetery > Part 3
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Here will his steps the mourning husband bend, With sympathising Nature for his friend; In the low murmur of the pine, he'll hear The voice that once was music to his ear ;
" All these fair grounds with lavish beauties spread, Nature's fair charms - we give them to the dead."
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ALFRED B. STREET'S POEM.
In the light waving of the bough, he'll view The form that sunshine once around him threw. As the reft mother threads each leafy bower, Her infant's looks will smile from every flower; Its laugh will echo in the warbling glee Of every bird that flits from tree to tree: In the dead trunk, laid prostrate by the storm, The child will see its perish'd parent's form; And in the sighing of the evening breath , Will hear those faltering tones late hush'd in death.
Through these branch'd paths will Contemplation wind.
And grave wise Nature's teachings on his mind; As the white grave-stones glimmer to his eye, A solemn voice will thrill him, " thou must die; " When Autumn's tints are glittering in the air, That voice will whisper to his soul " prepare ;" When Winter's snows are spread o'er knoll and dell, "Oh this is death," that solemn voice will swell ; But when with Spring, streams leap and blossoms wave, " Hope, Christian, hope," 'twill say, " there's life beyond the grave."
Music followed from one of the bands on the ground -a solemn, funereal strain -in harmony with the vein of sentiment which ran through Mr. STREET'S admirable poem.
ADDRESS,
BY THE
HION. D. D. BARNARD.
THIS, my friends, is an occasion and ceremony of most uncommon and affecting interest. We have sought out a pleasant habitation for the dead; and having chosen our ground, and secured its possession, we come now to dedi- cate and devote it solemnly to their use forever. With appropriate ceremonies, with religious rites, with conse- crating prayer, we come now to set apart this ground to be their separate dwelling-place as long as time shall last. The purchase is ours, the inheritance belongs to them. The living make the acquisition, but only as a sacred trust; the dead shall possess it altogether. By significant legal forms it is already "made sure for the possession of a burying-place;" and now by other forms, more significant and more sacred, in a solemn assembly, by solemn invoca- tion to men and angels as our witnesses, standing on the soil which we thus appropriate, beneath the spreading canopy of the listening Heavens, and in the awful pres- ence of God, we declare and pronounce-in the name and
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behalf of all, as authorized and required by the part assigned me in this ceremonial, I declare and pronounce- that henceforward, and for all time to come, this ground belongs not to the living, but to the dead !
This, indeed, is, or may be, a dedication to ourselves, as well as to others. Here we expect to bury our friends; and here we expect our friends will bury us. In the impressive business of this day, we assist, in some sort, at our own obsequies. We choose, so far as the choice depends on ourselves, this field for our last resting place; and we anticipate the time when we shall make our bed in the dust of this field. We set apart and consecrate here a place for ourselves, along with others; and we seem, in a manner, to "come aforehand to anoint our bodies to the burying." Our language is, "bury us not in Egypt; we will lie with our kindred;" and we make beforehand a becoming preparation for our repose by the side of graves which, before us or after us, they will occupy. Wherever death may overtake us, in any temporary absence from the chosen city of our abode, if such should be our lot, we anticipate that the last sigh of the sinking spirit will be- "Thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place."
But by whomsoever occupied, by ourselves or others, or by others with ourselves, this ground must be in posses- sion of the dead, and of the dead alone. The living can not occupy the earth exclusively -space must be yielded for the dead. As fast as we can count men die, and their bodies must rest somewhere in the ground -such, at least,
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THE ALBANY RURAL CEMETERY.
as are not consumed by fire, or swallowed up in the sea. Wherever the custom of inhumation prevails, as it does amongst Christians, and very extensively elsewhere, land must be appropriated for their use and occupation. Where it is not thus appropriated, and appropriated liberally, the dead are defrauded. They are entitled to their share of the earth, by what seems an original and authoritative designation of the uses to which it should be subject. "Thou shalt return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken." The living must possess and subdue the earth; but a fair portion of it is the true inheritance of the dead.
From various causes they have not always had their just share of the land. Sometimes they have been sunk in deep waters. Sometimes they have been reduced to ashes by fire, that the reliques might be kept without the neces- sity of assigning to them much space for their preserva- tion. This was the custom of the Romans in some periods of their history, and was a very ancient practice among the Greeks. Sometimes they have been huddled together in barrows and cairns, or in grottoes and cata- combs. The subterranean quarries of Paris, have been made the receptacle of the remains of three millions of human beings, and the eternal tramp of the thronged city is above them. In Naples, at this day, the dead, out of number, are thrown in undistinguished heaps into vast charnel-pits. Oftentimes, where the practice of interments has prevailed, there has been a revolting haste in terminat- ing the tenancy of the body in the narrow strip of ground
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which it has been allowed to occupy. It is often covered with consuming substances. And, without any factitious , aids to hasten decay and decomposition, in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise at Paris, by far the larger number of graves are held for the term of five and six years only. At the end of this brief period, new tenants come into pos- session. It is difficult to say where the dead have received the greatest wrong ; whether in practices of this sort, or in some customs of an opposite tendency. The super- stitions of the ancient Egyptians led to an attempt to preserve the bodies of the dead from decay; and the state of the arts enabled them to succeed. The dead of three thousand years ago are seen in our day. HON. DANIEL D. BARNARD, [From a lithograph in possession of his daughter, Miss S. W. Barnard, of Albany. ] In another way the dead have been deprived of sepulture, by a practice the most absurd and revolting. In our own times, cadaveries may be seen, sometimes comprising many hundreds of desic- cated bodies, sitting in ghastly mockery of life, dressed in gay attire, and tricked off with glittering ornaments, or bearing the symbols of earthly rank, authority, or com- mand!
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In all these cases, and many more like them that might be adverted to, it seems to me, a great wrong has been done-a wrong both to the dead and the living. "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." This is the decree, and is it not at once a doom and a promise? "Bury me"-that is the natural request of the dying, breathed with the last breath. "The earth is the mother of us all-and now that I must die, let me go back to my mother. I would not be burned. I would not, if it can be avoided, be cast into the sea. Above all, do not attempt, by any process, or for any object, to keep me long above ground, or accessible to the living, after I am dead. But bury me-lay me in the earth-if possible, on some retired and pleasant spot, and near to those whom I have loved in life-at any rate, bury me, and let me thus return to the dust, out of which I was taken." This I say is natural. This is what men feel while in life, and especially when they come to die. It is sentiment, if you will; but, to my mind, it is better than a conclusion found by reasoning on the matter. Sentiment, gushing warm from the heart, is often better and wiser than the cold deductions of our reason. Sentiment makes a part of us, just as the conscience does, and we should be wretched creatures enough without it. And, on this subject par- ticularly, mere argumentation would be sadly out of place. In truth, there is nothing in it to argue about, and every attempt of the sort has ended, and will always end, in nothing better than crude speculation. When the heart is appealed to and not the understanding, on matters in which
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sentiment and the feelings decide-like those in which the conscience decides-there is little difference between the wisdom of one man and the wisdom of another. llere men are brought very near the same level, as they are in the grave. All the sneers of the cynics, and all the specu- lations of philosophers of all schools, have not been able to weaken the sentiment which the mass of mankind entertain and cherish, that the bosom of the genial earth is the just and proper place for the last repose of their de- caying bodies, and that it is not unbecoming or unwise in them, to take some thought and feel some anxiety about it. Plato and Pliny, Socrates and Solon, are no authority for them on such a matter-and least of all is Diogenes. What we know is, that this feeling, which prompts the common desire of the fainting heart, that our lifeless bodies may be laid away in the earth, in some quiet and secure place of sepulture, with respectful observances- that this feeling, if it be not reason, or the result of reason, is at least consonant with reason, and not opposed by any thing which reason or conscience, truth, religion or duty can suggest. And this is enough-enough for mortal men, who ought to be touched with a feeling of becoming humility when dealing with a subject which the great God and Father of us all has much more to do with than we have, or can have. He has said that we shall return unto the ground; and that may well be our humble desire, when we have done with life.
No mode of disposing of the dead has ever prevailed, at any period of time, or in any quarter of the world, with
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any thing like the common feeling of satisfaction which has attended the mode of burial in the earth. And there has been no quarter of the world, perhaps, where this mode has not sooner or later prevailed. It seems certain enough that this was the primitive mode. Abel was the first person that died, and the voice of his blood cried unto the Lord "from the ground." The first authentic account we have of the disposition of the dead, is an account of their burial; and nations the most rude and savage, as well as those the most civilized and refined, have followed this custom. The ancient Germans; the ancient Britons; the aboriginal tribes of North and South America; the Egyptians; and the Greeks and Romans, in the best periods of their history; the Jews; the Chinese, the Turks and the Arabs; the Africans; and nearly all the nations and tribes now existing on the earth, with singular and partial exceptions, have followed, and do follow, this prac- tice of committing the bodies of their dead to the ground. They have not always, as I have intimated, and as I shall shortly have occasion to repeat and to remark upon more particularly, they have not always given to the dead, and they do not now give them, their just and fair share of eligible land for their inheritance, and for undisturbed repose. But still, the mode of disposition in common use is by burial. And even where practices have prevailed, to some of which I have adverted, which violate or evade the common right of the dead to sepulture, the right itself seems to be recognized and acknowledged.
Among Christian nations-among all nations which
On the Tour, West of Summit Ridge.
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HON. D. D. BARNARD'S ADDRESS.
have had the Bible in hand -there can be no doubt that a strong feeling has commonly prevailed in behalf of this custom, and for the quiet and undisturbed rest and repose of the remains of the dead. It was a strong religious sentiment among the Hebrews. To be deprived of burial was deemed the greatest dishonor, and the greatest calamity that could befall any man. Even enemies, and criminals and suicides were not denied burial. The Preacher sets forth in strong terms his sense of the utter misery of a man if "he have no burial." And a prophet denounces as the severest curse that could light on the head of the kings and priests of Judah who had practiced idolatry that their bones should be cast out of their graves, and that they should not afterwards be gathered, nor be buried.
It would seem impossible that Christians, with the Bible in their hands, could ever have any other thought than that the dead ought to be permitted to rest in their proper graves. I have already referred to the significant language of the Bible, upon the happening of that event which brought death into the world: "Till thou return unto the ground." There was labor to be endured, and labor with trials, and difficulties and sorrows, but the end would come by and by. That death which had been denounced as the certain penalty of disobedience, would overtake the patient and stricken laborer at last, and then there would be the blessing of a "return unto the ground." In the grave, at least, he should rest. I cannot help thinking that there was designed to be something of promise, and
7
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THE ALBANY RURAL CEMETERY.
hope and comfort in this language. I cannot help think- ing that in this language is found a sufficient warrant and authority to the dead for an indefeasible right of sepulture, which the living cannot withhold without grievous wrong. It seems to me that every living human creature is entitled when he dies, under this great charter, to land enough for an ample grave, with quiet possession, and ample security against intrusion or disturbance.
To the Christian, moreover, there is a higher and a more sacred interest in sepulture, and in graves, than Jews and Gentiles have ever felt, or could ever feel. The blessed Saviour of the world slept three days in a grave. This imports much, very much to the Christian. He who follows this adorable Being in his life, is quite willing to follow him in his death and in his burial. The path to the grave, and the grave itself, have been illuminated by this event, and its natural gloom has been dissipated. Chris- tians can see their way plain enough to the grave, and plain enough through it. The light from another world streams into it, and at once, the way out of it, and the glories beyond it, are revealed. On the third day the Saviour rose, and, with the glorified body which he brought with him from the ground, ascended into Heaven. The body with which he had descended into the earth was human, like our own. It was subject to death; and it was through death, and the grave, that it put on immortality. In this event, we read, and we think we understand some- thing of the mysteries of immortal life, through mortal dissolution, and rest in the grave. We now know, better
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certainly than we could ever have known without it, what it means to "return unto the ground." It is, indeed, a rest from labor-a repose after a long and difficult journey; but it is more than this. The worn and wearied body is laid away in the earth, to undergo that great and mystic change which must fit it for the resurrection. "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body." And with those who have this faith, what an unspeakable interest attaches to the inanimate human body, beyond every thing which untaught nature, with all its tenderness and all its sensibilities, could ever suggest or feel. What new value is imparted to it-I had almost said what sacredness- from the consideration of the bright and ineffable change which its substance is capable of, and the high and holy uses to which it is destined !
And we are taught, I think, that the grave, the bosom of the quickening earth, is the true and proper place where the body should wait for this expected change. We seem to find this in the original declaration made to the first man; "Thou shalt return unto the ground." And we find it in the memorable case and example of Jesus Christ. The gate of immortality has been opened through the grave. Flesh and blood cannot inherit immortal life; it is through death and the dissolving of these physical ele- ments, that a body is obtained which may live forever. " That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die." And the grave is the selected and appointed place where the gross elements of physical being are to be dissolved, and the quickening to a new and enduring life of the body
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begun. Men cannot, indeed, be cheated of immortality by any neglect, or any indignity, or any casualty, to which their bodies may be subjected. Oceans cannot quench, fires cannot consume the essential principle of life which God may draw from the dissolving elements of our mortal frames. Christians believe themselves safe enough any where, and every where, in his hands. But, then, it is better both to go through life, and to walk through the shadowy valley, in what seems to be at once the natural and appointed way. And whatever philosophers have thought, and whatever Christians who call themselves philosophers may think, after all that nature, and our own hearts and sensibilities teach us on this subject, and after the instructions which religion and the Bible impart to us. there are few amongst us, I think, of whatever faith, who do not feel a strong and unconquerable desire and hope that when they die, their bodies will rest in quiet graves, undisturbed at least, if undistinguished, and there await events which sooner or later must come in the revelations of God and eternity.
In the observations which I have thus far made, after the desultory manner in which I have indulged, it has been my object to give you my impressions of the general right of sepulture, and of undisturbed repose in the grave, which belongs to us all, and of the common obligation which rests on the living to make proper and ample pro- vision for the becoming interment and rest of the dead. What I have intended to say, in brief. is this: That the living have no right to claim the earth exclusively as their
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inheritance. A fair portion of it belongs to the dead. We have no just right to stint or limit unfairly the portion which may be assigned to them; or to make the term of their occupancy too short for their proper repose. There is room enough for them, and for us too. Burial seems to be the natural mode of disposing of the dead -the best for them, and the best for all. It seems, also, to be the natural, certainly it is the common, and all but universal desire and feeling of the human heart, that after death, we should receive burial. It has been the mode almost uni- versally adopted. No law of nature that we know of, no law of propriety or convenience, no law of God, forbids it, or discountenances it. No discovery of science or of philosophy condemns it. On the contrary, without violent or strained constructions, it may be thought to have been the mode originally prescribed by the great Author of nature himself, from the hour when death entered into our world; and, at any rate, it is a mode and practice which commends itself strongly and irresistibly to the judgment and heart of all Christians, as sanctioned by all that is most sacred, most mystical and sublime, and most tender and endearing, in the holy faith to which they are devoted.
If I am correct in these views, then it follows that a serious obligation and duty rest on the living in reference to this subject. It is not their own convenience merely that they are to consult in regard to the proper disposal of the dead. There is a duty to the dead to be considered, and the interests of humanity, the interests of religion, and the interests of immortality seem to be involved in it.
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THE ALBANY RURAL CEMETERY.
We cannot say that this matter has always attracted, or that it does now generally attract, as much attention as it deserves, even in Christian countries, our own included. Indeed, I am not sure that other countries have not set us examples in this regard which would shame our Christian practices. The Chinese, notwithstanding their swarming and crowded population, seldom inter in a grave that has been previously occupied, and never while any traces of a former body remain. Their cemeteries spread over very extensive grounds, and these, perhaps, as beautiful and valuable as any. This is not, certainly, after the teaching of Plato, who would have none but the most barren ground set apart for sepulture.
It is not to be denied, or doubted, that nearly all over Christendom, in modern times, especially, perhaps, in the large cities and towns, very insufficient and very sloventy provision has been made for interments-oftentimes lead- ing to very unfeeling and unseemly practices. I have already named some examples, and I will not repeat them. In the spread and growth of cities, it has happened quite commonly that the living population have crowded back the dead from their resting places, not unfrequently by several removals, in the successive stages of municipal extension and improvement. In our country, particularly, the march of improvement has been rapid-in cities, as every where else-and changes are sudden and striking, and sometimes ruthless. Nobody can tell, in an American city, how long the dead in the vaults of churches. in private vaults, and in churchyard graves, may be allowed
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to occupy their position, or how soon, rather, their places will be demanded as sites and marts of business or trade. We know how unsafe they are even in grounds which seemed at first quite remote from the centres of settlement and population. It is not too much to say, perhaps, that not a considerable city, or large town, could be named in the United States where, from its foundation, provision has been made for interments at all adequate to secure the dead from untimely and unhallowed intrusion and dis- turbance. There has been, altogether, until a very recent period, a sad and discreditable neglect in regard to this matter, and in our own country, quite as much as elsewhere. We, Christians, have not cared for the dead as the ancients cared for them. The works which they constructed in memory of the dead, some of them elaborate and ponder- ous, and others of exquisite beauty and finish, exist in our day. The highest efforts in architecture, sculpture and painting had their origin in this pious object. The vast cavernous temples of India hewn out of solid mountains of rock; the mighty pyramids of Egypt; the grottoes at Thebes carried by excavation into the mountain side, with their galleries, and colonnades, their long subterranean alleys, and spacious chambers adorned with paintings and bas-reliefs; the sepulchres of Telmessus cut in the face of lofty perpendicular rocks, apparently almost inaccessible, and wrought, with marvellous art, into Ionic porticoes with gates and doors beautifully carved and embossed; these remarkable works and others like them remain to impress us with the zealous concern - mistaken it might be some-
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times in its object - superstitious it might be oftentimes- which the ancients displayed for the repose and for the honor of the dead. The exquisite taste and genius of the Greeks were tasked to the utmost to furnish and adorn the dwellings and monuments of the dead. The Romans in this as in other things imitated the Greeks.
Now, I know of no reason why Christians-those who dwell in the light of the true religion and of modern civilization-should not, in their own rational and becom- ing wav, make at least some sort of suitable provision for the accommodation of the dead, in ample and secure graves, and with such reference to location, position and embellishment as may accord with a just taste, and with those sensibilities of our nature which can not be less refined and worthy because touched and chastened by the influences of a holy faith. I know, indeed, of no excuse for the neglect of such a duty. And it affords me particu- lar gratification to be able to say that a new interest has been awakened of late in our country on this subject, which has taken thus far exactly the right direction, which is spreading in every quarter, and promises results the most satisfactory and the most creditable.
Rural cemeteries have already been established in various parts of the country, beginning with that of Mount Auburn, near Boston, which was consecrated in September, 1831. There are now several others in Massachusetts. Baltimore has one; Philadelphia has one; New York has one ; Rochester in this state has one. It is after the examples thus set us by our sister cities, that the ground
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