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Inexpensive Funerals

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 25, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 33.

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Inexpensive Funerals

By Editor

Inexpensive Funerals.—We have at different times spoken of the need of a reform in this respect. Funerals often come at the end of a long spell of expensive sickness, when the friends of the deceased are least able to meet the financial outlay. They are also placed in a position where it seems disrespect for the dead to protest against exorbitant prices. In such a case, among those in limited circumstances, let the matter be placed in the hands of some good friend who will look to the interests of the living. The following is to the point, which we clip from the Literary Digest:—
"The New York Churchman states that a committee, appointed by Bishop Potter, recommends . . . that the use of brick graves and vaults should be discouraged, that 'earth to earth coffins' should be adopted, and that everything should be done to reduce the expenses of a funeral, whether of the rich or poor. It is, of course, to the undertaker's interest to encourage the feeling that to be buried decently is to be buried expensively. And if we want to make funerals Christian in character, the arrangements for them must be taken out of the hands of the undertaker. In the event of a death in the family, the relatives should be advised to go at once to the clergyman. The clergyman can then make such suggestions as will promote economy, and conduce to the carrying out of Christian burial. With the undertaker a funeral is purely a matter of business; with the pastor it is entirely a religious matter—an important distinction."
Costly funeral trappings and monuments are often but manifestations of effort to gain the praise of the world. If duty has been done to the living, modesty and Christian principle demand economy to the dead; but if duty has not been done to the living, no costly casket, funeral train, granite shaft, or expensive sarcophagus for the dead, will atone for the neglect.