From all quarters there is the same testimony as to the burdensome character and the expense of these posthumous devotions. One of the oppressions under which people in Roman Catholic countries groan, is the periodical nature of special devotions, for which they are required to pay, when death has carried away a member of a Catholic family. Not only are there funeral services and funeral dues for the repose of the departed at time of burial, but the priest pays repeated visits afterwards to the family for the same purpose, which entail heavy expense, beginning with what is called "the month's mind" mass, that is, a service in behalf of the deceased when a month after death has elapsed.
A similar practice was in vogue in ancient Greece: "There the Argives sacrificed on the thirteenth day (after death) to Mercury as the conductor of the dead." In India there are many burdensome services of the Sradd'ha, or funeral obsequies for the repose of the dead, and for securing the due efficacy of these it is taught that "donations of cattle, land, gold, silver, and other things," should be made by the man himself at the approach of death, or, if he be too weak, by another in his name."
In all pagan religions the case is the same. In Tartary, "The Gurjumi, or prayers for the dead," says the ASIATIC JOURNAL, "are very expensive." In Greece, says Suidas, "the greatest and most expensive sacrifice was the mysterious sacrifice called the Telete," a sacrifice which, according to Plato, "was offered for the living and the dead, and was supposed to free them from all the evils to which the wicked are liable when they have left this world." In Egypt the exactions of the priests for funeral dues and masses for the dead were equally burdensome. "The priests," says Wilkinson, "induced the people to expend large sums on the celebration of funeral rites; and many who had barely sufficient to obtain the necessaries of life were anxious to save something for the expenses of their death. For, beside the embalming process, which sometimes cost a talent of silver, about $1,000, the tomb itself was purchased at an immense expense; and numerous demands were made upon the estate of the deceased for the celebration of prayer and other services for the soul."
"The ceremonies," he tells us elsewhere, "consisted of a sacrifice similar to those offered in the temples, vowed for the deceased to one or more gods (as Osiris, Anubis, and others connected with Amenti); incense and libations were also presented; and a prayer was some times read, the relations and friends being present as mourners. They even joined their prayers to those of a priest. The priest who officiated at the burial service was selected from the grade of Pontiffs who wore the leopard skin; but various other rites were performed by one of the minor priests to the mummies, previous to their being lowered into the pit of the tomb after that ceremony. Indeed, they continued to be administered at intervals, as long as the family paid for their performance."
