To Charles Bernard, Esq; Sergeant-Surgeon to Her MAJESTY, Present Master of the Surgeons Company, and one of the Surgeons of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.

If the Excellency of any Art consist only in its Usefulness, or if it derive its Preeminence from the Object, with which it converses, it necessarily must follow, That the Profession of Surgery is the Chief of Arts, since it is employ’d about so noble a Subject as Man; and therefore the Greeks have thought fit to call such manual Operations The Art of Surgery, which otherwise might as well have been apply’d to any Mechanick Trade.

Thence it is Anatomy and Embalming are also equally to be esteem’d, since they are not only Branches of this Art, but likewise absolutely necessary to be known by its Professors; the one informing us of the constituent Parts of the Body, and the other preserving it for ever in our Memories.

The first has been Learnedly Treated of by our own Countrymen, as well as Foreigners, and is admirably perform’d even at this Day in our Anatomical Theatre; whereas the last, I know not by what Fate, is surreptitiously cut off from Surgery, and chiefly practis’d by ignorant Undertakers.

For the Honour therefore of our Profession, I have undertaken to vindicate The Art of Embalming, and will prove it to be no less antient and noble than Surgery it self. In order to this, I will first shew both the antient and modern Methods of Embalming, as practis’d by the most learned and expert Physicians, Surgeons and Anatomists, and then proceed to detect the Frauds and Subtilties of the Undertakers or Burial-Men, to the end the World being made sensible of their Abuses, may the easier be reconcil’d to a right Opinion of the legal and skilful Artist; but before I proceed to acquaint you with any farther particulars, I shall content my self to shew you the Authority and Reasonableness of the Use of Embalming, together with the many Advantages that accrue thereby. "Useful in Natural Philosophy and Physiology." First, I presume, it may not be a little Entertaining, should I relate how far the Knowledge of this Art may be necessary in our very Domestic and Culinary Affairs, such as, Tanning, Painting, Dying, Brewing, Baking, &c. as also in Confectionery, by Conserving all sorts of Roots, Herbs and Fruits, and Preserving Wines and Juices; for this Art being grounded as well on Natural Philosophy as Physiology, it not only teaches us how to Improve our Drinks, but our Aliments likewise, and not only to give a grateful Taste in Cookery, and thereby to whet the Appetite, but also to Preserve fresh Meats, Fish, Fruits, &c. beyond their wonted duration.

These Things however I will pass by for the present, that I may come more immediately to my principal Intent, which is to shew how a Body may be so Preserv’d, that by the help of Anatomy we may trace its minute Meanders, and investigate the secret Passages thereof, without being hindred by any offensive Odour or contaminating Cruor.

By this Art the Naturalist may be enabled to Collect and Preserve a numberless variety of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Reptiles, Herbs, Shrubs, Trees, with Things monstrous and preternatural; as likewise those which are more rare and not appropriate to his own Climate, and this for compleating his MusÆum or Repository with all the Curiosities and Rarities in the Animal and Vegetable World.

By this Art the Physician learns the situation and use of the Parts of Man’s Body, with the several alterations and changes in the Juices, as well in their healthful as morbid State; and consequently knows how to preserve and confirm them free from all Diseases, as likewise to correct and put a stop to malignant and putrid Fevers, which otherwise must inevitably destroy the sick and weak Patient.

By this Art the Surgeon, in a rightly prepar’d Skeleton, sees the natural Position of the Bones, and proper Motions of each Part, with the true and natural Schemes of the Veins, Arteries, Nerves and other curious Preparations; which not only teach him the difference between the Muscles, the similar, dissimilar, and containing as well as contained Parts of the Body; but likewise how, in performing each Operation, he should skilfully avoid Cutting what he should not, and destroying the Function of that he is to relieve. He is also hereby instructed what Remedies may be found out against Gangrenes, Sphacelus and other Distempers that are judg’d Incurable without being extirpated by Knife or Fire: Who then can sufficiently admire and value this Noble Art of Embalming since it tends to the Conservation both of Life and Limb?

For tho’ Anatomy gives us an Insight into these Things in general, yet is it deficient without the Balsamic Art, in as much as it can neither so particularly nor frequently shew us, what in conjunction with it, may without any offence be Contemplated at any Time, and as often as we please.

Thus may we entirely conquer and accomplish that Delphian Oracle, G???? sea?t??, by making most of our Disquisitions into Human Nature by Dissections: And tho’ Brutes may sometimes be useful in Comparative Anatomy, yet Man being the Epitome and Perfection of the Macrocosm, his Body shews a more wonderful Mechanism than all other Creatures can do, as one thus very elegantly expresses in Latin: Hominem (says he) a DEO post reliqua factum fuisse; ut DEUS in ipso exprimeret, sub brevi quodam Compendio, quicquid diffuse ante fecerat.

The present Age therefore accounts the chief Use of this Art to be in Anatomical Preparations; but I shall shew another more antient and more general, which is the Preserving a Human Dead Body entire, and which is properly term’d Embalming: More antient, I say, as having been first devis’d and practis’d by the Wise and Learned Egyptians, and more general in that it relates to every particular Person, yet is it by most despis’d and look’d on meerly as an unnecessary expensive Trouble; so that unless I can convince these People to the contrary, I must not expect to find my ensuing Labours meet with any Favour. But before I affirm The Art of Embalming to be a particular part of that Duty, which obliges all Mankind to take care of their Dead, "The Right of Burial and Funeral Ceremonies." I shall give some cogent Reasons to prove the Right of Burial, what Things are necessary thereto, whether Ceremonies are needless and superstitious, or Monuments vain-glorious, &c. and this shall be as Nature dictates, the Law of GOD appoints, and the Law of Nations directs and obliges.

First, Sepulture is truly and rightly accounted to be Jus NaturÆ, by reason the very condition of Human Nature admonishes us, that the spiritless Body should be restor’d to the Earth, from whence it was deriv’d; so that it only pays that Debt of its own accord, which otherwise Nature would require against its Will. Thus, in the beginning of the World, so soon as Adam had transgressed, "Ordain’d by GOD himself." GOD said to him, Gen. 3. 19. Thou shalt return to the Ground, from whence thou wert taken; for Dust thou art, and unto Dust thou shalt return. Whence Ecclesiastes, 12. 7. says, The Dust shall return to the Earth as it was: and the Spirit to GOD who gave it. Likewise patient Job thus expresses himself, Job 1. 21. Naked came I out of my Mothers Womb (which David also calls the Lowest part of the Earth, Psalm 139. 15.) and naked shall I return thither. Upon which Quenstedt thus Comments, p. 10. De Sepult. vet. He shall not return again into his Mothers Womb, but unto the Earth which is the Mother of all Things. Upon which occasion read also Ecclesiasticus, 40. 1.

Hence it is the Heathens have generally follow’d the same Custom of restoring the Dead to their Mother Earth; since it is but according to the course of Nature, for all Things to return at last to their first Principles, and that so soon as ever a Disunion or Dissolution of the Parts of Man’s Body shall be caused by Death. That each Thing has ever immediately requir’d what it gave, is excellently describ’d by Euripides, in one of his Tragedies call’d the Supplicants, where he introduces Theseus Talking after this manner:

Hereby it plainly appears that we really possess nothing of our own, and what we seem to enjoy, is but only lent us for a season, and must be restor’d again when ever we die, which is agreeable to that Expression of Job, in the latter part of the above-mentioned Verse and Chapter. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord. Also Holy David, Psalm 146. 4. (speaking of Man’s Frailty and Mortality) says, His Breath goes forth, he returns to his Earth. Here he emphatically calls it his Earth, both because he was made of it, Gen. 2. 27. and must return to it again, Gen. 3. 19. and by reason he has a Right to a Burial-Place in it.

The same is likewise Taught us by Cicero, where he says, Reddenda Terra TerrÆ: That the Earth (meaning Man’s Body) must be restor’d to its Earth; which also gave occasion to the antient Philosophers to contemplate the Beginning and End, or the Life and Death of Man, that thereby they might be the better able to Teach us what we really are in Nature, and how little we have to Boast of: The very Thought of which put an old Poet into a Passion and Admiration, expressing himself thus in gingling Monkish Verses:

Methinks the very Consideration of this should cause us to lay aside all Pride and Vanity, and serve for a perpetual Memorial of Humility and Obedience to our Creator, who as he was pleas’d to endue us with Rational Souls, and to give us Dominion over all Things here below, yet, that we might not be thereby puffed up and tempted to forget him, he wisely formed us of the Dust, and, in his good Time, will reduce us to Dust again. Thence Divine Plato assures us, that the End and Scope of his Philosophy was only The Consideration of Death.

In Obedience therefore to the Laws both of GOD and Nature, Sepulture undoubtedly was at first Instituted, and if either Antiquity or universal Custom can prove a convincing Argument, you may account it as antient as the World it self, and us’d by all Nations tho’ perhaps in different manners; for you must allow, so soon as Death came in by Man’s Transgression, it necessarily follow’d that some care must have been taken to Bury his Carcass. The first Instance of this that we read of, in the Sacred History of the old Testament, is how Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, Buried his Wife Sarah in the Cave of the Field Machpelah, which he had bought of the Sons of Heth for a Burying-Place for his Family, Gen. 23. 19, 20. There also St. Jerome asserts Adam the first Man was Buried; and Nicolaus Lyranus and Alphonsus Tostatus are of Opinion the Four Patriarchs were Buried there likewise with their Wives, Eve, Sarah, Rebecca and Lea, all which you may find explain’d more at large in Quenstedt, p. 2, 3, 4.

Now this seems to have been one of the first Causes of Interment, to wit, that it being the course of Nature, for Bodies depriv’d of Spirit or Life to corrupt or stink; and the Medicinal Art being little known and less us’d in those early Days (without the Knowledge of which it was impossible to preserve them) there remained no other way of securing the Living from the pestiferous Exhalations of the Dead, than by burying their Carcasses in the Earth, and so removing such miserable Objects out of their sight; which seems clearly intimated by the aforesaid Example of Abraham, when, being in much trouble for the Loss and Death of Sarah his Delight, he spake thus unto the Sons of Heth, Gen. 23. 4. Give me a Possession of a Burial-Place with you, that I may Bury my Dead out of my Sight. (LXX. ???? t?? ?e???? ??, ?p’ ???) where it is to be observ’d, that he no longer calls her his Wife, but his Dead; as knowing that those alterations, which she must in a few Days inevitably undergo, would have deterr’d him from the very Thoughts of her, if he had not earnestly sought for and obtain’d a Burying-Place, where he might hide her out of his Sight.

This is to be look’d upon as the second Cause or End of Burial, to wit, that it being not only disagreeable to the dignity of our Nature, but also occasioning great sadness of Mind, for the Living to see what dismal Accidents and Calamities befall the Dead, that we should free our selves from the Apprehensions and black Idea’s such Objects are naturally apt to inspire, by removing them out of our Sight and Mind, by a timely Sepulture: For as Demosthenes said in a Funeral Oration, Leniatur ita Luctus Eorum, qui Suis sunt Orbati; By this means the Grief of those, who are depriv’d of their Friends, is alleviated. "Thought more Beneficial to the Living than the Dead." So that these two Reasons seeming to conduce more to the Benefit of the Living than the Dead, it has given occasion to some to believe, that Burial was from thence invented, and of this Opinion was Grotius, who thus writes: Hinc est, quod Officium Sepeliendi, non tam Homini, id est, PersonÆ, quam Humanitati, id est, NaturÆ HumanÆ, prÆstari dicitur; For this Reason it is that the Office of Burial is said not to be paid so much to the Man, viz. To the particular Person, as to Humanity it self, that is, to Human Nature in general. And St. Austin, Lib. 1. De Civit. DEI, cap. 12. and Lib. De Cura pro Mortuis, cap. 2. affirms, Curationem Funeris, Conditionem SepulturÆ, Pompas Exequiarum, magis esse Vivorum Solatia, quam Mortuorum Subsidia; that The regulating and management of the Funeral, the manner of Burial, the Magnificence and Pomp of the Exequies, were devised rather as a Consolation to the Living than any Relief to the Dead. But Seneca, Lib. 1. De Remed. hath more plainly confirm’d both the foregoing Reasons, saying, Non Defunctorum Causa, sed Vivorum inventa est Sepultura, ut Corpora & Visu & Odore foeda submoverentur; Burial was found out not so much for the sake of the Dead as the Living, that by means thereof Bodies noisom both to Sight and Smell might be remov’d: Therefore Andrew Rivet, in his 19th Exercise, on the 23 Chap. of Genesis, commends Sepulture as a laudable Custom, pertaining to common Policy and Honesty. Human Nature would be asham’d to see Man, the Master-Piece of the Creation, left unregarded or lye unburied and naked, expos’d to the Insults of all Creatures, and become a Herritage to the most vile Worms and Serpents, or lye Rotting like Dung upon the face of the Earth; so that if Pity and Compassion will not move our obdurate Hearts to Bury him, the very Stench and Corruption of the Dead will compel us to it. Hence ChytrÆus:

By these two fore-going Causes of Burial appears yet a farther Benefit to Mankind, that they may live without that continual Terror of Death, "Frees from the Terror of Death." which is occasion’d by seeing such miserable Emblems of Mortality. If you do but consider, when Men at first liv’d dispers’d, the very Abhorrence and Detestation of meeting Dead Bodies, made them to remove such unpleasant Objects out of their sight: Afterwards, when they assembl’d together and built Cities to dwell in, they used Burial for this Reason says Lilius Gyraldus, Lib. De var. Sepult. Ritu. pag. 4. That the Living might not be infected by the most noisom stench of the Dead. The before-going Arguments for Interment have been deduc’d from Natural and Political Reasons, but the latter likewise relating to Physic, and particularly conducing to the Health and long Life of Man (since The Art of Embalming was not known in those Days) we will a little more accurately enquire into the pernicious Effects of Putrefaction, and the fatal Consequences that from thence ensue; for this being the most potent Enemy to Life, "From Putrefaction the Enemy of Life." Nature is very careful to expel it so soon as ever she perceives, by its odious Scents, its invisible Approaches: Nor can she endure the lesser ill Scents of Sweat or Urine, or those Excrements of the Belly, which are necessarily produc’d from the Aliments of the Body, but the Body it self as well as Spirits reject them; for this is to be observ’d, that the Excrements and Putrefactions of all Creatures smell worst and are most offensive to their own Species, which we may see by Cats, which voiding a more than ordinary fetid Dung, always take care to bury it. And such cleanliness of Living renders all Creatures the more Healthful, as we daily find by Birds, Pigeons, Horses, Dogs, &c. which thrive best when their Houses, Stables and Kennels are kept sweetest. There is not only an unhealthy, but oftentimes a secret poysoning Quality in the fetid Odours of a putrid Air, which are made so malignant by Bodies corrupt and exposed therein; and thus, in several Countries, "From the Plague." great Plagues have been occasion’d only by the Putrefaction of prodigious swarms of dead Grasshoppers and Locusts cast up on heaps. Thus, the Scripture testifies, the Land of Egypt was corrupted with Lice, Flies, Frogs and Locusts as a Punishment to Pharaoh: The Fish of the Rivers died, and the Waters stank; also there was a Murrain among the Beasts, and a Plague of Boils and Blains among the Inhabitants, Exod. chap. 7, 8, 9, 10.

The infectious Atoms of a putrid Air are so very subtile and invisible, that they meet with an easie reception into the Brain and Lungs, as often as we breath, and thereby immediately occasion in the Brain either an Apoplexy or Delirium, a Syncope to the Spirits, a general Convulsion of the Nerves, or else more slowly corrupt the Blood, by mixing with it in its passage thro’ the Lungs, where they either produce Imposthumes, Ulcers, Consumptions or Hectic-Fevers which prey upon the Spirits and Vitals, or bring Gangrenes to the extreamest Parts, or the Small-Pox, Purple Fevers, and other malignant Distempers to the whole Body; nay, they too frequently prove the very principal Ingredient of the Plague it self, that inexorable Spirit which so swiftly dispatches many thousands of Souls to the other World.

Thus Poison’d Air, or The Art of Empoisoning by Odours, is more dangerous than Poison’d Water, forasmuch as it is impossible Man should live without Breathing, or subsist in an infectious Air, without a proper Antidote. This Art has been effectually practis’d by the Indians in their Trafficks, and the Turks in their Wars, and was particularly us’d by Emanuel Comnenus towards the Christians, when they pass’d thro’ his Country, in their way to the Holy-Land. This the Lord Bacon relates in the 10th Century of his Natural History, p. 201. where he is of Opinion, That foul Smells, rais’d by Art for Poisoning the Air, consist chiefly of Man’s Flesh or Sweat putrefied, since those Stinks, which the Nostrils immediately abhor and expel, are not the most pernicious, but such as have some similitude with Man’s Body, which thereby the easier insinuate themselves and betray the Spirits. Thus in Agues, Spirits coming from Putrefaction of Humours bred within the Body, extinguish and suffocate the Natural Heat, p. 74. The same effect is likewise to be observ’d in Pestilences, in that the malignity of the infecting Vapour, daunts the principal Spirits, and makes them to fly and leave their Regiment, whereby the Humours, Flesh and Secundary Spirits dissolve and break as it were in an Anarchy, Exper. 333. p. 74.

Also because the Canibals, in the West-Indies, eat Man’s Flesh, the same Author thought it not improbable, but that the Lues Venerea might owe its Origin to that foul and high Nourishment, since those People were found full of the Pox at their first Discovery, and at this Day the most Mortal Poisons, practis’d by them, "Consists partly of Man’s Flesh, &c." have a mixture of Man’s Flesh, Fat or Blood. Likewise the Ointments that Witches have us’d, are reported to have been made of the Fat of Children dug out of their Graves; and diverse Sorceresses, as well among the Heathens as Christians, have fed upon Man’s Flesh, to help, as they thought, their wicked Imaginations with high and foul Vapours, Exper. 26. and 859.

The most pernicious Infection, next the Plague or Air Poison’d by Art, is the Smell of a Goal where Prisoners have been long, close and nastily kept, whereof, says the Lord Bacon, we have in our Time had Experience twice or thrice, when both the Judges that sat on the Trials, and numbers of those that assisted, sickn’d on the spot and Died, Exper. 914. The like would frequently befall those that visit Hospitals, and other such Places, where either the Leprosie, French Pox or Malignant Fevers rage, were not the Attendants dayly accustom’d to it, or did they not use proper Antidotes to keep them from it. If therefore the morbid State of the Living only be so pernicious to healthful Bodies, "Air most Infected by a putrid Carcass." what Destruction must that Air produce, which is replete with the volatile Steams and Spirits, that issue from a dead and putrid Carcass?

For every Thing in Nature easiest Corrupts that of its own kind. The Reason of this is because it is Homogeneal, as is commonly seen in Church-Yards, where they bury much; for a Corps will consume in a far shorter Time there, than it would have done in another place where few have been buried.

It therefore necessarily follows, that if the Dead were not inhum’d, whole Cities would Corrupt and be fill’d with the Plague; and after great Battels, if the Dead should lie unbury’d, whole Countries would be destroy’d; "Sepulture defends from the Plague," all which Mischiefs are prevented by a timely Sepulture: For the Earth by its weight and closeness not only suppresses and dissipates the Vapours that arise from a putrid Carcass, but also imbibes and sucks up the stinking Gore; and being a Medium between that and the Sun, prevents the Beams of that Planet from suddenly exhaling such fetid Odours. "Likewise preserves Bodies." Nay the Lord Bacon farther assures us, That Burying in the Earth, which is cold and dry, serves for Preservation, Condensation and Induration of Bodies, as you may find in his 4th Century of his Natural History, Exper. 376, 377. But this needs no farther Confirmation, since Bodies are dug up in every Age perfect and uncorrupt, which perhaps had been buried above 40 or 50 Years, and some have been found petrified to a perfect Stone, of which we shall discourse more hereafter, therefore will at present proceed to acquaint you with other final Causes or Ends of Burial.

A Third Cause of Burial is, That Man’s Body may not be torn to pieces and devour’d by savage Beasts, and Birds of Prey, which would be a sight wholly unbecoming the Dignity of Human Nature, as Seneca observes Lib. 6. De Beneficiis: Inter maxima Rerum suarum, says he, nihil habet Natura, quo magis glorietur. Nature has nothing in the whole Creation of which she may boast more than of Man: So that it must needs be a grievous Trouble and Concern to her to see the Master-Piece and Perfection of all Creatures become thus a Prey to the vilest of Animals; and that he who whilst living had all of them under Subjection, so soon as ever his Spirit is separated from his Body, they should forget all Allegiance to their late Sovereign, and rebelliously Tear him to Pieces: Therefore we who are his Fellow-Creatures, and endu’d with Humanity, take care to bury him out of the way of such Harpies; and ought to perform all his Funeral Obsequies with the same Respect we were wont to show him whilst alive. Hence Hugo Grotius is of Opinion, That Burial was invented in respect to the Excellency of Man’s Body. "Taken from the Excellency of Man’s Body." Cum Homo cÆteris Animalibus prÆstet, indignum visum, si ejus Corpore alia Animantia pascerentur, quare inventam Sepulturam, ut id quantum posset, caveretur. Since Man excells all other Creatures, it was thought unworthy they should feed upon his Body; for which reason Sepulture was found out, that this Mischief might be prevented as far as possible. Likewise Lactantius, Lib. 6. Institut. cap. 12. says, Non patiemur Figuram & Figmentum DEI, Feris & Volucribus in PrÆdam jacere, sed reddamus id TerrÆ, unde ortum est. Let us not suffer the Image and Workmanship of GOD to lie expos’d as a Prey to the Beasts and Birds, but let us return it back to the Earth from whence it had its Origin.

So that we will account the Fourth Reason for Burial, to be the Excellency of Man’s Body, to which we ought to show the greater Honour and Respect, in that it is the Receptacle of the Immortal Soul. Hence Origen, Lib. 8. Contra Celsum says, Rationalem Animam honorare didicimus, & hujus Organa Sepulchro honorifice demandare. We have learn’d to Honour the Rational Soul, and respectfully to convey its Organs to the Grave. And thus St. Austin very elegantly expresses himself, Lib. 1. De Civit. DEI, cap. 13. Si Paterna Vestis & Annulus, vel si quid hujusmodi, tanto carius Posteris, quanto erga Parentes Affectus major, nullo modo ipsa spernenda sunt Corpora, quÆ utiq; multo familiarius, atq; conjunctius, quam quÆlibet Indumenta gestamus. If we take so much the more care to preserve our Fathers Apparel, Ring, and other Remainders of the like nature, as we bore an Affection to them, ’tis plain their Bodies are by no means to be neglected, which we wear closer and nearer to us than any Cloaths whatever.

But the Fifth Cause and ultimate End of Burial is in order to a future Resurrection, and as B. Gerhard asserts, agreeable to that Companion of Christ and St. Paul his Apostle, John 12. 24. 1 Corinth. 15. 37, 38. That Bodies are piously to be laid up in the Earth, like to Corn sowed, to confirm the assured Hope of the Resurrection: And therefore the place of Burial was call’d by St. Paul, Seminatio, as others term it Templi Hortus, the Churches Orchard or Garden. By the Greeks it was call’d, ????t?????, Dormitorium, a Sleeping Place. By the Hebrews, ??? ????, Beth-chajim, i. e. Domus Viventium, the House of the Living, in the same respect as the Germans call Church-Yards, Gotsacker, i. e. DEI Ager, aut Fundus, GOD’s Field, in which the Bodies of the Pious are sowed like to Grain or Corn, in expectation of a future Harvest. By these Appellations we are admonish’d of the Resurrection of the Body, and of the Immortality which is given by GOD to the Soul. For as they that Sleep awake again, and as Christ who is the Head arose again, so shall we who are his Members arise. Hence Calvin (Commenting on Isaiah 14. 18.) says, The Carcasses of Beasts are thrown out, because they were Born to Putrefaction; but our Bodies are interr’d in the Earth, and being there deposited, expect the last Day, that they may arise from thence to lead a Blessed and Immortal Life with the Soul. Also Aurelius Prudentius, a Christian Poet, rightly asserts The Hope of the Resurrection to be the chief Cause why the greatest Care is taken of Burial, whereof he has most excellently describ’d every particular Circumstance in a Latin Funeral Hymn, which being Translated by Sir John Beaumont, Baronet, into 172 Verses, I will for brevity sake refer you to Weaver’s Funeral Monuments, pag. 25. where you will find them inserted, and worth your Perusal.

Nevertheless, we are not to think, tho’ Burial was ordain’d by GOD as a Work both pleasing and acceptable to him, and consequently approv’d and practis’d by all Men, that therefore the want of it, or any particular Ceremony thereof, can any ways be prejudicial to a Christian Soul, as St. Austin and Ludovicus Vives his Commentator alledges, Lib. 1. De Civit. DEI, cap. 11. And that Complaint which the Royal Prophet makes, Psalm 79. 3. That there was none to bury the dead Bodies of GOD’s Servants, was spoken rather to intimate their Villany that neglected it, than any Misery to them that underwent it. ’Tis true such Actions may appear heinous and tyranous in the Eye of Man, but precious in the Sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints: Neither is our Faith in his assured Promise so frail, as to think ravenous Beasts or Birds of Prey can any ways make the Body want any part at the Resurrection; but, on the contrary, we are well satisfied that in a Moment there shall be given such a new Restitution, not only out of the Earth, but out of the most minute Particles of all the other Elements, wherein any Bodies can possibly be included, that not a Hair of our Heads shall be missing. We read how the Bodies of the Christians (after great Battels, and the Sacking and Subverting of Towns and Cities) stood in want of the Rights and Ceremonies of Burial, which neither is to be accounted any Omission in the living Christians, who could not perform them, nor any Hurt to the Dead, who could not feel them. We may, moreover, find in the History of Martyrs, and such like Persecutions, how barbarous and cruel Tyrants have raged over the Bodies of Christians, who, not content with tormenting them to Death several thousands of ways, still persever’d with inhumanity to insult over their mangled Corps, and at length to shew their utmost Contempt, bury’d them in the Bowels of rapacious Creatures, or what other ignominious ways their wickedness could invent. Nevertheless, we have all the reason to believe their Souls were receiv’d into Heaven, and that their Bodies will at the last Day be reunited intire to them again; after which, Death will have no more Power over their Bodies than their Souls, but as St. Paul says, 1 Cor. 15. 44. They will become Spiritual Bodies. "Nor any kind thereof hurtful." So that in this respect it matters not after what manner the Body be destroy’d, dissolv’d or bury’d, as Tatian in his Book Contra Gentes says, Quamvis Caro tota Incendio absumatur tamen Materiam evaporatam Mundus excipit, quanquam aut in Fluviis, aut in Mari contabescam, aut Feriis dilanior, condor tamen in Penu locupletis Domini. Altho’ the Flesh be wholly consum’d by Fire, yet the World receives the evaporated Matter, nay, altho’ I am wash’d to nothing in Rivers or Seas, or am devour’d by wild Beasts, yet shall I be reposited in the Store-House of a most wealthy Lord. Likewise Minutius FÆlix in Octavio has these Words: Corpus omne sive arescit in Pulverem, sive in Humorem solvitur, vel in Cinerem comprimitur, vel in Nidorem tenuatur, subducitur Bonis, sed DEO Elementorum custodio reservatur. The Body whether it be dry’d into Powder, resolv’d into Moisture, reduc’d to Ashes, or evaporated into Air, is indeed taken away from Good Men, but still the custody of the Elements is reserv’d to GOD. Some have been accounted a rigid sort of Stoicks, and void of all Humanity, for this Reason only, because they averr’d it profited nothing, whether the Body corrupted above or beneath the Earth. Thus Lucan, Lib. 7.

And that Favorite-Courtier MecÆnas was wont to say:

But this these spoke only in respect to the Soul, which could receive no Hurt nor Damage from the Bodies being cast out unbury’d; therefore they seemingly ridicul’d and despis’d it, the better to fortifie Men against any fear of the want of Burial, yet they firmly believ’d that all those who were depriv’d thereof, were the most miserable and wretched of Creatures, and that their Souls continually wander’d, as Virgil elegantly expresses, Æneid. 6. v. 325. where Æneas asking the Cybil why such a number of Souls stood crowding near the Stygian Lake, and were refus’d a Passage, he receiv’d this Answer:

Some again are induc’d perhaps to think the care of Burial needless, because there is no Sense in a Dead Body, as the Proverb has it, Mortui non dolent; and others reject it for this Reason, Quia sentienti Onus est Terra, nihil sentienti, supervacaneum. For the Earth’s a Burthen to him that is sensible of it, but none to him that is not.

Diogenes the Cynic Philosopher, among the rest of his Whimsies, despis’d Sepulture, and when he was told he must thereby become a Prey to the Beasts and Birds, he gave them this jocose Advice, Si id metues, ponite juxta me Bacillum, quo abigam eos. If you fear that, place my Staff by me that I may drive them away. Quid poteris nihil sentiens? What can you do if you are sensible of nothing? Reply’d his Friend. To which he answer’d, Quid igitur Ferarum laniatus oberit nihil sentienti? If I am not sensible, how can their Teeth affect me? At other times he was wont to say on the like Occasion, Si Canes meum lacerabunt Cadaver, Hyrcanorum nactus fuero Sepulturam, Si Vultures, Iberiorum; quod si nullum Animal accederet, ipsum Tempus: Pulcherimam fore Sepulturam, Corpore pretiosissimis Rebus, Sole, inquam & Imbribus absumpto. If the Dogs eat my Carcass, I shall have the Sepulture of the Hyrcanians, if Vultures, of the Iberians; but if no Animal come near me, then shall I be consum’d by Time, and, What a fine sort of Burial must that needs be, to have my Body reduc’d to Dust by two of the most precious Things in Nature, the Sun and Showers? Likewise Demonactes being told, if he were flung out unbury’d, as he desir’d, the Dogs would tear him to pieces, he wittily answer’d, Quid incommodi, si mortuus alicui sim usui? What hurt can it do me, if after I am Dead I do somebody Good?

It may farther be ask’d, Why Plato, Aristotle, and other Philosophers, famous for Learning and Piety, despis’d the Rites and Ceremonies of Sepulture? To which I answer, They did not really Despise them, nor durst they say they were not to be at all: They said only, if by chance they were neglected, it could do no hurt. Nor lastly did Lucretius contemn Sepulture, he only laughed at those who procur’d it for this Reason, because they thought there still remain’d a Sense in the Dead, as you will perceive by these Lines of his, Lib. 3.

Hereby ’tis plain Lucretius only blames and chides those who are of a doubtful and wavering Mind, and that openly confess there can be no future Sense remaining after Death, yet privately hope within themselves that some Parts will remain, and therefore mightily dread the want of Burial, nay, violently abhor being a Prey to wild Beasts and Birds. This I take to be a natural hint of the Resurrection of the Body and Immortality of the Soul, tho’ outwardly these Pagans disown’d both:

We cannot believe there were ever any Philosophers in the World, of such obdurate Hearts, as strictly to deny Burial, tho’ out of a seeming Arrogance they despis’d it; but that they only pretended so lest their Antagonists should think the want of Burial an inflicted Punishment, therefore they were the easier mov’d, as much as in them lay, to expose them. "Why the Frenchdeny’d it." Thus Pausanias in Phocic. gives an Instance of some French who deny’d Burial to the slain in Battel, alledging it was a Ceremony nothing to be esteem’d of; but the true Reason they did it was, That they might bring the greater Terror on their Enemies, and make them to have the worse Opinion of their Cruelty. It must be granted, the Dead have no sense of any Change or Dissolution they undergo, and that it is a ridiculous Opinion of Tyrants, to think to punish the Body by mangling it, and delivering it to be torn to pieces and devour’d; neither do Bodies suffer any Hurt or Damage in respect to the Soul, after what manner soever they are bury’d: Yet you must grant these sufficient Reasons why the Dead should be taken care of, and not be despis’d and cast away; for as we esteem the Body the Temple of GOD, and Receptacle of the Soul, so ought we honourably to Interr it with those Funeral Obsequies as are becoming its Quality and Dignity.

Now we must look upon Burial to be a Work enjoin’d both by the Law of Nature and Nations, and not only by the Human but by the Divine Law; for the most Barbarous as well as Civiliz’d People of the World have ever paid some Respect and Observance to their Dead, tho’ perhaps after different Manners, by Burying them in the Water, Earth, Air, Fire, &c. The common Dictates of Nature have taught them to abhor such dismal Objects and offensive Smells as dead Bodies must necessarily present, and their Religion has shown them the Inhumanity and Cruelty of neglecting their Duty to them: Nay, if we look into the Natural History of Animals, we shall find some of them excelling Man in this particular, by taking a more than ordinary Care of their Dead, as is to be seen not only in Cranes, Elephants and Dolphins, &c. As Ælian de Animalibus, Lib. 2. cap. 1. and Lib. 12. cap. 6. and Franzius in his History of Animals, cap. 4. Peter Faber in his Semestrium, Pliny and others observe, but likewise in Ants, Bees and other Insects; for as Grotius in his Treatise, De Jure Belli & Pacis, Lib. 11. cap. 19. rightly observes, "Observ’d by Brutes, &c. as well as Men." Nullum est in Homine Factum laudabile, quin non Vestigium, in alio aliquo Animantium Genere DEUS posuerit. There is nothing done by Man worthy of Commendation, but GOD has imprinted some Imitation of it even in Brutes.

A Corps lying unbury’d and Putrifying, is not only a dismal Aspect to our Eyes, offensive to our Nose, and ungrateful to all our External Senses, but even horrid in our very private Apprehensions and secret Conceptions; nay to hear it but only nam’d, is so very unnatural and unpleasant to us, that we care not to entertain the least Thought of Death, even to the deferr’d Time of our Expiration. What presence of Mind can enable a Fellow-Creature to behold such a miserable Object as this, express’d by its dismal Aspect, deform’d Proportion, foetid Smell, putrid Carcass, and the like, and this perhaps of one who was but just now your Bosom-Friend or the World’s Favorite, a Prince worthy of Immortality for his Wisdom, Piety, Valour, Conduct, &c. and justly admir’d for the Beauty of his Person, Gracefulness of his Mien, and Conformity of all the External Parts of his Body, as well as Internal Qualifications of his Mind? Certainly common Humanity and Self-Preservation would alone persuade us to Inter him out of our Sight, or else preserve him from a State of Corruption and Deformity by Embalming.

I have before observ’d how Beasts receiv’d the Infection of the Murrain from a Putrefaction of their own Bodies; now I will shew you how they likewise, by Natural Instinct, avoid each other in such like Calamities: The Sound shun the Company of the Infected, and they reciprocally separate from the rest to Mourn by themselves. A wounded Bird leaves the Flight: A Stag (when Shot) forsakes the Herd and flies to the Desarts: And every Diseas’d Creature retires into some solitary Place, where its last Care seems to be, that of providing for its Burial. "Every Creature takes care of its own Burial." Reptiles creep into Holes, and Birds into their Nests, or the Bottoms of thick Hedges: Rabbets die in their Burrows: Foxes, Badgers and Wolves, &c. in their Dens, after which nothing will Inhabit there. So that they seem to know they shall lie undisturb’d in those Dormitories, which they took care in their Lives Time to provide and dig in order to their Interment; like as some Hermits, who, during their Lives, made their Cave their Habitation, but when Dead their Tomb.

The larger sort of Domestic and Tame Creatures seem likewise to endeavour this, as much as they can, as may be observ’d from Horses, Oxen, Sheep, &c. who when they decline and draw near their Deaths, seek either the thickest part of a Wood, a Dell or Gravel-Pit in a Common, or deep Ditch in a Field, where they may lay themselves down, as in a Grave, and die: They seem to desire nothing more of their Master, whom they have all their Lives faithfully serv’d, than to cover their Bodies with the Earth.

The lesser Tame Animals, as Dogs, Cats, &c. know they have no occasion to take that Care of themselves, for when they die, their Master is oblig’d to remove them out of his House and bury them: "How Insects bury themselves." But as for Insects, they (fearing Mankind should be regardless of their inconsiderable Bodies, and not be so grateful as to take care of their Funerals, tho’ they had consum’d their Lives in making Food and Raiment for their Master) seem with a more extraordinary Contrivance, and admirable Art, to provide for their own Burial. The little Bee works its Honey-Comb for the Benefit of Man while it lives, and for its own Sepulture when it dies; the Comb serving for its Tomb, and the Wax and remaining Honey for its Embalment, conformable to that Saying of Martial, in his Fourth Book and Thirty Second Epigram:

The Silk-Worm (which also willingly parts with her Stock and Labour for the Benefit of Mankind) makes a small reserve of Silk, sufficient for her Winding-Sheet, which when she has finish’d, she dies therein, and is as nobly Interr’d, as all the Egyptian Art, with its fine Painted Rowlers of Cyprus, Lawn or Silk could make her.

Other Insects, as Flies, Ants, Gnats, and the like, which are not dispos’d with Organs to perform such Works, yet have this in particular, that they can outdare the most resolute Indian "Some are Burn’d and others Embalm’d." (when, without any previous Exhortation, they suddenly leap into the Funeral Pyre of a Candle or Torch, and outvie the costly Embalming of Arabia) when they voluntarily fly into liquid Amber, and by that means obtain a more noble and incorruptible Sepulture than any other Creature. These have had Poets to write Funeral Orations to their immortal Praise, as the two Epigrams in Martial of a Viper and Pismire in some measure testifie, Lib. 4. Ep. 59. and Lib. 6. Ep. 15. Witness also Brassavolus of the Pismire, and Cardanus’s Mausoleum for a Flie: Nor could Virgil (the Prince of Poets) omit taking notice of the well order’d Funerals of the Bees, Georg. Lib. 4. l. 255.

Ælian, Lib. 5. cap. 49. reports, That if one Elephant finds another dead, he will not pass by ’till he has got together a great heap of Earth and flung it over his Carcass; so, in all other Creatures, Nature has provided both Burial and a Grave for them. "Brutes Bury’d with Pomp and Magnificence." Nay it is yet further remarkable, that such Brutes as have either prov’d faithful or loving to their Masters, or done any extraordinary Action, have been bury’d with wonderful Magnificence, and had Tombs and Inscriptions made in Honour of them. Cimon the Athenian bury’d those Horses he had been thrice a Victor with in the Olympick Games, with great Pomp near his own Sepulchre. Also Alexander the Great made a magnificent Funeral for his Horse Bucephalus, building a City where he dy’d, and calling it after that Beast’s Name in memory of him. After his Example, several of the Roman Emperors and CÆsars, such as Augustus, Caligula, Nero, Adrian, Antoninus, Commodus, &c. bury’d their favourite Horses, and adorn’d their Tombs with Epitaphs, as you may find in Barthius, Lib. 23. cap. 8. Pliny, Lib. 8. cap. 22. Affirms such Horses as had conquer’d at the Olympick Games, were bury’d and had Tombs and Pyramids erected to perpetuate their Fame.

Xantippus carefully bury’d his Dogs, and, as Kornmannus reports, Polliacus erected, in the Garden of Cardinal Urbin at Rome, Columns of the finest Marble, of vast Expence, in Memory of his beloved Bitch, on which he inscrib’d this Epitaph:

Also in the House of that Famous Italian Poet Francis Petrarch, at Arqua, near Padua, there is a Tomb of a Cat, adorn’d with an Elegy, which Santorellus in his Post-Praxis Medica, p. 5. has Printed, with others of a Mule, a Crane, &c. Pliny, Lib. 10. cap. 43. says, a Crow (which imitated Human Voice, and which was wont every Morning to salute the Senators by their Names) was bury’d honourably, being carry’d out on the Shoulders of two Æthiopians, with a Crown before it, and a Trumpet sounding; the Person that kill’d it being ston’d to Death. Ælian, Lib 6. Animal. cap. 7. tells us, Marrhes, King of Egypt, built a Sepulchre for a Raven, which was wont to carry his Letters to and fro under its Wing; and, Lib. 7. cap. 41. he says, Lacydes, a Peripatetic Philosopher, had a Goose which us’d to follow him up and down, both at home and abroad, and whom for that Reason he Bury’d with the same Honour and Respect as he would have done a Brother or Son. The Stag which warr’d against the Trojans, was also honour’d with a Tomb; but it were endless to relate all the Brutes the Pagans have given Burial to, as Rhodiginus witnesses in Antiq. Lect. 58. cap. 13. The Parthians were accustom’d to bury their Horses, and the Molossians their Dogs, as Statius the Poet observes, Lib. 2. Sylvar. in Epicedio Pileti.

But the Egyptians surpass’d them all, for they Embalm’d the Bodies of several Animals, as Cats, Crocodiles, Hawks and the like, that so they might keep them the longer to adore and admire: If therefore Pagans have been thus careful to honour Brutes with all the Rights of Burial, how much more ought we who are Christians to afford this last Duty to one another?

We find in the first Age of the World, says Cambden, the Care of Burial was so great, that Fathers laid a strict Charge on their Children, concerning translating their Bodies to their Graves, every one being desirous to return in Sepulchra Majorum, into the Sepulchres of his Ancestors. Thus those Holy Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and the rest, did not only lay the heaviest Commands about their being bury’d, but also about transferring their Bodies to such Places as they nam’d: So Jacob, at his Death, charg’d his Son Joseph to carry his Body into the Sepulchre of his Fathers, Gen. 47. 30. and 49. 29. And Joseph commanded his Brethren they should remember and tell their Posterity, that when they went away into the Land of Promise, they should carry his Bones along with them, Gen. 50. 25. Now this Filial Care was not only their last and greatest Duty to their Parents, "Burial a Work acceptable to GOD." but also a Work well pleasing and acceptable to GOD; an Example whereof we have in Tobit, who being blind, GOD sent his Angel Raphael to cure him, as a Reward for his pious Care in burying those who had been slain by King Sennacherib in his wrath, and cast without the Walls of Nineveh: But altho’ the King’s Servants forceably took away his Goods, and sought to put him to Death; yet when he heard one more had been strangl’d, and cast out into the Market-Place, he was so zealous in his Care, that tho’ he was just set down to Meat, he tasted not of it, ’till he had fetch’d him up into a private Room, and when the Sun was set, he ventur’d to make a Grave and bury him. "To our Saviour." Likewise our Saviour (being to rise again the Third Day) commended that good Work of those Religious Women, who pour’d pretious Ointments, with sweet Odours, on his Head and Body, which they did in order to his Burial. Moreover, the Gospel has crown’d those with immortal Praise that took down Christ’s Body from the Cross, and gave it honest and honourable Burial. This signifies, says St. Austin, that the Providence of GOD extends even to the Bodies of the Dead (for he is pleas’d with such good Works) and builds up a Belief of the Resurrection, by which, says he, we may learn this profitable Lesson, viz. How great the Reward of Alms done to the Living must be, since this Duty and Kindness shown even to the Dead is not forgotten of GOD.

Burial of the Dead was accounted by the Antients a Work of Piety and Religion, because they esteem’d it both an Act of Justice and Mercy:

Of Justice, in that Earth should be return’d to Earth and Dust to Dust; for, What could be more just than to restore to Mother Earth her Children, that as she had furnish’d them at first with a Material Being, Food, Raiment, Sustenance, and all things necessary, so she might at last receive them again into her Bosom, and afford them lodging ’till the Resurrection? "Of Mercy." The Antients also thought it an Act of Mercy to hide the Dead in the Earth, that the Organs of such Divine Souls might not be torn and devour’d by wild Beasts, Birds, &c. Cicero in his Oration for Quinctius calls Burial an Act of Humanity. "Of Humanity." Valerius Maximus, Lib. 5. cap. 1. Humanity and Mildness. Seneca de Benefic. Lib. 5 cap. 20. Humanity and Mercy. Ammianus Marcellinus, Lib. 31. "Of Piety." A necessary Office of Piety; and St. Ambrose in the beginning of an Oration of his on the Death of the Emperor Theodosius, The last and greatest Office of Piety. Isocrates commending the Athenians for the great Care they took to bury their Dead, says, It was a mark and token of their Piety towards the Gods, since it was they and not Men that had establish’d that Law. Also Servius observes Virgil call’d Æneas by the name of Pious, because of the Funeral Honours, he, with so much Care and Application, had always paid to his Relations and Friends. Plato speaking of the several kinds of Justice, has not omitted what belongs to the Dead; nay Aristotle thought it more just to help those that were depriv’d of Life, than to assist the Living. The Latin Phrase also intimates how just a thing it is to bury the Dead, where it calls Funeral Rites, Justa Exequiarum, or Justa Funebria, quia justum est, justa facere, solvere, peragere. Nay it has no other appellation in that Language than that of Justice, and in Greek of a lawful Custom, Piety and Godliness, so that amongst both the Romans and Grecians, who have been the two most potent and civiliz’d Nations of the World, when they would express one had been Interr’d, they said, they had done him Right or Justice, and such as neglected to do the like they accounted void of all Piety and Humanity.

And to shew how Religious an Act it is to bury the Dead; the Gentiles assign’d the Care of all Funerals and Sepulture to certain Gods they term’d Manes, whose chief was Pluto, call’d also Summanus, whence all Tombs and Monuments came to be dedicated, Diis Manibus. Homer, Euripedes, Aristotle and others have accounted Sepulture an Honour and Reward to Mens Actions; and on the contrary look’d on all such as miserable and unhappy whose Bodies lying unbury’d, wanted that last Happiness.

Decent Burial, with suitable Attendants of Kindred and Friends, according to the Quality of the Person (says Weever of Funeral Monuments, p. 25.) is an Honour to the Deceas’d. Hezekiah, says the Text, slept with his Fathers, and they bury’d him in the highest Sepulchres of the Sons of David, and all Judah and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem did him Honour at his Death, 2 Chron. 32. 33. Thus in all Ages Burial has been accounted an Happiness and Quiet to the Mind, and a Favour from GOD, whereas the want of it has been look’d on as an Evil and Misery, a Curse and Punishment, a Disgrace and Ignominy.

First, In the Holy Scripture it is call’d an Happiness, Favour and Kindness: This was foretold by Ahijah, and to be shewn to Abijah, 1 Kings 14. 13. And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the Grave, because in him there is found some good Thing towards the Lord GOD of Israel, &c. It was accounted a Glory to be bury’d in a Sepulchre, even to Kings who were laid up in stately Tombs and Monuments, as in their Beds, and thus the Prophet Isaiah speaks, Chap. 14. ver. 18. All the Kings of the Nations lye in Glory, every one in his own House. By the same Prophet GOD comforted Zedekiah King of Judah when he was taken Captive, telling him he should never die in War or Battel, or be deny’d Burial; but that the King of Babylon should give his People leave to bury him in an honourable manner, and with such Solemnities as the burning of sweet Odours, &c. at his Funeral, as they were wont to use at the Exequies of their Kings, who liv’d belov’d of their Country, 2 Chron. 16. 14. But thou shalt die in Peace (says Jeremiah to him, Chap. 34. ver. 5.) and with the Burnings of thy Fathers, the former Kings which were before thee, so shall they burn Odours for thee, and lament thee, &c.

To die a natural Death, to be lamented and bury’d, and to lye in the Sepulchre of their Fathers, was ever accounted a great Honour and Happiness among the antient Jews, for which the Scripture-Phrase, throughout the Old Testament, is Sleeping, which implies lying at Rest and undisturb’d as well as Dying. Thus, in 2 Kings 8. 24. it is said, And Joram slept with his Fathers, and was bury’d with his Fathers in the City of David. And 9. 28. His Servants carry’d Ahaziah in a Chariot to Jerusalem, and bury’d him in a Sepulchre with his Fathers in the City of David. And Cap. 15. ver. 7. So Azariah slept with his Fathers, &c. Also, ver. 22. and 28. of the same Chapter, and in many other places, as 1 Kings 2. 10. So David slept with his Fathers, and was bury’d in the City of David. By all this it is to be observ’d, that in this City was the usual Royal Burying-Place, where both David and all his Successors, that were of any Note or Renown, were bury’d. This appears likewise by 1 Kings 11. 43. 2 Chron. 12. 16. and 14. 1. and 16. 14. and 21. 1. David’s Sepulchre was made of such durable Materials, and so well kept and repair’d by his Posterity, that it continu’d ’till the Apostles Time (Acts 2. 22.) which was the space of almost 2000 Years.

On the contrary, to die an unnatural Death, and in another Country, as also to be depriv’d of the Sepulchre of ones Fathers or Ancestors, was always esteem’d a note of Infamy and a kind of Curse. Thus, in 1 Kings 13. 22. the seduc’d Prophet, because he disobey’d the Word of the Lord, was reprov’d by him who was the occasion of his Error, as he had it in Command from GOD, and withal told, That his Carcass should not come into the Sepulchre of his Fathers. Isaiah speaking in derision of the Death and Sepulture of the King of Babylon, which was not with his Fathers, in that his Tyranny was so much abhorr’d, thus notes his Unhappiness, Chap. 14. 19, 20. Thou art cast out of thy Grave, like an abominable Branch; and as the Raiment of those that are slain, thrust thro’ with a Sword; and shall go down to the Stones of the Pit, as a Carcass trodden under Foot. Thou shalt not be join’d with thy Fathers in Burial. That is, he should want all the Honours of Sepulture, and all such Funeral Rites as were to have been paid to him as a most potent King, and that he should not be admitted to lye in the Grave amongst his Ancestors, but that his Corps should remain neglected above Ground unbury’d, and be trodden to pieces like vile Carrion.

The want of Burial proceeds also from a Judgment of GOD, as will appear from the Example of Jehoiakim, the Son of Josiah King of Judah, whom for his great Wickednesses, such as Covetousness, Oppression, shedding innocent Blood and the like, GOD threatned with the want of Burial (a severe Sentence!) and that he should have no solemn Funeral or honourable Sepulture, such as Kings usually have, nay, not so much as an ordinary Burial among the Graves of the common People, Jer. 26. 23. but be cast out like Carrion in some remote Place: And Chap. 22. 19. "To be bury’d like an Ass." He shall be bury’d with the Burial of an Ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the Gates of Jerusalem, that is, as an Ass is wont to be bury’d, he being more worthy the Society of Beasts than Men. The Greeks call the Burial of an Ass, ?taf?? t?f??, according to that Expression of Cicero, Insepulta Sepultura; and Sanctius expounds it, that to be bury’d like an Ass, is to be cast out into a sordid and open Place, which neither covers the horrid and obscene Parts of the Body, nor hinders the Dogs or Birds from tearing it to pieces, but as in Chap. 36. ver. 30. His dead Body shall be cast out in the Day-Time to the Heat, and in the Night to the Frost; that being so expos’d, it may the sooner putrefie, and become the more vile and loathsom; and that the sight of a King’s Body, in such a condition, should be an hideous Spectacle and horrid Monument of GOD’s heavy Wrath and Indignation unto all that should behold it, Isaiah 66. 24. Wherefore Ecclesiastes wisely concludes, Chap. 6. 3. A Man had better have never been born than to have no Burial. The People of Israel (crying unto GOD against the barbarous Tyranny of the Babylonians, who spoil’d GOD’s Inheritance, polluted his Temple, destroy’d his Religion, and murther’d his Chosen Nation) amongst other Calamities, thus complain for the want of Sepulture, Psal. 79. 2, 3. The dead Bodies of thy Servants have they given to be Meat to the Fowls of the Heavens, the Flesh of thy Saints to the Beasts of the Earth. Their Blood have they shed like to Water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them. Here the Prophet observes, that GOD suffers his Church sometimes to fall to great Extremities, to exercise their Faith before he delivers them; as at other times he deprives the Wicked of Sepulture, to bring them to Repentance by such an ignominious and shameful Punishment. Thus, for the Pride and Wickedness of Jezebel, the Prophet Elijah pronounces GOD’s Vengeance against her, saying, In the Portion of Jezreel shall Dogs eat the Flesh of Jezebel, and her Carcass shall be as Dung upon the face of the Field, so that they shall not say, this is Jezebel, and there shall be none to bury her, 2 Kings 9. 10, 36, 37. "To become like Dung rotting upon the Earth." By the Comparison to Dung is shown how odious and contemptible a Thing it is to be cast out unbury’d, and to be trodden under Foot, to lye expos’d to the Air and Weather, to rot and stink or become Food to Birds, Beasts and Reptiles. Jeremiah foretelling the Desolation of the Jews, acquaints them, Chap. 19. 7. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, I will cause them to fall by the Sword before their Enemies, and their Carcasses will I give to be Meat to the Fowls of the Heavens, and to the Beasts of the Field, and none shall fright them away, Chap. 7. 33. Deut. 28. 26. Also speaking of their Kings, Princes, Priests and Prophets, he tells them that Their Bones shall be spread before the Sun and Moon, &c. they shall not be bury’d, but be for Dung upon the face of the Earth, Jer. 8. 2. In other places of his Prophesie he tells them, They shall die of grievous Deaths and Diseases, they shall be neither bury’d nor lamented, but lye rotting like Dung, and be Meat for the Fowls of the Heavens and Beasts of the Earth, Chap. 16. 4. Chap. 25. 33. Chap. 34. 20. 1 Kings 14. 11. Chap. 21. 23, 24. 2 Kings 9. 10. and Ezek. 29. 4. Also in the 39. Chapter of the Prophet Ezekiel and the 17, 18, 19 and 20 Verses, GOD to shew his severe Judgment, calls the Fowls of the Air and Beasts of the Field to a Sacrifice of the Flesh and Blood of the Princes of the Earth, to eat their Fat and drink their Blood; abundance more Examples of the like nature the Scripture affords us.

Next we will consider what a miserable thing it was esteem’d, even by the Pagans, to lye cast out unbury’d. That disconsolate Mother of Euryalus, is not so much griev’d for the loss of her Son, who was slain in Battel, as for that he should be made a Prey to the Birds and Beasts, whom therefore she thus bewails:

Also the same Poet represents Tarquitus thus insulting over his conquer’d Enemy, Æn. 10. v. 557.

So great was the Honour of Sepulture amongst the Pagans, says Quenstedt, De Sepult. Vet. p. 24. "Sepulture deny’d Enemies out of Revenge." That when they design’d to shew the greatest Envy and Reproach to their most inveterate Enemies, they depriv’d their Bodies of Sepulture, as is noted in the History of the Heroes in Homer, in the War between Polynices and Eteocles the Theban, and other antient Histories, as likewise in Claudian, De Bello Gild. v. 39. Now Mezentius fearing this, does not desire Æneas to spare his Life, but earnestly entreats him to afford him Burial, Virg. Æneid, Lib. 10. v. 901.

Turnus also intreats the like Favour:

However, generally speaking, Sepulture was observ’d as well in Time of War as Peace, to which purpose Heralds or Embassadors were wont to be sent to make Truce ’till they could bury their Dead; which if deny’d, says Grotius, the Antients thought their War more lawful and just. Thus Hannibal, a sworn Enemy to the very Name of Romans, is said by Livy, Decad. 3. Lib. 2. to have sought the Bodies of Caius Flaminius, Tiberius Gracchus and Marcellus Roman Generals, conquer’d and slain by him, that he might bury them. Likewise Philip of Macedon is equally to be commended for his Humanity, in performing Funeral Rites and Ceremonies towards his deceas’d Enemies; of which see Peter Faber, Lib. 3. Semestr. cap. 13. p. 183. who also gives the like account of his Son Alexander, in that after he had overcome Darius, he granted leave to his Mother to bury him after what manner she pleas’d, and withal commanded the same Honour to be afforded the Persian Nobles; as also that all such Soldiers as were found slain should be bury’d with care, as is recorded by Q. Curtius, Lib. 3. Valerius Maximus likewise, Lib. 9. cap. 8. tells us the Athenians so strictly observ’d this Custom in their Wars, "Generals put to Death for neglecting it." that they punish’d those Generals with Death that neglected to bury the Slain, tho’ otherwise they were Men of Valour and had done several extraordinary Exploits. "Others have perform’d it with great Care." Plutarch in his Lives, informs us how careful Nicias, an Athenian General, was in this point, for he commanded his whole Army to halt, while he honour’d two slain Soldiers with Burial and a Tomb. The like pious Care is mention’d of Æneas to Misenus, by Virgil in his 6th Æneid, v. 232.

The Romans in general as well as the Grecians carefully bury’d their Enemies, nor would they defraud them of any Funeral Rites, says Suidas. The like Rhodiginus, Lect. Antiq. Lib. 17. testifies of the Hebrews, by whose Law the Enemy was not to be left unbury’d. Nor must we pass by the Humanity of the Northern People, who as Olaus Wormius in Monument. Danic. Lib. 1. cap. 6. writes, thought it deserving the greatest Praise, to exercise this Hospitable Piety of burying the Carcasses of their Enemies, to whom they bore no farther Malice after their Deaths, but afforded them friendly Sepulture. Amongst others, an Example of this nature is fetch’d out of Saxo, a most eloquent Danish Historian, who in the Third Book of his History, which he wrote about 500 Years ago, introduces Collerus pronouncing this wise and elegant Oration to his Enemy Horvendillus, with whom he was going to engage in Fight:

Quoniam, says he, Exitus in dubio manet, invicem Humanitati deferendum est, nec adeo Ingeniis indulgendum, ut Extrema negligantur Officia. Odium in Animis est adsit tamen Pietas, quÆ Rigori demum opportuna succedat, nam etsi Mentium nos Discrimina separant, NaturÆ tamen Jura conciliant. Horum quippe Consortio jungimur, quantuscunq; Animos Livor dissociet. HÆc itaque Pietatis nobis Conditio sit, ut Victum Victor Exequiis prosequatur. His enim suprema Humanitatis Officia inesse constat, quÆ nemo Pius abhorruit. Utraq; Acies id Munus, Rigore deposito concorditer exequatur. Facesset post Fatum Livor, Simultasq; Funere sopiatur. Absit nobis tantÆ Crudelitatis Specimen, ut quanquam Vivis Odium intercesserit, Alter alterius Cineres persequatur. Gloriosum Victori erit, si Victi Funus magnifice duxerit; nam qui defuncto Hosti Justa persolverit, superstitis sibi Favorem adsciscit, vivumq; Beneficiis vincit, quisquis extincto Studium Humanitatis impendet. Which may be thus English’d: By reason the Event of what we are going about is doubtfull, let us mutually engage to shew Humanity to each other, nor so far indulge our Passions as to neglect the last Duties. We have Malice in our Hearts, let there be likewise such a Piety as may opportunely succeed our Rigour; for tho’ a difference in our Minds happens to divide us, the Law of Nature will reunite us. Tho’ we are never so far seperated by Envy, this will bring us together again. Let it therefore be the Condition of our Piety, that the Conqueror follow the Herse of the Conquer’d. Herein the last Offices of Humanity consist, which no good Man ever yet refus’d. Let both Armies then suspend their Hatred to perform this Duty. After Death let Envy be remov’d and secret Prejudice disarm’d. May every kind of Cruelty forsake us, tho’ living we hated each other, let us lovingly accompany one anothers Ashes. ’Twill be a Glorious Thing in the Victor Magnificently to Interr the Vanquish’d; for he that performs Funeral Rites to a slain Enemy, will be sure to have a surviving Friend, and whoever employs his Study in Humanity towards the Dead, cannot thereby fail of obliging the Living.

Thus have the Ancients always provided for their Funerals, in case they were slain in Battel; but when they dy’d at Sea, then were they destitute of all such hopes, therefore dreaded that Element for fear they should become a Prey to Fish or any Marine Monster, which was a great check and damp to their Spirits in an Engagement, Storm or the like. Both the Greek and Roman Hero’s, who fear’d not Death in Land-Fights, as hoping the same Place where they fought might afford them a peaceful Grave, were yet mightily concern’d and dismay’d at the thoughts of a Naval-Combat, or when they were in danger of Shipwrack, and this because they then saw themselves on the point of being for ever depriv’d of Sepulture. Thus Achilles, who brav’d all manner of Dangers, could not, as Homer confesses, keep himself from being daunted at that of Shipwrack, when he found himself ready to bulge in the River Xanthus. A like Fear of Scipio’s, the greatest Captain the Romans ever had, Silius Italicus mentions, who tells us, tho’ he had so many Times, without the least concern or dread, seen Rivers of Blood running down, yet was he most terribly affrighted in passing the River Trebia, where he saw himself in danger of drowning. The same account Statius gives of Hippomedon, who, as he says, could without any Trouble have presented his Body to the dint of a thousand Swords, yet was not able to abide the Thoughts of being cast away in the River Theumesia. Also that stout General Æneas, tho’ he fear’d neither Fire nor Sword, yet was so afraid of Water, that being like to sink in a Storm, he thus exclaims:

In a Word, this was the Death Ovid could by no means brook, and that upon this score only, that it would deprive him of Burial:

The Ancients fear’d to die at Sea, because dead Bodies, being toss’d to and fro with the Winds and Waves, were often dash’d against Rocks, and never lay at rest, nay, perhaps were at last devour’d by greedy Fish, or torn to pieces by the sharp Talons and Beaks of Sea-Fowls; whereas to rest in the Grave was accounted the greatest Happiness (whence Sepulchres came to be call’d, Requietoria) but to be depriv’d of it the greatest Misery and Punishment, nay the vilest Ignominy and Disgrace.

To want the Honour of Burial was held among the Egyptians one of the greatest Punishments could be inflicted, wherefore they deny’d it to executed Criminals, whose Bodies they gave to the Birds and Beasts, as may not obscurely be gather’d from Joseph’s Interpretation Gen. 40. 19. thus speaking to the chief Baker, Within three Days shall Pharaoh lift up thy Head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a Tree, and the Birds shall eat thy Flesh, &c.

Hence it was the Greeks, either refus’d all manner of Sepulture, or at least decent Burial, to Infamous Persons, or such as had committed any Notorious Crime. Thus they burned not those, according to Custom, who kill’d themselves, but bury’d them in an obscure, ignoble Place, without any Funeral Ceremonies, Tomb or Inscription. Diodorus Siculus, Lib. 16. Bibl. cap. 6. relates, It was enacted by Law, that one convicted of Treason or Sacriledge should be cast out unbury’d; which Persons also by the Athenian Laws were prohibited Burial in Athens, as Xenophon tells us, Lib. 1. ?????????. Pausanias likewise says the Arcadians cast out unbury’d, without their Territories, the Traytor Aristocrates, whom they had ston’d to Death. Among the Romans, those that kill’d themselves were prohibited all manner of Sepulture, either that others might thereby be deterr’d from so making away with themselves, or because they thought it unreasonable any Hands should be employ’d to bury him, whose own had destroy’d himself. Tarquinius Priscus order’d all such dead Bodies to be fix’d on a Cross, to be view’d by all the Citizens, and afterwards to be devour’d by Birds, &c. as Pliny relates in his Natural History, Lib. 36. cap. 15. Albertus Leoninus in his Process. Criminal. says, If any one kill’d himself (as being either weary of a tedious Life, or impatient of Pain or Trouble, or else to avoid condign Punishment, or for any other Cause whatsoever) his Body was cast out upon a Dunghill, to have a common Sepulture with Dogs, &c. but however it was more customary to have his Goods confiscated, and his Body hung on the Furca. The Milesian Virgins were deterr’d from hanging themselves by a Law of the Senate, that Self-Murderers should be deny’d Burial, and have their Bodies dragg’d naked thro’ the Streets, in the same Rope they had hang’d themselves with. All such Persons as were hung upon this Furca or Gibbet, were by the Laws deny’d Sepulture, and a Centry, says Petronius, was set to watch them, lest any Body should take them down.

Hence also, according to the common custom of Germany, &c. the Bodies of such as were Traytors, Highwaymen, Murderers, &c. were either fix’d upon Poles, set up on Wheels, or hung upon Gibbets, there to remain a Prey to ravenous Birds, or else to corrupt with the Sun and Rain, and dissolve into a putrid and stinking Gore, and all this to the end that others, by such an horrid and deform’d Spectacle, might learn to fear and be deterr’d from such like Crimes. He that commits Treason is by our Laws adjudg’d, says Weever in his Funeral Monuments, p. 22. to be hang’d, drawn and quarter’d, and his divided Limbs to be set up on Poles in some eminent Place, within some great Market-Town or City. He likewise that is found guilty of the crying Sin of Murder, is usually hang’d up in Chains, there to continue ’till his Body shall be consum’d, and this at or near the Place where the Fact was committed. Likewise we are accustom’d to bury such as lay violent Hands upon themselves, in or near the Highways, with a Stake thrust thro’ their Bodies, and this to terrifie all Passengers by that so infamous and reproachful Burial, not to make away with themselves. Those that are found guilty of other criminal Matters, after a little hanging, are cut down and indeed bury’d, yet seldom in a Christian manner, or in the Sepulchre of their Fathers, unless their Fathers like them happen to have their Graves near or under the Gallows. "Difference between Ecclesiastic and Criminal Burial." Hence the Canonists, says Quenstedt, De Sepult. Vet. p. 49. distinguish between Ecclesiastic or Decent Burial, and Criminal or Ignominious: They call that Decent to which Solemnities, Rites and Ceremonies are allow’d according to the Custom of the Country, but term that Ignominious which is without Decency, and where all manner of Ceremonies are omitted, nay they have not so much as the Tolling of a Bell, or a Prayer or Psalm us’d for them.

Thus, as some Criminals have been deny’d Christian Burial, as an ignominious Punishment, so others by reason of more heinous Offences have been bury’d alive: Korah, Dathan and Abiram for murmuring and rebelling against Moses were swallow’d up alive by the Earth, Numb. 16. 30, 33. They and all that appertain’d to them, went down alive into the Pit, and the Earth clos’d upon them: But they were not only bury’d alive, and after that manner descended into a Sepulchre, but likewise into Hell, as some Commentators observe, for an eternal as well as temporal Punishment. The Vestal Virgins being defil’d, suffer’d this Punishment as the most miserable that could be inflicted; for the Romans in case of this Crime, bury’d them alive in the Campus Sceleratus, as Plutarch in Vita NumÆ Pompilij observes, and we read in Constitut. Crim. Caroli, p. 131. the same was inflicted on such as kill’d their Children.

To be deny’d all manner of Burial, or to be bury’d dishonourably or alive, have ever been thought severe Punishments; "To be dug out of the Grave both a Curse and Punishment." so likewise to be dug up again, after Christian Burial, is a shameful Disgrace and equally Ignominious. Thus in contempt of the deceas’d wicked Priests, King Josiah took their Bones out of their Sepulchres and burn’d them, 2 Kings 23. 16. Also the Prophet Jeremiah foretold the Jews how GOD would bring out of the Grave the Bones of their Kings, Princes, Priests and Prophets, and expose them to the Sun and Moon, &c. Chap. 8. v. 1, 2. In prophane History it is reported of Sylla the Dictator, that he dug up the Bones of Caius Marius, and commanded them to be flung into the Sea; wherefore when he dy’d himself, he order’d his own Carcass to be burn’d, that his Bones might not have the like ill Treatment from his Enemies, Pliny’s Natural History, Lib. 7. cap. 54. Such disturbing the Deceas’d in their Tombs, I look upon to have given the first occasion of burning Dead Bodies, yet I think this latter as obnoxious to ill Usage, since it would be a less difficult matter to deprive Urns of their Ashes, scatter them before the Wind, sow them in the Sea or barren Sands, or in a word, make a Paste of them to feed Fowls with, or a Compost, out of which might be form’d ridiculous Imagery, to make sport for Children, or diversion for Men. An Example of both these kinds of the violation of the Dead, has been known to be acted either out of Malice to Enemies, or as a Punishment to Oppressors and Tyrants. The one is conspicuous from what Saxo Grammaticus relates in the Fourth Book of his History, that the Body of one Fengo a Tyrant, being judg’d worthy neither of an Urn nor Sepulture, his Ashes were order’d to be dispers’d by the Winds, for it was not thought reasonable that Country should protect his Ashes which he had depriv’d of its Liberty. The other is confirm’d by the Usage of the Roman Emperor Vitellius, who as Suetonius reports, cap. 17. after various Mockeries, was dragg’d to the GemoniÆ, cut into very small pieces, and afterwards flung into the Tyber. Heliogabalus likewise was first dragg’d about the Streets of Rome, then thrown into a Common Shoar, and soon after into the Tiber, as Sextus Aurelius Victor and Lampridius relate.

There was another sort of Sepulture us’d antiently, viz. To be cover’d over with a great heap of Stones, which was accounted by the Jews an ignominious kind of Burial, "Another ignominious Burial." and therefore only us’d to Malefactors, Rebels, &c. Thus we read when Joshua had taken Achan, he commanded his People to stone him to Death, and raise over him a great heap of Stones, Chap. 7. v. 25, 26. Likewise Joshua commanded his Servants to take down the Body of King Ai, whom he had hang’d on a Tree, and cast it without the City-Gate, raising over it a great heap of Stones, Chap. 8. v. 29. Thus were the Jews wont to bury such as dy’d ignominiously, that it might serve as a Monument to warn others from committing the like Offences. Nor was Absalom thought worthy of common Sepulture, much less of the Honours he had design’d for himself, by the Pillar he had rais’d, but was flung into a Pit, and pil’d over with great heaps of Stones, that the Place might be remark’d by the Name of such a disobedient Son and notorious Rebel, 2 Samuel 18. 17. also that his ignominious Death might be suited with a like Burial; for altho’, in his Life-Time, he had built a Pillar (like one of the Pyramids or Obelisks of the Kings of Egypt) in the King’s Dale, ver. 18. a very pleasant and fruitful Place, where the Kings us’d their Sports and Recreations, and a great Concourse of the Nobility every Day resorted; there, to shew his Pride and vain Glory, rais’d he this Pillar, that after his Death it might serve as a Monument to eternize his Memory, yet GOD depriv’d him of so noble a Sepulture, and afforded him no other than to be bury’d in a great Pit, under a huge heap of Stones, as a common Malefactor.

Now thus to be bury’d was accounted a Curse, as is confirm’d by Lamentations 3. 53. and Ezekiel 32. 29, 30. From hence we infer, that if some kinds of Burial denote a Curse and Disgrace, as well as not being bury’d at all, Funeral Ceremonies and Expences are necessary to shew what Burial is Honourable and what Ignominious: Otherwise, if we should find a Carcass unbury’d and expos’d to the Air, or see a Grave in the Highway or other Place, where Burial was not us’d, we should be apt to reflect on this disgraceful Object, and from thence judge the Person to have been either some notorious Criminal, a Self-Murderer, or at least one that had dy’d some ignominious Death, and had been accordingly bury’d: Therefore, to avoid all such like Censure, it is convenient Burial should not only be distinguish’d between such as have liv’d piously or prophanely, between those that have propagated the Laws and good Constitutions of a Country, and such as have wickedly destroy’d them, but even amongst honest People themselves, according to their Qualities, Estates and Professions; for should a Cobler and a Prince be bury’d after the same manner, such Extravagancies would bring reflection and contempt on Burial in general, and they might say with the Poet:

Having thus sufficiently shown and prov’d, that both according to the Laws of GOD and Man, the Bodies of the Just are not to be despis’d or cast out unbury’d, I will in the next place acquaint you with other Particulars, "Particular Ceremonies of Funerals, not to be neglected." which are necessary to Funerals, without which a Prince’s Interment would be as ignoble as a Malefactor’s; nor are we to think a private burying a Corps in the Night-Time without any Ceremony or Attendance, can discharge our Duty in this last and indispensable Particular. We must study likewise a Method for the well ordering a dead Body, as Washing, Anointing, Embalming, Dressing, and all other Expences, Rites and Ceremonies relating to Funerals in general. In these points, since the Ancients differ’d very much, it will be material to consider how far all, or any of these Ceremonies are either lawful, necessary, or commendable. In order to this, to the end we may treat of each in its proper place, and be as succinct as we can, we will divide these Funeral Ceremonies into such as were us’d to Persons when they were dying, or else perform’d afterwards to their dead Corps.

First, It was a Custom among the Hebrews to kiss the Dead, as appears from Gen. 50. 1. Joseph fell on his Father’s Face, and wept upon him, and kissed him: whereby he express’d his sincere Affection to his deceas’d Parent, notwithstanding by his Death he was for ever to be separated from him, yet his Filial Duty still remain’d ready to perform those Offices due to the Dead, such as Embalming, and the like. This Custom of kissing the Dead seems likewise to be taking a solemn leave of them at their departure out of this World, till they should have the happiness of meeting them in another. But the Romans had a different Sense of this Matter, for when the sick Person was just expiring, the nearest Relation or Friend, by a Kiss receiv’d his last gasping Breath, whereby they imagin’d the Soul of the Deceas’d came out of his Body thro’ the Mouth, and was the same way transfus’d into and receiv’d by them; nor did they only kiss their Friend and Relation when just expiring, but also when his Body was going to be laid on the Funeral Pile. This the Christians imitate now a days, when they likewise kiss the Deceas’d just as he is going to be nail’d up in his Coffin, or to be carry’d out to his Grave; but as for the other Ceremony, they have ever abhorr’d it as a most superstitious and ridiculous Opinion. Both the Pagans and Christians without doubt, look’d on Death as a Journey or Peregrination to another World, therefore by kissing their Dead, they took their solemn Farewel of them, as we do when we part with a Friend that is going to Travel, &c. Hereupon we always find written on their Tombs, Abiit non Obiit, and as Grethserius relates, Lib. 1. De Fun. Christian. when the Greeks came to a Burying, both Friends and Relations kiss’d and took leave of the Dead in these words, Vade, cum Natura nos vocaverit, sequemur. Go, when Nature calls, we’ll follow. But let the Cause be what it will that induc’d the Ancients to kiss their Dead, it were better totally to forbear it, since to the Dead they are of no use, and to a dying Man are rather a Disturbance than any Relief: Moreover, to the saluting Friend, those ill Scents and Vapours, which proceed from the Mouth and Nostrils of the sick Person, may be an infectious Breath, and prove not a little prejudicial to him; therefore it is in no wise either convenient or useful to kiss a Person that is just dying, or one that is already Dead.

The next Thing to be done after the Person was dead, was to close his Eyes, and this Ceremony was for the most part perform’d by the nearest Relation, as by the Husband for the Wife, Et vice versa, by the Wife for the Husband; also by Parents towards their Children, and by Children towards their Parents, and where such were wanting, one Friend did it for another. This Custom was in that esteem among the Hebrews, Greeks and Romans, that the very Thoughts of having it perform’d by their Kindred, mitigated, in some measure, the Pains and Agonies of Death they underwent, whereby they dy’d in much greater content of Mind than they would otherwise have done; whereas on the contrary, they look’d on themselves not a little unhappy to die in a Place where no Relations or Friends were present to perform that Office. This appears by Gen. 46. 4. where Jacob fearing he should die in his way to Egypt, by reason of his extream old Age, or the length of the Journey, and be thereby depriv’d of these Funeral Ceremonies; GOD to remove those fears and comfort him, told him, He should die in peace with his Children about him, and particularly that Joseph should lay his Hands on his Eyes, as the Text expresses it, which was as much as to say, he should close his Eyes, and take all other care of his Funeral.

Now why this Custom of closing the Eyes of the Dead was in such Esteem and Use among the Ancients, there seem to be two Reasons: First, It being natural to Men to die with their Eyes open, as Santorellus in his Post-Praxis Medic. p. 18. Philosophically proves; and Death being compar’d to Sleep, they desir’d to have their Eyes shut, the better to resemble sleeping and taking their Rest. Secondly, They might perhaps desire it, that the By-Standers might not be offended at such an unpleasant sight as a staring Corps, with its Eyes and Mouth open, must needs present, which every one knows looks very ghastly: Besides, the noisom Smells of the fermenting Stomach were thereby hinder’d from making too swift a passage into the Room, and offending the Company. That it is therefore convenient to use this Ceremony none will deny, yet must it not be practis’d too soon, lest the Person it is to be us’d to be not actually dead, but only in an Apoplexy, Lethargy, or the like, and so by keeping his Mouth shut with a Muffler, be suffocated. Nor are his Eyes to be clos’d ’till after he is actually dead, lest they open again, as Santorellus affirms they will; but this and other Ceremonies of the like nature, which can in no wise further Death, in case it should prove only an Apoplexy, &c. ought to be perform’d before the Corps be quite cold, for afterwards they are not easily to be brought to a graceful order, nor will make a handsom Corps, which the Ancients so much lov’d to see: Hereupon, in a short Time after the Person was dead, they clos’d his Eyes, "Shutting the Mouth," shut his Mouth with a Muffler, plac’d his Head streight, brought his Arms to his Breast, his Legs close to one another, and then laid the whole Body, with its Members, in a natural form and posture. But before they proceeded to Anoint or Embalm the Body, "Conclamation," they were wont to make great noises, to rowse and awake, if possible, his fainted Spirits, and thereby fully satisfie themselves whether he were really dead, or only asleep. To the same purpose they wash’d the Body with warm Water, to the end that if it were only numm’d with Cold it might thereby be recover’d. It was a Custom among the Greeks to make a mighty Noise with the tinkling or sounding of Brazen Vessels, "Sounding of Brazen Vessels." but the Romans us’d Conclamation, or a general Outcrie, set up at equal Intervals before the Corps, by Persons who waited there on Purpose, which was done as Pliny, Lib. 7. cap. 52. of his Natural History, and Cornelius Celsus, PrÆf. Lib. 1. De Re Medica, tell us, either because they hop’d by this means, to stop the Soul which was now taking its flight, or else to awaken its Faculties, which they thought might only be silent in the Body without Action; for sometimes such as have appear’d to be Dead, have come to Life again as Kirmannus, De F. R. Lib. 1. p. 104. affirms, and several Physicians have given many Instances of Persons, who being bury’d thro’ haste in Apopletick-Fits, &c. have afterwards come to themselves, and many times miserably perish’d for want of Assistance. For this reason the Romans, as Pancirollus and Servius observe, lest they should be bury’d alive, kept the Bodies seven or eight Days, call’d upon them at Intervals, wash’d them with warm Water, and lastly us’d Conclamation before they burn’d them, which was their manner of Burial. But Santorellus in his Post-Praxis Medica, p. 25. proves Conclamation to be a useless and insignificant Custom. First, he says, It is ridiculous to use it to such as we are satisfy’d are really Dead, from the nature of their Disease and other Symptoms. And, Secondly, To those that we are doubtful of, as in case of Lethargies, Apoplexies, Hysteric Passions, Syncopes, &c. Since therefore this is no certain Rule to inform us, these Persons being many Times neither sensible of burning nor large Scarifications, How can we expect to excite them by Clamours? This also is confirm’d by an Experiment of Galen’s, viz. Whether a Woman was really Dead that lay in an Hysteric Passion; but it was so far from proving effectual, that when she came to her self, she declar’d she knew nothing of what had been done to her. ’Tis true in small Syncopes it may perhaps rowse the Spirits a little, but in Soporous Diseases, it is commonly an uncertain and ineffectual Remedy, therefore never to be trusted, so that we may pronounce it to be a Ceremony neither necessary to be us’d, nor useful to know whether the sick Person be dead or alive.

The Custom of Washing and Anointing the Corps was in no wise peculiar to the Romans, but us’d likewise by the Hebrews, Greeks, Trojans and Christians, nay, in almost all the civiliz’d Parts of the World, yet ’tis certain it ows its Original to the Invention of the Egyptians. That it was us’d in the Primitive Church, appears by the Words of the Apostle, Acts 9. 37. And it came to pass in those Days she (Tabitha) was sick and dy’d, whom when they had wash’d, they laid in an upper Chamber. Also Johan. Chrysost. as we find in Theodoret, Homil. 84. Alphonsus Salmeron, Tom. 10. De Sepultura Christi; and others affirm Christ’s Body was wash’d before it was anointed. We read in Plutarch, that Philippus Libertus wash’d the Body of Pompey with Salt Water, which perhaps might be either because it was more Abstersive, or that it help’d to prevent Putrifaction, and it is not improbable the Egyptians might have been accustom’d to wash the Body with the same Pickle they us’d in the Salination, or with PhÆnician Wine, which they wash’d the Entrails and inside of the Body with, in order to the Preserving and Embalming it: But more commonly the Ancients us’d warm Water, both that they might thereby cherish and comfort the benumb’d and lifeless Limbs, and invite the natural Heat again into the Body, by doing which they better satisfy’d themselves whether the Body were really dead or not, and also that if it were past recovery, they might by thus cleansing the Body from all Filth and Purgings at the Nose, Mouth or lower Belly, render the Corps more decorous, and sightly, as ’tis a Custom among many at this Day, to comb the Hair, shave the Beard, and perfume the Corps with sweet Odours.

Two other Reasons are given for washing a dead Body, First, That it might be the fitter for anointing. Secondly, Johannes Buxtorfius, in Synagog. Jud. cap. 35. says, That it might be pure and clean when it came to give an account of its Sins. These Ceremonies were carefully practis’d among the Jews as well as the Greeks and Romans, according to what Maimonides in Tract. de Luctu, Chap. 4 Sect. 1. observes, Mos vel Consuetudo est in Israel, circa Mortuos & eorum Sepulturam, ut cum quis mortuus est, ejus Occulos occludant, & si Os ipsius fuerit apertum, Maxillas ejus ligant, ne iterum aperiatur. Obturatur etiam locus, per quem Excrementa ejiciuntur, sed hoc postquam Corpus fuerit Lotum. It was a Custom among the Israelites, says he, towards the Dead and their Burial, that whenever any one was departed, they closed his Eyes and shut his Mouth (keeping his Jaws close with a Muffler) that it might not open again. Then they stopp’d the vents of the Body, and lastly wash’d it.

After the Body was wash’d, it was Anointed, which strictly speaking, was Embalming, and differ’d in nothing but preserving the Corps for a longer or shorter space, pursuant to the manner of performing it, the nature of the Drugs, or composition of the Ointment. This Custom of anointing the Dead was very common among the Egyptians, as Pliny in his Nat. Hist. Lib. 2. Cap. 37. writes, Egyptiis Mos est Cadavera adservare Medicata. It is a Custom among the Egyptians to keep their Bodies Embalm’d, that is, anointed and preserv’d by Aromaticks. This anointing was perform’d on the outside of the Body, with a composition of bitter and Aromatick Ingredients, after which, they stuff’d the inside with the same dry Spices and Gums as were us’d in the Ointment; in doing which, and rouling or dressing the Body, they spent Forty Days. Diodorus Siculus, Lib. 1. BibliothecÆ, No. 91. says, After they had wash’d the Body with Palm-Wine, wherein Aromaticks had been boil’d or steep’d, they first anointed it with Ointment of Cedar, and then with that of Myrrh, Cinnamon, and other Drugs. This not only preserv’d the Corps, but also made it fragrant and sweet, and of this Ceremony the Egyptians were the first Inventors. From them the Hebrews deriv’d their Custom of Embalming, which was us’d chiefly towards their Kings or Great Men. The first of this kind was when Joseph commanded the Physicians of Egypt to Embalm his Father Jacob, Gen. 50. 2, 3. from whom the Jews learn’d it, and brought it with them into the Land of Canaan: "The Hebrews Embalming different from that of the Egyptians." But this manner of Anointing or Embalming among the Hebrews was very different from that of the Egyptians, for their Method was Thirty, Forty, and sometimes Seventy Days in performing, and that by Balsamic Matters put into the Cavity of the Body, they first taking out the Bowels and Entrails; but the Hebrew way was one short anointing and applying Aromatick and Balsamic Ointments to the external Parts, without any Embowelling, and this was done rather out of Respect to, and Veneration of the Dead, than to prevent any Putrifaction. Thus we read of King Asa, 2 Chron. 16. 14. That they bury’d him in his own Sepulchre, which he had made for himself in the City of David, and laid him in the Bed which was fill’d with sweet Odours and divers kinds of Spices, prepar’d by the Apothecaries Art, and they made a great Burning for him. That is, they laid his dead Corps on a Bed fill’d with such Aromaticks, prepar’d by the Apothecary, as were wont to be us’d in Embalming, and afterwards burn’d sweet Odours and Perfumes at his Funeral. Now this was accounted very Honourable to be done at the Exequies of Kings, and was afforded King Zedekiah, tho’ he dy’d in a strange Land, Jerem. 34. 5. Hereby it appears, thro’ the length and injuries of Time, they might lose that Art of Embalming which the Jews, their Ancestors, had learn’d from the Egyptians, or else had their Tradition so confusedly left to Posterity, that they were forc’d to deviate from the antient Custom; for the best construction we can put upon Embalming of the latter Ages, was anointing the Corps with bitter and Aromatick Ointments, compounded by the Apothecaries, "Jewish Embalming rather a Ceremony than Preserving the Corps." which nevertheless was rather a Ceremony, and render’d the Corps sweet and fragrant, than prevented Putrifaction. Thus the most devout Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea Embalm’d the Body of Christ, both out of the Respect they bore him, and according to the Custom of their Nation. Thus, says the Text, They took the Body of Jesus, and wound it in Linnen-Cloaths, with the Spices (viz. about an Hundred weight of Myrrh and Aloes) as the Manner of the Jews is to bury, John 19. 40. Likewise Holy Mary anointed the Feet of Jesus, whilst alive, with a most costly and rich Ointment of Spikenard, which was done by way of Anticipation in order to his Burial, as the Words of our Saviour himself imply, John 12. 7. So also without doubt Lazarus, who was no mean Jew, was Embalm’d, nevertheless Martha fear’d he stunk, tho’ he had been Dead but four Days, John 11. 39. Thus you see the more Modern way of Embalming among the Jews, was only anointing the Body with an Ointment compounded of sweet Spices, whose chief Ingredients were Myrrh and Aloes, and which was not only very grateful to the Smell, but also dry’d up the Humidity of the Body, preventing an immediate Putrifaction, and likewise by its bitterness kept the Worms from eating it. The Custom of such like anointing the Dead was moreover very common among the Greeks, insomuch, says AthenÆus Lib. 15. that they studied what Ointments were most agreeable and fitting for every Member of the Body. From them it descended to the Romans, and was accounted one of the most commendable Actions of this Life, as being an Honour which appertain’d to the Dead, as Pliny Nat. Hist. Lib. 12. cap. 1. relates, wherefore after they had wash’d the Corps, they anointed it, says he, with Odoriferous and Aromatick Ointments. The Babylonians either anointed their Dead with, or laid them in Hony. The Persians and Scythians did the same with Wax. The Æthiopians with a sort of Parget; and others us’d Compositions either of Salt, Nitre, Asphalt, Bitumen, Cedar, Balsam, Gypsum, Lime, Petrole, Naptha, Turpentine, Rosin, or the like, of which see Kirkmannus de F. R. p. 62.

Now the general Intention of these Anointings, was either that such Bodies as were to be bury’d might thereby smell sweet and pleasant, and be kept a long while uncorrupt, or else that those that were to be burn’d might not only catch Fire the sooner; but also to the end the Air might be perfum’d by the sweet smelling Ointments and Balsams, and thereby the Stench of the burning Flesh not be perceiv’d. Others give a threefold Reason for this sort of Embalming, as, First, A Physical, That all Stench and Putrifaction might be driven away from the Body. Secondly, A Civil, That it was a principal Honour exhibited to Just Men. And, Thirdly, A Mystical, It being a Testification of our Faith in the Resurrection of Bodies, and a Symbol of future Incorruptibility. Vide Quenstedt De Sepult. Vet. p. 85.

After the Body was wash’d and anointed, they wrapp’d it in fine Linnen, and drest it in a proper Habit. The first is only to be understood a Winding-Sheet, either intire, or in two, three or more pieces, fitted to the Head, Trunk and Limbs of the Body, bound on with Roulers; but the latter was various according to the sort of Garment, or Quality of the Deceas’d: The first was usually white, prepar’d by some Woman or Friend in the Persons Life-Time, on purpose for this particular use; the other was of divers colours, as Purple, Scarlet, &c. and of several degrees of Richness, according to the Rank, Quality or Profession of the Deceas’d, or as he had perform’d any extraordinary Exploit in War, or otherwise honourably behav’d himself for the Honour of his Country. So that as the one was such as he usually wore in his Life-Time, the other was more Splendid, and given for a Reward to his Virtues. Hence it is the Dead were term’d proud, as having never wore so rich a Garment during their Lives, says Sosia apud Plautum in Amphitruone. This Custom is said to have been first us’d by the Greeks, but if we enquire more strictly into it, we shall find this, as well as other Ceremonies, owes its Origin to the Egyptians, tho’ the manner of performing it be different; "With fine Linnen and a Vest." for the Greeks cover’d their Dead from Head to Foot, first with fine Linnen, and then put over that a white Vest, which was a sort of Pallium or Cloak they wore commonly when alive. So likewise the Athenians and Lacedemonians dress’d their Dead in a Garb suitable to every ones Condition, and honourably adorn’d such as had behav’d themselves well in War with a Purple or Crimson Vest, as Alexander Sardus de Mor. & Rit. Gent. Lib. 1. cap. 25. relates. As the Greeks put on their Dead the Pallium, so the Romans us’d their Toga or Gown, conformable to every One’s degree. That ordinarily us’d at the Funerals of vulgar Citizens was also white, but the Richer sort, as likewise those that had acquir’d Honour by their Valour and Vertue, were more splendidly Attir’d and carry’d out in State in the view of the Public, so that any one might know the Face and Sex of the Deceas’d from the manner of their Cloaths and Ornaments. Now this was so well observ’d by the Ancients, that as Juvenal, Satyr 3. informs us, in some parts of Italy, tho’ the Inhabitants were so rude as not to wear the Toga whilst they liv’d, yet would they not want it at their Deaths:

Also the Jews us’d to wrap their Dead in fine Linnen, but differ’d from others in this respect, That they did not hold it lawful to dress the Body of a Prince in a more costly Garment than others had, and as Cl. Salmasius apud Tho. Bartholinum de Latere Christi aperto, p. 377. observes, the Body of our Saviour was only wrapp’d in fine Linnen, his Head in a Sudarium or Handkerchief, and the whole swathed up from Head to Foot, with Rowlers like to the Swathes of Children. John Henry Heiddegger in Dissert. de Sepult. Mort. Sect. 30. divides this Linnen into three sorts: First, A short piece, which was call’d Sudarium. Secondly, A longer, nam’d Syndon. And, Thirdly, That which kept both these on, bound up the Hands and Feet, and cover’d the rest of the Body, was term’d Fascia or a Swathing-Band. This seems clearly intimated in the Gospel of St. John, 11. 44. And he that was dead came forth, bound Hand and Foot with Grave-Cloaths, and his Face was bound up with a Napkin: Therefore we are to understand, as the Evangelist here speaks of Lazarus, that the Arms were laid close to the Body, so that they almost reach’d the Knees, and afterwards rowl’d up together with it; "Why the Body should be Cloath’d." but it may perhaps be ask’d why the Body should be Cloath’d at all, and why it might not be as well carry’d out Naked and uncover’d? To this Antonius Santorellus in his Post-Praxis Medica, p. 104. answers, That all Nations have taught the Body ought to be Cloath’d, since no Man has hitherto every been so immodest as not to be asham’d of his own Nakedness; for altho’ this seems to signifie nothing to the Dead, who are without Sense or Shame, yet because the Eyes of the Living are offended at the Nakedness of the Body, all have for that Reason thought fit to Cloath their Dead: Moreover, not only Deformity is thereby remov’d from a Corps, but we thus procure as much as possible that it may appear Comely, and besides ’tis more decent to see a Body Cloath’d than Naked. On this account the Greeks Cloath’d their Dead in white Vests or Garments, "Why with white Vests." by reason of the purity of that Colour, White, according to Plutarch in Problem. being alone sincere, pure, and no ways infected, so that the Dead seem to be render’d in a manner simple, pure and separate from any mixture: But at length a certain Luxury of Ostentation crepp’d into these Habits, wherefore the Spartan Law-Giver Lycurgus, order’d that Persons of the greatest Valour and Worth should be bury’d in nothing but a red Coat, which was the common Dress of Soldiers, and that the rest should be deny’d even that; for he thought it wholly absurd and unreasonable the Dead should be deck’d with superfluous Ornaments and Riches, therefore neither Ointments nor Perfumes were us’d in that Common-Wealth, being look’d on as conducing nothing to the Felicity of the Dead, and therefore unworthy of the Lacedemonians Gravity. Thus St. Jerom inveighs against them: Cur & Mortuos vestros auratis obvolvis Vestibus? Cur Ambitio inter Luctus, Lacrymasq; non cessat? An Cadavera Divitum, nisi in serico, putrescere nequeunt? Why do ye Cloath even your Dead in Cloth of Tissue? Whence comes Ambition to continue amidst Grief and Sorrow? Cannot a Rich Carcass, think ye, rot out of a Silk-Covering? St. Chrisostom also thus exclaims: O inanem Gloriam! Quantam in Luctu Vim, quantam Amentiam ostendit! O empty Glory! How does it exert it self in Grief, how discover its Madness! Likewise in Homil. 84. he thus writes, Tu cum audieris Nudum Dominum resurrexisse, cessa, quÆso, ab insana Funeris impensa. Quid sibi hoc superfluum vult & inutile Dispendium, quod ipsis, qui faciunt, plurimum affert Detrimenti, Mortuis nullum Utilitatem vel Damnum potius? Sumptuosa namq; Sepultura nonnunquam Causa est, ut Fures Cadaver effodiant, & nudum & insepultum projiciant. Thou when thou shalt hear thy Lord rise from the Dead, naked and unadorn’d, refrain, I beseech thee, from thy vain Funeral-Expences. What signifies all this superfluous and unprofitable Charge, which many times prejudices the Living, yet never does any Good to the Dead, but rather Harm? For oftentimes it happens a costly and sumptuous Interment, tempts Thieves to dig up the Rich Carcass, and throw it out Naked and unbury’d. Hence St. Austin, speaking of his Mother, says, Illa iminente Die, non curavit Corpus suum sumptuose contegi. She with her last Breath did desire her Body might not be splendidly Interr’d. Notwithstanding this, the aforesaid St. Chrisostom approves the use of these Things in a moderate way; for after he had so severely inveigh’d against them, he thus concludes, Non ut Sepulturam tollam, dico absit, sed Luxuriam & superfluam Ambitionem. I am not for taking Burial wholly away, far be that Thought from me, but I would have Luxury and unnecessary Ambition retrench’d.

Antonius Santorellus thinks the Body ought to be carry’d out cover’d, as well in respect to the Living as the Dead, to the Living, lest they may be offended by some small Perspirations of the Carcass, and to the Dead; lest being uncover’d, it might be more liable to external Injuries. For this Reason the Egyptians, who were wont to keep their Dead publickly in their Houses, richly attir’d them in fine Linnen, and adorn’d them with Gold and precious Stones; also painted them with Hieroglyphicks, thereby setting them forth in the most noble manner. Thus by such a kind of Cloathing as is us’d in Embalming, viz. wrapping in Cerecloth, &c. all other Inconveniencies are prevented, nor can it be thought so great a Vanity to Cloath a preserv’d Corps as one that is corrupt and putrifying; but we may allow it reasonable enough to adorn such in a moderate way, suitable to its Quality.

When the Body was dress’d, they Crown’d it, which Custom was first us’d by the Greeks, Lacedemonians and Athenians, from whom it descended to the Romans: Now if the Deceas’d had, thro’ Valour in War, obtain’d but any one of the honourary Crowns, it was put on his Head, and carry’d out with him to his Burial; and this, to the end the Reward of Virtue might in some measure be enjoy’d after Death. For this reason Cicero observes, Lib. 2. De Legibus, That the Laws commanded that Crown which was gotten by Virtue, should, without fraud, be put on him that obtain’d it, and that such Ornaments of Praise belong’d to the Dead. Other Persons were Crown’d with Chaplets of Flowers and green Branches, such as Lillies, Roses and Violets, Olive and Bay-Leaves, and the like precious Flowers and Plants. With these they likewise adorn’d the Couch the Body was to lye on, as the Jews did theirs with sweet Odours and Spices, as we have before observ’d of King Asa, 2 Chron. 16. 14. Also in like manner as we at this Day fill Coffins with the like Perfumes, or for want of them, with sweet Herbs and Flowers, viz. Rosemary, Lavender, Marjoram, Time, Flowers of Jessamin, Orange, Lillies of the Valley, &c.

This Ceremony of Crowning the Dead, Suidas thinks was either taken from the Games, wherein the Conquerors were rewarded with Crowns of Leaves, signifying the Dead had finish’d their Course, or was design’d to express the unmix’d and Everlasting Pleasures the Dead were to enjoy upon their Removal out of this sinful and troublesom World, for Garlands were Emblems of Mirth and Rejoycing, therefore usually worn at Banquets and Festivals. The same may be observ’d of Ointments and Perfumes, the constant Concomitants of Gaiety and Joy. But whatever was the cause of these Customs being so generally observ’d by the Heathens, it was not approv’d by the Primitive Christians, but look’d on as little less than Idolatry, as may be particularly seen in Minutius FÆlix in Octav. p. 109. and in Tertullian de Corona Mil. Nevertheless, Antonius Santorellus in his Post-Praxis Medica, p. 151. says, If Crowns were invented as Ornaments, and to preserve Health, Pleasure and Virtue, why may not the Dead be Crown’d? And since those who fought boldly and strenuously, were among the Heathens adorn’d with various sorts of Crowns, why may not the Christians, who fight for Eternal Health, and overcome more powerfull Enemies (the Lusts of the Flesh) be thought more worthy of such Crowns? Nor has it displeas’d some Christians, tho’ perhaps it might the Primitive, to carry a Garland before the Corps, or fill the Coffin, or strow the Way or Grave with Flowers, and this without any manner of Superstition. Thus Prudentius a Christian Poet writes:

The next Ceremony that follow’d, was laying out the Corps, which after it was Wash’d, Anointed, Cloath’d and Crown’d, was brought from the inner part of the House into the Porch or Entrance, and laid at the very Threshold. The poorest People were laid on the Ground or a Bier in an ordinary Coffin, &c. But the richer Sort on a Bed or Couch, adorn’d sometimes with Jewels, Arms, Books and other Things in which they most delighted whilst they liv’d, but commonly with all kinds of fragrant and precious Flowers. Now the Reason why they thus plac’d the Corps in public View, was that all Persons might satisfie themselves whether the Deceas’d had any Wounds, or other Marks of an untimely and violent Death. The like Custom we have in those we call Searchers, who are to examine into the Cause of the Persons Death, make their Report accordingly, and give an Affidavit thereof: It may be farther observ’d, the Feet of the Deceas’d were always turn’d next the Door or Gate, to shew they were never to return after they were thus carry’d out. This Custom, says Pliny, is but according to the Course of Nature, for we usually come into the World Head foremost, but are carry’d out the contrary way, of which see Kornmannus de Mirac. Mortuor, Cap. 58. Whilst the Body lay in this Place, ’twas customary to give it constant Attendance, to defend it from any Violence or Affront that might be offer’d. The Corps being thus decently laid out on the Couch or Bier, is now rightly compos’d for Sepulture, and in a readiness to be carry’d out to the Grave, so soon as these Ceremonies shall be ended; the next Thing therefore we have to speak of is the carrying it out to be Interr’d.

Thus much was done before the Funeral, at it we may take notice of two Things, the Elatio or carrying forth, and the Act of Burial. What concerns the first of these will appear by our observing the Day, Time, Persons and Place; what Day after the Person’s decease was appointed for the Funeral is not well agreed on, nor does it seem to have been limited, but was various, according to the Custom of the Country, or Circumstance of the People. Alexander ab Alexandro in Lib. 3. cap. 7. Gen. Dier, tells us Bodies were kept seventeen Days and as many Nights before they were Interr’d. Also Servius was of Opinion, the Time of Burning the Dead was the Eighth Day after Death, and the Time of Burying the Ninth; but this must only be understood of the Funerals of Great Persons, which could not be duly solemniz’d without extraordinary Preparations, whereas Men of inferior Rank, were committed to the Ground without so much Ceremony and Pomp. The antient Burials seem to have been on the Third and Fourth Day after Death, nor was it unusual to perform Solemnities, especially of the poorer Sort, on the very Day of their Death, yet are there many Instances to prove no set number of Days were observ’d; however, this Care ought particularly to be taken, that the Dead be not carry’d out too soon, for thro’ too much haste, it has sometimes happen’d the Living have been bury’d for the Dead.

The Time of carrying forth the Corps was likewise various, "By some us’d in the Day and by others in the Night." and us’d either in the Morning, at Noon, or in the Night, according to the Custom of the Country, or Conveniency and Condition of the Person deceas’d. Thus the Athenians made their Funeral Processions before the Sun-Rising, and the Greeks perform’d the like Ceremony in the forepart of the Day, or about Noon: So also the Hebrews bury’d their Dead in the Day-Time, as Sopranes, David. dig. fol. 487. asserts; but the Romans made use only of the Night, as the name of Funeral, Servius thinks, denotes, being, as he says, deriv’d a Funalibus, from the Torches, in like manner as the Vespillones (Bearers) were so call’d from Vesper the Evening; yet this Custom was not long observ’d at least in publick Funerals, tho’ it seems to have continu’d in private ones, nevertheless, the carrying of Torches and Tapers still remain’d in practice, even when the Dead were bury’d in the Day-Time. This was a greater extravagance than the other, inasmuch as tho’ in burying by Day they at first intended to suppress the Charge of Torches, &c. yet at last they not only burn’d these in vain to light the Sun, but also increas’d all other Funeral-Expences to that degree, that Laws were fain to be made to restrain them; but, omitting such superfluous Ceremonies, we must grant the Day-Time to be the fittest for publick Funerals, and the Night for private ones, both which have been us’d indifferently, as Occasion serv’d, as well by the Primitive Christians as others: The first were chiefly chosen whilst they were in a quiet State, but the latter were made use of in Times of Persecution.

Now as concerning the Act or manner of carrying forth the dead Body, from the House wherein it was prepar’d for Burial, to the place where it was to be interr’d, it is said of the antient Grecians, that they carry’d such out without any support, tho’ it was a more frequent Custom in the antient Church to bear the Dead on Mens Shoulders; afterwards they plac’d them in a Coffin, on a Bier, Bed, or Couch of State, and so convey’d them to the Sepulchre on their Shoulders. This Duty was generally perform’d by the next Heir or nearest Relations, and sometimes the Magistrates, Senators or chief of the Nobility bore the Bodies of those who had deserv’d highly of the Common-Wealth, of which see several Examples in Quenstedt, p. 114. but Persons of meaner Rank, nay, and sometimes even Great Men, that had been hated by the People, were carry’d forth to their Burial by the Vespillones or Sandapilarii, that is, the Sextons or common Bearers, who liv’d by that Employ, and in this last way of bearing out the Dead, we may suppose them to have us’d the Sandapila or common Bier, as the others did the LecticÆ or Lecti, that is, the Litters or Beds; for the Romans us’d two sorts of Biers, the one call’d Lectica, which was for the Rich, and the other Sandapila, for the Poor. We read of this Bed in the carrying forth of Abner, 2 Sam. 3. 31. where the Translation is, that King David himself follow’d the Bier, which word in Hebrew signifies a Bed. How this was wont to be perfum’d with Spices and deck’d with precious Flowers has been intimated before, as also how the Corps was Dress’d, Crown’d and expos’d to public View; but here we will take notice of the Pride and Vanity of the Romans, who were accustom’d to Paint or put a beautifying Wash on such whose Faces were deform’d, that they might thereby appear handsomer while Dead than Living, which Custom is said to be us’d even in France and Italy at this Day; but in case the Visage were very much distorted by its Change, bruis’d by the fall of an House, maim’d by any other Accident, or the like, so that it was not fit to be seen, then were they wont to throw a Covering or Pall over it.

The Persons present at Funerals were the Dead Man’s Friends and Relations, who thought themselves under an Obligation to pay this last Respect to their deceas’d Parent or Friend, who commonly had Legacies left in his Will, that they might appear in decent Mourning, and accompany the Corps with greater Solemnity: Besides these, others were frequently invited to encrease the Funeral-Procession, but this only where the Laws did not restrain such Pomp as they sometimes did in some Places, either to prevent the Disorders that often happen’d at such promiscuous Meetings, or to moderate the excessive Charges of Funerals.

The Habit these Persons wore was not always the same, for tho’ they sometimes put on Mourning, and, in common Funerals, retain’d their ordinary Apparel, yet were the Exequies of Great Men commonly celebrated among the Pagans, with expressions of Joy for the reception of the Dead into Heaven. The Herse was follow’d by abundance of Men and Women cloath’d in white Garments, and bedeck’d with Garlands, as is usual in Festival-Solemnities. The Funeral was solemniz’d with PÆans, or Songs of Triumph, and Dances: This Custom was in use among the Greeks. The Chineses, Syracusans and Argives mourn’d in white, as did also the antient Romans; but after their Empire was settl’d they us’d black. The Hebrews, &c. mourn’d in black; the Carthaginians hung their Walls with black, whence at this Day, to show the greater demonstration of Grief, Palaces of Emperors, Kings and Princes, as likewise Churches and Houses of private Persons, are upon like occasions us’d to be hung with black, which Custom was anciently practis’d by many Nations, by reason this Colour was accounted the most agreeable to Mourning and Sorrow.

Next we shall speak of the Funeral Procession, and of such Persons as went before and usually follow’d the Funeral-Bed: When the Herald had marshall’d all in good Order, the Procession began to move, and we are to take notice it was often made on Horseback or in Coaches; but at the Funerals of Persons, to whom a more than ordinary Respect was due, all went on Foot: First march’d the Musicians with Trumpets, Flutes, Cornets, Pipes and other Musical-Instruments, sounding most sorrowful and mournful Notes; next came the PrÆficÆ or Women hir’d to mourn and sing doleful Songs in Praise of the Deceas’d: These us’d strange Shriekings and Gesticulations, beating their Breasts, tearing their Hair and the like, so that by their false Tears and feign’d Sorrow, they mov’d others to cry in good earnest. These foolish Songs and ridiculous Incantations Justinian the Emperor prohibited, introducing in their room Psalms and Hymns, which among the Christians continue to be sung before the Corps even at this Day, and that to cherish their Hearts and allay their Grief. If the Deceas’d had been eminent for his Warlike Atchievements, then the Arms, Standards and other Trophies taken by him were usually carry’d before him. Next follow’d the Priests and Religious Orders, tho’ the ordinary way was for the Body to go first and the rest to follow, whereby the Survivors were put in mind of their Mortality, and warn’d to remember they were all to go the same way the Deceas’d had gone before them: Then immediately after the Corps came the Relations or true Mourners, apparell’d in proper Habits, and the Women with their Hair dishevell’d and their Faces cover’d with Veils; the rest follow’d at some distance, and the Funeral-Pomp was clos’d up by the common People.

But to speak somewhat of the antient Manner of Mourning, you must know that was various according to the several Customs of Countries, yet this may be laid down as a general Rule amongst most Nations, that the better to express their Sorrow for the loss of a deceas’d Relation or Friend, they on occasion of his Death differ’d as much as could be from their ordinary Habit and Behaviour. Hence Mourners in some Cities demean’d themselves after the same manner that in other Countries express’d Joy, and what was esteem’d Rejoycing in some was in others a token of Sorrow: For Example, in some Places it was customary to wear short Hair, where long was a token of Mourning, but in others, where long Hair was in Fashion, Mourners were accustom’d to shave themselves. The most usual ways, whereby the Ancients express’d their Sorrow, was by refraining from Musick, Banquets and Entertainments, from Garlands or Crowning themselves, from Wine and strong Drink, and in a Word, from every thing that occasion’d Mirth, or look’d Gay and Pleasant: Such things were not judg’d fitting to be admitted into so melancholly a Society as that of Mourners, to whom even the Light was to be odious, and nothing desirable but Darkness and lonesom Retirements. These they thought best suited with their Misfortunes, and therefore sequester’d themselves from all Company and publick Solemnities, nay even refrain’d from the very Comforts and Conveniences of Life. They usually confin’d themselves within Doors, and abstain’d from all Luxury, Ointments, Baths, Venery, &c. and on the contrary fasted and put on black Habits, differing not only in Colour from their ordinary Apparel, but also in Value, being only of a course and cheap Stuff. They sprinkl’d Dust on their Heads, nay, rowl’d in the very Dirt, thinking they shew’d the greater Sorrow and Dejection by how much they were the more dirty and nasty. These Customs were likewise practis’d in the East, whence we find so frequent mention of Penitents lying on the Ground, and putting on Sackcloth and Ashes: "With Sackcloth and Ashes." They were so far from wearing good Apparel, that they frequently burn’d their richest Goods and Cloaths, and rent and tore what they had off their Backs, on the first news of any great Calamity: Thus Reuben did, Gen. 37. 29, and Verse 34. Jacob rent his Cloaths, and put Sackcloth on his Loins, and mourn’d for his Son many Days. So in the 2 Samuel 3. 31. David commanded his Servants to mourn for Abner; and thus also mourn’d Hezekiah, 2 Kings 19. 1. See also Nehem. 9. 1. Esther, 4. 1. and Lamentations 2. 10.

They also on such occasions shav’d off their Hair, beat their Breasts, cut their Flesh, and with their Nails tore holes in their Faces, that they might appear the more deform’d and discontented. These frantick Actions, tho’ practis’d sometimes by Men, were more frequent among Women, whose Passions were more violent and ungovernable; they wore their Hair long, dishevel’d and carelessly flowing about, contrary to the usage of the Men who shav’d theirs. The Heathens were so superstitious in these Ceremonies, that they extended the Practice of them to a higher degree than the Jews, for they hir’d feign’d Mourners to make frightful Howlings and sad Lamentations for the Dead, and were wont to cause even their Horses, Mules, &c. to share in their Sorrows, by shaving their Manes, and the like. These cruel and ridiculous Ceremonies were restrain’d by Laws made on purpose, to restrain such Excesses in Funerals; "Moderate Weeping commendable." nevertheless a moderate Sorrow and Mourning was never disallow’d, but on the contrary commended and promis’d as a Blessing to the Godly, and the want thereof threaten’d as a Malediction or Curse, Isaiah 57. 1. To mourn at the Interment of our Friends (says Weever, p. 16.) is a manifest Token of our true Love: By it we express that natural Affection we had to the departed Person, but this ought always to be with a Christian moderation, whereby our Faith towards GOD is demonstrated. He gave us natural Affections, and commanded us to love one another, and is not pleas’d such Love should end with our Friends Life, but rather that we should retain all due Respect to his Memory. Antonio de Guevara in his 10th Letter, English’d by Mr. Savage, says, The Heart of Man is tender, and not able to part with any Thing it loves without Concern. This daily Experience teaches us even in Brutes, who will in like manner mourn for the Absence or Death of their Companions or Young; for this Reason our Author thus Expostulates, Why should we not, says he, be allow’d to shed Tears and lament over the Graves of our Friends, since we are of a superiour Nature to Beasts? Some account Weeping a weakness and effeminacy, but there are sufficient Examples to prove the contrary, "Us’d by Kings and Patriarchs." for if such great and wise Men as Kings and Patriarchs wept, surely a moderate Mourning for the Dead is justifiable and pious; nay, the Holy Scripture shews how those devout Men were commended who made great Lamentations over Stephen’s Burial. We read in the Old Testament how Abraham mourn’d and wept for his Wife Sarah, Gen. 23. 2. and in Chap. 50. ver. 1, 10, 17. we find Joseph wept over his dead Father Jacob, and mourn’d for him: So King David follow’d the Bier of Abner weeping, and when he came to the Grave, both he and all the People wept, 2 Sam. 3. 31, 32. At another Time, when he heard the News of his Sons being slain, He arose and tore his Garments and lay on the Earth, and all his Servants stood by with their Cloaths rent, 2 Sam. 13. 31. likewise Verse 33, 36. when it was told that only Amnon was dead, The King’s Sons lift up their Voices and wept, and the King also, and all his Servants wept very sore. At another Time he made great Lamentation for his Son Absalom, 2 Sam. 18. 3. nevertheless he did not allow of immoderate Grief and Mourning, but reprov’d it himself, as you may read, 2 Sam. 12. 23. and this because it was vain to do so, and could never recover the Dead; so that when he bewail’d the Death of Saul and Jonathan, of Abner and Absalom, it was out of Love to them, and by reason the Common-Wealth had a loss by some of their Deaths, and because others of them died in their Sins. These may be sufficient Reasons moderately to mourn for the Dead; but we read of several other good Men who wept on other Occasions, as the Man of God, 2 Kings 8. 11. Hezekiah, 2 Kings 20. 3. Nehemiah 1. 4. and Christ himself, "By our Saviour." who was never known to laugh, is recorded to have wept twice, once over the foreseen Desolation of Jerusalem, Luke 19. 41. and another Time over the Grave of Lazarus, John 11. 35. from which last, the Jews collected his Love towards the Dead: Now as Weeping on the Death of a Friend expresses our Grief for the Loss of him, and is done out of Respect and Love to him, so does it likewise moderate our Passion and allay our Concern, "Weeping allays Grief." as Ovid in his Epistles speaks:

And in the Fourth Book of his De Tristibus, Eleg. 3.

Also St. Ambrose, speaking of the Death of Valentine, says, Pascunt frequenter LacrymÆ, & Mentem allevant Fletus, refrigerant Pectus, & MÆstum consolantur: Est quoq; piis Affectibus quÆdam Flendi Voluptas, & plerumq; graves Lacrymas evaporat Dolor. Tears and Weepings oftentimes refresh the Mind, and comfort the afflicted Soul: There is a kind of Pleasure in Godly Passions, for frequently by many Tears Grief vanishes. Likewise St. Chrisostom makes this Comparison, Quemadmodum, says he, per vehementes Imbres, mundus Aer ac purus efficitur; haud secus post Lacrymarum Pluvias, Serenitas Mentis sequitur & Tranquilitas. In like manner as the Air is purify’d and cleans’d by vehement Showers, so from a greater Effusion of Tears, a Serenity and Tranquility of Mind follows. As for the other Uses of Weeping, see Santorellus in his Post-Praxis Medica, p. 30. who writes Philosophically of its Nature and Cause.

Besides these Mourners and Relations there follow’d a great number of Friends and Acquaintance to the Place of Burial; for it was not only look’d on as a Duty, but a religious Friendship to attend a Corps to its Grave. Thus we read, Joseph went up to Bury his Father, and with him all the Servants of Pharaoh, the Elders of his House, and all the Elders of Egypt, Gen. 50. 7. and this even from the Land of Egypt to Canaan. So King David and all his Servants follow’d the Bier of Abner, 2 Sam. 3. 31. and we read in Luke 7. 12. that much People of the City of Naim follow’d the Widow’s Son.

The Corps being brought forth to the Place of Burial, after the manner already describ’d, within or without the City, "The Act of Burial." the next Thing was the Act of Burial. This has been perform’d various ways, but the two most common, were either Burying or Burning, whether of which be the most eligible we shall next enquire into. Burial is the more antient, as having been us’d in the Primitive Ages by the Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and most other Nations, yet the two latter burn’d their Dead, as is pretended on the following Considerations. First, That Worms and such like vile Insects might be thereby prevented from corroding the noble Bodies of the Dead, and the Living be freed from the Infection and Stench of Carcasses rotting in the Earth. Secondly, Because Fire purefy’d the Dead, and was the quickest way of Incineration, or reducing Bodies to their first Elements, whereby the Soul being set at Liberty, might take its Flight to the Heavenly Mansions. Thirdly, Being so immediately reduc’d to Ashes, it could not be easily inform’d and mov’d about by the Devil, to the great Terror and Amazement of all People. And, Lastly, they likewise thought it secur’d them from the Exultation of the Enemy, in exposing and abusing their Corps, which last I take to be the true Occasion of Burning their Dead: For as Pliny says, Lib. 7. cap. 54. Sylla having dug up the Body of Caius Marius, his mortal Enemy, and fearing the like Fate, engag’d the People by an express Law, that they should for the future burn both him and others after they were dead, and this tho’ none of the Cornelii his Predecessors had ever been burn’d. From hence it was the Romans brought in the Custom of Burning their Dead, which was perform’d after the following manner:

Having erected a Pile in form of an Altar, made either of ordinary Wood, such as Oak, Ash, Olive, Pine, Fir, and the like resiniferous Trees, which caus’d it easily to catch Fire, or else of odoriferous, such as Cedar, Cypress, Mirtle, &c. They plac’d the Corps with the Couch thereon, and then set round about the Arms, Sword, Belt or Spoils taken in War of the Deceas’d, his best Houshold-Goods and richest Apparel, his finest Horses, Dogs or the like, and in the more barbarous Ages his Slaves, all which, having first slain the Beasts, &c. they burn’d together with him. In some Places the Wives flung themselves alive into the Pile, and were burn’d with their Husbands, and commonly all such Things as the Deceas’d most valu’d while they liv’d, besides abundance of rich Presents brought by Relations and Friends, all sorts of Perfumes and sweet Odours, such as Cinamon, Cassia, Frankinsence, &c. and odoriferous Oils and Ointments were burn’d with them, as we read the Israelites us’d to do at the Burials of their Kings, as they did at that of Asa, 2 Chron. 16. 14. and other Places. When the Pile was burn’d down, the nearest Relations gather’d up the Ashes and Bones, "Ossilegium." and having wash’d them with Wine, Milk or Water, put them into Urns made of different kinds of Matter, such as Gold, Silver, Brass, Marble, Glass, Earthen-Ware, Cedar, and the like; then they pour’d out Tears upon them, which being catch’d in small Vessels call’d LacrymatoriÆ, were reposited with the Urn in a Tomb.

An Oration or Funeral-Sermon was likewise solemnly pronounc’d in Praise of the Deceas’d, by a Person appointed for that purpose by the public Magistrate. When the Funeral was over, other Ceremonies were perform’d in Honour of the Dead as Festivals, which may be reduc’d to these three Heads, Sacrifices, Feasts and Games.

The Sacrifices consisted of Liquors, Victims and Garlands; the Liquors were Wine, Milk, Water, Blood, Honey and liquid Balsam.

The Feasts were either Publick or Private: The Private were kept about the Tomb of the Deceas’d by the nearest Relations and Friends only, being prepar’d both for the Dead and Living. The Repast design’d for the Dead consisting commonly of Beans, Lettices, Bread and Eggs, or the like, was laid on the Tomb for the Deceas’d to come out and Eat, as they fancy’d he would. The Public Feasts were when the Heirs or Friends of some Rich or Great Dead Person oblig’d the People with a general Treat to his Honour and Memory.

The Funeral Games consisted of a great number of Gladiators, fighting with Beasts, &c. the Ancients thinking the Dead delighted in such bloody Sacrifices; but this Barbarous Custom of burning the Dead continu’d no longer than the Time of the Antonines, who being virtuous Princes abhorr’d such Cruelties, and therefore brought Burial again into Practice. Thus it plainly appears, Burial was not only more antient but more eligible than Burning, since one was admitted upon Choice and the other by Compulsion; for so soon as such cruel minded Persons were remov’d, Burial was again introduc’d: Besides, as it appears by Holy Writ and the Canon-Law, Burning was a most ignominious way of dealing with the Dead, to which none were expos’d but such as had lain with Beasts or their own Sex; and we at this Day only burn Female-Traitors, or such as have kill’d their Husbands, &c. thereby to show the Heinousness of their Crime; on the contrary, Sepulture was always esteem’d Honourable among GOD’s People. Thus the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, as also Moses were bury’d, and the last particularly by GOD himself, Deut. 34. 7. Likewise the Holy Fathers, St. Austin, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory, and most of the Primitive Christians were for having their Bodies bury’d and not burn’d: "Situation of the Dead in their Sepulchres." But as for the manner of Burying or placing them in their Sepulchres, that was various, according to the different Opinions or Customs of several Nations, a few of which we shall here relate. The Egyptians set dead Bodies on their Feet, as Solinus observes:

The PhÆnicians bury’d the Dead on their Backs, yet turn’d them to the West, in Imitation of the Setting-Sun, as the Athenians did to the East in regard of its Rising. The Nasamones, a People of Africa, did not only for the greatest part die sitting, but also bury’d their Dead in that Posture, and the Inhabitants of Megara plac’d their Dead with their Faces downwards: So Diogenes desir’d to be bury’d, his Reason being, that as he believ’d the World would at last be turn’d topsie-turvy, he then should lye upright: Yet the general way was to lye with the Face upwards towards the Fountain of Life, and Abodes of the Celestial Gods, and to be so situated in the Grave, as to see the Rising-Sun. As for the Christians, they bury’d their Dead supine, as looking towards Heaven, where their sole Hopes were plac’d, and towards the East as waiting for the Resurrection.

Next let us consider the Places where the Ancients us’d to bury their Dead, and how they dug their Graves, and erected their Sepulchres and Monuments. In order to this you must know, First, That Sepulchres were not always of a kind, nor might all People be bury’d in the same Place of Sepulture, but proper ones were invented for different Degrees and Ranks, so that some were Public and some Private; some common or belonging to all, and others peculiar to one Family, and these again either built by the Persons whilst alive, or order’d by their Wills how they would have them erected after their Deaths. "Monuments Built during Life." Thus Absalom in his Life-Time erected a Pillar to preserve his Memory in case his Issue-Male fail’d, 2 Sam. 18. 18. which Pillar, hewn out of a Rock or Quarry, he intended for his Sepulchre, and which, according to Sandys, is to be seen at this Day. Augustus CÆsar, in the 6th Year of his Consulship, built a Funeral-Monument for himself and Successors; but that Mausoleum, as Xiphilinus writes, being full in the Time of Adrian, that Emperor rais’d himself a Tomb or Sepulchre near the Pons Ælius. Nay it was usual for such as were careful of their Burials, to provide their own Tombs in their Lives Time, and this for their better Satisfactions, with these or the like Inscriptions:

For the same Reason King Henry the Seventh built a fair and glorious Chapel at Westminster as an House of Burial for himself, his Children, and such only of the Blood-Royal as should descend from his Loins, forbidding all others of what Degree or Quality soever to be interr’d in that sacred Mould, as appears by his last Will and Testament, Weever p. 20. Now, as for such as did not build their Monuments themselves, but only order’d them by their last Wills, it was held such Wills could not be violated with a safe Conscience, nor might any one change, alienate or detract from them; for since Monuments were invented as well to preserve Mens Memories as their Bodies, it would be very hard and inhuman to deprive them of them, yet has there been such base Heirs, as appears by the Inscriptions of some Tombs, which give the Reader a Caution therein, whereof I have inserted two.

On others thus:

That some Persons were better pleas’d to build their Tombs themselves, we read in 2 Chron. 16. 14. how King Asa was bury’d in his own Sepulchre, which he had made for himself in the City of David: And how Shebnah had taken care to have a Sepulchre hew’d for himself in Jerusalem. The same is also said of Joseph of ArimathÆa, Matth. 27. 60. "Places of Sepulture." The Places of Sepulture were of two kinds, Public and Private. The Public were likewise of two sorts, viz. Such as were allotted the Poor, and others that were us’d only by the Rich: "The PuticulÆ." The poor Servants, and such like mean Persons, were bury’d in Ditches or Graves call’d PuticulÆ or Puticuli, and so nam’d, A Puteis fossis, vel quod Corpora ibi putrescerent. These were Holes in the Earth made like to Wells, between Mount Esquiline, the Walls of the City, and the Street which leads to the Gate Querquetulana; but these Wells infecting all the neighbouring parts of the City, Augustus for removing thereof, gave that Place to MÆcenas, who built a stately House, and made very fine Gardens there, as his Favourite Horace informs us. There were other public Places, in which those that had deserv’d well of the Common-Wealth had their Monuments, which were chiefly allow’d them as a Reward of their Virtues. As for the Roman Kings they were bury’d in the Campus Martius, "Campus Martius." where the MausolÆum of Augustus stood, together with a vast number of antient Sepulchres and Monuments all along the River side.

Private Burying-Places were such as any one had in his own House, Garden or Fields: Thus we read Samuel was bury’d in his House at Ramah, Sam. 25. 1. and Joab in his House in the Wilderness, 1 Kings 2. 34. The antient Grecians were also bury’d in Places prepar’d for that purpose in their own Houses; and the Thebans had once a Law, that no Person should build a House without providing in it a Repository for the Dead; but this Custom was afterwards forbidden, as appears by that Passage in Isiodorus, Lib. 14. Orig. cap. 11. Prius autem quisq; in Domo sua sepeliebatur, postea vetitum est Legibus, ne fÆtore ipso Corpora Viventium contactu inficerentur. At first every one was bury’d in his own House, but afterwards it was forbidden by the Laws, lest the Living might thereby be infected. Tolosanus in Syntagm. Juris universal, Lib. 33. cap. 23. gives another Reason, Ne Licentia illa Sepeliendi familiares daret delinquendi & occisos occultandi Occasionem. Lest such a Liberty of Burying the Family, should give occasion of committing Murder and afterwards hiding it.

Sometimes the Ancients bury’d in their Gardens, as we read Manasseth was interr’d in the Garden of his own House, in the Garden of Uzza, 2 Kings 21. 18. and Tacitus tells us Galba’s Body was bury’d by Argius his Steward, with little or no Ceremony, in his private Garden. We read also of a Sepulchre in the Garden made by Joseph of ArimathÆa to lay our Saviour’s Body in, John 19. 41.

They likewise bury’d in Fields, and so the Patriarchs were said to be bury’d in a Cave in the Field of Machpelah, Gen. 23. 20. also ’tis related that Uzziah King of Judah slept with his Fathers, and was bury’d with them in the Field of Burial which pertain’d to the Kings, 2 Chron. 26. 23. Tho’ they term’d these two last Private, because they bury’d in Fields and Gardens belonging only to their own Families, yet, if it was possible, they always interr’d their Dead in that part of the Garden or Field which lay nearest the common Road or Highway, thereby to put Passengers in mind of their Mortality.

For this Reason they more frequently bury’d in the Highways and public Roads, that by seeing the Monuments of the Dead the Memory of them might not only be excited, but also the Living be encourag’d to imitate the Virtues of such Great Men as were represented on those stately Tombs, and likewise to admonish them, that what they were they should also be. This plainly appears by the Epitaphs and Inscriptions which always spoke to the Traveller after this manner:

The Ancients likewise bury’d in Mountains and Hills. Joshua, Captain of the Hebrews, and Eleazar, Son of Aaron, were both bury’d in Mount Ephraim, Joshua 24. 30, 33. Judges 2. 9. and we read in 2 Kings 23. 16. that as Josiah turn’d himself, he spy’d the Sepulchres that were in the Mountain. Likewise the Grecians and Romans bury’d their Kings and Great Men either on the tops of Mountains, or at their feet, as Isiodorus, Lib. 15. Etimolog. cap. 11. observes. Thus Aventinus Sylvius, King of the Albans, was interr’d in the Hill that receiv’d its Name from him, as Titus Livius and Aurelius de Orig. Gent. Roman. testifie. Virgil reports the same thing of King Dercennus, Æn. 11. v. 850.

Hence likewise appears the Custom of raising a Mount over the Graves of great Persons, which Lucan Lib. 8. speaking of the Egyptians, has thus express’d:

So also Weever in his Funeral-Monuments, p. 6. observes, they were antiently wont to bury here in England either on ridges of Hills, or on spacious Plains fortify’d or fenc’d about with Obelisks, pointed Stones, Pyramids, Pillars, or such like Monuments. For Example, England’s Wonder on Salisbury-Plain call’d Stonehenge, the Sepulchre of so many Britains, who, by the Treachery of the Saxons, were slain there at a Parley: That of Wada the Saxon Duke near Whitby in Yorkshire, and those of Cartigerne the Britain, and Horsa the Saxon near Ailesford in Kent. It was a thing usual among our Saxon Ancestors (says Verstegan) as by Tacitus it also seems to have been among the other Germans, that the dead Bodies of such as were slain in the Field, and bury’d there, were not laid in Graves, but lying on the Ground were cover’d over with Turfs or Clods of Earth, "In Plains cover’d with Turfs, &c." and the more Reputation they had had, the greater and higher were the Turfs rais’d over them. This some us’d to term Byriging, others Beorging, and some Buriging, which we now call Berying or Burying, which is properly a shrouding or hiding the dead Body in the Earth. Of these kinds of Funeral-Monuments you have many on Salisbury-Plain, out of which the Bones of Bodies thus inhum’d have oftentimes been dug. These Places the Inhabitants thereabouts call Beries, Baroes or Burroughs, which agrees with the words Byrighs, Beorghs or Burghs spoken in the same Sence. From hence the Names of divers Towns and Cities were originally deriv’d; Places first so call’d having been with Walls of Turf or Clods of Earth, fenc’d about for Men to shroud themselves in, as in Forts or Castles: Thus far Weever. We shall next take notice that the Romans antiently made their Graves of Turf, which they call’d Injectio GlebÆ, and for the same Reason the Latin word Tumulus, which in its proper Sense imports no more than a Hillock, came afterwards to signifie a Grave or Tomb. These were compos’d of two parts, one the Grave or Tomb, and the other the Ground surrounding them, fenc’d about with Pales, Walls, or the like. Here we may observe that most of the Ancients Burials were without their Town and Cities, either for fear the Air might be corrupted thro the stench of Putrefy’d Bodies, or the Buildings endanger’d by the frequency of Funeral-Fires; wherefore they made choice of more convenient Places for their Interments in the Suburbs or Country, such as Mountains, Hills, Woods, Fields or Highways, which were barren Places; for as Plato, Lib. 12. De Leg. says, No Sepulchre was to be made in a fertile Soil or fruitful Field, but that Place was only to be us’d which was steril and good for nothing else.

Now tho’ it was forbidden both by the Greek and Roman Laws, "Burial in the City." to bury within the Walls of Cities, yet was there nevertheless a Reserve made for some particular Persons, such as Emperors, Vestal-Virgins, and those that had merited Favour by some extraordinary Action or Virtue. It seem’d likewise an Honour due to Lawyers, that they who had kept the Citizens in a healthful Concord whilst alive, might when dead remain in the midst of them. Likewise we often read of Monuments erected in the Forum or middle of the City, but that we must look on as a Favour chiefly bestow’d on Men of Worth, and public Benefactors; nay, sometimes Persons of a more than ordinary Desert and Excellency were permitted to be bury’d in the Temples of the Gods; and some are of Opinion, such Honours paid the Dead were the first Causes of erecting Temples; see Arnobius, Lib. 6. advers. Gentes, and Isiodorus, Lib. 15. Origin. cap. 11. Nor are later Times wholly destitute of such Examples. We read moreover in the Holy Scripture, that Persons of eminent Ranks and Quality were bury’d in the City. So David was bury’d in the City call’d after his own Name, where also Solomon, Abijam, Asa, Jehosaphat, Joram, Ahaziab, Jehoash, Amaziah, Azariah, Jothan, Ahaz, Rehoboam, Jehoiada and Joash were bury’d, 1 Kings 2. 10. 11. 43. 15. 8, 24. 22. 50. 2 Kings 8. 24. 9. 28. 12. 21. 14. 20. 15. 7, 38. 16. 20. 2 Chron. 12. 16. 16. 14. 24. 16, 25. 27. 9. Ahab, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and the Kings of Israel were interr’d in the City of Samaria, and Amaziah in the City of Judah, 1 Kings 22. 27. 2 Kings 10. 35. 13. 9. 14. 16. 2 Chron. 25. 28. with abundance of other Instances, too many to be related here: Besides it has long been the Custom of most modern Nations to bury in their Cities and Churches their Kings, Princes, Nobles, Gentry, Poets, and Men of the greatest Parts and Merit. The Emperors and Arch-Dukes of Austria are bury’d at Vienna, the Kings of England in Westminster-Abbey, the Kings of France in the Monastery of St. Dennis, the Kings of Sueden at Stockholm, the Kings of Poland at Cracow, the Electors of Saxony at Fridberg, the Counts Palatine of the Rhine at Heydelberg, and the like, whereof see more Examples in Quenstedt, p. 205. and Weever, p. 8. but more especially in Panvinus de Rit. Sepeliendi, who gives a whole Catalogue of such Kings, Princes and Priests as have been bury’d in Churches. But to proceed to speak of the Nature and Distinction of such Places of Sepulture as the Ancients us’d, whether within or without the City, they were distinguish’d into Proper and Common, Family and Hereditary Burial-Places or Sepulchres.

Proper Sepulchres were such particular Places as any one reserv’d for himself, where none had ever been laid before, and from whence he could by his Will exclude any of his Heirs. To this purpose they inscrib’d on their Tombs these Letters: H. M. H. N. S. that is, Hoc Monumentum Heredes non sequitur. Or these, H. M. ad H. N. TRANS. Hoc Monumentum ad Heredes non transit. Which Inscriptions are still to be met with in abundance of Places, and shew the Heir has no Right or Claim to Burial there.

Common Sepulchres were such as the PuticulÆ for the poorer Sort, the Campus Martius for Men of Quality, Honour or Merit, the Ceramnicus for such as were slain in War, and other the like Places to bury Strangers in, call’d Poluandria. So we read the chief Priests of the Jews bought the Potters Field for this Purpose, with Thirty pieces of Silver, which Judas had taken to betray Christ, Matth. 27. 7.

Family-Sepulchres were such as were only common to Heirs and Posterity, who had a right to be bury’d therein: Some again were only for the Husband and Wife, having this Inscription, Sibi & Conjugi; others for the Children likewise, inscrib’d Sibi, Conjugi & Liberis.

Hereditary-Sepulchres were such as the Testator appointed for himself and his Heirs, or acquir’d by Right of Inheritance. These sometimes belong’d to the whole Family, as to Children and Relations: Now for the better understanding how these Sepulchres were made, which were capable of holding such a number of Persons, we must observe they were certain Caves, Grots or Vaults dug under Ground, and divided into several Partitions, in which each Body being put up in a Coffin of Stone, Lead, Wood, &c. these Coffins were laid each in its own Apartment; for such Burial-Places were wont to have as many Divisions as they design’d Persons to be bury’d in them: Thus some became unlimited, possessing several Miles of Ground; such were the CryptÆ Kiovienses, which Herbinius has wrote a Book of, and the Catacombs of Rome and Naples, of which you have an exact Account in Bosio’s Roma Subterranea, and Bishop Burnet’s Travels. The Greeks call’d such a Burial-Place, ???G????, ?p? t?? ???, sub Terra, Hypogeum, and the Latins Crypta, deriving the Word from the Greek ???pt?, a ???pt?, abdo; quia abdita est. These serving not only for Sepultures to the Primitive Christians, but during the Time of Persecution, for hiding Places, where they held Synods and administred the Sacraments, as Panvinus in Lib. De CÆmiteriis, cap. 11 relates. These Subterranean Caves were at first dug only out of the Earth, but afterwards they were hew’d out of solid Rocks, or else curiously wrought and pay’d with Stone, being arch’d above, and adorn’d with no less Art and Care than the Houses of the Living; insomuch that it was customary to place Lamps in these Subterranean-Vaults, whither such Mourners as had a mind to express an extraordinary Concern for the Deceas’d, retir’d, cloistering themselves up for many Days and Nights, whereof we have an Example in Petronius’s Story of the Ephesian Matron. Thus the Egyptians and Persians bury’d in Caves dug out of solid Rocks, or at the bottoms of such stony Mountains, as Diodorus Siculus and other Writers inform us. There was also at Nismes in Languedoc a Crypta found, with a rich inlaid Pavement and Niches round about the Wall, in each of which gilded Glass-Urns full of Ashes were set in order. The Jews likewise hew’d their Sepulchres out of Rocks, into which they descended thro’ a narrow Passage, which was shut up with a Stone, as appears by that of Lazarus, John 11. 38. and that of Joseph of ArimathÆa, wherein our Saviour’s Body was laid, Matth. 27. 60.

Thus far we have treated of Sepulchres properly so call’d, now we will speak of such as were erected to preserve the Memories of those that were bury’d else-where, whence they came to be call’d ??????F???, i. e. ?e??? t?f??, inanis Tumulus, Tumulus sine Corpore, a Sepulchre rais’d in Honour of some Person, and wherein his Body had never been laid. Of these there were two sorts, one erected to such as had been honour’d with Funeral-Rites in another Place, and the other for those who had never obtain’d any. First, They built these Sepulchres for Religions sake, by reason they thought the Souls of those that had been depriv’d of the Rites and Honours of Sepulture wander’d about, and could never pass the Stygian Lake: See page 21. Secondly, They esteem’d it the next Felicity to Sepulture to lye in their own Country, wherefore when any one died in a forreign Land, they thrice invok’d his Ghost or Soul, which thereby, as they thought, speedily hastening to them, they erected a Tomb or Monument for it. This without doubt afforded no small Joy and Comfort, by reason they believ’d in doing thus, their Bodies were driven under Ground to their own Country, and the Jews even at this Day believe, that immediately after their Deaths their Souls pass into the Land of Canaan. Nicolaius, Lib. De Luctu GrÆcorum, p. 17. It was also customary, among the nearest Friends and Relations, to build various Tombs for one and the same Person, and that in various Places, which they did to do the Deceas’d the more Honour, as Dionysius Halicarnasseus, Lib. 1. Antiqu. Roman. observes. We may also gather from Prudentius, Lib. pe?? stef???? that the Christians built Cenotaphs in Honour of their Martyrs, and Gretserius de Funer. Christi, Lib. 3. cap. 6. says, they were erected in Commemoration of the Deceas’d. Hence may be likewise gather’d the Use and Benefit of Tombs, "Use and Benefit of Tombs." as First, That they were erected in Honour to the Deceas’d. Secondly, Often Built at the public Cost, as a Reward to Virtue and Valour. And, Lastly, they were moreover thought to be a Comfort to the Living; for as Theodoric gravely said, Bodies bury’d in Coffins and Tombs were esteem’d no small Consolation to Mourners, inasmuch as the Souls of the Deceas’d departed only from the Conversation of the World, whereas their Bodies did not for some time leave their surviving Friends: If therefore such Things could afford so great satisfaction to the Living, how much more would it delight them to see the Bodies of their dead Ancestors, with a long Lineage of their Family, so perfect as to distinguish their Persons and Sex by the preserv’d Features, and this without any offensive Smell or deform’d Aspect, as we are well assur’d both the Egyptians and the Inhabitants of Teneriff us’d to do, which is not even impossible to perform at this Day? The Ancients were so exceedingly carefull of every particular Ceremony in Funeral-Rites, that they made it the chief Point of their Religion to perform them, as an indispensible Duty their Gods requir’d of them, and their Laws strictly maintain’d; so that to neglect them was the greatest Cruelty, and to violate them a capital Crime and Sacriledge. They added every thing to their Sepulchres that could make them Sacred, Honourable and Respected, or which could transmit their Names to Posterity, their Fame to Eternity, and their Ashes to Perpetual Repose.

Besides, they were wont to carve thereon the Arms, Trophies, Coat-Armour and Effigies of the Deceas’d, subjoining moreover such Elogiums and Inscriptions as best express’d their Family, Virtues, Studies, Emploiments, Works or noble Actions; their Condition of Life, Age, Time and Cause of Death, and in a Word, whatever else was Remarkable in them and worthy Commemoration. "How call’d." These Structures for the Dead were call’d after several Names, from the several Uses they were put to when erected; for some contain’d whole Bodies, others their Ashes only, and some neither one nor the other, being only built to transmit the Memory of the Party deceas’d to succeeding Ages, whence they were call’d Cenotaphs. "Cenotaphs. Sepulchres." Sepulchres were so nam’d a Sepeliendo, which signifies committing to the Ground, laying up therein, or hiding or covering with Earth, whence burying came to be call’d Sepulture, and Burial-Places Sepulchres. Scipio Gentilis, Lib. Origin. Sing. says, Monumentum quasi Munimentum dicitur, quod Causa Muniendi ejus Loci factum est. Monuments were sometimes very fitly call’d Muniments, "Muniments." by reason they fenc’d in and defended the Corps from being torn out of its Grave by Savage Beasts, and likewise preserv’d the same from all farther Violation. They were call’d Tumuli, "Tombs." quod coacervata ibi Terra tumeat, because Turf or Earth was wont to be heap’d over them, which the higher it was the more Honourable; but these being easily scratch’d up by Hyena’s, Wolves, and the like voracious Animals, and because the Ancients bury’d at first far out of Cities, in the Highways, Woods, Hills and Mountains, thence says Servius on Æneid. 11. Factum est aut Pyramides fierent, aut ingentes collocarentur ColumnÆ. They erected either Pyramids or Columns over their Graves. "Memories," They were also call’d Memories, a Memoria, and Monuments, "Monuments." a monendo, quia monebant Mentem, because as St. Austin says, Lib. De Cura pro Mortuis, we are by them put in Mind and warn’d to consider our frail Condition, they being external Helps to excite and stir up our inward Thoughts, to have the remembrance of Death before our Eyes, that our deceas’d Brethren may not be out of our Minds, tho’ they are out of our sight. Much the same Etymology of a Monument Varro gives, Lib. 5. De Lingua Latina, and Weever of Funeral-Monuments, p. 9. has collected such another out of a Manuscript in the Cotton Library, entitul’d, The Register of Gray-Friars in London.

The Christians us’d to call Sepulchres Dormitories or Sleeping Places, where the Bodies of the Faithful rested in their Graves as in their Beds, vide p. 17. The Pagans also gave them the like Synonymous Names, such as Quietorium, Requietorium, &c. "Resting-Places." Scilicet ubi quiescant condita Corpora. Places of Rest and Quiet for the Dead. "Seats." They were likewise antiently call’d Seats, as appears by this old Inscription, Hanc Sedem sibi Vivi posuerunt, and that of Virgil in his 6th Æneid.

Sometimes they were call’d Houses, in that there is no House so much and truly our own as our Grave, whence Job rightly express’d himself, Chap. 30. ver. 23. I know thou wilt bring me to Death, and to the House appointed for all Men Living. Likewise Chap. 4. 9. he terms them Houses of Clay, but Isaiah Chap. 14. 18. describes them more elegantly in these Words, All the Kings of the Nations lye in Glory, every one in his own House. Others gave them still more pompous Titles, such as Domus Æterna, Domus Æternitatis, &c. for as Diodorus Siculus, Lib. 1. Bibl. Histor. relates, The Egyptians accounted the Houses they liv’d in but as Inns, by reason their stay was so short in them, whereas they deem’d their Sepulchres more durable and eternal, and this because they believ’d the Dead were always to abide and continue in them, so that they took more Care of, and were at far greater Charge about them than their Houses: Also that these might be the more lasting and permanent, the Ancients spared no Cost nor Trouble, but with prodigious Labour and Expence rais’d them out of Marble, Stone, Brass or the like. The Æthiopians made some of their Monuments of Glass, as Herodotus, Lib. 3. cap. 6. relates in these Words: Deinde Cippum ei cavum e Vitro, quod apud illos multum est, & facile effoditur, circumdant: In ejus medio Mortuus interlucet, ut ab Hominibus conspici queat, &c. Afterwards they enclose him in a Coffin of Glass, which is plentiful with them and easily dug: In the midst of it the dead Body so shines, that he may be seen of all. Alexander ab Alexandro, Lib. 6. Gen. Dier., cap. 14. says, The Egyptians had three sorts of Sepulchres, one of great Expence, which cost a Talent of Silver, another of 20 MinÆ, and a third kind of smaller Cost and Value; but the Æthiopians were more famous for their Monuments, those of the richer Sort being made of Gold, the middle kind of Silver, and the poorer ones of Earth.

But I fear, Sir, you’ll think I have digress’d too much from my Subject of Embalming, yet what I have said, was in order to shew how far Funeral-Rites and Ceremonies are useful and allowable, when accompany’d with this Art, and on the contrary, how vain and ridiculous they are when us’d without it, especially if they do but in the least exceed the Bounds of Modesty and Frugality. What tho’ other Ceremonies be perform’d with the greatest Splendor and Exactness, they can give no other Satisfaction than the Decency of Burial, or performing perhaps the Will of the Dead; for the Body will nevertheless stink, corrupt, and it may be startle the nearest Friend to see it a while after? Then shall his Bones not be known, nor his Ashes be distinguish’d from another Mans, nay even from common Earth, so that the parcimonious Heir may well reflect, how vain and needless it would have been to have bestow’d more than a decent Expence on his Funeral. Nor does it signifie much which way the Body be dissolv’d, in regard it comes to the same End without Embalming, and that such Tombs, how splendid soever, are but in effect Cenotaphs or empty Sepulchres, except that they are full of Stench and Rottenness: "Funeral-Expences insignificant without Embalming." We must therefore look upon it as the most extravagant Vanity to erect Pyramids, Obelisks, Tombs, &c. for preserving an empty airy Name and meer Shadow, while we neglect to keep any Remains of that noble Workmanship the Body, whereby to distinguish Man from Earth and Dust. That these Practices are not commendable is plainly prov’d in St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chap. 23. 27, 29. where our Saviour describing Hypocrites, compares them to such Tombs and Sepulchres, in these Words, Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites, for ye are like unto whited Sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful without, but within are full of dead Mens Bones and all Uncleanness. That is, the rigid Jews affected plaister’d and whited Sepulchres, in Cadaverous and corrupted Burials, garnishing their Tombs only outwardly, when within they were full of Stench and Rottenness: But we shall endeavour to prove, that of all Funeral-Ceremonies, Embalming is the chief and most useful, without which, all the rest are but vain, expensive and insignificant Customs. "Why the Body is to be taken Care of." We are not ignorant some may object why the Body should be so much taken Care of, since by Death there is a separation made of the Soul, that more noble Part being fled, while the baser only is left. To this we must assent, that the Body is depriv’d much of its Dignity and Worth by such a Separation, inasmuch as it is but an ignoble Lump in respect of the Soul, yet are we not to neglect and despise it, but rather to esteem it the more for the Souls sake, in that it has once been in a happy State of conjunction with it, and that it shall again come to be reunited therewith. The Soul, says Sandys, p. 105. knowing it self by Divine Instinct to be Immortal, does in a manner desire the Body, her belov’d Companion, may, as far as may be, enjoy the like Felicity with her, giving by lofty Monuments, and the Duties of Funerals, all possible Eternity with her. With this Hen. Salmuth, Comment. in Panciroll. Pars 1. pag. 336. agrees, saying, Consentaneum est Veritati & ObservantiÆ, imo indubitatum est Sapientibus, quÆdam nobis cognata esse Semina Immortalitatis; cujus adeo appetentes sumus, ut etiam SepulturÆ prospiciamus, & nolimus Cadaver nostrum male haberi. Humanum Ingenium quod AnimÆ nostrÆ vis est, cum se sciat Immortale, optat etiam ut Corpus ipsum quoq; & Comes & Domicilium suum quoad fieri potest eadem FÆlicitate perfruatur. It is both agreeable to Truth and Observation, and not to be doubted by Wise Men, that there are in us some innate Seeds of Immortality, which we so desirously seek, as to take Care both of our Sepulture, and that our Carcass be not ill treated. Human Understanding, which is the Force of the Soul, knowing it self Immortal, desires also the Body, which is its Companion and Habitation, may enjoy as much as may be the same Felicity she her self has. "The Soul concern’d at the Usage of the Body." For tho’ the Body be not sensible, yet the Soul which cannot die, mourns sadly when its Companion is either ill treated or neglected; but on the contrary rejoyces when it is Honour’d and taken Care of. This Lucretius hints at, where he shews how Man, who whilst living, knows what will happen after Death, as that his Body shall corrupt or be devour’d by Birds, Beasts, &c. or burn’d by Fire, commiserates himself for not having been created Immortal, and consequently departs out of this World regretfully, see p. 23. This is also farther confirm’d by Julius CÆsar Scaliger, Lib. 3. Poetices, cap. 20. who says, Altho’ the dead Body neither perceives what Condition it is in, nor is any longer with the Soul, yet Man when living has a Sense of all those things his Body must undergo after his Dissolution. Now if Death were only ceasing to be, act or breath, then were that State most desirable, inasmuch as Man would then only rest from his Labours, and be by this means freed from the Troubles and Afflictions of this Life. Whereas on the contrary to be dissolv’d or to become a Prey to ravenous Beasts, Birds and Fishes, or an Heritage to Serpents and Worms, is ungrateful to our Thoughts, miserable to our Sight, and unpleasant to all our Senses; such a State being not only disagreeable to our Nature, but also dishonouring and debasing of the Noble Image of GOD, pag. 9. and 10. ’Tis this occasions great sadness of Mind to Man whilst living, and makes him die the more regretfully: It grieves him exceedingly to think what a miserable Object of Mortality he is like to prove after Death, how ugly and deform’d, how offensive to his Friends, and only fit for the Conversation of such new born Insects and Reptiles as are bred out of, and live by Stench and Corruption. What a Metathesis is this! that he who perhaps was born of Royal Blood, and kept Company with Kings and Princes, shall now cry out with Job, 17. 14. To Corruption, thou art my Father; To the Worm, thou art my Mother and Sister. Whereas on the contrary, he who is assur’d of being Embalm’d, and having all other Funeral-Rites perform’d to him, closes his Eyes in full satisfaction of lying undisturb’d in his Grave, as in his Bed, and enjoying Eternal Rest. "Therefore the Body is to be taken Care of." Besides, other Considerations may induce us to take Care of the Body; for would you not think it a strange Disgrace for a Prince to dwell in a Hutt, and his Jewels and other Riches to be laid up in a Sink of Filthiness? Surely such as the Prince is, such ought to be the Palace wherein he dwells, and such as are the Jewels, such ought to be the Cabbinet that contains them. The Soul is the most precious Thing in this World, and accordingly GOD has enclos’d it with a Cover, the Body, the most beautifully compos’d next to it that can be; Shall we despise therefore this Cover, because Death has separated it from the Soul? No, let us rather esteem it the more, and take the more Care to preserve it, inasmuch as it has once been the Casket of that noble Jewel, and is the only Way of representing that Divine Form which GOD Almighty was pleas’d to impress on it. We may perhaps vainly please our selves with having the Picture of our deceas’d Friend, which nevertheless consists but of a few Lights and Shadows, or it may be we have his Statue, which however wants the natural Complection and Air of his Person: ’Tis true Pictures or Statues may preserve in our Minds our Friends Memories, and so in some measure redeem them from the Injuries of Oblivion, yet will they still but very faintly and imperfectly represent that Body, to which Embalming gives a real Presence, and which may at any Time be essay’d by our Senses. Aristotle adds farther, Corpore in Putredinem abeunte, nec Anima amare, nec reminisci potest. That the Soul neither remembers nor loves the Body when Putrify’d; which is agreeable to the Opinion of the Egyptians, "The Egyptians Belief of a dead Body." who pleasantly conceited, that the Soul only left the Body when it was Corrupt and Putrify’d, as abhorring so loathsome an Habitation; whereas on the contrary, it never forsook it when it was preserv’d uncorrupt and entire. For this reason they, with extraordinary Art and Care, Embalm’d their Dead, that so the Body by the Cleanliness of its Mansion, by its being deliciously perfum’d and dighted with all the Aromatic and Odoriferous Spices and Gums of Arabia, and in a word, by its being dress’d in fine Linnen, might court and incline its best Companion, the Soul, to cohabit with it (Prov. 7. 16, 17.) Methinks so good an Example from Heathens might excite us to take more Care of our inanimate Part. We are apt enough to respect the Outsides of other Things, and set a Value on their Insides accordingly; Why therefore should we not with our utmost Care support our earthly Tabernacle from the fatal Ruins of Death, that it may thereby continue in one State, like the Israelites Cloaths, without Wearing or Corrupting, and be Tenantable at any Time, whenever the Soul shall return to inhabit it again? Now as we are all desirous of Immortality, so ought we likewise to be of Eternity.

The desire of Living is as natural as the necessity of Dying inevitable, and some have spared no means to render themselves Immortal, if Human Nature could possibly have arriv’d at that State, but finding Death inexorable and irresistable, they alter’d their Measures by inventing a thousand ways to perpetuate their Memories after their Dissolution; as by erecting Pyramids, Obelisks and Monuments of surprizing Magnificence, on which they engrav’d Inscriptions capable as they thought to resist Time, and to endure to Eternity. Yet of all Methods us’d to preserve and perpetuate the Memories of the Dead, "Embalming the best way of preserving the Memory of the Dead." it may justly be said of Embalming, that that Art has ever been most approv’d by the Polite Nations, as being undeniably the most considerable and efficacious Means to answer their Intention. For the utmost Care in erecting Monuments, &c. yields but an obscure and imperfect Idea of the Person deceas’d, whereas by Embalming, that very Person is known to be preserv’d: Besides, if I may use the Words of Sir Thomas Brown in his Hydriotaphia, Who knows the Fate of his Bones, or how often he is to be bury’d? Who has the Oracle of his Ashes, or where they are to be scatter’d? To be dug out of our Graves, have our Skulls made Drinking-Cups, and our Bones turn’d into Pipes or Dice to delight and sport our Enemies, shew Juglers Tricks, or divert Gamesters: To have Drums made of our Skins, to please Children or terrifie in Battel, &c. These are tragical Abominations to dying Persons, the Consideration whereof methinks should occasion us to take more care of our Interment. Now Embalming prevents all these Things, not the common sort, for that is equally terrible to some People, but such as is perform’d without cutting, slashing or Embowelling, which I shall hereafter shew. There are some indeed who object against all kinds of Embalming, and this because they think them contrary to Scripture and the Fate pronounc’d to Man, "Embalming not contrary to the Scriptures." Gen. 3. 19. but this and all other such like Scruples we shall fully clear, by examining what Man is, that GOD should be so mindful of him (Psalm 8. 4.) and that notwithstanding his Transgression, he should so love him, as to be careful of preserving him both in Life and Death.

Man the Master-Piece of the Omniscient Architect, is but little inferiour to the Angels themselves, being made after GOD’s own Image; for his Use all other Creatures were made and put in Subjection to him: He alone was endu’d with a Rational and Immortal Soul, a beautiful Symmetry of Body, an Angelic Form, and a Countenance erect to Admire and Worship his Creator. The inquisitive Anatomist can never sufficiently investigate the noble Contrivance of his Organs; the profoundest Naturalist give Reasons for, or the most exquisite Mathematician pretend to imitate so Divine a Mechanism. Here’s a Subject of Contemplation for a Divine, or of a Psalm for the Royal Prophet, to shew how wonderfully Man is form’d and crown’d with Glory and Honour, to live for ever and not see Corruption: "His Transgression" But alass! of how short duration was this happy State? He was no sooner plac’d in Paradise, than, being puff’d up with Pride, he grew disobedient and transgress’d; so that his Happiness was immediately chang’d into a Curse, That all his Days should be but Trouble and Sorrow, and he at length return to the Dust from whence he was taken. Thus the latter part of Adam’s Curse was, that he should die and moulder away, whereas, had he not transgress’d, his Body had probably never been destroy’d, but translated. He would not then have undergon either Death or Corruption, nor would his Body have suffer’d so long a Separation from his Soul; for in that State the Body was no less pure than the Soul, it was every way to be admir’d, honour’d and esteem’d. It was, in a word, nam’d The Temple of GOD, but thro’ Sin Man was curst with Sickness and Infirmities whilst alive, and lastly, with Death, the shamefullest Reproach, thereby to suffer the Corruption of the Grave, and be Food to the vilest Reptiles of the Earth. Now as the Body was once pure as well as the Soul, so is the Soul by Sin contaminated and defil’d as well as the Body, both being made liable to Corrupt and Putrifie thro’ the Curse of Death, and to be like the Beasts of the Field which perish Eternally.

But GOD, out of his infinite Love and Mercy to Mankind, sent his blessed Son as a Redeemer, to make Atonement for Man’s Original Sin, whereby the Curse of his Transgression was wip’d away, and Victory over Death and the Grave obtain’d. Again, As GOD has appointed as a Blessing, Physicians for curing Diseases, that Man might enjoy a tolerable state of Health, till remov’d from this Life, so has he in Death likewise given them a Knowledge to preserve them Incorruptible, which is the promis’d Blessing, 1 Cor. 15. that tho’ our Flesh be Corruptible, yet shall it put on Incorruption (by Embalming) and tho’ we are Mortal and die, yet shall we become Immortal, and so both Death and Sin be conquer’d by Life Eternal. Now this may as well be understood in a Literal Sense, agreeable to our Subject, as in a Spiritual one; "Embalm’d Bodies Sleep ’till the Resurrection." for Bodies Embalm’d as aforesaid, seem not to be dead, but only asleep, waiting for the Resurrection. For this Reason the Hebrews call’d their Burying-Places Houses of the Living, and the Christians nam’d theirs Dormitories or Sleeping-Places, p. 17. where Bodies rest in their Tombs as in their Beds. Non Mortua, sed data Somno, says Prudentius. Their Bodies are not dead, but asleep; for Death to Christians is but Sleeping, and Sleeping Rest, out of which they hope and expect to be awak’d at the joyful Day of Resurrection, well knowing it is no more difficult with GOD to raise them from Death than Sleep; so that to them Death is but as it were a mute Interludium to the Resurrection, a Cessation of Labour and Action, and differs from Life only in Motion and Speech: "Death compar’d to Sleep." For this Reason Death is rightly compar’d to Sleep, as being a Refreshment during the Night of this World, till the Morning of the next. Thus Jesus told the By-Standers, Matth. 9. 24. The Maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And that Lazarus (who was Embalm’d and restor’d to Life again) slept, John 11. 11. which the better to explain he afterwards told them he was dead, ver. 14. It is also written of the Martyr St. Stephen that he fell asleep, Acts 7. 60. See also Dan. 12. 2. and 1 Thess. 4. 13. and this way of speaking was more especially us’d in the Old Testament, as I have already observ’d, p. 36. Prudentius’s Hymn Ad Galli Cantum, p. 30. and that Ante Somnum, p. 46. excellently well compare Death to Sleep, Sleep to Death, and Waking to the Resurrection. Sleep, says Sir Thomas Brown in his Religio Medici, p. 43. is so like Death, that I dare not trust it without my Prayers, and an half Adieu to the World, taking my Farewel in this Colloquy with GOD:

This is the Dormitive I take to Bedward, says my Author, I need no better Hypnotic to make me sleep; after which I close mine Eyes in Security, content to take my leave of the Sun, and to sleep ’till the Resurrection.

Now what this Learn’d Author says of Sleep, the same may be said of Embalming; for this Art prevents the Corruption of the Grave, so that the Body will remain entire, and as it were asleep in its Bed, ’till awak’d by the last Trumpet to a joyful Resurrection, where in its Flesh it shall see GOD, Job 19. 26. and become Spiritual and Immortal. Hereby Death has no more Power over us than a long Sleep, which refreshes us from our Labours, and makes us arise in that Everlasting Morning unweary’d and undefil’d to enjoy a perfect State of Bliss for ever. Besides, this Benefit accrues from seeing Bodies thus preserv’d, that Men are thereby put in mind of that most desirable and delectable Mystery of the Resurrection. "Embalming an Emblem of the Resurrection." So we also that employ our Time and Labour in Embalming, says Gabriel Clauder in Methodo Balsamandi, p. 11. have before our Eyes, as it were in a Looking-Glass, a PrÆludium and Argument of the Resurrection, a Symbol of our Future Integrity, and Testimony of our Faith of the hoped for Incorruptibility and Everlasting Eternity. The Pagans themselves were not without some Hopes of this nature, as appears from the extraordinary Care they bestow’d on their Sepulchres and Embalmings. Very remarkable is the civiliz’d Sepulture of the antient Inhabitants of Teneriffe, who Embalm’d their Dead with singular Art, and afterwards plac’d them in deep Caves in several Postures, such as standing, lying, sitting, &c. These Burying-Places they look on only as Dormitories, and rarely admit any one without leave to go into them, seeming as tho’ they would not have them disturb’d.

The Inhabitants of a Country call’d Zeilan, as Aria Montanus relates, do not bury their Dead, but Embalm them with various Aromatics, which done, they dress them in fine Cloaths, and afterwards set them on Benches, according to their distinct Families and Quality, whereby they appear as if alive, and any one may there know his Father, Grandfather, Great Grandfather, or any other of his Predecessors or Family to a long extent of Time. Much the same is reported of some of the Chineses, Laplanders, West-Indians, Egyptians and others, of whom we shall give a full account in their proper Places. Now if the Heathens, who either did not believe, or would not own the Resurrection of the Flesh, were so careful in Embalming their Dead, much less are we to neglect it, who wait the Resurrection of our frail Bodies, and expect when they shall become Incorruptible, Spiritual and Immortal, eternally enjoying the most perfect state of Bliss and Happiness: Besides, we Christians ought to esteem Embalming a pious Work, "Acceptable to GOD." acceptable to GOD, because it frees us from that Corruption which he so much detests, and has so often pronounc’d and threatn’d as his severest Judgment, p. 38, 39. GOD Almighty has many Times permitted Mankind as well as Brutes and Vegetables, so to petrifie without any Human Help or Assistance, as to remain for ever free from Putrefaction or Corruption, and sometimes has effected the same preservation of the Bodies of the Faithful, without any manifest alteration, but only a little attenuation or dryness, and that without any ill Savour. Thus the Bodies of several Martyrs and Holy Men have been found in most Ages, especially those in the Kiovian CryptÆ or Vaults, which Herbinius describes, and looks on as an Instance of GOD’s Love, and Reward of their Piety and Virtues; Why therefore should we think Embalming, or the artificial Preserving of Bodies, either displeasing to GOD or unbecoming a Christian, since we have so many Instances and Examples to the contrary? The Scriptures testifie that GOD’s antient People the Hebrews embalm’d their Dead, and that the Patriarchs Jacob and Joseph were both embalm’d; so also Joseph of ArimathÆa and Nicodemus, following the Footsteps of their Ancestors, honour’d the Body of our Saviour with Embalming. This GOD Almighty was pleas’d to permit, because, as David says, He would not suffer his Holy One to see Corruption, Psal. 16. 10. Now as Christ was bury’d to shew he was really dead, so was he embalm’d in order to his Resurrection; and as his Holy Body was no ways defil’d with Original Sin, so also thro’ the special Privilege bestow’d on it by GOD, was it exempt from the Laws of Corruption. Now this is moreover remarkable, that before our Saviour was born for the Redemption of Mankind, lost by Adam’s Transgression, GOD shew’d a more than ordinary Instance of his Love to Man, by the preservation of Holy Enoch and Elijah, both who, had they been bury’d, "Enoch and Elijah neither dy’d nor corrupted." must of consequence corrupted under that Curse, Gen. 3. 19. wherefore that they might not undergo those Alterations there threatn’d, viz. Death and Corruption, GOD Almighty translated them: These two with our Saviour are the only Instances of a visible Ascention, and who suffer’d no Corruption.

To these Reasons we may add what Christ himself witnesses, that he was so far from being displeas’d at the Embalming his Body, that he chid those about him, when they were angry at the Womans pouring such precious Nard Ointment on his Head, which, as they alledg’d, might have better been sold for more than Three Hundred Pence (about 10 l. of our Mony) and given to the Poor, Mark 14. 6, 8, 9. Jesus said, let her alone, why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good Work on me, she is come aforehand to anoint my Body to the Burial. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be preach’d throughout the whole World, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of, for a Memorial of her. In a word, this Art of Embalming is sufficiently warranted both by the Old and New Testament, and equally celebrated by Jewish, Christian and Heathen Writers.

Having now done with my Theological Arguments, I shall next proceed to vindicate the Art of Embalming by some Physical and Political Reasons. First then, "Embalming, in a general Sense, very Extensive." If we take this Art in a general Sense of preserving the Memory of Man, as well as his Body, we shall find it very Extensive and Infinite, since both the Industry and Ingenuity of the Ancients have not only sought after the surest Means of effecting this, but likewise invented and contriv’d whatever else might preserve the Body, transmit its Name to Posterity, and Fame to Eternity. Some have for this end erected Pyramids, Obelisks, Columns, Temples, Statues and a thousand other Things, whereby they imagin’d they might secure their Names from Oblivion; whereas others thought Poems, Epigrams, Epitaphs and such like Writings were the best and securest Monuments. "Writings thought the best Monuments." Of this Opinion was Horace, who, at the end of his Third Book, thus boasts of his Works:

In like manner Ovid gives an endless date to himself, and his Metamorphosis in these Words:

Both these Poetical Flourishes may be esteem’d a kind of Embalming their Authors Actions and Names; for as the aforesaid historical Structures preserve and record our Actions, so are our Thoughts and Sayings embalm’d as it were by Writings. "Fame the Goddess of Embalming." In this respect Fame may not improperly be call’d the Goddess and Patroness of Embalming, and Mercury her chief Minister to proclaim to the World the Heroic Acts of Memorable and Famous Men: Thus all Things intended to preserve a Name, whether Pictures, Statues, Medals, Buildings or Writings, may be comprehended under this general Sense of Embalming; nevertheless, experience teaches us the preservation of a Body by the Balsamic Art is not only the best way of reviving Mens Memories, and bringing their Merits fresh in our Minds, but also the most durable, "Embalming the most durable Thing." for not only Tombs and Statues have decay’d in a few Years, but also whole Towns and Cities have been ruin’d and demolish’d within the Revolution of an Age, and that so, as hardly to have one Stone left to witness what they have been; whereas Embalm’d Bodies have been found entire after Thousands of Years. Neither is Embalming to be commended only for its Duration, "Useful in Philosophy and Physic." but likewise for its great Use in Phisiology, Natural Philosophy and Physic, as we have hinted before, p. 2, 3, 4. In that we thereby know how to conserve all sorts of Herbs, Juices, &c. keep all kinds of Flesh and Fish, and preserve all sorts of Plants, rare Exotics, and such like Curiosities.

Embalming is likewise particularly useful in Anatomy, inasmuch as it teaches how Bodies may be preserv’d, that the most minute Parts may be Dissected, and such Preparations made as will remain to Posterity, and serve instead of Books, Sculptures or Pictures, by which the Disposition of the Human Fabric may be more accurately distinguish’d, and the Names and Uses of the Parts easier retain’d in our Memories.

It is also particularly useful to Physicians and Surgeons, First, In that by opening such Bodies, they may presently see the Nature and Cause of Diseases. And, Secondly, by understanding what Fermentation and Putrefaction are, together with the Virtues and Qualities of Embalming-Drugs that prevent and resist them, they may be better able to cure malignant Feavers, Mortifications, &c. See p. 3, 4. for no sooner is there a Separation of the Soul from the Body, but an immediate tendency to Putrefaction follows: The florid colour of the Face vanishes, the Belly swells, the Entrails turn green and foetid, and the extreme Parts become shrivel’d and contracted; when we may well cry out, Quantum mutatus ab illo! So suddain an Alteration ensues without a previous Balsamation. What obdurate Hearts and pitiless Eyes can then bear such a miserable Object, when Embalming so easily prevents it, by rendring the Body sweet and decorous, retaining still its natural Form, Feature and Shape? Again, if we consider the natural and innate Desire most People have of being bury’d in their own Tombs and Countries, "Necessary for Transporting Bodies." we shall find there is a necessity of Embalming such Bodies, the better to convey those that die in Foreign Parts to their Native Soil. Thus Jacob and Joseph were transported from Egypt to Canaan, whereas, had their Bodies not been embalm’d, they must necessarily have corrupted in their Journey; but as for the Greeks and Romans, who were not well acquainted with this Art, they were forc’d to burn such Bodies as dy’d abroad, and were contented only to bring home their Ashes, which Ovid seems so very desirous of in the following Verses:

Now certainly they would have thought it much better to have brought over the whole Body than part of it, had they been but skillful enough to have embalm’d it; for there is no other difference between Incineration and Putrefaction, than length of Time, therefore both are equally to be avoided. Nay, some of the Heathens themselves have judg’d it an Impiety towards the Dead, either to commit them to the Fire, or to Worms and Corruption, therefore they endeavour’d, as much as in them lay, to Embalm and Preserve them thereby from both. Now nothing is more evident, than that those who intend to preserve a Body entire, ought neither to burn nor bury it, but keep it in a proper Repository, contriv’d to resist the Injuries of Time and Weather, and which is neither expos’d nor obnoxious to Putrefaction.

To Conclude, Embalming not only prevents the Plague and Putrefaction, and consequently frees from the Terror and Deformity of Death, page 9, 11, 12. "Secures from the Insults of Animals, &c." but likewise defends and secures dead Bodies from Insults of Brutes and Insects, by reason of its bitter ungrateful Taste: Yet considering the antient Way of the Egyptians by rowling, and the modern by wrapping up in Cerecloaths, so obscure the Object, and also are so imperfect on several other Accounts; I have endeavour’d to shew a possibility of inventing a Method, how to preserve the whole Compages of the Body for ever without Putrefaction, in such manner, that its Texture and Structure may remain entire, of the same Proportion as before, and of the same Colour and Flexibility, without any visible contraction, diminution or unconformity of the Parts whereby the dead Corps may be handled by the Anatomists without any offensive Smell or fastidious Mador. St. Jerome, in Epitaph. Paul. Eustoch. speaks thus of Paulina a Roman Lady, Quodq; mirum sit nihil Pallor mutaverit Faciem, sed ita Dignitas quÆdam omnia compleverat, ut putares non mortuam sed dormientem. And what is wonderful, Paleness had not in the least alter’d her Countenance, but Majesty was so preserv’d (by Embalming) in every Feature, that you would not have thought her dead but asleep. Thus to preserve any heroic Prince or great General, any noted Professor of some Science or Faculty, &c. would sure be a finer sight than their Effigies in Wax, and withal be as durable as their Tomb in Marble. I say, if we can arrive at this Perfection, without Exenteration or Incision, so as to preserve a dead Body after the manner aforesaid, it were reasonable to believe it would not only less terrifie all scrupulous Persons, but likewise be of greater Use to the Common Wealth. Yet least I should fail herein, it being an unbeaten Path, I presume thro’ your Conduct and Guidance, that whilst I am endeavouring to find it out, you will neither suffer me to lose my self, nor lead others out of the Way. This is my only fear (well knowing too many Examples of those that in making new Discoveries have Shipwreck’d themselves) and the principal Request of,