above eleven months provided their Children repeat this Prayer for them every day which Prayer they do not continue to rehearse beyond the time fore-mentioned because every one of them has a good opinion of his Parents Virtue there being no Child that thinketh his Father to have been a wicked and ungodly man THIS Prayer is grounded upon a fabulous story of Rabbi Akiba who says that being one day a walking in a remote and solitary place he met with a man who was loaden with so great a burthen of Wood that no labouring Beast could ever have carried more and that upon his demanding whether he was a living Man or a Ghost he answered him that he was the Spirit of one Dead and was forced every day to cut down such a load of Wood to feed the Fire wherewith he was tormented in Purgatory Whereupon he further asked him his Name and that of his Family which as soon as he had learnt he repaired to the deceased's Children and taught them this Prayer withal assuring them that their Father would in a little time be delivered from his sufferings in case they would rehearse it constantly every day which they having begun to do the Dead appeared to them the next night to return them thanks for the same and let them know that he was already entered into the pleasant Garden of the terrestrial Paradise And thereupon these good tidings together with a Form of this Prayer were sent to every Synagogue in the World insomuch as there is not one now but makes use of it When the Deceased has no Children the whole Synagogue assembled in a Body by rehearsing this Prayer do supply that want But if he has any he dies with abundance of joy and satisfaction because they suppose the said Prayer more efficacious in the mouths of their Children than in any others AND what makes them so superstitious and strict in the observing of so many petty Ceremonies is because their Rabbis tell them that the Soul not being able to enter into Paradise as soon as it is separated from the Body haunts sometimes its own house sometimes Coemeteries or Church-yards and sometimes the Synagogue it self to observe and take notice whether in all these places they punctually pay their duties to their deceased Friend or Relation not doubting but that if they should neglect any the least circumstance therein they would be severely punished for it For they do esteem them so essential and absolutely necessary for the Rest of the departed Soul that they are perswaded it would never be by the Angels carried up into the Bed of God there to repose to all Eternity if but one single punctilio should be omitted in this service but that on the contrary it would be fain to wander up and down in a Region where it must meet with troops of Devils that would most cruelly afflict and torment it THEY also believe that when the Soul is upon the point either of entring Paradise or going down into Hell seeing it self obliged for ever to part and shake hands with its dear companion the Body re-enters it again for the last time and makes it to stand up on his feet Whereupon the Angel of Death with a chain in his hands whereof one half is Iron and the other Fire gives him three several strokes With the first of which he puts all his bones out of joynt making them fall confusedly to the ground with the second he breaks and shatters them and with the last he turns them all to dust After which the good Angels draw near who having taken up all these broken pieces lay them anew in the Grave LASTLY they are perswaded that those who are not Interred in some place or other of the Holy Land shall never rise again and that all the favour God will be able to do them shall amount to no more than this That he will open some small chinks through which they may though imperfectly behold the abode of the Blessed except they have by great merits as continual Alms and other good works rendred themselves worthy of it And concerning these they say that God who is most just and never leaves goodness and virtue unrewarded shall provide for them hollow places in the Earth through which their Bodies shall rowl continually until they come to the Mount of Olives which at the time of the Resurrection shall be cleft and divided into two parts in order to its giving them a free passage and that being arrived in this blessed Land they shall rise again as well as others who were buried there for they fancy that the meer touching of it is sufficient to capacitate them for that Bliss and Felicity Upon which account it is that when they dye abroad they give their Relations a strict charge to translate their Bones into Chanaan as soon as ever they shall be able to do it NOR are their other Opinions concerning the Resurrection of the Dead less absurd and ridiculous than these their Ceremonies They hold it as an Article of their Faith that there are four things which God grants to none but Israelites viz. Prophecy the Law the Land of Promise and the Resurrection all others whether Heathens or Christians being depriv'd of these advantages To which they add that there will be three sorts of People which shall rise again at the last day The first shall be of those that are absolutely good The second of them who are stark nought and the third of such as are both good and bad That the good shall be inroll'd among the number of the Blessed ones the wicked reduced to nothing and those that are partly good and partly bad after having remained for the space of a whole Year in the fire where their Bodies shall be consumed and their Souls purified they shall at the last be received into Heaven NEVERTHELESS I find that their opinion is not general who think the wicked shall be annihilated for there are some of them that believe the Pains and Torments of the Damned will be Eternal and that they shall never enjoy any the least rest but on Saturdays when as they say those miserable Souls have leave to go out of the Flames and refresh themselves Whence it is that they take so much care of having Water ready in all their Vessels on that day to the end the Damned may not be at the trouble of looking out for some when they come to cool their burning and scorching heat BUT I must not here omit speaking of the virtue which they attribute to the word Amen or So be it there being some of them who make more account of it than of all their Prayers put together for how long and prolix soever they be they do not fancy them to have any efficacy at all except they conclude them with an Amen most fervently and devoutly pronounced Insomuch as all those who frequent their
devoured the Bodies of their own Country-men as well as those of Foreigners when they were Dead So that what those fore-cited Historians do relate only of the Inhabitants of Pontus of the Massagetes Hyrcanians Derbices and several other Asiaticks we find confirmed in Europe to demonstrate that however barbarous this Custom seems to be yet it cannot well be doubted but that such there have been Nay their cruelty went further in respect of old people for as soon as they were come to seventy years of Age without staying for Death's call they rid them of the miseries of old Age by knocking them in the head or cutting their throats and then made a Feast of them and what was yet more horrid was that the Children only were thought fit to discharge this bloudy office being oblig'd by the Laws of the Land to take a Knife and murther their Parents themselves Neither were they wanting to defend and maintain this their extream inhumanity with many specious reasons and pretences For example they to justifie their impious murther alledged that Man's life after seventy years of Age being nothing else but a composition of pain and trouble they were in duty bound to free those from it who had brought them into the World that they might thereby prevent their miserable languishing and added that after their Death they could give them no higher expression of gratitude and duty than by feeding upon them because by that means their Parents became one and the same substance with them as they themselves were before they were born THE Parthians and Medes as likewise the Iberians and Inhabitants of the City Taxyla in the East Indies had such an horror and averseness for the corruption of the Dead and their being eaten by Worms that they exposed them in the open Fields to the end they might be there speedily devour'd by the wild Beasts accounting nothing more unworthy and unbeseeming the excellence of man than to rot and putrifie in the Earth and become the prey of such pitiful and loathsome Insects after his Death who while alive could not suffer so much as one of them about him Besides they believ'd that if he were devour'd by Beasts he would not be totally extinct and that being no more able to live in an humane Body he would at least enjoy a life in the bodies of those Animals that had fed upon him FOR this very purpose also the Bactrians fed Dogs which they call'd Canes Sepulchrales or Grave dogs and took a very particular care of them that after their Death their Souls might not want a healthful strong and lusty Body to reside in Oh unheard-of folly and madness thus to cherish those Creatures that were one day to tear and rend them with their teeth and what was more to make much of them only upon that account We naturally abhor an Hangman because his sole employment is to butcher Men how then may we think can those people look kindly on Creatures that are to be their own Executioners Or how can they with premeditated deliberation keep and feed them on purpose for this inhumane and barbarous piece of service Nevertheless most certain it is that they regarded this as a great point of their felicity For Cicero tells us that they made it no less their glory to feed those Dogs very high in order to make them grow fat and lusty than the Romans did to build sumptuous Tombs And S. Hierom adds that so great a veneration they had for this kind of Burial that Nicanor who by Alexander the Great was made Governour over them going about to suppress and abolish this inhumane custom of thers had like not only to have caused a revolt of the whole Province but also to have been by them massacred as an impious and sacrilegious person TO which we may add the Custom of the Barceans which seems no less extravagant who were of opinion that the most honourable Burial was to be devour'd by Vultures And that not only because those Birds by their long lives did represent Eternity but chiefly because they were consecrated to Mars and that Nature appears to have appointed them for that very use they being continually seen hovering about dead Bodies So that all persons of Worth and Quality that either died amongst them or fell in War fighting couragiously for their Country were immediately exposed in such places where Vultures might readily come at and make a prey of them As for the common people together with those that died on their Bed of a Natural death they were in a manner out of contempt flung into a Grave as not being esteemed worthy to have a Burial in the bellies of these sacred Birds THE Hyrcanians which I have above mentioned made some distinction between Men and Women for they did eat the former whereas they buried the latter as thinking them unworthy to have their bellies for their Graves Though methinks these above all deserved that honour supposing this barbarity might be so called since they had but done the like for them as having carried them nine months in their wombs CHAP. XI Fiery Sepulchres THE Grecians and Romans were not the only Nations that used to Burn their Dead the Germans and Gauls were also wont to do the like But we intend not to speak here of any except of those people which we account Barbarians because their Custom herein is much more cruel than that of the fore-mentioned The Reader then may please to know that some of them Burnt themselves casting themselves alive into the Fire others caus'd themselves to be stab'd before upon the Wood-pile and others were reduc'd to Ashes after their dead Bodies had lain a good while corrupting in the Fields amidst a huge heap of other stinking and rotten Carcasses THEY who were wont to Burn themselves were a certain Sect amongst the Indians who therein imitated their Doctors called Brachmans who by an extraordinary courage and fortitude or to speak more properly by a kind of madness and frenzy sought in the flames that Life of light which they preached to the people who seeing them thus desirous of Death and with so great joy thrust themselves into the Fire were soon won to this strange Doctrine and Opinion That there was no greater happiness attainable than that to which men were ushered-in through the flames THEY also believed that their participation of that felicity was different according to the more or less healthful condition they were in when they thus sacrificed themselves that is to say That they were the most happy and eternally enjoy'd a most pure light without the least mixture of darkness who burn'd themselves in their youth and the full vigour of their age whereas they that put it off till a further date did proportionably as they grew old and their strength diminish'd lose some degrees of those enjoyments that old people did only partake of a
I find most remarkable in it is the place wherein he commanded the two Coffins for his Father and himself to be placed because the same could never by any industry be found out the inner part of the Vault or Cave being made in the fashion of a Labyrinth And History informs us that Herod being on a time obstinately resolved to find out this secret place commanded some of his Men to break down certain stones whose removal he thought might likely discover the concealed Royal Tombs but was soon affrighted from attempting further by the fire that issued forth in great flashes from it and consumed two of his Men upon the spot so that besides a rigorous Edict he published whereby he strictly enjoyned that for time to come none should dare to attempt a like re search he caused a very mean Sepulchre to be made hard by it for himself by way of reparation of the wrong he had offer'd to it NEITHER shall I speak here of the great Treasures found in those Sepulchres for none can be ignorant of the vast Riches of all kinds that were laid up therein who considers that those Places being lookt upon as sacred and inviolable among the Jews every one of them carried thither the most rare and precious things they had thinking them more safe there without Guards than in their own Houses or Coffers They were most commonly Lords and Persons of great Estates who did so as finding it too cumbersome for them to keep their Treasures at home by reason of their great Riches as likewise Widows and Orphans who were not capable of looking after and managing what was their own BUT besides those riches which were kept there for the use of the Living much was also enclosed in honour of the Dead Hence it was that the High Priest Hyrcanus seeing himself besieged within the City of Jerusalem by Antiochus Sirnamed Pious took out of David's Sepulchre nine hundred Years after his Death three thousand Talents whereof he gave a part to that Prince to make him retire with his Army and with the other he raised Souldiers in order to put himself in a condition of preventing the like disaster for time to come Out of which Sepulchre Herod a good while after took a great number of Vessels of Gold Jewels and other precious Ornaments From whence we may easily conclude that his Son Solomon had spared nothing to honour his Father's Memory In like manner we read in the Fourteenth Chapter of the Second Book of the Kings that the Chaldeans did in their Invasion of Judea open all the Princes Sepulchres for the sake of the Treasures they enclosed And Sozomene tells us that the Prophet Zachariah's Tomb being opened in his days a young Prince of the Royal Blood was found lying at his Feet with a Crown of Gold upon his Head and array'd in a most rich Robe and other Princely habiliments THERE are two principal Objections that may be made concerning these Funeral Ceremonies of the Jews which we shall here briefly endeavour to answer The first is How it comes to pass that so great honours were by them paid to the Dead since according to the Mosaick Law none could touch them without being polluted insomuch that those who took care of their Burial could have no fellowship with any till after they had washed and purified themselves To this all the Interpreters do unanimously answer that Moses his intent was not thereby to signifie that dead Bodies were abominable in themselves but that bearing the blemishes and stains of sin by their being deprived of life they were to purifie themselves who had touched them as if they had touched sin it self Death being its proper and natural effect and reward THE other Objection may be made concerning the honour of burning so often mentioned in the Scripture from whence some infer that the Dead amongst the Jews were sometimes consumed in the Fire but without any sufficient ground or reason for it nothing as hath been said being more contrary to the Custome of that People Wherefore we answer that those burnings mentioned in Scripture were quite of another nature and must not be understood of Corpses but of sweet-scented Woods and Perfumes which they consumed to a vast expence at the Funerals of their Kings and other Persons of the highest Quality CHAP. XVI Funerals of the Modern Jews IN the description I am about to make of the Funeral Rites of the Modern Jews I might be thought to amuse the Reader with an idle story but that they are well known to be authorized by the Talmud which next to the Holy Scripture is the Book of most esteem amongst them and daily practised by all those of that miserable Sect who live in these our days Nevertheless I must here advertise the Reader that though indeed that which I relate be not a Fable it being their constant belief and practice yet I shall have occasion to set down many things here that seem the most extravagant stories imaginable which for all that are the ground and foundation of these their Ceremonies BUT here we must needs observe some kind of order to clear a matter that is of it self very obscure and intricate by reason of a great number of punctilio's thereto belonging which they account very essential Therefore we shall first of all speak of their preparation for Death when they are Sick Next of their Death it self with their Funerals And last of all of their foolish Opinion concerning the Souls and Bodies after Death FIRST then As soon as a Jew is given over by the Physicians and they conclude he will die the Rabbi who has been called to take care of his Soul comes to him in company with ten other persons at the least and in the first place asks him whether he believes the Coming of the Messias whereto the Sick having answered in the affirmative he sits down at his beds head and the standers-by ranking themselves round about him he bids the Patient to make his Confession with a loud voice the Form whereof is as followeth I CONFESS and acknowledge before thee O Lord my God the God of my Fathers the strong and mighty God of every Spirit that quickens and gives life to Flesh That both my Life and Death are in thy hands therefore I pray thee to restore me to health to remember me and hear my prayers as thou didst those of King Hezekiah when he was sick But if this be the time of thy last visitation upon me and that I must die I beseech thee mercifully to receive me into that Paradise which thou hast prepared for the Just Shew me the streight way to go to Eternal Life and satisfie me with thy blessed presence Praised be thou for ever O Lord God who hearest the Prayers of thy Servants THIS Confession is accompanied with a publick Declaration of his sins though it be not so particular but that he may
of honour they could possibly express whenever they chanced to meet with any of them in the Streets but also gave them the first places in all Assemblies both in their Temples and Theatres They had always a Gentleman-Usher going before them yea so great deference was given to their presence that if they accidentally met with a Criminal led to the place of Execution he could not then be put to Death this happy encounter procuring the poor wretch his Pardon THERE was also the greatest care imaginable taken in the choice of them They never consecrated any to this high charge but from Six Years of Age to Ten. Moreover they were to be without any blemish neither stammering deaf crooked lame nor maimed Their Parents also were to be free having never been bound in any sort of Servitude or imploy'd in base and mean Offices for their Father was to have been either a Priest Augur or Epulo The Girl who had all these advantages was by her Relations conducted to the Porch of the Temple of Vesta where she was received by the High Priest who consecrated her for the space of thirty Years to the service of that Goddess during which time she was to keep her Virginity inviolable Men were not suffer'd to speak with them except in the Day-time and very severe punishments were decreed against those who entred their Lodgings by Night WHEN they happened to Decease in this state of Virginity they were not only Buried with great Pomp but had also the peculiar priviledge allowed them as well as Heroes of having their Tombs within the City BUT on the contrary when any of them was found guilty of breaking her Vow by incontinency and whoredom as it was look'd upon as one of the greatest misfortunes that could befall the City so was she likewise severely punisht for it by the most shameful Burial in the World They laid her all at length on a Bier as if she had been Dead cover'd all over with many Cloaths which were tied fast and close about her that she might be neither seen nor heard And being thus swadled about she was carried from the Temple of Vesta to the Gate call'd Collina attended by her Relations and Friends all in tears after them came the Priests with sad and dejected looks without speaking one word Hard by this Gate within the Walls there was a little hillock and underneath it a very deep Cave which served for a Grave to the unchast Vestals As soon as they were arriv'd at this place the poor wretch was loosed of her Swadling-cloaths and nothing left her save a great Vail which cover'd her Head and Face that she could not be seen Then she was taken down from the Bier and the High Priest having mutter'd a few words with his back towards her she was taken by the Executioner and let down by a Ladder to the bottom of this Grot or Cave where was set ready for her a Bed a burning Lamp and a little Bread with three Pots full of Water Milk and Oyl and having stopt the hole there they let her perish without any pity for it was not lawful for them to shed their blood And so solemn was the Mourning on these Days that none durst either work or divert themselves neither was any thing to be heard throughout the whole City but sighing cries and lamentations CHAP. IV. Funerals of the Persians IT is matter of astonishment considering the Persians have ever had the renown of being one of the most civilized Nations in the world that notwithstanding they should have used such barbarous customs about the Dead as are set down in the Writings of some Historians and the rather because at this day there are still to be seen among them those remains of Antiquity which do fully satisfie us that their Tombs have been very magnificent And yet nevertheless if we will give credit to Procopius and Agathias the Persians were never wont to bury their Dead Bodies so far were they from bestowing any Funeral Honours upon them But as these Authors tell us they exposed them stark naked in the open fields which is the greatest shame our Laws do allot to the most infamous Criminals by laying them open to the view of all upon the high ways Yea in their opinion it was a great unhappiness if either Birds or Beasts did not devour their Carcases and they commonly made an estimate of the Felicity of these poor Bodies according as they were sooner or later made a prey of Concerning these they resolved that they must needs have been very bad indeed since even the Beasts themselves would not touch them which caused an extream sorrow to their Relations they taking it for an ill boding to their Family and an infallible presage of some great misfortune hanging over their heads for they perswaded themselves that the Souls which inhabited those Bodies being dragg'd into Hell would not fail to come and trouble them and that being always accompanied with the Devils their Tormentors they would certainly give them a great deal of disturbance AND on the contrary when these Corpses were presently devoured their joy was very great they enlarged themselves in praises of the Deceased every one esteemed them undoubtedly happy and came to congratulate their relations on that account For as they believed assuredly that they were entered into the Elysian Fields so they were perswaded that they would procure the same bliss to all those of their Family THEY also took a great delight to see Skeletons and Bones scatered up and down in the fields whereas we can scarcely endure to see those of Horses and Dogs used so And these remains of Humane Bodies the sight whereof gives us so much horror that we presently bury them out of our sight whenever we find them elsewhere than in Charnel-houses or Church-yards were the occasion of their greatest joy because they concluded from thence the happiness of those that had been devoured wishing after their Death to meet with the like good luck THE same Historians inform us that when any private Souldier was sick in their Armies and in outward appearance past recovery they carried him to the next Wood or Forest leaving with him only a piece of Bread a little Water and a Stick that he might as long as he should have any strength defend himself from the wild Beasts which most commonly devour'd these poor wretches and if it chanced that any one of them escaped and came back to his own house all the people ran away from him as if they had seen some Ghost or Devil and did not suffer him to converse with any body till after he had been purified and expiated by the Priests as if having been so near Death he were thereby according to their opinion become unfit to live any longer for they supposed that he must needs have had great converse with Daemons since notwithstanding his extream sickness he had been
towards him if he died in his sin without any signal Conversion they charitably believing that before his last gasp he might have performed some acts of Contrition and like the good Thief saved himself at the end of his life And besides these Religious acts and dispositions of the deceased they also entertain themselves either with the discourse of his good manners whereby he rendred himself amiable in the sight of all Men of his natural endowments and lovely qualities which made him to be esteemed and regarded by every one of the great Estate he had got by his industry and diligence of the honourable Offices he had born in the Common-wealth or lastly of his Noble atchievements and famous Victories in War From all which put together they conjecture that he must certainly be happy in Heaven and therefore they heartily rejoyce that he is past from the miseries of this transitory Pilgrimage to the felicity of Eternal Life Which Duty they are so exact and religious in performing that if any one should happen to talk of any other matters he would presently as an impertinent be turned out of the company AMONGST the Moscovites Funerals are always performed and attended by day-light it being neither usual nor lawful with them to carry the Dead to their Graves after Sun-set For which custom they alledge this reason That it is not becoming at all to carry them in the dark who are enter'd upon Eternal Light As often as any one is Dead amongst them they contend one with another who shall Bury him as accounting that Duty not only for a work of mercy but meritorious also Therefore he reckons himself very happy who by the Relations of the deceased is appointed to discharge this last Office THEY do not Consecrate their Coemeteries or Burying-places because they say that it belongs to the Bodies anointed and sanctified by the Holy Ghost to consecrate the Earth and not to the Earth to consecrate the Bodies These Coemeteries of theirs are either in Woods or open Fields and every Grave has a heap of Stones with a small Cross on the top of it Their Clergy-men together with the Friends and Relations of the Departed accompany the Corps towards the place of Burial whereof some are singing certain Hymns and Prayers whilst others weep and make great lamentation They have besides this particular custom that they burn Incense all along the way by which they carry the Dead some of the Priests having Censers in their hands for that purpose for they believe that thereby the Devils are put to flight and frighted from approaching the Dead They also celebrate several Masses for the Rest of the Departed Souls though they hold no Purgatory hoping that by means of these Masses and their Prayers God will grant to the Deceased a better place in Heaven than that which his merits could otherwise have procured for him This being done all the company sit down to eat Rice-cakes in the Church it self and after this sober and simple repast they arise and mutually embrace and wish one another an Eternal satiety and fulness of Everlasting pleasures in the Bosom of God CHAP. XVIII Funerals of Christians AFTER what has been before said concerning Funeral Ceremonies as common to all the Nations of the World even the most barbarous none can doubt but that they are Sacred in themselves since they are taught us by Nature Reason and consequently by God himself in order to give humane Bodies the respect and honour due to them as being by means of the Immortality of the Soul far enobled above those of all other Creatures True it is that these Ceremonies among some people are become superstitious and cruel too proportionably as by their own depravation and obstinacy they have more or less swerved from the Truth which inwardly did dictate tothem sentiments altogether contrary to their extravagant actings But thanks be to God they have with us remain'd pure and entire as will plainly appear both from the continual practice of the Church from the first Centuries until now by Arguments no less strong and solid than holy and religious upon which they are grounded so as to be able to stop the mouths of the most obstinate Libertines and Hereticks in case they have but the patience to read the unquestionable Instances and Authorities we are to alledge here AS soon as any one is Dead amongst us they close his Eyes and Mouth kiss and embrace him afterwards they wash perfume and apparel him When he is dress'd they for some time expose the Body in the Entry of the House or in some other large Room till the Priests come to take it away in order to its Burial at which time all the Company march in Procession attended with more or less Pomp and Ceremony according to the quality of the party Deceased At the head of this solemn attendance one advanceth with the Cross who is followed by the Clergy-men singing all the way On this occasion the number of Lights and Wax-Tapers is great and greater is the croud of People that accompany the Corps whereof some are weeping and lamenting whilst others repeat Prayers for the Dead Last of all when they are arrived at the Church and a Mass for the Rest of his Soul has been celebrated he is Interr'd there or else in another consecrated place call'd the Church-yard THESE are all the Ceremonies we use in this particular of which some one or other are often omitted either by reason of the poverty of the Party the negligence of his Relations or lastly because some do affect a more simple and plain way of Burying their Dead Nevertheless all of them may in an holy manner be practised and for which we have reason to expect a Reward at the last day as being Works of Mercy which by the Soveraign Judge are so highly recommended to us NOW we must prove that these have always and are still used and shew the reason of this Universal Practice IN the first place then we close the Eyes and Mouth of our deceased Friends and Relations which S. Denys the Areopagite tells us in his Hierarchy is a Custom that was observed by the Primitive Christians to represent that the Death of the Faithful is according to the Oracles of Scripture but a Repose since after having been asleep for a while they shall be awaked to Eternity Moreover by shutting their Eyes and Mouth we do intimate that the Dead are no more to take delight in the objects of this their employment now being stedfastly to behold all the ravishing beauties of the other World and continually to praise God who is the glorious and bountiful Dispenser of them TO which the foresaid Father adds in the same place and S. Austin confirms it in his 118. Epistle that they kiss'd the Dead either to congratulate them upon the account of the happiness they were going to enjoy or thereby to signifie the Eternal union
Grave BUT I should be too prolix should I mention all the particulars Antiquity furnishes us withal on this account which are so many convincing Arguments that the Burying of the Dead has ever been reckon'd one of the chief of Religious Duties Wherefore I shall conclude this Head and come now to speak of the Judgment of Wise men who have fully and clearly explained themselves concerning the indispensableness of the Right of Burial by which all are obliged to give the Dead their due PLATO in that excellent Idea which he was fram'd of his Common wealth does not forget amongst the several kinds of Justice he there speaks of to mention that which we owe to the Dead HIS Disciple Aristotle teaches in his Book of Virtue that one part of Distributive Justice does belong to the Dead and in his Problems he asserts that it is more just to pay them their due than to the Living PINDAR who was a great Philosopher as well as Poet says that the things of this World are not so entirely assigned to the Living but that the Dead may claim their lawful share in them and that besides a special place which they ought to have to be Buried in we are bound to bestow a part of the means and Estate they leave behind them to celebrate their Funeral with honour and decency CICERO in the division which he makes of the parts of Justice marks one to respect the Gods the other the Dead and the last the Living SERVIVS does observe that Virgil who so often calls Aeneas by the name of Pious in the Poem he has writ to immortalize the memory of that Heroe does chiefly give him this Character because of the Funeral Honours which he with so much care and application always paid to his Relations and Friends wherein he spared nothing nor himself neither doing many actions that would have been unworthy of him had they been done upon any other account BUT on this occasion all is honourable even for Persons of great Quality to carry the Dead on their shoulders because the motive of Piety and Humanity that engages them to do it highly raises that action which is but low and mean of it self When I Inter a Dead Body says Seneca though I never saw or knew the Party when he was alive I deserve nothing for my so doing since I do but discharge an Obligation which I owe to Humane Nature WHICH Duty even to unknown persons is so just that the Latin hath given it no other appellation than that of Justice and the Greek of a Lawful Custom Piety and Godliness So that amongst the Romans and Grecians which have been the two most potent and civilized Nations in the World when they would express that one had been interred they said that they had done him Right or Justice THIS Duty consisted in casting three several times a handful of earth upon the Corps which was to be done by one of the Priests when any could be had or for want thereof by any other Person whatsoever This is that which the Ancients called the Sacredness of Burying without which no Soul as they believed could enjoy any rest for a long season It availed nothing to the Dead that he was buried in a deep Grave or laid in a Tomb if the Funeral Ceremony were not begun with these three handfuls of earth for lack of which a poor Soul though it had liv'd never so well was fain to wander up and down for the space of an hundred Years before it could be admitted into the Elysian Fields And on the contrary when these three handfuls of earth were flung upon the body though it was never after interr'd they thought the Soul did nevertheless enjoy its rest But as it would have been a piece of cruelty thus to leave the Corps exposed to the open view of all so the one was seldom performed without the other for the poorest and most inconsiderable fellow in the World as a Slave or a private Souldier could not be denied the usual Garments Coffin and other Necessaries for his Funerals IF any Master was so inhumane as not to discharge this pious Duty towards his Servant the first Man who took upon him the care of performing it had an Action against and was sure to cast him the Law ordering a reimbursement of all the Plaintiff's expences on that account no debt having more priviledge than this as being prefer'd even before Legacies and the strictest Covenants yea before a Wife's Portion which was esteemed the most Sacred Engagement that belong'd to any Society and for which the Law had very carefully provided And this is the more observable because a Slave who enjoy'd no priviledge and was by his unfortunate condition not much more regarded than a Brute being liable to all manner of abuses without redress subject to all sorts of affronts injuries and violence and very often to loss of life it self the Law taking not the least notice of it for his relief had nevertheless after his Death a Right to demand of his Master by any that would do it for him his Funeral charges and in case of refusal to distrain for them True it is that these charges were very inconsiderable and the place where this sort of People were buried most abject But how small soever the one and abject the other might be yet was it a Right that could not be dispensed with AS for Souldiers they in this case provided for themselves after another manner not being willing in a matter of so great importance to trust their Captains with the care of it Each Legion had a Purse for their common Burials into which every one that was listed was obliged to put some thing of his Pay and with this stock the Charges of their Interments were defray'd VEGETIV'S who tells us of that Pious Custom amongst a sort of Men that are thought to have neither Faith nor Law adds another instance of that natural love of Burial which is no less admirable than the foregoing He says that after the bloody Defeat of Cannae most of the Roman Souldiers despairing of being interr'd because their Enemy was Conqueror and Master of the Field were found to have as well as they could digg'd holes for themselves and laid down their Heads foremost in them that they might not be wholly depriv'd of Burial FOR this Reason it was that they feared not Death in Land-fights as hoping that the very same place wherein they fought would afford them a Grave for their Eternal rest But they were mightily troubled and dismay'd at the thoughts of a Naval Combat or when they were in danger of shipwrack because they saw themselves upon the point of being for ever deprived of it UPON which account also Achilles who braved all manner of Dangers could not as Homer says keep himself from being daunted at that of shipwrack when he