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.
[Sidenote: 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,
ἄταφον τάφον, 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. [Sidenote: 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:
_Heu Terra ignota, Canibus data Præda Latinis
Alitibusq; jaces._ Virg. _Æn._ 9. _v._ 486.
Cold on the Ground, and pressing foreign Clay,
To _Latian_ Dogs and Fowls he lyes a Prey. _Dryden._
Also the same Poet represents _Tarquitus_ thus insulting over his
conquer’d Enemy, _Æn._ 10. _v._ 557.
_Istic nunc, metuende, jace: non te optima Mater
Condet Humi, Patriove onerabit Membra Sepulchro;
Alitibus linquere Feris, aut Gurgite Mersum
Unda feret, Piscesq; impasti Vulnera lambent._
The vengeful Victor thus upbraids the Slain:
Lye there, Inglorious, and without a Tomb,
Far from thy Mother and thy Native Home;
Expos’d to salvage Beasts and Birds of Prey,
Or thrown for Food to Monsters in the Sea.
_Dryden._
So great was the Honour of Sepulture amongst the _Pagans_, says
_Quenstedt_, _De Sepult. Vet._ p. 24. [Sidenote: 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.
_Nullum in Cæde Nefas, nec sic ad Prælia veni;
Unum hoc, per, si qua est Victis Venia Hostibus, oro
Corpus Humo patiare tegi_, &c.
Nor ask I Life, nor fought with that design;
For this, this only Favour let me sue,
(If Pity can to conquer’d Foes be due;)
Refuse it not; but let my Body have
The last retreat of Human Kind, a Grave. _Dryden._
_Turnus_ also intreats the like Favour:
_Et me, seu Corpus spoliatum Lumine mavis,
Redde meis._ Æneid, _Lib._ 12. _v._ 935.
Or if thy vow’d Revenge pursue my Death,
Give to my Friends my Body void of Breath?
[Sidenote: Sepulture strictly observ’d in War.]
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, [Sidenote:
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.
[Sidenote: 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.
_At pius Æneas ingenti Mole Sepulchrum
Imponit, suaq; Arma Viro, Remumq; Tubamq;_
But good _Æneas_ order’d on the Shore }
A stately Tomb, whose Top a Trumpet bore, }
A Soldier’s Faulchion, and a Seaman’s Oar. _Dryden._ }
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._
[Sidenote: The Ancients fear’d Sea-Burial.]
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:
_Extemplo Æneæ solvuntur Frigore Membra.
Ingemit, & duplices tendens ad Sydera Palmas,
Talia Voce refert: O terq; quaterq; beati,
Queis ante Ora Patrum, Trojæ sub Mœnibus altis,
Contigit oppetere._ Æneid, _Lib._ 1. _v._ 96.
Struck with unusual Fright, the _Trojan_ Chief
With lifted Hands and Eyes, invokes Relief:
And thrice and four Times happy those, he cry’d,
That under _Ilian_ Walls, before their Parents, dy’d.
_Dryden._
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:
_Non Lethum timeo, Genus aut miserabile Lethi:
Demite Naufragium; Mors mihi Munus erit.
Est aliquid, Fatove suo, Ferrove cadentem
In solida moriens, ponere Corpus Humo:
Est mandata suis aliquid sperare Sepulchra,
Et non æquoreis Piscibus esse Cibum._
I fear not Death, nor value how I die;
Free me from Seas, no matter where I lye.
’Tis somewhat, howsoe’er one’s Breath depart,
In solid Earth to lay one’s meaner Part;
’Tis somewhat after Death to gain a Grave,
And not be Food to Fish, or sport to ev’ry Wave.
[Sidenote: For what Reason.]
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.
[Sidenote: Want of Burial a Punishment.]
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. Ἑλληνικῶν. _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.
[Sidenote: Burial deny’d to others.]
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. [Sidenote: 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.
[Sidenote: Some sort of Burial a Punishment.]
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; [Sidenote: 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, [Sidenote: 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.
[Sidenote: And a Curse.]
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:
_Marmoreo Licinus Tumulo jacet, at Cato parvo;
Pompeius nullo: Quis putet esse Deos?_
Worthless _Licinus_ in a rich Tomb lies, }
Whilst the great _Cato_ for a poor one dies; }
_Pompey_ for none: Who’d think the God’s were wise? }
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, [Sidenote: 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.
[Sidenote: Custom of kissing the Dead.]