carrie about vs much more familiarly intrisically than anie apparell whateuer For our bodies perteyne not to anie extrinsical ornament or helpe but to humane nature it selfe Whence it is that the funerals o' the ancient iust people wiere performed with officious pietie their exequies celebrated and their sepulchers prouided ey they in their life time commaunded their children to burie yea to transfer their bodies And Tobias according to the testimonie of an Angel is comended to haue merited Gods fauor in burying the ded Also our Lord himselfe being to resuscitate the third day publishes the religious womans goud worke recommends it to be published for that she effused a pretious oyntment on seuerall members of his bodie and did this for his buriall those are laudably commemorated in the Euangel who hauing taken his bodie from the Crosse procurâ—ed it to be honorably couered buried Yet thiese Authorities admonishe vs not that there is anie sence or fieling in Carcasses but they signifie that euen the bodies of the ded perteine to Gods prouidence whome such offices of pitie pleases for confirmation o' the faith o' the Resurrection Whence it is also profitablely lerned how great a rewarde thiere may befor the almesses which we exhibite to those who liue and ar sensible if nether this office diligence perishes with God which is performed for the examinated members of people Thiere are indeed also other particulars which vtterd by prophetical Spirit the holie Patrlarches would haue vnderstanded touching ether the burying or traÌ„sferring their bodies but this is no place to treate o' them since that which we haue deliuered suffices But if those things which are necessarie to the sustenance o' the liuing as ar victuals apparell althou ' they be wanting with great difficultie yet they violate not virtue in goud people nor extirpate pietie out o' the mynde but reuiue it make it more abundant how much lesse doe those matters which vse to be exhibited for performance of the funerals burials of the bodies of the deceased when they are wanting make those misera-ble whoe are a'redie quietly placed in the secret seates o' the pious And according to this wheÌ„ thiese matters wiere wanting to Christian Corps in the vastatioÌ„ ether o'th at great Citie or else of other Townes it is nether the faulte o' the liuing which could not exhibite them nor anie paine to the ded which could not be sensible o' them This is my opinion touching de cause reason of Sepulture which I thierefore transferd into this bouke out of an other of my owne in regarde it was more easie for me to repeate this than to deliuer it in an other manner Which if it be true surely also the prouision of place for the buriall of bodies at the monuments of Saints is apart of goud humane affection towards the funerals of ones owne frends For if it is some sort of religion to burie them it canot be noe religion to haue a care whiere they be buried Yet when such comforts o' the liuing are required by which the pious affection o' their frends towards them may appiere I perceiue not what helpes they be for the ded saue onely that whyle they remember where the bodies o'those they affect are placed they may recommend them by praier to the same Saints as to Patrones whom they haue receued to assiste with our Lords which in diede they may performe althou ' they could not interre them in such places But nether be those places which being adorned ar made the Sepulchers o' the ded called Memories or monuments for anie other reason than bycause they by way of admonition renewe the memorie cogitatioÌ„ o'those whoe are substracted by deth from the eyes o' the liuing least they be substracted also from the harts of people by obliuion For eueÌ„ the name of Memorie most plainely declares the same is called a Monument for that it moues the mynd that is in regarde it admonishes vs. For which cause the Grecians also call it Mnymeion which wie calle a memorie or a monument cause the memorie it selfe by which we remember in their language is called mnymy When therefore the mynde remembers whiere the bodie of ones deare frend is buried the place occurres which is venerable for the name o' the Martyr the affection o' the rememberer praier recomends the soule it loued to the same Martyr which affection when it is exhibited by their faithfull and most deare frends to diceased people they themselues merited that it should profitte them But if anie neces sitie giues noe leaue or permits not bodies either to be interred at all or not be interred in such places as those yet those prayers for the soules of the ded ar not to be pretermitted which the Church has ingaged her self to performe vnder a general commemoration for all that are ded in Christian Catholique Communion euen without particular mention o' their names to the end that those praiers may be exhibited to those by one pious common mother who ar neglected touching thiese matters by their parents Children Couzens or frends Yet if these supplications were wanting which are performed in a right faith pietie for the ded then I am of opinion that it would not in anie sorte auayle their soules in how holle place soeuer their exammated bodies were putte Wherfore when the faithfull mother desired to haue the bodie of her faithfull child putte in the Church of a Martyr for her to haue had this faith was a kynde of prayer since that indeed she bilieued that his soule was 〈…〉 by the Martyrs merits this was that which profited if profitable it was And that the mother remembers the same Sepulcher â—ecommends her sonne in her prayers more more not the place o' the ded bodie but the mothers liuelie affect procieding from the memorie o' the place succores the soule o' the deceased For it does not improfitably concerne the religious minde o' the prayer to consider at once both who recommonded to whome he is recommended For the praâ—ers dispose the members o' their bodies as is conuenient for Supplicants to dispose them when they bende their knies when they extende thier hands when they prostrate their bodies on the ground what euer other visible actions they vse in that nature altho' their inuisible wil harts intention is knowne to God who niedes not thiese external fignes for the expression of a humane minde vnto him yet one moues himself more by thiese particulars to praye lamente more humblely Feruently And I know not how it is that since thiese motions o' the bodie canot be performed but by a precedent motion o' the minde by thiese external actions visibly vsed that other inuisible motion which causes them is mutually increased how by this meanes that affection o' the minde which preceded thiese same actions as their
causes increases by cause they are effected Yet if anie one be in such sorte held or els â—yed that he canot dispose his corporal members the internal man ceases not therefore to praye nor to prostrate his minde afore the eyes of God in hiâ— most secret closet in which he is compuncted In sembleabel sorte since it much importes whiere he places the ded bodie of him for whose soule he 〈◊〉 God in regard that both the precedent affect did chuse a holie place hauing putte the bodie in it the remembrance o' the same renewes increases that affect which preceded yet althou ' he cannot effect this neuerthelesse when a religious frend has once determined to interre him whome he loues he must not in anie case cease from his necessarie prayers in recommendation of him for whiere euer the bodie o' the deceased lyes or lyes not the rest of his soule is to be proeured which when it departed thence carried its sence with it by which it may appiere in what case euerie one is whether in good or euill state Nether expects the Spirit its life should be succored by the flesh to which it afforded that life which departing it carried away and is to render as its returne cause the flesh acquires not the merit of resurrection to the Spirit but the Spirit to the flesh whether it reuyues to payne or to glorie We riede in the Ecclesiastical Historie which Eusebius writte in Greâ—ke Ruffinus turned into Latin Martyrs bodies to haue bin cast to the dogs that the bones o' the ded remaining were vtterly consumed with fyeâ— the ashes dispersed in the riuer Rhodan least aine parte of them should remayne for a memorie which is not to be imagined to haue bin for anie other cause permitted by diuine prouidence but for that Christians in confessing Christ might learne that while they contemne this life they much more contemne buriall For this which was perpetrated with great crueltie on Martirs bodies if it had anie thing hurte them whereby their most inulncible spirits should not rest in blessednesse surely it would not haue bin permitied It is thierefore really declared that out Lord said not feare not those who kille the bodie baue no more to doe for that he was not to suffer them to perpetrate anie thing on the bodies of his deâ—eased seruants but for that what oner they were permitted to effect yet nothing should be effected by which the felicitie of deceased Christians might be diminished nothing which might thence redounde to the sence o'those who liue after their deth or at the least that nothing should perteine to the detriment o' their bodies by reason of which they should rise lesse intire And yet if by reason o'th at affection of a humane minde according to which none euer hated his owne flesh people after their deth perceue anie thing to be wanting to their deceased bodies which the solemnitie of sepulture according to the custome of euerie ones seueral Countrie affordes they ar contristated like men feare that touching their bodies afore their deth which after their deth appertenes to them in so much that we finde in the Boukes of Kings that God by one certaine Prophet menaces an other who had transgressed his Commaunde that his Carcase should not be carried into the sepulcher of his Ancetours the renoâ—r of which Scripture is this Our Lord sayes thus in regarde thou hast bin disobedient to the Mouth of our Lord and hast not obserued the Commandement the Lord thy God gaue the for that thou hast rerurned and eren bred and drunke water in that place in which our Lord commaunded the not to eite bred nor drinke water thy carcasse shall not be put in the sepulcher of thy Ancetors If we recogitate how much this punishment is to be accounted according to the Euangell in which we haue lerned not to feare least our exanimated members should suffer after the bodie is killed it deserues not to be named a paine yet if we consider humane affection towardes its owne flesh one might be contristated aliue for that he was sorrie that this was to passe with his bodie althou it should not be sensible of it when it should be effected Hence it was that our Lord would chastice his seruant who had not contemned to accomplish his Precept but only being deceued by an others fallace imagined he had obeyed it when he did not Nether is it to be conceued he was so killed by the beast byting him that his soule was thence violently carried to the infernal paines since that the same Lyon which killed him garded his bodie the Asse on which he rid remayning vnhurte also the cruell beast assisting with an vndaumed presence at his Masters funerall By which admirable signe it appieres that the man of God was rather temporally corrected to deth than punished after deth Touching which matter the Apostle hauing for the offences of some commemorated the infirmities and defects of maine For quoth he if we would iudge our selues we should not be iudged by our Lord but when we are iudged we are reprehended by our Lord least we be condemned with this world Truly he who had deceued him buried him with sufficient honor in his owne proper monument procured himselfe to be buried at his Corps hoping that by this meanes his owne bones would be spared when the time should come in which according to the Prophecie of that man of God losias King of Iuda caused the bones of manie ded people to be disinterred contaminated the sacrilegious Altars whcih were erected to soulptils with the same bones For indeed he spared the monument in which the Prophet was buried who had predicted these matters aboue three centenaries of yeares a fore for his respect his Sepulcher who had seduced him was not violated For by reason o'th at affection according to which none euer hated his owne flesh he prouided for his owne carcasse whoe by a lye had slayne his owne Soule For this cause therefore for which euerie one naturally loues his owne flesh to him it was a punishment to knowe that he was not to be put in the Sepulcher of his Ancetors to this a care to vse such prouidence that his bones would be spared if he laâ—e â—â—re to him whose Sepulcher none would violate The Martyrs of Christ combating for the trueth vanquished this affection Nether is it anie merueile that those contemned that which tehy wiere not to fiele after their deth who could not he vanquished wi'those torments which they felt alyne For surely God who sufferd not the Lyon to touche the Prophetes bodie which he had slaine aâ—â—e more of a killer made him a kieper he could I say haue debarred the dogs to which the murdered bodies of his seruants wiere cast from them he could innumerable wayes haue terrified the crueltie of the people so that they should not haue dared ether to
destroye thier bodies by fyer or disperse their ashes But nether was this triall to be awanting to the various multiplicite o' their temptations least their fortitude in Christs Confession whcih was not to yield to the barbarous rigor of the persecution for the safetie of their bodies should tremble for the honor of a sepulcher finally least faith o' the Resurrection should feare the destruction of humane bodies Thiese matters theirefore wiere also to be permitted to the intent that after thiese so great examples of honour feruent Martyrs in Christs Confession might also be witnesses of that veritie according to which they lerned that those who killed their bodies had afterwards no more to doe with them in regarde that what euer they should doe to their defunct bodies doubtlesse they should effect nothing since that in insensible flesh nether hie who thence departed could fiele nor hie who created it could loase anie thing But althou ' among thiese matters which passed touching the bodies o'those who wiere killed the Martyrs not fearing them sufferd with great fortitude neuerthelesse their Christian brothers wiere much grieued for that they had no meanes ether to performe their duties touching the funerall o' the Saints nor yet did the straite vigilancie of the cruell kiepers permitte them to subtracte anie part of them secretly as the same Historie testifies So that when no miserie did touche those who were killed ether in the tearing a pieces the members of their bodies in the combustion o' their bones or in the dispersion of their ashes yet thiese who could not burie anie part of them were miserably afflicted since that they in a certeine manner felt that of which the Martyrs wiere in noe sorte sensible whereas no suffering was in thiese yet in the other there was a most miserable compassion According to this which I called a miserable compassion they are commended praised by K. Dauid who exhibited the mercie of Sepulture to the drye bones of Saul Ionathas yet what mercie is afforded to those who ar not sensible Is this peraduenture to be reduced to that opinion that insepulcherd people cannot passe the infernal riuer Let this be farre from Christian faith otherwise such a great multitude of Martyrs whose bodies could not be buried were in a miserable case veritie fallaciously pronunced Feare not those who kille the bodie and haue no more to doe if they could so much preiudice them as to impedite their passage to their desired places But bicause this without all doubt is most false nether does sepulture denied to their bodies indomage faithfull people nor profitte Infidells if they haue it Why therefore are those who buried Saul and his Sonne commended for this by the pious King saue onely for that the hearts of the commiserators ar well affected when they grieue at that which happens to the ded bodies of others which according to that affect by which none euer hated his owne flesh they will not haue done after their deth to their owne bodies precure whyle they remaine sensible to haue that exhibited to others who be not sensible which they will haue exhibited to them selues when they ar not to be sensible Certaine visions ar recounted which sieme to cause no irregardeable questioÌ„ in this disputation For some ded people ar related to haue appiered to the liuing ether in their sliepe or in some other manner shewing the places in which their bodies laye vnburied to those whoe were ignorant of it to haue admonished them to exhibit the Sepulture to them which they wanted If we replye that these things ar false wee shall sieme impudently to contradicte both the writings of some Christians and also the dictamen of those who affirme they happened vnto them but it is to be responded or anserd that we must not imagine the ded ar sensible of these matters for that they sieme to themselues ether to signifye or demaunde them in their sliepe For euen the liuing appiere often tymes to the liuing being a sliepe when they knowe them selues that they appeare they heare them relate these particulers which they dreamed affirming that they had them in their sliepe doing or speaking som'at If therefore one can sie mee in his sliepe declaring som'at which is ether aredie effected or els prenuntiating some future matter whyle I am totally ignorant of it nor yet care not a iot not only what he dreames but nether whether he be awake whyle I sliepe or sliepe whyle I wake or whether we sliepe both or wake at one the same tyme in which he has a vision in which he sies mee What meruelle is it if ded people nether knowing nor fieling these things yet ar viewed by the liuing in their dreames vtter something which those who ar awake knowne to be true Wherefore I should thinke it to be effected by Angelical operations whether it be permitted or commaunded froÌ„ aboue that these should sieme to vtter som'at in their sliepe touching the buriall o' their bodies althou ' they ble quite ignorant whose bodies they be And this is sometymes profitably effected whether it be to giue some sort of comfort to the liuing to whome those ded people apperteyne whose representations appiere to the dreamers or to the intent that by these admonitions the humanitie of Sepulture may be recommended to humane generation which althou ' it helpes not the deceased yet is it culpable irreligiositâ—e to neglect it Yet sometimes people are carried to great errors by fallatious visions who iustly deferue to suffer such illusions as for example if one should viewe that which Aeneas by poeticall falsitie is related to haue siene in the infernal regions that the figure of some unsepulcherd person should appeare vnto him vtter such particulars as Palinurus is recounted to have vtterd to Aeneas that when he awakes he should finde his bodie in the same place in which he heard it to be whyle he dreamed was admonished requested to burie it when he had found it that in regard he perceiued it to be true he should for that cause bilieue that the ded are therefore buried that their soules may passe to those places Does not he who bilienes these matters very much exorbitate from the way o'trueth For such is humane infirmitie that when anie one sies one ded in his sliepe he imagins he sies his soule but when he Sembleably dreames of anie one aliue he doutes not but that nether his bodie nor his soule but the similitude of a man appiered to him as if not the soules but the similitudes o' people soules being in the same sort ignorant could not appiere to those who dreame When I was at Milan I heard for certeine that when a dette was demanded of one by producing the bond of his father deceased which det had bin paid vnknown to his sonne he began to be very much coÌ„tristated to admire
SAINT AVSTINS CARE OR THE DEAD OR HIS BOVKE INTIT'LED De cura pro mortuis translated for the vse of those who ether haue not his volumes or haue not knowlige in the Latin tungue Printed published M.DC. XXXVI THE TRANSLATORS INTENT THe motiue of my translation is partly to delite the Rieder with the Curiositie o' the discourse partly to acquainte him wi' the notorius difference which in it appieres betwixt the doctrine spirit style o'those Primitiue ages in part of which Saint Austin flourished the doctrine spirit style o' the pretensiue Reformers of our present tymes concerning some points of Religion in controuersie betwixt them vs Roman Catholiques which the tenor o' the Tractate will particularly declare specifie especially touching Purgatorie prayer to Saints which place of Purgatorie Saint Austines doctrines professedly asserting in seueral parts o'th is his briefe elucubration prayer for Soules departed in state of saluation so necessarily supposes that I must occasionally exhorte the erroneous perusers for their own soules safetie touching this particular to adhere to antiquitie renounce noueltie seriously yet farther reflecting on that which the same S. Austin applying a certaine passage o' the Apostle to this same purpose in another place deliuers concerning the paines of Purgatorie sufficient to cause al its contemners to tremble Bicause quoth S. Austin it is said he shall be saued as it were by fyer that fyer is contemned ey plainely althou ' they be saued by fyer yet that fyer is more grieuous than al that one can suffer in this life For which cause the same renowned Father immediately afore in the same place occasion most ingeniously iudiciously termes the paines of Purgatorie an emendatorie fyer ernestly desiring God to purge him in this life render him such a one that now he stands not niede of it In so much that by thiese passages by this present Treatise it will finally appiere that they who refuse to pray for Soules in Purgatorie ar no such Christians as ancient S. Austin others o'former ages this Father being euen as Caluin himselfe confesses the best most fidelious witnesse of all the aneient writers But let this suffice briefely to infinuate both the scope o'th is matter the translators purpose in which if perchance the viewer findes not the claritie which he desires let him please not to attribute it to the Interpreters defect but to the difficultie o' the Authors style whoe supposing the translator in realitie has vsed no smale industrie in elucidating the sence partly by reason of his owne most in genious profunditie partly by the Printers neglect not only in this but in the rest of his wourkes has diuers verie obscure intricate passages Nether let anie one maruelle at anie noueltie appiering ether in the translators orthographie or phrase supposing he most commonly both writes his wourds according to their sounde in pronuntiation som'at latinyzes frenchifyes his style in this other his translations purposely to mitigate the asperitie or ruffnesse of our vulgar tungue the more to facilitate it for those strangers who defire to lerne it peruse our wrytings yet rather chuseing to streine the property of his owne natiue language than in anie sorte to diminishe the energie ether o' the Authors style or sence but let him totally applie his mynde to the scope matter of this most famous Father for in this doutlesse we wil haue bothe pleasure profit Finally the Translator in most humble manner presentes his labor as a perpetuated DEDICATORIE of his religious affection respect to the excellent Princesse gratious great Ladie the Ladie Duches of Richmond expecting no other reward for his seruice than that her excelleÌ„cie wil at her conuenient leisure retired tymes gratiously voutsafe to peruse this briefe treatise o' the antient renowned Father Saint Austin seriously reflecte how much she is traduced by her Preichers Directors concerning the doctrine of prayer for soules departed Masse merit Mediation of Saints for thence doutlesse her Grace by diuyne grace assistance will yet further conceue conclude that in sembleable sorte she is seduced from the true dictamen of Antiquitie in other points of her faith Religion vnder a false pretext of Scripture the written Wourd of God as by diuyne assistance I intend professedly to demonstrate in an other occasion AVRELIVS AVGVSTIN TO BISHOP PAVLIN TOVCHING CARE for the ded MY venerable fellow B. Paulin I haue bin long a detter to your letters since you writ vnto me by the seruants of our most religious sister Flora propunding me a question whether it profites any one after his decease to haue his bodie buried at the monument of a Saint for this the same mentioned widow had inquired of you concerning her Sonne in those parts departed to whome you had rescrybed comforting her by your letters also signifying that to be accomplished which with maternal pious affection she desyred viz. to haue the corps o' the faithfull youth Cynegius defunct put in the Church o' the most blessed Confessâ—r Felix by occasion of which it was effected that you writ to me euen by the same carriers of your letters propounding the same question both requesting me to deliuer my responsiue opinion yet not being silent your selfe in deliuering your owne dictamen for you say the motions of those religious faithfull minds which procure these matters sieme to you not to be vaine you adde that it canot be voide of cause that the vniuersal Church accustomes to praye for the deceased in so much that hence it may also be coniectured that it profites one after his deth if for the interment of his bodie such a place is prouided by the faith of his frends in which euen this manner of procured assistance of Saints may appiere But althou ' this be thus yet you signifie you know not sufficiently how that senteÌ„ce o' the Apostle is not contrarie to this opinion We shall all stand at Christs Tribunal that euerie one may receiue according to that which he performed in his bodie be it goud or euill For surely this Apostolical sentence admonishes vs that must be performed afore deth which may profit vs after our decease not theÌ„ wheÌ„ euerie one is to receue according to that which he did afore his deth But this question is thus resolued viz. that it is acquired by a certeine manner of life during the time we remaine in this bodie that theise things may som'at helpe the deceased and that by this meanes they ar succor'd according to those matters which they performed by their bodies by those things which are religiously performed for them after their bodies decease For this cause it is that these matters auaile not those who ether haue so ill merited that they deserue not to be succor'd by them or els who haue merited so well that
they niede not such succors Whence it is concluded that it is the manner of life which one has exercised by his bodie which is the cause why theise matters profite or profite not him for whome they are performed after he has left his bodie For if no merit is acquired in this life by which these matters may profite one it is in vaine to procure it after this life Thus it is effected that nether the Church nor the care of ones owne frends exhibites in vaine what Religious acts they ar able to performe for the deceased yet is it true that euerie one shall receue according to that he performed by his bodie be it goud or be it euill our Lord rendring to euerie one according to his operations For it is acquired in this life which he led in his bodie that that which is exhibited may profite him after the deth of his bodie Now this my briefe responsion might sufficiently fatisfie your demand yet in regarde I haue other motiues which I iudge necessarie to ansere afforde me some longer attention We riede in the bouks of Machabies that sacrifice was offerd for the ded yet if in no place o' the ancient Scriptures it were red at all neuerthelesse the authoritie o' the vniuersal Church which clearely appieres in this Custome is not smale where in the Priests prayers which are vtterd to our Lord God at his Altar also the recomendation o' the ded has its place But we must further more laboriously inquire whether the place in which one is buried anie thing profites the soule o' the deceased And inprimis it is to be examined not according to a vulgarly knowne opinion but rather according to the sacred Scriptures of our Religion whether in anie respect it conduces ether to the inflicting or increasing the miserie of peoples soules after this life if their bodies be not buried Nether is it to be bilieued as it is red in Virgil that the vnburied ar debarred from passing the Infernal Riuer as if they were not permitted to be transported by those horrid coastes hoarce gulphes afore their bones were set at rest who can moue a Christian hart wi' these poetical fabulous figments since that our Lord Iesus to the intent that Christians might securely suffer deth by their handes who were to haue their bodies in their power assures vs that not euen anie one heire o' their hed shall perish exorting them not to feare those who when they shal haue killed the bodie haue no more to doe Whence it was that in my first bouke o' the Citie of God I spake that which as I suppose is sufficient to stop their mouthes who imputing to Christian times that barbarous ruine especially which Rome suffered obiecte that vnto thē that Christ did not thier succore his owne people who when it is anserd them that the soules of those his fidelious people were receued by him according to the merits o' their Faith then they insulte about their insepulcherd bodies For this cause I explicated this whole place of Scripture in such termes as thiese For nether indiede could they possible be buried in such a great ruine of Carcasses nether does a pious man imbracing the predicted sentence of our Sauiour much feare this nor that beastes deuouring them shall hurte those bodies which ar to be resuscitated an of which one heire o' theirs shal not perishe For veritie would in no sorte haue said feare not those who kille the bodie but cannot kille the soule if anie of that which an enemie would doe to the bodies of the Saints did anie way preiudice the future life Except peraduenture some one is so absurd as to contend that we must not feare afore our deth those who kille the bodie least they kille it yet that we must feare after deth least they should suffer it to be buried when it is a' redie killed Ergo that would be false which Christ sayes Who kille the bodie afterwards haue no more to doe if they haue so much to doe about bodies God defend that should be false which veritie pronounced It is said that they doe som ' at when they kille the bodie in regard there is sense in a bodie which is to be killed but that afterwards they haue no more to doe cause there is no sence in a bodie killed wherefore manie bodies of Christians haue not bin couerd with erth but none euer separated anie o' them from both Heuen and erth which he replenishes totally with his presence who knowes whence he is to resuscitate that he created It is indiede said in the 78. Psalme They exposed the bodies o' thy seruants for meite to the birds o' the ayre the flesh o' thy Saints to the beasts o' the erth they effused their blud like water round about Ierusalem there was none who would burie them Yet this was vtterd to amplifie the crueltie o'those who did thiese things not to declare anie infelicitie in those who sufferd them For althou ' thiese matters sieme cruel horrible in the viewe of men yet pretious is the deth of his Saints in the viewe of our Lord. For this cause all thiese particulars that is the prouision of a funeral the qualitie o' the sepulture the pompe of Exequies ar rather comforts for the liuing than helpes for the ded If a pretious sepulture profites the impious a poure one or none will preiudice the pious Agreat companie of seruants made a sumptuous funeral for the purpled rich one in the viewe of men but the Ministerie of Angels made the vlcerous poure one much more sumptuous exequies in the viewe of our Lord who did not exalte him to a marble tumbe but carried him into Abrahams bosome They against whome I interprised the defense o' the Citie of God laffe at these matters neuerthelesse euen their Philosophers contemned the care o'Sepulture often tymes in tyre armies when they died for their temporal Countries nether cared where afterwards their bodies were to lye or by what beasts they were deuoured the Poets had licence to say plausiblely touching this matter Heuen couers him who has no coffin How much lesse ought they to insulte ouer Christians touching their insepulchred bodies to whome the reformation o' their flesh all their members in respect o'th at which their decayed carcases had lost is promised to be restored redintegrated not only out o' the erth but also out o' the most secret bosome of other elements Neuerthelesse the bodies of the deceased ar not therefore to be abiected and contemned especially those of iust faithfull people which the Holie Gost has vsed as instrumēts vessels for all goud works For if the Fathers garment or ring or the like is so much the more deare to his posteritie by how much ones affectiō was greater towards his parents in no sorte ar the bodies themselues to be contemned which surely we