First, _Sepulture_ is truly and rightly accounted to be _Jus Naturæ_, by reason the very condition of Human Nature admonishes us, that the spiritless Body should be restor’d to the Earth, from whence it was deriv’d; so that it only pays that Debt of its own accord, which otherwise Nature would require against its Will. Thus, in the beginning of the World, so soon as _Adam_ had transgressed, [Sidenote: Ordain’d by GOD himself.] GOD said to him, _Gen._ 3. 19. _Thou shalt return to the Ground, from whence thou wert taken; for Dust thou art, and unto Dust thou shalt return_. Whence _Ecclesiastes_, 12. 7. says, _The Dust shall return to the Earth as it was: and the Spirit to GOD who gave it_. Likewise patient _Job_ thus expresses himself, _Job_ 1. 21. _Naked came I out of my Mothers Womb_ (which _David_ also calls the _Lowest part of the Earth_, Psalm 139. 15.) _and naked shall I return thither_. Upon which _Quenstedt_ thus Comments, _p._ 10. De Sepult. vet. _He shall not return again into his Mothers Womb, but unto the Earth which is the Mother of all Things_. Upon which occasion read also _Ecclesiasticus_, 40. 1. [Sidenote: Practis’d by the _Heathens_.] Hence it is the _Heathens_ have generally follow’d the same Custom of restoring the Dead to their Mother Earth; since it is but according to the course of Nature, for all Things to return at last to their first Principles, and that so soon as ever a Disunion or Dissolution of the Parts of Man’s Body shall be caused by Death. That each Thing has ever immediately requir’d what it gave, is excellently describ’d by _Euripides_, in one of his _Tragedies_ call’d the _Supplicants_, where he introduces _Theseus_ Talking after this manner: Ἐάσατ’ ἤδη γῇ καλυφθῆναι νεκρούς. Ὅθεν δ’ ἕκαστον εἰς τὸ σῶμ’ ἀφίκετο, Ἐνταῦθ’ ἀπῆλθε, πνεῦμα μὲν πρὸς αἰθέρα, Τὸ σῶμα δ’ εἰς γῆν· οὔ τι γὰρ κεκτήμεθα Ἡμέτερον αὐτὸ πλὴν ἐνοικῆσαι βίον· Κᾄπειτα τὴν θρέψασαν αὐτὸ δεῖ λαβεῖν. _Jam sinite Terræ Mortuos Gremio tegi: Res unde quæque sumpserat Primordium, Eo recipitur: Spiritus Cælo redit Corpusque Terræ: Jure nec enim mancupi: Sed brevis ad Ævi Tempus utendum datur: Mox Terra repetit ipsa quod nutriverat._ Suffer the Dead within the Earths cold Womb To be Interr’d, nor envy them a Tomb; For all Things, whence they did their Being draw, Thither, at last, return by Natures Law: The Soul flies back to Heav’n from whence it came, Our mouldring Bodies Mother Earth does claim; Lent us but for a fleeting space to wear, And then they to their first Abodes repair. [Sidenote: Asserted in the _Scripture_.]