tamen in Penu locupletis Domini_. _Altho’ the Flesh be wholly consum’d by Fire, yet the World receives the evaporated Matter, nay, altho’ I am wash’d to nothing in Rivers or Seas, or am devour’d by wild Beasts, yet shall I be reposited in the Store-House of a most wealthy Lord._ Likewise _Minutius Fælix_ in _Octavio_ has these Words: _Corpus omne sive arescit in Pulverem, sive in Humorem solvitur, vel in Cinerem comprimitur, vel in Nidorem tenuatur, subducitur Bonis, sed DEO Elementorum custodio reservatur_. _The Body whether it be dry’d into Powder, resolv’d into Moisture, reduc’d to Ashes, or evaporated into Air, is indeed taken away from Good Men, but still the custody of the Elements is reserv’d to GOD._ Some have been accounted a rigid sort of _Stoicks_, and void of all Humanity, for this Reason only, because they averr’d it profited nothing, whether the Body corrupted above or beneath the Earth. Thus _Lucan_, Lib. 7. ————_Tabesne Cadavera solvat An Rogus haud refert: Placido Natura receptat Cuncta Sinu, Finemq; sui sibi Corpora debent. ——Cælo tegitur qui non habet Urnam._ ——————For ’tis all one Whether the Fire or Putrefaction Dissolve ’em; all to Natures Bosom go, Since to themselves their Ends the Bodies owe. The Skie shall cover him who wants a Grave. And that Favorite-Courtier _Mecænas_ was wont to say: _Non Tumulum curo, sepelit Natura Relictos._ I value not a Tomb, Nature provides that for me. But this these spoke only in respect to the Soul, which could receive no Hurt nor Damage from the Bodies being cast out unbury’d; therefore they seemingly ridicul’d and despis’d it, the better to fortifie Men against any fear of the want of Burial, yet they firmly believ’d that all those who were depriv’d thereof, were the most miserable and wretched of Creatures, and that their Souls continually wander’d, as _Virgil_ elegantly expresses, _Æneid._ 6. _v._ 325. where _Æneas_ asking the _Cybil_ why such a number of Souls stood crowding near the Stygian Lake, and were refus’d a Passage, he receiv’d this Answer: _Hæc Omnis, quam cernis, inops inhumataq; Turba est: Portitor ille, Charon: Hi, quos vehit unda, Sepulti. Nec Ripa datur horrendas, nec rauca Fluenta [Sidenote: Some have fear’d the want of it.] Transportare prius, quam Sedibus ossa quierunt. Centum errant Annos volitantq; hæc Littora circum, Tum demum admissi Stagna exoptata revisunt. Constitit Anchisa Satus, & Vestigia pressit, Multa putans, Sortemq; Animo miseratus iniquam Cernit ibi mæstos, & Mortis Honore carentes_, &c.