838 Chap. 2I. An ExDo,rition uFr.n tt Book."' j o s. Vert î32 here in tended a defcription ofthe wickcd mens punifhmeot in hell. A late learned Bp( liter upon this Booke juf}ly per. firingeeh that tray (la tion as affeaing the accommodationof the holy Scripture to filch a ftclicn, indefcnbing the region of death, or the flare of wicked men when they are dead.Yet 'tis (in it Idle) a, truth, that the wicked are a Tweet morfel to hell ih tormenters ; Ard thy who in tl.eir life time have fwatlowed down fo many firs, not onely gnats but camels, being dead, are in a moment fwallowed up in hell, We may f.ry of inch men (as the Prophet doth of the Afyrian Prince, Ufa. 14 9) Hellfrom beneath is movedfor them to meet therm at their coming. The morewicked a man is, the more is hell delighted to receive him ; as the more holy a man is,the more is heaven delighted to embrace him.When he who was a hell upon earth,drops to hell, he is pleafant fewel to thofe devou. ring flames. Secondly, This verfe is better expounded as a continued difcourfe ofthe happineffeof the wicked man in regard ofhis natural liare in death.He (ball not only continue in the tomb, but have (as it were) a contentfull being there. Earth is (as to matter) the common parent ofus all ; from the earth we carne, and thither we returne; and when the wicked man re- turnes, the earthwill not hurt him. The grave will not en- tertaine him with a frown, but he (hall beas welcome and as kindly ufed thereby theclods of the valley as any other man. The bodily being ofdie righteous and of the wicked in the bowels of the earth knows no difference. And as no man knowcth love or hatred by all that is beforehim (as to his Moiaér (w vi- body) on earth, fonot as to the Rate ofthe body while it re- ter tratlarur a maineth under the earth. The fuperlitious Heathen (which terra,quarnfa- may fomewhat anfwer the phrafe of this Scripture, though thitatem p,rf t faare from the (cope of it,) were wont to pray for a dying gretabuntur Jilin friend in this forme ; Let the earth befavourable andea lie to úefwrffit ótr f f verbrr, Sir tibi thee, let it not prffje thee hard. They had a conceit that if the =terra Levis. earth laid too a great a load upon the dead,rhey could not gc C Terranr grave up to the higher regions, therefore they prayed,that the clods Impretaris,&c. of thlle or the earth where their friends were buried, Terrill. de the .vay+ Telf im. Ani. might beTweet and favourable tothem. Turtullian mentions max 4. this, 7-J& itenifb cuftom, & Pliny a Philofopher oftheir own laughs
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