Abraham's decease A meditation on Genesis 25.8. Delivered at the funeral of that worthy…Abrahams decease A meditation on Genesis 25.8. Deliuered at the funerall of that worthy…

Lastly, this might teach us not to fear death. ^aIt is a fond thing (saith he) to fear that, that cannot be ²avoided. A folly it is to trouble & turmoil our selves with fear and care about that, that by no thought or forecast we can shun or shift off. But such is death. ^bDelayed it may be, but avoided it cannot be. And ^cbe it never so long put off, yet ^dit will come at last. As an ancient Father therefore well and wisely adviseth; ^eFear not that, which whether thou wilt or no, will be; fear that rather, which if thou thy self wilt not, shall never be. That is, fear not this temporal death, the death of thy body, which of it self cannot hurt thee, and by no means or care of thine can be prevented: but fear that eternal death, the death of thy soul, ^fthe greatest of all evils that can possibly befall thee, which by mature care and diligence now used, may be prevented. But we are (as another well observeth) herein, the most of us, ^glike children, that are ^hafraid of a visor, but fear not the fire; shriek and start at the one, but thrust their fingers into the other. ^*We fear the bodily death, but not the spiritual death, the death of the soul, the death in sin, and dying in sin, without which the other cannot hurt. The fear of death troubleth and distracteth much our minds: but the fear of future matters, that are truly fearful indeed, and but for wch death needed not at all to be feared, doth no more trouble or affect the most, than as if ⟨p. 47⟩