“The Burial Service” pg. 518
“Our instincts of self-preservation makes us shrink from death, but our faith sees beyond the grave. Death is holy, a part of the gift of life; it is God’s way of gathering His family to Himself. Only death in sin is to be feared. Death in grace is to be desired. “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones” (Ps. 115: 15). For death is only the end of probation, not of life. “Life is not ended, but merely changed” (Preface of the Dead). So death is the end of the preparation and the beginning of life’s fulfillment. It is the end of danger, of all wavering between God and creatures, of all warring between spirit and flesh. It is the prelude to eternal joy with God.”




