fruits of the Spirit and of Heaven which do render Death to those that taste them more desirable than formidable The first is First Communion with Christ That of it which Saints have in this world is very sensible and sweet Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ You know it is the holy boast of a holy man the Apostle John concerning himself and other real Saints and it is sweet Communion as in the next words These things write we unto you that your joy might be full Thus true joy comes into the heart even unparallel'd gladness by Gods lifting up the light of his Countenance The wicked whore cries Let us take our fills of love in unclean Communion but Christs Spouse's design is that her joy might be full in holy Communion with God and Christ The first misses joy altogether meets with only vanity and vexation of Spirit but the other loses her dumpish sorrow and never enjoys that Communion with Christ much but she meets also with joy unspeakable and full of glory and yet in this world never enough Therefore they that taste it most do most earnestly long to be dissolved and to be with Christ as the Apostle Paul Phil. 1.23 Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ He professes indeed that he had his Conversation in heaven as to real foretasts thereof which were enough to set him a longing not fully to satisfie and therefore he confesses that whilst in the body he was in great measure absent from the Lord. And would he not be present Yes even with all his heart and farewell body till the Resurrection that he might kiss his sweet Jesus his feet that he might be ever with the Lord. This this was the Apostle Pauls holy passion Oh! Then sincere Christians for two or three of you to be with Christ and he with you in prayer according to his promise and in other Ordinances yea in any divine exercises of grace This this must needs make your souls long to depart and to be with Christ This notion you must know flows not from a doubtful or pretended experience but from positive express Gospel Doctrine 1 Thes 4.17 18. And so shall we be ever with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words It is mighty comfort against death and judgment there spoken of to consider the happiness of being ever with the Lord. If it was the joy and boast of the enamoured Spouse Cant. 2.9 to view Christ shewing himself through the Lattess how can she but long to see him with open face to see him as he is in glory Surely that soul that by faith and love cleaves to Christ can never much fear death which it knows will never separate such lovers as Christ and a believing soul are but rather indeed bring it into heaven and force it only to be more happy in a more intimate close yea constant Vision and fruition of Christ Secondly Freedom from sin though but in some tolerable manner attained gives us a sweet foretaste of heaven where all just mens souls do enter but no unclean thing with them So much freedom from sin is so much heaven upon earth but the reliques of sin still pestering us till death make us if true Saints the more eagerly long for perfect freedom from it in heaven which huge longing is an holy extasie I confess and found only I think in those whose Consciences do not reproach them whilst they live They of all men even they that labour to the utmost to subdue sin do long to get rid of it altogether though it be by death Therefore the Apostle Paul expresses himself after this manner And not only they Rem 8.23 but we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of the body reckoning upon not much mattering yea quite overlooking death having the eye on a sweet deliverance of soul and body from sin at the Resurrection sith in this life both of them are most sadly infected therewith Therefore saies he we groan but how Even as the Creature to be delivered from the bondage of Corruption And which is very remarkable We our selves who have the first fruits of the Spirit c. What are they The thirteenth verse a little before will clear that in these words If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Blessed souls are they and they shall be blessed who have received the first fruits of the Spirit in the mortification of sin for they groan within themselves till that happy time come after death when soul and body shall no more sin They that have tasted how sweet the life-bloud of one sturdy lusty sin is can never be satiated till they have the bloud of all the rest the dam and all original sin insatiably crying out O when shall we be delivered from the body of this Death which indeed is far more dreadful than natural death But O how sweet is it for a Saint to see Necis artificem arte perire suâ sin killing it self with its own murthering-piece killing its enemy and it self with one blow How joyfully do Saints see the death of all their sins approach full as fast as the death of their bodies Well then the Saints with Sampson would gladly dye that so all their sins and therefore to be sure more might be utterly destroyed at their death than ever they could slay all their life time A true and thorough Saint fears to sin more than to dye therefore he feares not so much to dye and sin no more as to live yet and sin O thou that hast faithfully mortified any lust and art sure of it Death cannot wound nor astonish thee for certainly more comfort arises to the Saints from the mortality of sin then terrour from the mortality of the body Thirdly The blessed graces of the Spirit of God the possession of which is our participation of the Divine nature the exercise of which is our Conversation in heaven These Graces of the Spirit of God are indeed the very first fruits of heaven and cannot well be at rest till they have carried the soul into their own Element Heaven it self for from above it is whence every good and perfect gift doth descend and would as naturally carry the soul endued therewith up thither as the fire mounts upwards So that those Divine souls whose vigorous graces do make them hunger and thirst after righteousness will not stick to venture at Gods call a bodily life to satisfie that thirst in heaven The Apostle Paul was very desirous to attain to the Resurrection of the Dead Phil. 3.11 compared with ver 21. Oh! how he longed to be more holy here in this world to be quickly in the number of the dead in the Lord He cared not how soon Perfect he saies he was not yet nor likely to be perfect here below but yet he contended hard running to
AN ANTIDOTE Against the Sinfull Palpitation of the Heart OR Fear of Death Humbly offered to mens serious Thoughts because sadly occasioned by That Dreadfull PLAGUE And those horrid Fears of Death that have seized This present Generation in England whom either greater Sins or weaker Graces or both together have rendred more then ever Timorous MADE UP OF That Singular and Soveraign Scripture Hebrews 2.15 And deliver them who through fear of Death were all their life time subject to Bondage By Robert Tatnall M. A. Sometimes Fellow of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge and lately Minister of the Gospel at St. John Evangelist's LONDON Isa 9.14 15 16 17. For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still Rev. 1.17 18. I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the keyes of Hell and of Death Psal 68.20 He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from Death London Printed by J. Hayes and are to be sold by S. Gellibrand at the gilded Ball and S. Thomson at the Bishops Head in St. Pauls Church-yard 1665. Perlegi hunc Libellum cui Titulus An Antidote against the fears of Death in quo nihil reperio Doctrinae Disciplinaeve Ecclesiae Anglicanae aut bonis Moribus contrarium Joh. Hall R. P. D. Episc Lond. Ã Sac. Domest July 6. 1665. TO THE TRULY CHRISTIAN READER IT is not a time now if ever to complement with dying men and women that poor aid which any serious Christian can endeavour to give in such a publick Calamity as we all now do or should deeply lament The unworthy Labourer in this small Piece of Service must acknowledge so much concerning himself only for his Apology That having been some time till of late imployed in London as a Minister He cannot but weep over it in some Conformity to his Great President 's weeping over Jerusalem And lisp that tender Affection which he cannot express to so great a City For it is belov'd of all and a City once much in and 't is hop't not now out of God's favour To be sure not left out of the hearts of some few who as formerly do still most affectionately pray for her though they can do little else The Plague rages amongst us Good men as well though I hope not as much as bad men are obnoxious to this visitation The latter understand little of the Duty or Comforts manifested in Scripture Spiritually knowing nothing at all Such if they will may hear the sounding of Gods Bowels and tender Mercies to them as in some other instances so not least of all in those Comprehensive though SHORT INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE SICK with some other very lately made publick by an Eminent Labourer in the Gospel which with his leave may be stil'd His repeated Call to the Unconverted in Epitome or their Now or Never indeed The Lord make those Instructions as effectual as they are most opportune and importunate too with mens souls Surely the endeavouring of sinners conversion especially at the brink of the Grave must needs be a work of Sage Prudence and an Apostolick Spirit But who is sufficient as for that so for the rest of the Labour viz. The Edification and Building up of Souls in their most holy Faith when their bodies are near ruine Truly be that now questions who is must answer for himself that he of all men is not Who yet counts it his great Duty to deplore it as well as to confess it And whilst he laments his own evident insufficiency to rely upon that sufficiency which is of God both to Direct Assist and Bless the meanest of all his Labourers As for good men and women who are so though they can scarce themselves think so yet they are Christs flock And the Sheep and Shepherds too cannot but chiefly tender their good Now 't is clear that Death is near them as well as others Yea some of Gods most pretious Children have been sick of the Plague none that I know do much doubt it to be King Hezekiahs sickness unto death Nay some have dy'd of it as a most Eminent Minister of this City not long ago And 't is not question'd by some considerable Divines but that many of the converted Corinthians dyed of the Plague as well as others of them were much visited with it so that many were sick and many weak Whereupon some may say there may be no peremptorily asserted ground for a good mans looking on himself as unconcern'd and exempted in a common danger and calamity But however it must be remembred that a good man hath no reason to fear the fear of the wicked whilst he hopes not their hope He having more reason then any wicked persons have to wait upon God for a special Protection if the ninty first Psalm be a part of his Charter as no doubt it is Yet notwithstanding I find a great Terrour upon this Plague even possessing Good as well as Bad men Which I am the more troubled at because as good people have less cause to sink and faint away so Christ by their dispondency hath the less Honour Which two inconveniencies much sadder then a Plague O that I could as a poor Instrument if not remove yet abate at least in some O let Saints bear up and stand in the Gap or Breach Aaron you know ran into the midst of the visited Congregation and stood between the Dead and the Living making atonement for them till the Plague was stayed Numb 16.47 48. Hath Christ made his people a Royal Priesthood to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices acceptable by Jesus Christ and shall such run from the Congregation I mean from their Duty their Calling their Charge their own people yea God and all in vain O let Christ be honoured for the increase of whose Kingdom by the consciencious labours of Gods Children in their places The world both doth and shall stand through Gods mercy remembred in all his Judgments even till the great and general day of the Lords Tribunal There are indeed no greater Motives to any good Action or endeavour then the advance of Christs Honour and of the Holiness and Happiness of poor souls who may if they be wise become with Abraham strong in Faith and so rewarded with strong Consolation that believing so with him they might rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory not only after but also before their death All which is plainly intended in the Subject or Scripture here presented to such as would be serious and safe Which Design of God and interest of man if it be sincerely espoused in the ensuing Discourse God will I hope in mercy pardon and every good person pity his infirmities who in pity prayes for a blessing of God upon this and all other means to be used by such as are sick of the fears of Death before they are
death not only from the domineering prevalency but the disquieting presence of them Now the words lying open to view you have a most fair prospect of great and sweet variety which naturally springs up out of this most fruitful field that if digged and searched will yield very holy meditation and discourse Concerning this Scripture I may say truly in the words of the Apostle Paul when he was comforting timorous souls under their fears of Judgment and so very pertinently to my business in hand Behold here how our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father who hath loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace do here comfort your hearts by the most warm breathings of the Holy Ghost the Comforter who indeed is then a Comforter when all else are but miserable ones His Cordial here is very singular and soveraign the Ingredients very precious and various and not a little conspicuous in these following Doctrines some of which are raised from the fourteenth verse immediately preceding my Text some from both verses together and some from the Text it self only 1. The fourteenth verse exhibits to you these seven Doctrines First That the unconceivable love of the Son of God to his dear children made him come down on earth and become man Secondly That Christ in his humane nature is as very man as any of the Elect his flesh and bloud not only being like ours but part of our substance He also himself likewise took part of the same So that he himself is of the same stock of Adam and Eve as surely and verily as any of us Thirdly That sinners out of Christ are under the sentence of Death such as are not Gods Children are under the Devil their fathers cruel severity that is under the power of Death or That Satan hath the power of Death over all such as are not delivered by Christ from his Power Fourthly That Christ hath destroyed this his power for the sole benefit of his children true believers Fifthly That the way how Christ overcame Satan and destroyed his power was by his own death Or Christ by his own death conquered that Tyrant the Devil Which destruction of the Devil by the Death of Christ because alledged here by the Apostle as Christs intermediate end in subserviency to his Grand design of delivering his children from the fears of Death I shall only a little pause upon The Devil was no sooner our enemy but Christ was his The Devil said to our first Parents Ye shall not surely dye but Christ only made it good Though the Devil meant nothing less yet Christ nothing more see the Devil in his colours First he tempts to sin with a surely thou shalt not dye and yet presently upon the Commission of sin he torments with a surely thou shalt dye He speaks his own plainly when he tempts to sin but he speaks in appearance Gods words when he tempts to despair How much harder then is it to resist his temptations to despair of pardon than it is to resist those his temptations by which he would bring us into a sad need of it But he is a Lyar in both For he spake in his first temptation to sin against his own judgment who verily thought man by sin would most irrecoverably dye and that for ever And when he tempts all men to despair with a surely ye shall dye he knows he lies For Christ in all Ages effectually delivers all his Children Whether Satan say thou shalt not surely dye before sin committed or thou shalt surely dye after sin committed he knows he lyes in the one he lyes against the truth of the Law in the other he lyes against the true meaning of an Enacted Law in the other he lyes against the truth of the repeale or in the one he lyes against the truth of Gods threats and the condemning power of the Law in the other against the truth of Gods promises and of his incomparably glorious Act of Indempnity He thought indeed seeing he could not be exalted above God he would become a petty Tyrant as his ambition thirsted over poor mankind and thereupon laboured to bring man by sin under his power the power of death but wherein he dealt proudly Christ was above him Christ in mans nature dyed for man so that though in as much as Christ dyed the Devil bruised his heel yet Christ by his own death defeated his design and bruised his Serpent-head which he will not be able to get healed for ever whereas Christ only was dead but is alive and lives for evermore as before by death to vanquish him so eternally by the power of his Life and Raign to keep him under in chains of darkness and also to deliver his children from his power of Death who though they sleep yet shall wake again Eternally Sixthly That Christs death conquered the Saints death even the power of it lying much in the hand of the Devil was destroyed with him Death is our enemy Christ encountred it for us in our stead verse 9. the Apostle speaking of Jesus saies thus That he by the grace of God should taste death for every man for him He conquered our enemy death by dying by bearing and so breaking off from us all its malignant force that it cannot reach us therewith when it ruffles most It is our last enemy but already conquered by Christ Christs death it is the Saints life in Death Christ hath given death its deaths wound and though at its last gasp it would lift up its self and grin upon a dying Saint yet behold all its venome-teeth are dasht out by the power of Christ and its sting to seek It laies only upon him a cold and feeble hand but cannot break a bone as I may say not do the least hurt It only rocks the body asleep and makes way for the soul to enter into its Masters Joy unspeakable indeed and full of glory As the Devil whom Christ rebuked in the possessed tare and rent the body it is true yet durst not but come forth and depart and though the body was left on the ground as dead yet it quickly appeared to be alive So death may teare and shake a Saints body at its dissolution and leave it for dead on the ground yet it hath no more to do to touch it the very body as the grain sown in the earth is a springing up though at first flowly with a new life I say the body shall in spight of death live again gloriously at the Resurrection and never dye because death is conquered and destroyed for ever by Christs death who was dead but is alive for evermore Amen Neither is the Saints sleeping at their dissolution a bare piece of Rhetorick but a most real notion Wicked mens bodies may be said indeed most properly to suffer death for though they also shall rise again yet it is to lead a life in those raised bodies worse than death But