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The Day of Doom Stanzas 126-150


by Michael Wigglesworth

Contributed by Stephen Lawson

Word format



[ 126 ]

To whom the Lord returns this word:
     O wonderful deceits!
To cast off aw to Gods strict Law,
     and fear mens wrath and threats.
To fear hell-fire and Gods fierce ire
     less than the rage of men,
As if Gods wrath, could do less scath
     than wrath of bretheren.

They were
answered.
Luke 12:4-5
Isa 51:12-13

[ 127 ]

To use such strife, a temporal life,
     to rescue and secure,
And be so blind as not to mind
     that life that will endure:
This was your case, who carnal peace
     more than true joyes did favour;
Who fed on dust, clave to your lust,
     and spurned at my favour.

[ 128 ]

To please your kin, mens love to win,
     to flow in worldly wealth,
To save your skin, these things have bin
     more than Eternal health.
You had your choice, wherein rejoyce,
     it was your portion,
For which you chose your Souls t'expose
     unto perdition.

Luke 9:23-25
Chap. 16:25

[ 129 ]

Who did not hate friends, life, and state,
     with all things else for me,
And all forsake, and's Cross up-take,
     shall never happy be.
Well worthy they to dye for ay,
     Who death then life and rather:
Death is their due, that so value
     the friendship of my Father.

Luke 9:26
Prov 8:36
John 3:19-20

[ 130 ]

Others Argue, and not a few,
     is not God gracious?
His Equity and Clemency
     are they not marvellous?
Thus we believ'd; are we deceiv'd?
     cannot his mercy great,
(As hath been told to us of old)
     asswage his angers heat?

Others plead for
Pardon both from
Gods mercy and
justice.
Ps 78:38

[ 131 ]

How can it be that God should see
     his Creatures endless pain,
Or hear the groans and rueful moans,
     and still his wrath retain?
Can it agree with Equitie?
     can mercy have the heart
To recompence few years offence
     with Everlasting smart?

II Kings 14.26

[ 132 ]

Can God delight in such a sight
     as sinners misery?
Or what great good can this our blood
     bring unto the most High?
Oh, thou that dost thy Glory most
     in pard'ning sin display!
Lord, might it please thee to release,
     and pardon us this day?

Ps 30.9 <
Micah 7.18

[ 133 ]

Unto thy Name more glorious fame
     would not such mercy bring?
Would not it raise thine endless praise,
     more than our suffering?
With that they cease, holding their peace,
     but cease not still to weep;
Grief ministers a flood of tears,
     in which their words do steep.

[ 134 ]

But all too late, grief's out of date,
     when life is at an end.
The glorious King thus anwering,
     all to his voice attend:
God gracious is, quoth he, like his
     no mercy can be found;
His Equity and Clemency
     to sinners do abound.

They answered.

[ 135 ]

As may appear by those that here
     are plac'd at my right hand;
Whose stripes I bore, and clear'd the score,
     that they might quitted stand.
For surely none, but God alone,
     whose Grace transcends mens thought,
For such as those that were his foes
     like wonders would have wrought.

Mercy that now
shines forth in the
vessels of Mercy.
Micah 7.18
Rom 9.23

[ 136 ]

And none but he such lenitee
     and patience would have shown
To you so long, who did him wrong,
     and pull'd his judgments down.
How long a space (O stiff neck'd race)
     did patience you afford?
How oft did love you gently move,
     to turn unto the Lord?

Did also long wait
upon such as
abused it.
Rom 2:4
Hos 11:4

[ 137 ]

With Cords of love God often strove
     your stubborn hearts to tame:
Nevertheless your wickedness,
     did still resist the same.
If now at last Mercy be past
     from you for evermore,
And Justice come in Mercies room,
     yet grudge you not therefore.

Luke 13:34
The day of Grace
now past.

[ 138 ]

If into wrath God turned hath
     his long long suffering,
And now for love you vengence prove,
     it is an equal thing.
Your waxing worse, hath stopt the course
     of wonted Clemency:
Mercy refus'd, and Grace misus'd,
     call for severity.

Luke 19:42-43
Jude 4

[ 139 ]

It's now high time that ev'ry Crime
     be brought to punishment:
Wrath long contain'd, and oft restrain'd,
     at last must have a vent:
Justice nsevere cannot forbear
     to plague sin any longer,
But must inflict with hand most strict
     mischief upon the wronger.

Rom 2:5-6
Isa 1:24
Amos 2:13
Gen 18:25

[ 140 ]

In vain do they for Mercy pray,
     the season being past,
Who had no care to get a share
     therein, while time did last.
The man whose ear refus'd to hear
     the voice of Wisdoms cry,
Earn'd this reward, that none regard
     him in his misery.

Matt 25:3, 11-12
 
Prov 1:28-30

[ 141 ]

It doth agree with equity,
     and with Gods holy Law,
That those should dye eternally
     that death upon them draw.
The Soul that sins damnation wins,
     for so the Law ordains;
Which Law is just, and therefore must
     such suffer endless pain.

Isa 5:18-19
Gen 2:17
Rom 2:8-9

[ 142 ]

Eternal smart is the desert,
     ev'n of the least offence;
Then wonder not if I allot
     to you this Recompence:
But wonder more, that since so sore
     and lasting plagues are due
To every sin, you liv'd therein,
     who well the danger knew.

Rom 6:23
I Thess 1:8-9

[ 143 ]

God hath no joy to crush or 'stroy,
     and ruine wretched wights,
But to display the glorious Ray
     of Justice he delights.
To manifest he doth detest,
     and throughly hate all sin,
By plaguing it as is most fit,
     this shall him glory win.

Ezek 33:11
Exod 34:7
& 14:17
Rom 9:22

[ 144 ]

Then at the Bar arraigned are
     an impudenter sort,
Who to evade the guilt that's laid
     upon them, thus retort;
How could we cease thus to transgress?
     how could we Hell avoid,
Whom Gods Decree shut out from thee,
     and sign'd to be destroy'd?

Some pretend they
were shut out from
Heaven by Gods
Decree.
Rom 9:18-19

[ 145 ]

Whom God ordains to endless pains,
     by Law unalterable,
Repentance true, Obedience new,
     to save such are unable:
Sorrow for sin, no good can win,
     to such as are rejected;
Ne can they grieve, nor yet believe,
     that never were elected.

Heb 22:17
Rom 11:7-8

[ 146 ]

Of Man's fall'n Race, who can true Grace,
     or Holiness obtain?
Who can convert or change his heart,
     if God withhold the same?
Had we apply'd our selves, and try'd
     as much as who did most
God's love to gain, our busie pain
     and labour had been lost.

[ 147 ]

Christ readily makes this Reply,
     I damn you not because
You are rejected, or not elected,
     but you have broke my Laws:
It is but vain your wits to strain,
     the end and means to sever:
Men fondly seek to part or break
     what God hath link'd together.

Their pleas
taken off.
Luke 13:27
I Pet 1:9-10
compared with
Matt 19:6

[ 148 ]

Whom God will save, such he will have,
     the means of life to use:
Whom he'll pass by, shall chuse to dy,
     and ways of life refuse.
He that fore-sees, and foredecrees,
     in wisdom order'd has,
That man's free-will electing ill,
     shall bring his will to pass.

Acts 3:19
& 16:31
I Sam 2:15
John 3:19
Job 5:40
II Thess 2:11-12

[ 149 ]

High God's Decree, as it is free,
     so doth it none compel
Against their will to good or ill,
     it forceth none to Hell.
They have their wish whose Souls perish
     with Torments in Hell-fire,
Who rather chose their Souls to lose,
     than leave a loose desire.

Ezek 33:11-13
Luke 13:34
Prov 8:33, 36

[ 150 ]

God did ordain sinners to pain
     and I to Hell send none,
But such as swerv'd, and have deserv'd
     destruction as their own,
His pleasure is, that none from bliss
     and endless happiness
Be barr'd, but such as wrong'd him much
     by wilful wickedness.

Gen 2:17
Matt 25:41-42
Ezek 18:20

Stanzas 151-175
Index to Wigglesworth
About Michael Wiggleworth and his Poetry


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