DOOMS-DAY OR The great DAY of the Lord drawing nigh by certain Signs and Tokens thereof foretold by our Lord Jesus Christ Wherein is Declared That there shall be an end of this World and that all men shall appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ there to be made partakers either of everlasting Life in the Kingdom of Heaven or of everlasting Woe and miserable Torments in Hell to all Eternity The twelfth Edition with Additions Very useful for all those that desire to be saved Acts 17.31 God hath appointed a Day in the which he will judge the World Joel 3.30 31. And I will shew wonders in Heaven and in Earth Blood and Fire The Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon into blood before the great and terrible Day of the Lord cometh By ANDREW JONES M. A. Licensed and Entred according to Order London Printed for John Andrews at the White Lion near Pye-Corner 1660. Courteous Reader THere is lately published an excellent and profitable Sermon called Christs first Sermon or The necessity duty and practice of Repentance opened and applied Also Christs last Sermon or The everlasting estate and condition of all men in the world to come very godly Books and is but three pence price There are likewise seven other small Books all of them very godly and very comfortable for thy soul One is entituled The Fathers last Blessing The second The Devils disease or the sin of Pride arraigned and condemned The third Englands Faithful Physician The fourth The Plain Mans plain Path-way to Heaven The fifth The Black Book of Conscience The sixth The dreadful Character of a Drunkard The seventh The Charitable Christian All very necessary for these Licentious Times and each of them being but of two pence price They are to be sold by John Andrews at the White Lion near Pye-Corner DOOMS-DAY OR The End of all Things Matth. 24.29 c. Immediately after the tribulation of these dayes shall the Sun be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light Then shall they see the Son of man coming in the Clouds with power and great glory When ye see these things know that it is near even at the door As the dayes of Noah were so shall the coming of the Son of man be For in the dayes before the Flood they were eating and drinking marrying and given in marriage and they knew not till the Flood came and took them all away So shall the coming of the Son of man be Watch therefore for ye know not in what hour the Lord cometh therefore be ready for in such an hour as ye know not the Son of man cometh And blessed is that servant whom the Lord when he cometh shall finde so doing CErtain it is that there shall be a Day of Iudgement wherein all mankinde shall be judged and the earth and all therein shall be destroyed by fire which Truth is believed by all but the Sadduces and Atheistical Infidels of whom this age is full who think there is no Resurrection but how few are they who prepare themselves for this great Day and make themselves ready to meet the Lord at his coming The Bridegroom is coming and yet most men with the foolish Virgins have not prepared their Lamps Our Saviour Iesus Christ in the 24. of Matthew having at large shewed the signs of his coming to Iudgement and withal giving us many fore-warnings that thereby we might be fore-armed In the 25. Chapter he shews how unprepared many should be against his coming and as a caution to us he sets down the event of their unpreparedness Christ in the foregoing Chapter bids them watch and pray but they as you may sée in the 5. Verse all slambred and slept And at midnight was a great cry made when they were all asleep then came the Bridegroom suddenly as a Thief in the night and when they should have béen ready to have received him they were to séek for Oyl And so not being ready the door was shut against them and though they cryed Lord Lord open to us yet the Lord said unto them I know you not ver 17. Watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh And now behold the day draweth nigh the Iudge standeth at the door James 5.9 He is at hand let us not therefore put far away from us the day of the Lord for yet a little while and he that shall come will come and not tarry Let us be prepared and in a readiness lest we be taken unawares as the foolish Virgins were and so be shut out of heaven for ever God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world and how soon this Day may be we know not perhaps sooner then we are aware of it may be if not this year yet the next Although we know not certainly the time when this great day will be yet we may sée it cannot be far off if we look but into the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 10.11 We are they upon whom the ends of the world are come If therefore the ends of the world were come upon them who lived sixteen hundred years ago then surely the day of Iudgement cannot be far off Zeph. 1.14 The great Day of the Lord is near it hastneth greatly And Mar. 3.2 John the Baptist preached Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand St. Augustine saith the World shall last six Ages The first from Adam to Noah the second from Noah to Abraham the third from Abraham to David the fourth from David to the Transmigration of Babylon the fifth from thence until the coming of Christ in the flesh and the sixth from Christs coming in the flesh until the last coming to judgement so that now we liâ—e in the last Age. O that men were wise that they would think of this day Whether I eat or drink saith St. Jerome or whatsoever I do methinks I hear this saying sounding in mine ears Arise ye dead come to judgement John the Baptist he was the fore-runner of Christ and we all know it was not long after his coming that Christ himself came and now the fore-runners of the day of judgement are already come and the day it self will suddenly follow When once the Servants are come the Master will not be long God hath foretold us that before his coming to judgement such and such things should come to pass and we have séen these things come to pass therefore let us be ready In Matthew 24. the Disciples asked Christ What should be the sign of his coming and of the end of the world And Christ answered them saying Take heed let no man deceive you for many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many Verse 5. and Verse 24. There shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonderr And hath not this béen fulfilled in our
goods laid up for many years But what saith God Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee then whose shall those be thou canst carry nothing with thee He had provided that which would do him no good certainly had he said thus he had laid up a good stock for eternity O my soul God hath exceedingly blest thée in this life with geat encrease in abundance what shall I do to lay up some portion for them for another day This will I do that as God hath given me them I will make a good use of them I will not abuse them to satisfie my lust but I will fréely lend them to the Lord I will relieve the poor cloathe the naked and feed the hungry for in so doing I shall lay up a good stock for eternal life Certainly had he done this God would have said unto him Well done good and faithful servant thou hast improved thy Masters Talent enter thou into thy Masters joy For certainly what we give to the poor we lend to the Lord and he will repay us again three-fold for it at the last day when all men shall be judged according to what they have done in the flesh whether it be good or whether it be evil and then the poor man shall be as much respected before God as the greatest Monarch or Emperor and perhaps more for God is no respecter of persons but he will give to every man according to his works whether he be poor or no. For we must all appear before the Iudgement-seat of Christ small and great rich and poor where we shall be made partakers of eternal happiness in heaven or sad spectacles of eternal torments in hell For God is a righteous Iudge he fears none but will render mercy to them that have shewed mercy but to the unrighteous cruel and hard-hearted sinners according to their own deserts Then will he divide the chaff from the wheat the shéep from the goats and set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left and so pronounce sentence to the righteous Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world But to the wicked and ungodly Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels And then what will the profane swearer curser and blasphemer have to say What will become of the Drunkard Whoremonger and Adulterer they shall wish then for the mountains to fall upon them or that they might be suddenly destroyed The Lord awaken every sinful soul that he may repent and amend his sinful life and turn to the Lord with speed lest that great and terrible day of the Lord come upon him unawares For as the Lightning lightneth from one place of Heaven unto the other so shall the coming of the Son of man be Likewise also as it was in the dayes of Lot they eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from Heaven and destroyed them all even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man shall be revealed Luke 17.20 30. And before him shall be gathered all Nations and he shall separate them one from another as the shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats and the goats shall be sent into everlasting punishment and the sheep into everlasting life Matth. 25.32 45. For at the end of the world the Angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into a furnace of fire where shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth for evermore Matth. 13.49 50. Therefore let every one take heed watch and pray for we know not when the time is Mark 12.33 34 35. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to every man his work and willed the Porter to watch Watch ye therefore for ye know not when the master of the house cometh at even or at midnight or at cock-crowing or in the morning lest coming suddenly he finde you sleeping And what I say unto you I say unto all men watch For blessed shall they be whom the Lord when he cometh shall finde so doing Amen Even so come Lord Iesus come quickly FINIS
dayes I tremble to think how impiously blasphemously and cursedly many wretched creatures have abused the Lord Iesus Christ some affirming themselves to be the Virgin Mary others the Lord Iesus Christ himself O what a sad account will these men give when they shall appear before the great Tribunal of the Lord. Another sign of the day of judgement being at hand is expressed Ver. 6 7. There should be wars and rumors of wars Nation against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom What cruel unnatural bloody Wars have been seen Not onely Nation against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom but Brother against Brother yea the Father hath killed his own Son and the Son hath killed his own Father even as Christ foretold Mark 13.10 The brother shall betray the Brother to death and the Father the Son and the Children should rise up against their Parents and cause them to be put to death and many shall be offended and shall betray one another and hate one another saith Christ When ever was there more hatred and treachery then now Can any Age of the world shew the like for envy and malice will not one brother betray another for gain Behold these things ought not so to be but this is a sign of the end of the world And because iniquity shall abound saith Christ the love of many shall wax cold When did sin so much abound as now when ever was there more Sabbath-breaking and drunkenness whoring and swearing and cursing and all maner of abominable evils then now yea even little ones are skilfull to sin before they are skilful to go young Children great Sinners And for Love and Charity when was it ever less then now It is cold indéed now Another sign expressed is The Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon shall not give her light there shall be blood and fire with vapors of smoak What strange and sad Eclipses have we lately séen And the Lord hath forewarned us by many strange sights from Heaven as ever mortal men beheld and for Fire there hath béen many sad spectacles now of late witness Fleet-street Tredneedlestreet and Southwark in which places were near twoh undred habitations consumed And this hath not onely hapned in and about the City of London but likewise several other places of the Countries about have béen partakers of the same sorrows what strange sights were lately séen in the mountains of Sardona In Spain was lately taken a monster with seven Heads and Arms like a man but the lower parts like a Satyr with cloven féet Surely these are the wonders of the Lord declaring to us that the great day of Iudgement is at hand The last sign Christ tells us of is in Mat. 24.38 The days immediately before the last day should be like the dayes of Noah before the flood came The Lord grant we be not taken as they were suddenly before they were aware In the dayes before the Flood people were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage following after their voluptuous delights and sinful pleasures and in that condition the flood came and took them all away so shall the coming of the Son of man be And now men eat and drink and follow the swing of their own lusts saying within themselves as the rich fool Let us eat and drink and take our fill of pleasures for to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant these pleasures shall continue for ever Whereas they should say Let us watch and pray for to morrow we may die for it is appointed for all men once to die and then cometh judgement Solomon saith Rejoyce O young man and let thy heart chear thee but know for all this thou must come to judgement And séeing as Christ saith we have séen all these things come to pass let us know that this Day is near even at the door The old World because they would take no warning the Flood came and drowned them all they had 120. years to repent in and yet would not hearken Nineve had but 40. days yet they repented Israel had 40. years time to repent in But who knows how long time we shall have to repent We have had long time already hundreds of years but we are still a stiff-necked and disobedient people St. Paul tells us 1 Tim. 4. In the last days there should be a departure from the Faith and giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils And 2 Tim. 3.1 In the last days perilous times should come men should be lovers of themselves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy Then certainly we are those upon whom the énd of the world is come for how these things have been fulfilled is very dreadful to consider The Prophet Zephaniah Chap. 1. ver 14. saith The great day of the Lord is near it is near it hastneth greatly And ver 15. he tells us It is a day of wrath and distress a day of desolation a day of darkness and gloominess a day of clouds and thick darkness The day of Iudgement although it shall be a day of joy and rejoycing to the godly it shall be a day of woe to the wicked for who may abide the day of his coming and who shall be able to stand when he appeareth Mal. 3.2 Then wicked men shall cry to the mountains to fall upon them and hide them from the wrath of God for in that day the wicked and all the Nations that forget God shall be thrown into Hell there to abide for ever suffering the vengeance of eternal fire as S. Jude saith That day shall burn as an oven and the wicked shall be as stubble and that day shall burn them up saith the Lord. Mal. 4.1 But to those that fear his Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings and shall shine upon the just and receive them into the Kingdom of heaven where are joyes unspeakable and full of glory And now having shewed you the certainty of this great day of judgement and fore-warned you of the near approach thereof I will conclude with some few exhortations to all to prepare your selves for this great day Is it so then that there is a day of Iudgement and is that day at hand then let every one get Oyl get grace into the Lamp of his heart and rouze himself up from the world that whensoever the Lord cometh he may be ready We should live every day as if it were the last day we had to live for if judgement comes not yet death will certainly come We know not when we lay our selves down to sléep whether we shall awake again Many have been suddenly surprized by death that they have been taken away before they were fit to dye Although nothing is so certain as death yet nothing so uncertain as the hour and time when death will come The fool said in his heart Soul take thy ease eat drink and be merry for thou hast