N00137:26
The day of trouble is near. Two sermons wherein is showed, what are the…The day of trouble is near. Two sermons wherein is shewed, what are the…
The day of trouble is near. Two sermons wherein is showed, what are the signs of a day of trouble being near. And particularly, what reason there is for New-England to expect a day of trouble. Also what is to be done, that we may escape these things which shall come to pass. Preached (the 11th day of the 12th month, 1673. Being a day of humiliation in one of the churches in Boston. / By Increase Mather, teacher of that church. ; [Seven lines of Scripture texts]The day of trouble is near. Two sermons wherein is shewed, what are the signs of a day of trouble being near. And particularly, what reason there is for New-England to expect a day of trouble. Also what is to be done, that we may escape these things which shall come to pass. Preached (the 11th day of the 12th moneth, 1673. Being a day of humiliation in one of the churches in Boston. / By Increase Mather, teacher of that church. ; [Seven lines of Scripture texts]
printed by Marmaduke Johnson, 1674
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Now in the Doctrinal handling of this Truth, there are four things may be spoken to. 1. That Israel, i. e. the Church of God, is subject unto troubles in this world. 2. What troubles they are which Gods people are here subject unto. 3. What are the signs of a day of trouble being near. 4. The Reasons of this Doctrine, whence it is that God doth bring times of great trouble upon his own people.
1. That the Lords people are subject unto great troubles, Scriptures are abundant in bearing witness to that: Acts 14.22. We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. As the children of Israel went through the Red Sea, and through the Wilderness, before they could enter into Canaan, so must we wade through a Red Sea of Troubles, and pass through a Wilderness of Miseries, ere we can arrive at the heavenly Canaan. Here is the difference between this world and that which is to come. Indeed in the world to come, the Church shall be freed from troubles: it is therefore said, ⟨p. 4⟩Rev. 21. ver. 1. There was no more sea, such a day will come, when there shall be no more sea, no more troubles and combustions in the world as now there is, but as for the Saints, God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: but before this day, Heaven and earth shall pass away, and there must be a new heaven, and a new earth; that is to say, this will be fulfilled in the world to come, but not in this world. Hence the Apostle speaketh of the sufferings of this present time, Rom. 8.18. so that during this present time, the Church will be subject to sufferings. Therefore also the same Apostle calls this present world, an evil world, Gal. 1.4. So that Christians must look for evils, they must look for troubles, as long as the present world shall endure. Two or three things may be briefly touched on, as demonstrations of this.