Michael Wigglesworth

“ O thou that dost thy Glory most
in pard’ning sin display,
Lord, might it please thee to release
and pardon us this day!
CXXXIII.
“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.
They are answered.
CXXXIV.
But all too late; grief’s out of date,
when Life is at an end. ”

“ How canst thou hold from weeping floods of tears?
Yea, tears of blood, I might almost have said,
If such-like tears could from thine eyes be shed.
To gain the world what will it profit thee,
And lose thy soul and self eternally?
Eternity on one small point dependeth;
The man is lost that this short life misspendeth.
For as the Tree doth fall, right so it lies,
And man continues in what state he dies.
Who happy die shall happy rise again;
Who curséd die shall curséd still remain.
If under Sin and Wrath Death leaves thee bound,
At Judgment under Wrath thou shalt be found ”

“ That, that alone can do away thy sin,
Which thou wert born and hast long livéd in;
That, only that can pacify God’s wrath,
If apprehended by a lively Faith,
Now whilst the day and means of Grace do last,
Before the opportunity be past.
But if, man, thou liv’st a Christless creature,
And Death surprise thee in a state of nature,
(As who can tell but that may be thy case?)
How wilt thou stand before the Judge’s face,
When he shall be reveal’d in flaming fire.
And come to pay ungodly men their hire. ”

“ Like Rebels still, who think to strain his Glory
By wickedness, and after to be sorry?
Unto thy lust shall he be made a drudge,
Who thee and all ungodly men shall judge?
Canst thou account sin sweet, and yet confess
That first or last it ends in bitterness?
Is sin a thing that must procure thee sorrow,
And wouldst thou dally with’t another morrow?
O foolish man who lovest to enjoy
That which will thee distress, or else destroy! ”

“ The popularity of Wigglesworth dated from the appearance of his poem, and continued for more than a century. Expressing in earnest words the theology which they believed, and picturing in lively colors the terrors of the judgment day and the awful wrath of an offended God, it commended itself to those zealous Puritans, who had little taste for lofty rhyme or literary excellence. The imaginative youth devoured its horrors with avidity, and shuddered at its fierce denunciation of sin. ”

“ Lament and mourn you that must burn
amidst those flaming Seas:
If once you come to such a doom,
for ever farewell ease.
O sad estate and desperate,
that never can be mended,
Until God’s Will shall change, or till
Eternity be ended!
If any one this Questi-on
shall unto me propound:
What! have the years of Sinners’ tears
no limits or no bound?
It kills our heart to think of smart,
and pains that last for ever ”

“ Like to Christ’s glorious Body, glorious made.
Thus Christ shall thee again to me restore,
Ever to live with him and part no more.
Meanwhile my Soul shall enter into Peace,
Where Fears and Tears, where Sin and Smart shall cease. ”

“ Who have with Sins and Griefs so long been tir’d;
And welcome Death, my Father’s Messenger;
Of my Felicity the Hastener.
Welcome good Angels, who, for me distrest,
Are come to guard me to Eternal Rest.
Welcome, Christ, who hast my Soul Redeem’d,
Whose Favor I have more than Life esteem’d.
Oh! do not now my sinful soul forsake.
But to thyself thy Servant gath’ring take.
Into thy Hands I recommend my Spirit,
Trusting through Thee Eternal Life t’ inherit. ”

“ After about 7 weeks stay at Charlstown, my parents removed again by sea to New Haven in ye month of October. In our passage thither we were in great Danger by a storm which drove us upon a Beach of sand where we lay beating til another Tide fetcht us off; but God carried us to our port in safety. Winter approaching we dwelt in a cellar partly under ground covered with earth the first winter. But I remember that one great rain, brake in upon us and drencht me so in my bed, being asleep, that I fell sick upon it; but ye Lord in mercy spar’d my life and restored my health. ”

“ The true explanation may be, that he sacrificed his poetical taste to his theology, and that, for the sake of inculcating sound doctrine, he was willing to write in halting numbers.
The author of the Day of Doom, belonging to the straitest sect of Puritans, was, like many others of that sect, a man of generous feeling toward his fellows. Rev. Dr. Peabody calls him “a man of the beatitudes.” Obedience to the supreme law gave a heavenly lustre to his example and a sweet fragrance to his memory. The clergy of his day possessed a deep religious earnestness and a fervent piety. ”

“ Come blessed Ones and sit on Thrones,
judging the World with me;
Come and possess your happiness,
and bought felicity;
Henceforth no fears, no care, no tears,
no sin shall you annoy,
Nor any thing that grief doth bring:
Eternal Rest enjoy.
They are placed on Thrones to join with Christ in judging the wicked. ”

“ For Death at once frees me from all my Pain.
Make Christ your greatest Friend, who never dies;
All other Friends are fading Vanities.
Make him your Light, your Life, your End, your All;
Prepare for Death, be ready for his Call.
Farewell, vile Body, subject to decay.
Which art with lingering sickness worn away;
I have by thee much Pain and Smart endur’d ”

“ His father, Edward Wigglesworth, was one of those resolute Puritans who, with their families, found an asylum where they could enjoy their religion without molestation in our then New England wilderness, the distance of which from their English homes can hardly be appreciated now. Here they suffered the severe hardships of a rigorous climate, the fearful dangers from savage tribes around them, while uniting to build up villages which are now cities, and which still retain some of the characteristics of their Puritan founders. ”

“ It was natural that a father who had endured so much for conscience’ sake should desire to see his only son a clergyman; and, although the father’s means were not large, the son was devoted to the ministry and given a thorough education. Michael, after nearly three years of preparatory studies, entered Harvard College in 1647. Here he had the good fortune to have for a tutor the excellent Jonathan Mitchell, “the glory of the college,” and famous as a preacher. ”

“ These Composures have had their Acceptance and Advantage among that sort of Readers; and one of them, the Day of Doom, which has been often Reprinted in both Englands, may find our Children till the Day itself arrive.
It pleased God, when the distress of the Church in Malden did extremely call for it, wondrously to restore his Faithful Servant. He that had been for near Twenty Years almost Buried Alive, comes abroad again, and for as many years more, must, in Publick Usefulness, receive the Answer and Harvest of the Thousands of Supplications with which the God of his Health had favoured him. ”

“ Benjamin Bunker was ordained pastor of the church at Malden. It seems that a distinction was observed at this time in New England between pastor and teacher. Wigglesworth calls Bunker “pastor” in some verses composed on his death, while on the title-page of this, work he calls himself “teacher.” After Wigglesworth became sole minister, he was probably considered the pastor. Bunker held this office over six years, till his death, Feb. 3, 1669-70; In the elegy on the death of his colleague, Wigglesworth highly extols Bunker’s piety and usefulness. ”

“ These godly parents of mine meeting with opposition and persecution for Religion, because they went from their own Parish church to hear ye word and Receiv ye Lords supper &c, took up resolutions to pluck up their stakes and remove themselves to New England: and accordingly they did so, Leaving dear Relations, friends and acquaintance, their native Land, a new built house, a flourishing Trade, to expose themselves to ye hazzard of ye seas, and to ye Distressing difficulties of a howling wilderness, that they might enjoy Liberty of Conscience and Christ in his ordinances. ”

“ Look up to Christ for his attractive pow’r,
Which he exerteth in a needful hour;
Who saith, “When as I lifted up shall be,
Then will I draw all sorts of men to me.“
Oh! wait upon him with true diligence
And trembling fear in every Ordinance;
Unto his Call earnest attention give,
Whose voice makes deaf men hear and dead men live.
Thus weep and mourn, thus hearken, pray, and wait,
Till he behold and pity thine estate,
Who is more ready to bestow his Grace
Than thou the same art willing to embrace ”

“ The Judge is just, and plague them must,
nor will he Mercy shew,
For Mercy’s day is past away
to any of this Crew.
CLXXXVIII. 154
The Judge is strong, doers of wrong
cannot his pow’r withstand;
None can by flight run out of sight,
nor ’scape out of his hand.
Sad is their state; for Advocate,
to plead their cause, there’s none;
None to prevent their punishment,
or mis’ry to bemoan.
CLXXXIX. 155
O dismal day! whither shall they
for help and succor flee?
To God above with hopes to move
their greatest Enemy?
His wrath is great, whose burning heat
no floods of tears can slake ”

“ As he was Faithful to the Death, so he was Lively to the Death.
It was a surprise to us to see a little, feeble Shadow of a Man, beyond Seventy, Preaching usually twice or thrice in a week, Visiting, Comforting the Afflicted, Encouraging the Private Meetings, Catechising the Children of the Flock, and managing the Government of the Church, and attending the Sick, not only as a Pastor, but as a Physician too ”

“ I bless God I began that Work betimes, and ere I was Twenty Years Old I had made thorow work of it. Ever since then I have been pressing after the Power of Godliness, the Power of Godliness! For more than Fifty Years together I have been Laboring to uphold a Life of Communion with God; and I thank the Lord I now find the Comfort of it!
Words that contain in them A History of a Life more Valuable than I have seen a Volume in Folio.
Epitaph. (Believed to Have Been Written by Rev. Cotton Mather.) The Excellent Wigglesworth ”

“ And for his outward estate, that was so far from being sunk by what he spent from year to year upon my education, that in 6 years time it was plainly doubled, which himself took great notice of, and spake of it to myself and others, to ye praise of God, with Admiration and thankfulness. And after he had lived under great and sore affliction for ye space of 13 years a pattern of faith, patience, humility, and heavenly mindedness, having done his work in my education and receiv’d an answer to his prayers, God took him to his Heavenly Rest, where he is now reaping ye fruits of his Labors. ”

“ From his Exemplary Life I will single out one thing, his EARLY RELIGION. Our Wigglesworth was a Godly child, and he held on living to God and Christ until the Seventy-Fourth Year of his Age.
When he lay a Dying, some one spoke to him about his having secured his Interest in the Favor of Heaven, and his Assurance of that Interest. ”

“ Even many who consider them erroneous in doctrine, are willing to allow that they were strict in morals; that, if they were wrong in faith, they were right in life; that, if their creed was opaque, their hearts were luminous ”

“ That I thine holy Name may praise.
And teach the Sons of Men thy ways.
The Day of Doom The security of the world before Christ’s coming to judgment.
I. 1
Still was the night, serene and bright,
when all Men sleeping lay;
Calm was the season, and carnal reason
thought so ’twould last for aye.
“Soul, take thine ease, let sorrow cease;
much good thou hast in store:“
This was their Song, their Cups among,
the evening before.
II. 2
Wallowing in all kind of Sin,
vile Wretches lay secure ”

“ The following is the substance of an article published in the “New England Historical and Genealogical Register,” for April, 1863, written by John Ward Dean, Esq., of Boston:
A century ago no poetry was more popular in New England than Wigglesworth’s Day of Doom. Francis Jenks, Esq., in an article in the Christian Examiner for Nov., 1828, speaks of it as “a work which was taught our fathers with their catechisms, and which many an aged person with whom we are acquainted can still repeat, though they may not have met with a copy since they were in leading strings ”

“ Unto his Watchful and Painful Essays to keep them close under their Academical Exercises he added Serious Admonitions unto them about their Interior State; and he Employed his Prayers and Tears to God for them, and had such a flaming zeal to make them worthy Men, that upon Reflection he was afraid Lest his cares for their Good, and his affection to them, should so drink up his very Spirit, as to steal away his Heart from God.
From Cambridge he made his remove to Malden, and was their Faithful Pastor for about a Jubilee of years together. ”

“ By a lover of New England’s prosperity.”
Mr. Wigglesworth borrowed little from other poets, and what he borrowed was probably from the commentaries and theological treatises with which his library abounded, rather than from the poets. Not that his style is wholly prosaic, for there are passages in his writings that are truly poetical, both in thought and expression, and which show that he was capable of attaining a higher position as a poet than can now be claimed for him. ”

“ Shall mourn no more as heretofore,
because of her ill plight.
Although he see her now to be
a damn’d forsaken wight.
CXCIX. 164
The tender Mother will own no other
of all her num’rous brood,
But such as stand at Christ’s right hand,
acquitted through his Blood.
The pious Father had now much rather
his graceless Son should lie
In Hell with Devils, for all his evils,
burning eternally,
CC. 165
Than God most High should injury
by sparing him sustain ”