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MY God, my God, I know, (for thou hast said it) That he that keepeth Israel, shall neither slumber, nor sleepe: But shall not that Israel, o∣uer whom thou watch∣est, sleepe? I know, (for thou hast said it) that there are Men, whose damnation sleepeth not; but shall not they to whom thou art Saluati∣on,
sleepe? or wilt thou take from them that eui∣dence, and that testimony, that they are thy Israel, or thou their saluation? Thou giuest thy beloued sleepe. Shall I lacke that seale of thy loue? You shall lie downe, and none shall make you afraid; shal I bee outlawd from that protection? Ionas slept in one dangerous storme, and thy blessed Sonne in ano∣ther. Shall I haue no vse, no benefit, no applicati∣on of those great Exam∣ples? Lord, if hee sleepe,
he shall doe well, say thy Sonnes Disciples to him, of Lazarus; And shall there bee no roome, for that Argument in me? or shall I bee open to the contrary? If I sleepe not, shall I not bee well, in their sense? Let me not, O my God, take this too precisely, too literally: There is that neither day nor night seeth sleepe with his eies, saies thy wise seruant Solomon; and whether hee speake that of worldly Men, or of Men that seeke wisdome,
whether in iustification or condemnation of their watchfulnesse, we can not tell: wee can t••ll, That there are men, that cannot sleepe, till they haue done mischiefe, and ••hen they can; and wee can tell that the rich man cannot sleepe, because his abundance will not let him. The tares were sow∣en when the husbandmen were asleepe; And the elders thought it a pro∣bable excuse, a credible lie, that the wa••chmen which kept the Sepul∣chre,
should say, that the bodie of thy son was stolne away, when they were a∣sleepe: Since thy blessed Sonne rebuked his Dis∣ciples for sleeping, shall I murmure because I doe not sleepe? If Samson had slept any longer in Gaza, he had beene ta∣ken; And when he did sleepe longer with Deli∣lah, he was taken. Sleepe is as often taken for na∣turall death in thy Scrip∣tures, as for naturall rest. Nay sometimes sleepe ha••h so heauy a sense, as
to bee taken for sinne it selfe, as well as for the punishment of sinne, Death. Much comfort is not in much sleepe, when the most fearefull and most irreuocable Malediction is presen∣••ed by thee, in a perpe∣tuall sleepe. I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunke, and they shall sleepe a perpetu∣all sleepe, and not wake. I must therefore, O my God, looke farther, than into the very act of slee∣ping, before I mis-inter∣pret
my waking: for since I finde thy whole hand light, shall any fin∣ger of that hand seeme heauy? since the whole sicknesse is thy Physicke, shall any accident in it, bee my poison, by my murmuring? The name of Watchmen be∣longs to our profession; Thy Prophets are not onely seers, indued with a power of seeing, able to see, but Watchmen, euer∣more in the Act of see∣ing. And therefore giue me leaue, O my blessed
God, to inuert the words of thy Sonnes Spouse; she said, I sleepe, but my heart waketh; I say, I wake, but my heart sleepeth; My body is in a sicke weari∣nesse, but my soule in a peacefull rest with thee; and as our eies, in our health, see not the Aire, that is next them, nor the fire, nor the spheares, nor stop vpon any thing, till they come to starres, so my eies, that are open, see nothing of this world, but passe through all that, and fix
themselues vpon thy peace, and ioy, and glory aboue. Almost as soone as thy Apostle had said, Let vs not sleepe, lest we should be too much discomforted, if we did, he saies againe, whether we wake or sleepe, let vs liue together with Christ. Though then this ab∣sence of sleepe, may argue the presence of death (the Originall may exclude the Copie, the life, the pi∣cture) yet this gentle sleepe, and rest of my soule betroths mee to
thee, to whom I shall bee married indissolubly, though by this way of dissolution.
Psa. 121.1.
2 Pet. 2.3.
Psa. 127 1.
Leu. 26.6.
Ion. 1.5.
Mat. 8.24.
Io. 11.12.
Eccles. 8.16.
Pro. 4.16.
Eccles. 5.12.
Mat. 13.25.28.13.
26.40.
Iud. 16.3.
vers. 19.
Eph. 5.14.
1 Thes. 5.6.
Ier. 51.59.
Can. 5.8
1 Thes. 5.6.
vers. 10.