"By Night When Others Slept Soundly"

I have been thinking about the faith of the early Puritans, a new land, a new life, hardships around every corner, the perfect setting for having ones faith tested, and to depend on God fully and completely or to curse Him for the hard things that they had to endure. Most chose the more noble way and faith increased. I heard it said not long ago in a sermon that in the midst of trials a Christian will pass the test of faithfulness 95 % of the time, but in the face of the test of prosperity, Christians fail that test 95 % of the time.

Anne Bradstreet and her husband Simon may have known the Lockwoods that also sailed to Massachusettes on Winthrops first fleet. I am once again looking at the very history of family while reading this poem. And I too feel the same as Anne Bradstreet did as she wrote these wonderful words.

Anne Bradstreet was born in 1612 to Thomas Dudley and raised in a prosperous, educated home. After marrying Simon Bradstreet, she sailed to New England on the Arbella, exchanging a life of relative comfort and culture for the wilderness of Cambridge. It would appear that she was converted in the midst of her new hardships of building a home, storing food, enduring sickness, and raising eight children. Her poetry is a combination of Sixteenth Century convention, her new-found faith, and her struggle for the survival of her family. She went to be with the Lord in 1672.

http://www.puritansermons.com/poetry/anneindx.htm

Here Follow Several Occasional Meditations

by Anne Bradstreet
1
By night when others soundly slept,

And had at once both case and rest,

My waking eyes were open kept

And so to lie I found it best.
2
I sought Him whom my soul did love,

With tears I sought Him earnestly;

He bowed His ear down from above.

In vain I did not seek or cry.
3
My hungry soul He filled with good,

He in His bottle put my tears,

My smarting wounds washed in His blood,

And banished thence my doubts and fears.
4
What to my Savior shall I give,

Who freely hath done this for me?

I'll serve Him here whilst I shall live

And love Him to eternity.