The spiritual watchThe spirituall vvatch

But of each mans particular Dooms-day, to wit, of his dying day, there may be signs affirmative, as decay of nature, old age, and some uncurable diseases; ^aby which it may be known that the day of death is not far off. But negative signs of it there are none, of which we may say, till such or such things be, a man shall not die: a man cannot say, I am not weak, nor sick, nor old yet; and therefore I know I shall not die yet. For our ^bSun may set at noon, as the Prophet speaketh in an other sense: our life may be ^ccut off in the middest of our years: we may be ^dsnatched away suddenly in the prime of our strength. ^eThe young goeth many times as soon as the old; and ^fthe strong oft before the weak. Yea as for one apple that hangeth on the tree till it be rotten or full ripe, there are twenty or more blown down or beaten down, or nipped with the frost or blasted before they be ripe: So for one man that ^gfulfilleth his natural course, there are an hundred intercepted and have their lives shortened, by surfeit, by sickness, by the sword, by pensiveness, by some one casualty or other.

But of each mans particular Doomes-day, to wit, of his dying day, there may be signes affirmatiue, as decay of nature, old age, and some vncureable diseases; ^aby which it may bee knowne that the day of death is not far off. But negatiue signes of it there are none, of which we may say, till such or such things be, a man shall not die: a man cannot say, I am not weake, nor sicke, nor old yet; and therefore I know I shall not die yet. For our ^b