The sermons of Master Henry Smith gathered into one volume. Printed according to his…The sermons of Maister Henrie Smith gathered into one volume. Printed according to his…

It followeth: But ye shall die as a man. Here he distinguisheth between mortal Gods and the immortal God. Ye have seen their glory, now behold their ends, They shall all die like others. Though they be never so rich, so goodly, so mighty, so honourable while their date lasteth, yet they may as truly as Job call Corruption their father, ¹and the worm their mother: for the grave shall be the last bed of all flesh. As they were borne like men, so they shall die like men, the same coming in and going out is to all: nay, if ye respect but the body, he might say, ye shall die like beasts: for Man being in honour, (saith David) may well be compared unto beasts that perish: ²though he be in honour, yet he perisheth like the beasts which have no honour, and death will not take his kingdom for a ransom, when GOD doth but say, his time is come. When Isaiah had said, that All flesh was grass: ³as though he would correct his speech, he adds, and the glory of it is as the flower of the field. As if he should say, Some men have more glory than other, and they are like flowers, the other are like grass: no great difference, the flower shows fairer, but the grass stands longer, one sieth cuts both down, like the fat sheep and the lean that feed in two pastures, ⟨p. 714⟩but are killed in one slaughter. So though the great Man live in his palace, and the poor man dwells in his cottage, yet both shall meet at the grave, and vanish together. Even they which are Lords and Judges and Counsellors now, are but successors to them which are dead, and are nearer to death now than when I began to preach of this theme. It had been a great Sessions for all other to die: but for Magistrates, for Princes, for Kings, for Emperors to die as they die: What a battle is this, that leaves no man a live? Shall the Gods die too? He gives them their title, but he tells them their lot. Though their power, though their wealth, though their honour, though their titles, though their train, though their friends, though their case, though their pleasures, though their diet, though their clothing be not like other, yet their end shall be like other: nay, their ends are like to be more fearful than other: For GOD makes him examples of great men, as he did of Pharaoh, and therefore we see so many strange and sudden deaths of Princes,