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…

but he which made this prayer is now dead, & the number of his days is ended, & nothing is left, but his holy books which bring this prayer unto us, that we may learn to pray so too. Now I must pray, Teach me, O Lord to number my days, and thou must pray: Teach me, O Lord, to number my days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom: that is so to pray, & fast, and watch, and hear, & do, as becometh him which shall shortly give account of his Stewardship. ¹This is the fruit which comes to a man by numbering his days. God teacheth a man to apply his hart to wisdom: and this is his lesson which he gives for that purpose, number thy days, that is, think that wisdom is a long study, and that thou hast but a short time to get it, & this will make thee get ground of virtue: for there is no such enemy to repentance, as to think that we have time enough to repent hereafter, which makes a man say, when any good motion cometh, nay I may stay yet, yet I may stay, like the sluggard,² which turns upon his bed like a door upon the hinges, and saith, yet a little more, a little more sleep, a little more slumber, I may lie still a while: this is not to number our days, but to stretch our days & make them seem more then they are, and they that do so, never apply their harts unto Wisdom: so you ⟨p. 551⟩see what a preservative Moses used against sin and pleasure, he kept a calendar as it were of his days which called upon him, Be diligent, for thou hast but a short time. Five things I note in these words: first that death is the haven of every man, whether he sit in the throne, or keep in a cottage, at last he must knock at deaths door, as all his fathers have done before him. Secondly, that mans time is set, and his bounds appointed, which he cannot pass, no more then the Egyptians could pass the sea: and therefore Moses saith, Teach us to number our days, as though there were a number of our days. Thirdly, that our days are few: as though we were sent into this world but to see it, and therefore Moses speaking of our life, speaks of days, not of years, nor of months, nor of weeks: but teach us to number our days, showing that it is an easy thing ever for a man to number his days they be so few.

but he which made this praier is now dead, & the number of his daies is ended, & nothing is left, but his holy books which bring this praier vnto vs, that we may learne to pray so too. Now I must pray, Teach me, O Lord to number my daies, and thou must pray: Teach me, O Lord, to number my daies, that we may apply our hearts to wisdome: that is so to pray, & fast, and watch, and heare, & do, as becommeth him which shall shortly giue account of his Stewardship.