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…

& then our childhood, & then our youth, at last as we came in the rooms of other, so other come into our rooms. If all our days were as long as the day of Joshua,¹ when the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, yet it will be night at last, & our sun shall set like other. It is not long that we grow, but when we begin to fall, we are like the ice which thaweth sooner then it froze: so these little worlds are destroyed first, and at last the great world shall be destroyed too, for all which was made for us, shall perish with us. What do you learn when you think of this, but that which Moses saith, to apply your hearts to wisdom? death cometh after life, and yet it guides the whole life like the stern of a ship: but for death there would be no rule, but every mans lust should be his law: he is like a King which frighteth a far oft, though he defer his sessions, and stay the execution, yet the very fear that he will come, makes the proudest peacock lay down his feathers, and is like a damp which puts out all the lights of pleasure. The second note is, that the time of man is set & his bounds appointed, which he cannot pass, & therefore Moses prayeth the Lord that he would teach him to number his days, ⟨p. 556⟩as though there were a number of our days: Therefore God is called Palmoni, which signifieth a secret number, because he knoweth the number of our days, which is secret to us. As it was said to Balthasar, God hath numbered thy kingdom, so it may be said to all, God hath numbered thy life. To this Job beareth witness, saying,² Are not his days determined? thou hast appointed his bounds, which he cannot pass. Again Jeremiah saith,³ they could not stand because the day of their destruction was come. As there is a day of destruction, and a day of death, so there is a day of birth, a day of marriage, a day of honour, a day of deliverance, according to that,⁴ the determination is made, that is, God hath determined all things. As God appointed a time when his Son should come into the world,⁵