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…

David numbered his days by a measure, My life (saith he) is like a span long, Psal. 39. 5. when he measured his life, he took not a pole, nor an ell, nor a yard to measure it by, but a short measure, his short span, My life is like a span long. Thus you have learned to number your days, or rather the hours of your days: as some came into the Vineyard in the morning, and some at noon, and some at night: so some go out of this Vineyard in the morning, some at noon, & some at night: some mans life hath nothing but a morning, some have a morning and noon, he which liveth longest, liveth all the day; and therefore the youngest of all pray, but for this day: & if he live till to morrow, then he prayeth for ⟨p. 561⟩that day, saying still, Give us this day our daily bread: So that a pleasant life may be compared but to a glorious day, and a sorrowful life to a cloudy day, and a long life to a summers day, and a short life to a winters day. How comes it to pass, that when a man dies, all his years seem but so many days, and before he dyes, all his days seem so many years?¹ Job speaketh of all a like, Man which is borne of a woman hath but a short time to live, Jacob was 130. years old, and yet when he came before Pharaoh, he said, Few and evil have my days been. Though Pharaoh did not speak of days, but asked him how old he was, yet he answered of days, to show that not only his years but his days were few. Our fathers marvelling to see how suddenly men are, and are not, compared life to a dream in the night, to a bubble in the water, to a ship in the sea, to an arrow which never resteth till it fall, to a player which speaketh his part upon the stage, and straight he giveth place to another, to a man which cometh to the market to buy one thing, and sell another, and then is gone home again: so the figure of this world passeth away. This is our life, while we enjoy it we loose it:² as Jacob said, that his days had been few: so we may say, that our days shall be few.

Dauid numbered his daies by a measure, My life (saith he) is like a span long, Psal. 39. 5