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…

The fourth point is our aptness to forget death rather then any thing else, and therefore Moses prayeth the Lord to teach him to number his days, as though they were still slipping out of his mind. He which hath numbered our days, must teach us to number our days: for when Moses prayeth the Lord to teach him to number his days, he signifieth that he would very fain remember them, but ⟨p. 563⟩still his mind did turn from them, and that he could not think upon them longer then he thought on the Lord, which taught him to number them: such is the rebellion of our nature, we cannot remember that which we should, because we remember so many things which we should forget. How often doth the Scripture call death to our minds? Yet we read how they put the day of death from them,¹ & would not remember it. Solomon bids us remember that we shall come to judgement, & yet we read how they plead against the day of judgement, and syllogize to their sins, That all things shall continue as they be, ²because there hath been no change yet: ³even so it is with us,⁴ as the fool saith in his hart, there is no God: so we say in our hearts there is no death, or at least death will not come before we be old. Of all numbers we cannot skill to number our days: we can number our sheep & our oxen, & our coin: but we think that our days are infinite, & therefore we never go about to number them. We can number other mens days and years, & think they will die ere it be long, if we see them sick, or sore, or old, but we can not number our own. When two ships meet on the sea, they which are in one ship think that the other ship doth sail exceeding fast: but that their ship goeth fair and softly, or rather standeth still, although in truth one ship saileth ⟨p. 564⟩as fast as the other: so every man thinks that other post, and run, and fly to the grave, but that himself standeth stock still, although indeed a year with him is no longer then it is with other: beside that, we are given to forget death, we strive to forget it, like them which say, we may not remember. Teach me to number my days: