P Ofthefhortnefe andfrailty ofmantlofe. 643 theybothmake alike (peed; fo men are ready to thinke that though others run towards death with pollinghafle, yet they in themeane time (laud at a flay,& remaine immoueable : then the which nothing canbemore abfurd,feeingwe are all caft in the famemould,andare ofthe fame natureand condition,in fo much as there cannot bea moreliuely &perfedt looking glatfe wherein wemay fee our owne frailtie andtnortality,thenother men which are ofthe famequality: fo that ifwebe not made blind,deafe,& quite fenfelefhe,we cannot dailywant examples, and as it were fchoole-maflers which may teachvs this leffon ; for whocan walk in the Church orplacesofburial,& not think that healto mull be buried?who can fee anothers fimerals,who is ofthe famenature and condition,and not concludehis owne mortalitie? who can heare the knels and palling pealesfor his neighbours,who were forceofthem yonger,&much fironger, andnot thinkethem heraulds Pent ofGod, to fummon him by death to make his appearance ? But though it were fuppofed,that we couldnow huethe age §,Set7,7, ofMethrefelah;and were exempted fromall outward accidents, Thatfromour and inwardinfirmities, which might (horten our daies; yet all birth toour this werenothing in comparifon ofeternitie; in regard wherof death,our likes that cannotmaybe faid to be long,which oneday (hal haue an a"'""""" end ; neither dowe (lowly attaine vntothat end, from whence s uoallconjkmp- we (hall neuerreturne,when weare once comevnto it:for how Nemoad idler, can that be truly long,which iscontinually in fpending,and the venit,vnde more daies areadded vnto it, the more it is fhortened ? what nunquampox firmenes is in that, which inholding flippeth outofour hands, isms rekertiPse and is loftin keeping?But fuck ismans life,fromwhich fo much nee. in Here. is detraóted,as is added vnto it,and thelonger it bath lafted,the furen. more it is walled, and the fleeter it approchethto it end. Now what canbe called long,which byit continuing andbeing,wa- fleth and ceafeth to be? orhow can our daies be many, which grow fewer & fewerbydailymultiplication?howcan our hues be flow in pafling,when that time which feemeth to flay them, driueth them forward to their iorneyes end ? In which refpe6t mans life is fitlycompared toa weauersweb; for as the wouen web continually encreafeth by the addition ofthreeds, foour age by theadditionofdaies; but as the more is added to the cloth,the lef%is vpon thebeame,and the more the one increa_ T t 2 feth,
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