Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

Ofthefhortneff andfrailtieofmanilefe. 639 .ofSyrachlikeneth them; then how fhort and momentanie is the life ofinan being thus compared,which is fo vaine,and offuch fhort continuance? But if wee would adde to this momentanie fhortnelfe of 4.S[17.4: mans life, the frailty and uncertainty of ir, whereby we haue That mans fbart no affurance to enioy it fo much as a minute of this fhort l;/eismaß time, the vanity thereofwould more euiden tlyappeare . And : llaineçbe -t. of this wee need no other proofe but our owne experience, ingon emery which daily teacheth vs, that as men haue but a fhort pail-age fide *tiled by from the birth,to the vtmoft confines of an aged life ; fo they death. feldome goe thorow to their iourneyes end,but are cut offin all times of this fhorrway, with vnexpe&ed accidents. In which refpe& the life ofman may fitly be compared to a can die, which whilefi it fhineth, confumeth; and as the candle is fometime wafted with the wind, fometime quiteblowne out, before it bee halfe burned, and fometime burneth to' the end : fo mans life is wafted with griefes and miferies,. fometime extinguifhed by immature orviolent death; and. though it !aft as long as the naturall beate hathmoifeure to fecslvpon, yet that being confumed, like a candle itgoeth' out of it felfe for want of For how many haue weknowne in our owne experience who haue bin intombecl . in their moth ers b ellie, before they did euer feethe light of the fun,and fo withered in the bud ? How many do we daily fee, who kettle to enter into the world (as the heathenman upon the fiage)that theymay go out againe; as though they carne onely to take their kaue, and fo to be gone? How ma- ny wither when they are in their flourifhing prime oftheir infancie and childhood, and (as it were) rot before they bee ripe? How manyare taken away intheirperfe &maturity, death getting the vi &orie of them in their full fïrength ? and how few are they that attaine vnto old age, which notwith- ftandingall doehope for, though againfl all reafon in regard ofthemfelues,ándexperiencein refpe &ofothers? For would men confiderr the manifold ambufhments,which death daily laieth to indanger ourhues; would they but remember how many by-paths leade to this common way, they could not., but confeffe the fhortneffe of mans life, and their vncertain +. tie