Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

642 Of theJhortnef and frailty ofmans life, knocks ofoutward cafualties, and though wee werefree from them, yettime and age wcakencth and waflcth vs; though we couldlhun outward blowes, yet wee cannot auoid our end;. though we flaould be free from outward dangers,yet wee can Nomer.apud neuer efcape inward difeafes. And howfoeuer fome may lafl Plutarch. ad longer, and fome a Ihorter while, yet all in their appointed Apollon' time come to their end. Wherein men are fitly compared to the EccicGallicus Y P leaues of trees, of which ionic ire blafled in the bud, euen in the fpring, fome are blowne offwith the wind in the middefl offummer, and thofe that continue fo long on the tree, doe when autumne and winter commeth,fall ofthemfelucs. To this purpofe one demandeth : Shall wee not all (faith hee) in a little while be the fame duff ? doe wee not by the addition ofa few more daies gaine this alone,that we partly fee, partly fulfer,and partly aól the more euils ? and fo wee at length alfo fhall pay to nature the common and certaine tribute ; by our death folio - Gregor.Na. wing fome,& going before others; now bewailing our friends zianz; in lain departed,and bone after our felues departing leaue them to be- 11`m Calan;. wailevs; and receiuethe kind gift oftearesinasbountiftdlma- ner from them, as we haue in our hues bellowed it vpon thofe who haue gone before vs, &c. For wee are all but a vanifhing dreame, an apparition that leaueth no fgne behind it; duft,a vapour, the morning dew, &a flower of the field,which quick- ly groweth,andmore quickly withereth. ì,Sea.6. But howfoeuer vaine men be fo mortall, fraile, and momen- That emery man tanie(as I haue fhewed)yet is he fo blinded with felfe loue, and more clerrely bewitched with deluding hopes,that though he acknowledge allthis in the generali, yet hee feldome applieth it to his owne Menr MOM - lity then hit particular; though he can fay wee are all mortal!, yet he dreg, same,. meth of his owne immortality ; and howfoeuer hee can in his politicke bargainesreckon three of his neighbours flues, at no longer time then one and twentie yeeres,yetdoth he flatter his too credulous heart with this foolifh conceit, that his fingle felfe Shall continue to old age,and fill vp the reckoning ofthree or fourefcore yceres ; and that bee continuerhlong in the fame condition, though he feeth others haflingaway, and euen now arriued at the gates of death. As when two botes meet, they which are in the one imagine thatthemfelues moue not; and the other that paffeth by them goeth fwiftly; whereas in truth they