A SILVER Watch-bell.

CHAP. I.

CHAP. I.

Of the shortnesse, frailtie, and miseries of mans life.

Of the shortnesse, frailtie, and miseries of mans life.

THis present transitorie
life in the Scriptures is
called a Pilgrimage, a
Trauaile, and a Waye,
bicause it co~tinually plieth
to an ende. For as
they which are carried
in Coaches, or sayle in
shippes, do finish their voyage, though they
sit stil and sleepe: euen so euery one of vs albeit
we be busied about other matters, and
perceiue not how the course of our life passeth
away, being sometime at rest, sometime
idle, and sometime in sport and dalliance, yet
our life alway wasteth, and we in poasting

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speede hasten toward our ende.
2. The wayfaring man trauelleth apace,
and leaueth many things behind him. In his
way he seeth stately Bowers and buildings,
he beholdeth them awhile, he admireth them,
and so passeth from them: Afterwards he seeeth
fields, medowz, flourishing pastures, and
goodly vineyards: Vpon these also he looketh
a while, he wondreth at the sight, and so passeth
by. Then he meeteth with fruitfull Orchards,
greene Forrests, sweete Riuers with
siluer Streames, and behaueth himselfe as before.
At the length he meeteth with desarts,
hard waies, rough and vnpleasant, foule, and
ouergrowne with briers and thornes: heere
also he is enforced for a time to stay. He laboureth,
sweateth, and is greeued: but when
he hath gone a while, he ouercommeth these
difficulties, and remembreth no more the former
griefes.
3. Euen so it fareth with vs: One while
we meet with pleasant &delightfull things,
another while with sorrowfull and greeuous
crosses. But they all in a moment passe away.
4. In like manner, some one is cast into
prison, the same is tormented, vexed and afflicted:
he is now in the brambles, and troublesome

place, but he shal quickly come forth
againe, and then hee will forget all his misery.
5. Furthermore, in highwaies and footepaths
this commonly we see, that where one
hath set his foote, there soone after another
taketh his steppe, a third defaceth the print
of his predecessors foot, and then another doth
the like: neither is there any which long time
holdeth his place. And is not mans life such?
Aske (saith Basil) thy fieldes and possessions,
how many names they haue now changed.
In former age they were saide to be such a
mans, then his, afterward anothers. Now
they are saide to be this mans, and in short
time to come, they shall be called I cannot
tell whose possessions. And why so? Because
mans life is a certaine way, wherin one succeedeth
and expelleth another.
6. Beholde the seates of States and Potentates,
of Emperors &Kings, how many
in euery age haue aspired to these dignities?
and when they haue attained them, after
long labors and trauailes, in short time they
are compelled to giue place to their successors,
before they had wel warmed their seat.
Yesterday one raigned, to day he is dead, and
an other possesseth his throne: To morrow

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this man shall die, and another shal sit in his
seat, none as yet, could therein sit fast. They
all play this part as on a stage: they ascend,
they sit, they salute, they descend, and suddenly
they are gone.
7. Therefore deerly beloued, mans life is
a way, and a seducing way to them which
forget themselues that they are Pilgrimes,
and trauellers, and do stand too much vpon
those thinges which are occurrent in their
iourney with long delay. For the night will
come, and it wil come quickly, wherein no
man can walke, and these men shal not come
vnto that heauenly Hierusalem, but shall be a
praie for the wilde beasts which walke in the
night, and for the infernall wolues. For the
which cause our Sauiour Christ crieth in
the Gospel, Walke, walke while ye haue the
light, lest the darknesse come vpon you.
8. There is nothing that doth so euidently
set before mens eyes the deceits of the
world, and the vanitie of thinges present, as
doth the due and diligent consideration of the
incertaintie, shortnesse, frailtie, and of other
greeuances, and calamities of mans life. For
all humane pride, and the whole glorie and
aboundance of the world, (hauing mans life
for a staie and foundation) can certainly no

longer endure then the same life abideth. So
that riches, dignities, honors, Offices, and
such like, which men here in earth haue in
great regard, do many times forsake a man,
he being yet aliue, and do neuer continue
longer with him then vnto the graue: For
then when the foundation faileth, the whole
building must needs fall.
9. These claie Tabernacles (as Iob calleth
them) do faile daily. The Prophet Dauid
therefore compareth our life to the fat of
Lambs, which wasteth away in the rosting:
and to a new coate, which soone wareth olde,
and is eaten with mothes. Isai, to grasse, and
the flower of the field, which to day florisheth,
and to morow is cutte down and withered.
Iob, to the burning of a candle, which in the
end anoyeth, &then euery man crieth, Put
it out. What thing els is mans life but a
bubble, vp with the water, and downe with
winde? What then is to be thought of humane
pompe and glorie, the which is more
transitorie and fraile then life it selfe?
10. This consideration verelie, hath opened
the eyes of many; and hath brought to
passe in them, that they begin to wonder at
the common blindnes of men: the which effect,
that it may worke in vs, let vs call to

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minde a fewe things concerning the breuitie
and miseries of mans life. And to the end our
meditation may haue an order, and that we
may keepe the parts thereof in memorie, it
shal principally consist vpon the words of holy
Iob, written in the beginning of the fourteene
Chapter of his Booke, where he saith
thus: Man that is borne of a woman is of
short continuance and full of miseries. He shooteth
foorth as a flower, and is cut downe: hee
vanisheth also as a shadowe, and continueth
not.
11. To the end we might want nothing
in this description of humane calamities, it
seemeth that his purpose was to begin with
the verie matter it selfe, of the which man
was made. For he saith not Vir, but Homo,
that he might expresse the basenes of the matter,
of the which this most proude creature
was made. For hee is called Homo, ab humo,
because he was procreated and made of
the earth. Neither was he made of the best
of the earth, but of the slime of the earth, (as
the scripture testifieth) being the most filthy
and abiect part of the earth. Among all bodies
the most vile element: among all the elements
the earth is the basest: among all the
parts of the earth, none is more filthy and abiect

then the slime. Wherefore, man was
made of that matter, then the which there is
nothing more vile and base.
12. And wheras he saith, that he was born
of a woman, he hath in fewe words comprehended
many miseries of humane condition.
For first of all, our very fashioning and
originall is so impure and vncleane, that it is
not for chast eares to heare, but to be passed
ouer in silence, as a thing most filthie &horrible
to be tolde. This one thing I say, mans
conception is so foule, that our most mercifull
Lord, taking vpon him all our sorrowes
and calamities, for our redemption, would
in no wise beare this: &although he vouchsafed
to take vpo~ him our humane nature, &
to suffer many reproches of his enemies; as,
to be mocked, blasphemed, spit vpon, bound,
whipped, &in the ende most shamefully crucified:
yet he thought it vnseeming his Maiesty
to be conceiued in the womb of the blessed
Virgin Marie, after the same sinfull
manner that other men be.
13. Furthermore, after that man is once
conceiued, doth he not indure great calamities
in his mothers wombe, as it were in a
filthy and vncleane prison, where euery moment
he is in perill of his life? At the last, hee

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is borne naked, weake, ignorant, destitute of
all help and counsell, not able to go, to speak,
nor to helpe himselfe, all that he can do, is to
cry, and that is to set foorth his miseries: for
he is born to labor, a banished man from his
Country, the enemy of God, in possibilitie to
liue a fewe dayes, and the same fewe dayes
full of miserie, deuoide of all quietnesse and
rest.
14. Beholde then the very beginnings,
from whence man hath his first originall,
who notwithstanding thinketh himselfe to
be born to pride, who mingleth and co~foundeth
all things, who ouerturneth, troubleth,
and subdueth kingdomes, he turmoyleth the
seas, and thinketh not the whole world sufficient
for him.
15 Iob saith further, that man is of short
continuance. Behold another calamitie of
mans bodie. The building is scarce finished,
but it is readie to totter, and to fall, and sure
it is ere long to fal. Man is scarce entered into
the worlde, when as hee is admonished to
remember his departure out of the same againe.
The dayes of man (saith the Prophet
Dauid) are threescore yeeres and tenne, and
though some be so strong that they come to
fourscore yeeres, yet is their strength the~ but

labour and sorrow, &c. Therefore the summe
of our yeeres, whereunto all do not attaine,
is threescore yeeres and ten; the stronger bodies
sometimes continue till fourscore. From
which yeeres, first of all we do deduct those
yeeres which Infancie &childhood spendeth:
for all that time we liue not like men, neither
are gouerned with a certaine violent motion
like vnto bruite beastes, which are deuoide of
reason and vnderstanding. If also we take away
that time which passeth away when we
sleep (for sleeping, we liue not the life of beasts
when they wake, much lesse of men) and that
time will rather seeme a liuing death, then a
liuely life. If, I say, we deduct all the time of
childhood and sleep, that which remaineth wil
scarcely amount to fortie yeeres: And of these
fortie yeeres, we haue not one moment of
time in such wise in our power, that we can
assuredly say, that we shall not die therein.
For whether we eate, drinke, or sleepe, whether
we be in labor, or in rest, we are alwaies
in perils. Wherefore not without cause our
Sauior crieth so often in the Gospel: Watch,
because ye knowe not the day, nor the houre.
The which is as much, as if he had more
plainly said, Because ye know not that hour,
watch euery houre: and because ye knowe

not that day, watch euery day: &because yee
know not the moneth, and the yeare, watch
therefore euery moneth and yeare.
16. And to make this matter more plain
by a similitude: If thou shouldst be requested
to a feast, and being set at the table, seest before
thee many and sundrie sortes of meate, a
friende of thine secretly admonisheth thee,
that among so many daintie dishes, there is
one poysoned, what in this case wouldst thou
doe? which of them darest thou touch, or tast
of? wouldst not thou suspect them all? I think
though thou were extreamely hungry, thou
wouldest refraine from all, for feare of that
one where the poyson is. It is made manifest
vnto thee already, that in one of thy forty
yeares, thy death lieth hidde~ from thee, and
thou art vtterly ignorant which that yeare
shal be: how then can it be but that thou must
suspect them all, and feare them all? O that
we vnderstoode the shortnesse of our life, how
great profit and commoditie should wee then
receiue by the meditation thereof.
17. The Peacock, a glorious fowle, when
hee beheld that comely fan and circle which
hee maketh of the beautifull feathers of his
taile, hee reioyceth, he ietteth, and beholdeth
euery part thereof: but when he looketh on

his feet, which he perceiueth to be black, and
foule, he by and by with great misliking vaileth
his toppe gallant, and seemeth to sorrow.
In like manner, a great many know by experience,
that when they see themselues to abound
in riches and honors, they glory, and
are deepelie conceited of themselues, they
praise their fortune, and admire themselues,
they make plots, and appoint much for them
selues to performe in many yeares to come:
this yeare, say they, we wil beare this office,
and the next yeare that: afterward wee shall
haue the rule of such a Prouince: then we wil
builde a pallace in such a Citie, whereunto
we wil adioyn such gardens of pleasure, and
such vineyardes: and thus they make a very
large reckoning afore-hand, who if they did
but once beholde their feete, if they did but
thinke vpon the shortnes of their life, so transitorie
and inconstant, how soone would they
let fall their proud feathers, forsake their arrogancie,
and change their purposes, their
mindes, their liues, and their manners.
18. And this breuitie and inconstancie
of life is appointed vs before wee be borne.
For man is scarce conceiued, when as he is
condemned to death: and when he commeth
out of the wombe, he co~meth out of a prison,

not to be free, but to vndergoe the crosse. And
we all doe tende and hasten, as it were, to
death: some at one miles ende, some at two,
and some at three, and other some when they
haue gone further. And thus it commeth to
passe, that some are taken out of this life sooner,
and some tarry longer. Since then the
case standeth thus, who can sufficiently wonder
at our madnesse? for we are going, as it
were, to the gibbet, and we dance, we laugh,
and reioyce in the way, as if we were secure
from all maner of euils. But we are in this
error, because we know not the shortnesse of
our life.
19. Here then we see two wonderfull and
monstrous things: one is, that man being
scarcely borne, dieth, when as notwithstanding,
he hath a forme &shewe of immortalitie:
other thinges how long they retaine
their forme, so long they remaine: A house
falleth not all the time that his forme and fashion
lasteth: The bruite beast dieth not, except
first he forgo his life, which is his forme.
But man hath a forme which neuer is dissolued,
namely, a mind endued with reason, and
yet he liueth a very short time.
20. But yet there is another thing to be
seene farre more monstrous in this creature,

that whereas hee is indued with reason and
counsell, and knoweth that his life is like vnto
a shadowe, to a dreame, to a tale that is
tolde, to a watch in the night, to smoake, to
chaffe which the winde scattereth, to a water
bubble, and such like fading things: and that
the life to come shall neuer haue end, and yet
neuerthelesse setteth his whole mind most
carefullie vpon this present life, which is to
day, and to morrowe is not: but of the life
which is euerlasting, he doeth not so much as
thinke. If this be not a monster, I know not
what may be called monstrous.
21. Thus hauing seene the shortnesse and
mutabilitie of mans life, let vs now also see
the miserie thereof. Man (saith holy Iob) being
borne of a woman, is of short continuance,
and full of miseries. Euery word hath
a great emphasis: Hee is full of miserie, euen
from the sole of the foote to the crowne of
the head; not onely the bodie, but the mind also,
so long as it is captiued in the prison of the
bodie. Thus no place is left emptie and free
from miseries.
22. Mans miseries are many and great,
there is no member, no sence, no one facultie
in man so long as he is here vpo~ earth, which
suffereth not his hell. Nay, all the elementes,

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all liuing creatures, al the diuels, yea, the angels,
&God himselfe also, bende themselues
against man for sinne. To beginne with the
sence of feeling, with how many kind of feauers,
impostumes, vlcers, sores, and other
diseases is it afflicted? The volumes of Physitions
are full of diseases, and remedies for
the same: and yet for all this, there are daily
new diseases, and new remedies found out
for them: &among the remedies themselues,
it were to be wished that there were one to
be found, yt were not more vehement to vexe
the sick, then the disease it selfe. Long fasting
and extreame hunger, is a bitter medicin, the
cutting of veines, the incision of wounds &
sores, the cutting off of members, the searing
of flesh and sinewes, the pulling out of teeth,
are remedies for griefes &diseases, but yet
such, that many had rather choose to die, then
to vse these and such like remedies. Furthermore,
immoderate heate, exceeding cold, one
while too much drougth, another while excesse
of moisture, doeth offende and hurt the
very sence of feeling.
23. The sence of tasting is most of all
troubled with hunger and thirst: and manie
times medicines and meats that are bitter,
sharpe, salt, and vnsauerie, do distemper it.

24. The sence of smelling is compelled
to endure and suffer many times al manner
of stinkes, all vapors and fogges, and things
of bad sent.
25. As touching the sence of hearing,
what il tidings, how many cursed speakings,
and iniuries doth it heare, which like sharpe
swords doe pearce the heart?
26. The sence of seeing, how many things
doth it beholde which it would not, and how
many things doeth it not see, which it desireth?
27. As for thought, how many horrible
and feareful things doeth it imagine and
faine?
28. What shall wee say of vnderstanding?
to what an innumerable sort of errors
is it subiect? so as it seemeth to be like vnto a
little child, to whom a tedious and very hard
knot to be dissolued, is deliuered, &he contendeth
what hee can to vndoe it, and when the
knot beginneth in one part to be opened, hee
sheweth it and reioyceth, and seeth not that
the knot in the other part is more fast shutte:
So in like manner, God hath made this generalitie
of all things, and hath set the same
before mans minde to be considered, &saith,
seeke and search out the reasons and the causses

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of all these things, if thou canst: when as
indeede the truth of the thing is more secret
and profound, then mans vnderstanding, being
placed in the prison of the body, can reach
vnto. This is the cause that the phylosophers
and worldly wise men, haue fallen into so
many and sundrie sects, and dissentio~s about
all things, euen of least moment. And they
doe so co~tend among themselues, vntill falsehoode
hauing put on the habite and vizor of
trueth, deceiueth them all. Hereunto accordeth
the saying of the Preacher, chap. 3. God
hath set the worlde in their heart. Or, God
hath giuen them the worlde to dispute of,
yet cannot man finde out the worke that
God hath wrought from the beginning, euen
to the end. Be not curious therfore saith
Syrach, chap. 3. ver. 24. in superfluous things,
for many things are shewed vnto thee aboue
the capacitie of men. And yet we see, that the
most ignorant do many times soonest offend
herein, rushing into those matters whereof
they haue no knowledge, and nothing belonging
vnto them. They will build Tabernacles
with Peter, and lay platformes for the
Church, whereof they haue no skill. Euerie
common person will bee an Agryppa ouer
Paul, and euery woman a Bernice, and euery

meane person make a shoppe a Consistory to
controll a State, forgetting the Prouerb, Ne
sutor vltra crepidam: The shoomaker is not
to exceede his pantofle.
29. But a greater miserie as yet holdeth
our actiue and practising vnderstanding. For
how many meanes, how many reasons and
waies doth it deuise to clime vp higher, and
to growe in the opinion and estimation of
men. For the which cause the Prophet Dauid
in his Psalmes saith, that our whole life
is like a copwebbe: For as the Spider is occupied
all his life time in weauing of copwebbes,
and draweth out of his own bowels
those threeds, wherwith he knitteth his nets
to catch flies: and oftentimes it commeth to
passe, that when the Spider suspecteth no ill,
a seruant that goeth about to make clean the
house, sweepeth downe both the copweb, and
the Spider, and throweth them together into
the fire: Euen so, the greatest part of men
consume their whole time, spende all their
witte and strength, and labour most painfully
to haue their nettes in a readines, with the
which they may catch the flies of honors and
of riches. And when they glorie in the multitude
of the flies which they haue taken, and
promise vnto the~selues rest in time to come

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beholde, death (Gods handmaide) is present
with the broom of diuers sicknesses &griefes,
and sweepeth these men away to hell fire,
they being fast asleepe in the chaire of securitie:
and so the worke, together with the
workemaster, in a moment of time doe perish.
30. Neither is the man of meanest capacity,
and of least vnderstanding, free from
miseries. Who can number the suspitions,
the hatreds, the iealousies, the enuies, the
feares, the desires, the vaine hopes, the greefs
and anguishes of mans mind? If he do euil,
he feareth the Iudges, banishment, whipping,
reproaches and tormentes: If hee doe
wel, he feareth euil tongues. Who is able
to expresse with what miserable desire all
men are inflamed, in so much that no man liuing
is contented with his estate: but we are
all like vnto sick men, which turmoile and
tosse, first from one side of the bed, and then to
the other, and yet neuer find rest?
31. After these things, behold and consider
all ages. How weake is infancie? how
ignorant is childehood? how light and inconstant
is adolescencie? how rash and confident
be young men? how greeuous and irkesome
is olde age? What is a young boy but as a

bruite beast, hauing the forme and shape of a
man? what is a flourishing yonker, but as an
vntamed horse? what is an olde man, but the
receptacle of all maladies and sicknesses?
And in all these ages, with how great a heap
of miseries and necessities are we ouerwhelmed?
We must daily eate, drink, and sleepe,
we are daily compelled to serue many other
necessities: and (which is much more miserable
and vnhappy) we must of necessity purchase
vnto our selues these occupations, with
infinite labors and sweatings.
32. Now who is not astonished, if hee
co~sider how al the creatures which compasse
vs round about, doe bend their whole force,
and fight against mankinde: as if the things
which haue bene already repeated, were not
sufficient to fil the bosome of mans hart with
miseries? That same most cleere brightnesse
which we call the Sunne, which is as a certaine
generall father to all liuing things,
doeth sometimes so scorch with his beames,
that all things are parched &burnt vp with
the heate thereof: at another time he taketh
his course so farre from vs, that all thinges
die with colde.
32. The earth also, which is the mother
of vs all, how many men doth she swallowe

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vp with her downfalles, gulphes, and quakings?
33. And what doe the seas? how many
doe they deuour? Verely they haue so many
rocks, so many flats &sands, so many sirts,
so many Charibdes, and so many perillous
places, that it is a most harde thing of all other,
to escape the danger of shipwrack: and
they which are most safe in the ship, haue but
the thicknesse of a planke between them and
death.
34. What shal we say of our aire? Is it
not many times corrupted? and doeth it not
ingender and gather clowdes, thicke mistes,
pestilences and sicknesses?
35. As for the bruite beasts, they yeeld no
reuerence to man their Prince, and not only
the Lyons, Beares, Tygers, Dragons, and
other greater wild beastes, but the very flies
also, gnats, fleas, and other of the most smal
sort of liuing creatures, doe wonderfully and
very vehemently trouble, vexe, afflict and disquiet
man.
36. It were to be wished that wee had
no worse enemies then the bruite beasts, and
that we had no cause to stand in feare of men
themselues: But these also are ful of fraudes,
deceits, iniuries, euill practises, then ye which

what can be more intollerable? And what
meaneth so much armour, pikes, bowes, bils,
swords &gunnes, with diuers other instruments
of mans malice, doe not these destroy
and consume more men, then doe sicknesses,
and diseases? Histories report, that by one
onely, Iulius Caesar, which is said to haue bin
a most curteous and gentle Emperour, there
were slaine in seuerall battels, eleuen hundred
thousand men. And if a man of mildnes
and meeke spirit did this, what shall we looke
for at the hands of most cruell men? Neither
lands, nor seas, nor desart places, nor priuate
houses, nor open streetes, are safe from ambushments,
conspiracies, hatreds, emulations,
theeues and pyrates. Are there not vexations
innumerable, persecutions infinite,
spoyling of fields, sacking of cities, praying
vppon mens goods, fiering of houses, imprisonments,
captiuities, gally-slaueries,
renegations of Christianity by torments inforced,
beside death it selfe, which men daily
suffer at the hands of men? And this is that
ciuill and sociable creature, which is called
humane, which is borne without clawes and
hornes, in token of peace and loue which hee
ought to imbrace. Moreouer, not onely enemies,
but also friends, and the mainteiners

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of peace and iustice, are fierce &cruel against
men. O man, the very storehouse of calamities,
and yet thou canst not be humbled, but
art proud still.
37. Neither haue wee onely those foresaid
corporal enemies which we may see and
shun: but which is more perillous, we haue
also ghostly enemies, which see vs, and wee
not them. For the diuels, which are most
crafty, cruel, &most mighty in number, and
strength, doe nothing, practise nothing, and
thinke vpon nothing else, then how they may
tempt, deceiue, hurte, and cast men downe
headlong into hell fire.
38. The holy and blessed Angels also,
do many times fight against sinful men. For
who burnt Sodom and Gomorrah, with the
inhabitants thereof, with fire and brimstone?
The Angels. Who slew the fourescore and
fiue thousand men in the hoast of Senacharib?
The Angels. Who afflicted the Egyptians
with al those plagues mentioned in Exodus?
The Angels. Who assisted Ioshua against
the Cananites and Iebusites? Gods Angels.
39. Not onely the Angels, but God himself
also, sometime shewing himself towards
man as towards an enimy; which caused holy
Iob to say, Why doest thou hide away thy

face, and takest mee for thy enemie? what
meaneth this O lord God? Thou also which
wast woont to be my father and keeper, hast
now bidden battell against me.
40. Moreouer and beside all these things,
there is yet a ciuill and internall war, which
man hath within his owne bowels continually.
For what man is he which doth not feele
the striuings &contentions of his affection,
will, sense, and reason? Insomuch that man
himselfe doth afflict himselfe, and vnderstandeth
it not, &is a greater enemie to himselfe
then any other can be. For who doth greater
harme to thee, then thou doest to thy selfe?
who more then thy selfe letteth thee, and turneth
thee away from thy felicitie?
41. Who then seeth not how truely it
is saide, Man that is borne of a woman is of
short continuance, and full of miseries? who
seeth not that man is set in the very center of
the sphere, that miseries may fall vppon him
from euery part; and as the white in a butte,
that the arrowes &dartes of all miseries may
be directed vnto him?
42. But let vs see what followeth, Hee
shooteth foorth as a flower, and is cut downe.
Whereby he teacheth that mans life is fraile
and transitorie. A flower verily is a comely

B 4

and beautifull thing: and yet for all that, it is
nothing, because ther is nothing found more
fading and vanishing: Euen so man, during
the time of his childehoode and flourishing
youth, he seemeth to be of a wonderful comelinesse:
but this beautie is of small price, because
it is more brittle then the glasse: for
that man carrieth alwaies the cause of death
in his veines and bowels.
43. Mans fading away is such and so sodaine
oftentimes, that there can be no reason
giuen of his death: for many haue gone to bed
well in the euening, that in the morning are
found dead in their beds: and many very sodainly
haue dropped down in the highwaies
and streetes, as they haue walked about their
affaires. And this is no woonder, if we consider
the substance of mans body, which being
a building compact of greene clay, is easily ouerthrowne
with a small puffe of wind.
44. And how, I pray you, commeth it to
passe, that clocks are so easily stopped from
their course? is it not because they are made
by arte and skill with so many wheeles, that
if one be staide, all the rest are letted? If this
befall clockes that haue wheeles of Iron and
steele, how much more easily may it come to
passe in the humane clock of life: the wheeles

24

and engines whereof, are not of Iron, but of
clay. Therefore let vs not woonder at the
frailtie of mans body, but at the foolishnes of
mans minde, which vpon so fraile a foundation
is woont to erect and builde such lofty
Towers.
45. Furthermore, there is another miserie
which is signified vnto vs by the comparison
of a flower, namely the deceitfulnes
of mans life, the which indeed is the greatest
misery: For as fained vertue is double iniquitie,
so counterfeyt felicitie is a twofolde
miserie and calamitie. If this present life
would shew it selfe to be such as it is indeed,
the misery therof should not greatly hurt vs:
But it doth now greatly damnifie vs, bicause
it is false and deceitful: &being foule, it maketh
a very faire and glorious shew: being euer
mutable, it will seeme to be stable &constant:
being most short, it beareth vs in hand
that it is co~tinuall, that men being deceiued,
they may beleeue that they shal haue time to
fulfill all their lustes, and yet time and space
enough to repent them.
46. Holy Iob concludeth his sentence
thus: Hee vanisheth also as a shadowe, and
neuer continueth in one staie. To make this
more plaine, behold and consider the ages of

man, and thou shalt euidently perceiue the
alterations of humane life. Childehoode is
weake, as well in mind as in body: Florishing
youth is weake in minde but strong in
body: Ripe and manly age, is strong both in
mind and in body: Old age strong in minde
and weake in body: Crooked olde age, is in
this twise a childe, weake both in mind and
body: Therefore hee fleeth as it were a shadow,
and neuer continueth in one stay.
47. Beside this, hee is now wise, now
foolish: now merry, now sad: now in health,
now sick: now strong, now weake: now rich,
now poore: now hee loueth, anon he hateth:
now hee hopeth, by and by hee feareth: one
while he laugheth, another while he weepeth:
now he will, anon he wil not. To conclude,
the Moone, nor any other thing that is mutable,
sheweth not so many cha~ges vnto vs, as
do the daily &almost sodaine alterations of
men. And yet for all this, they liue as men in
a frensie, which knowe not their miseries.
And although they cannot repose their hope
and assurance in the present things of this
life, yet they doe not transferre and remoue
the thoughts of their minde, their counselles,
their works and endeuours, vnto the happinesse
to come. And if it were possible, they

would make the place of their exile and banishment,
their Countrey and inheritance.
But in vaine they desire this, for death commeth
and playeth the last Pageant, shutting
and finishing the life of all calamities.