[ 408] The dissolution of all ages past, is to be a Memento for Posterity.
ONe Guerricus hearing these words read in the Church, out of the book of Ge∣nesis, Chap. 15. And all the dayes that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he dyed: All the dayes of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he dyed: And all the dayes of Enos were nine hundred and five years; and he dyed: And all the dayes of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years; and he dyed, &c. Hearing, I say, these words read, the very conceit of death wrought so strong∣ly upon him,* 1.1 and made so deep an impression in his mind, that he retired himself from the world, and gave himself wholly to devotion, that so he might dye the death of the godly, and arrive more safely at the haven of felicity, which is no where to be found in this world. And thus should we do when we look back to the many ages that are past before us; but thus we do not. Like those that go to the Indies, we look not on the many that have been swallowed up by the waves, but on some few that have got by the Voyage; we regard not the millions that are dead be∣fore us, but have our eyes set on the lesser number that survive with us, and hence it comes to pass that our passage out of this world is so little minded.