The sermons of Master Henry Smith gathered into one volume. Printed according to his…The sermons of Maister Henrie Smith gathered into one volume. Printed according to his…

In the 8. of Luke, all the Disciples teach us how to hear, when they noted Christs parable, & repeated it again unto him, to know the meaning: showing that we should not only hear, and the preacher only preach: but if you doubt of any thing, you should inquire, and they should instruct you again. In the third of Luke, the Soldiers and the Harlots and the Publicans teach us how to hear, when they come to require, and ask, Master, what shall we do? showing, that we should come to hear some thing which may encourage us to this virtue, or arm us against that vice, that we go from hearing to doing as John taught them: all these are glasses in the scripture for the hearer to address himself by, before he come to the sermon.

In the 8. of Luke, all the Disciples teach vs how to heare, when they noted Christs parable, & repeated it againe vnto him, to know the meaning: shewing that we should not onely heare, and the preacher onely preach: but if you doubt of any thing, you should inquire, and they should instruct you againe. In the third of Luke, the Souldiers and the Harlots and the Publicanes teach vs how to heare, when they come to require, and aske, Master, what shall we doe? shewing, that we should come to heare some thing which may incourage vs to this vertue, or arme vs against that vice, that we goe from hearing to doing as Iohn taught them: all these are glasses in the scripture for the hearer to addresse himselfe by, before he come to the sermon.

Beside these, other things do teach us too. As Solomon saith, Go to the Pismire, and learn to labour: so Christ in the beginning of this Chapter sends us to the husband-man to ⟨p. 653⟩learn to hear, as he prepareth the ground before he sow his seed, lest his seed should be lost: so we should prepare our hearts before we hear, lest Gods seed be lost. In the •0. of John he sends us to the sheep: as they know the voice of their shepherd, and will not hear a stranger, so we should know the voice of Christ from the voice of Popes, or Doctors, or Counsels, or Traditions, lest we go like Samuel from God to Eli. When you have bin in the sheep-folds, go to the woods, & learn of the birds: for they will so listen to him, which teacheth them to sing, that they learn to sing the same note after him, so we should learn to sing the tune of the spirit: for they which hear the word aright, learn to speak even as the Word speaketh.