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…

of the Proverbs, and the fourteenth verse that Solomon had left his concubines and vanities before he wrote this book.¹ Therefore to say that the figure of Christ,² the pen of the holy Scripture, the man whom God loved, the wisest man that ever was, and one of the holy prophets died a reprobate, is presumption against the Word, impiety against God,³ and wrong to the dead. Although, because of his grievous fall in Idolatry,⁴ and uncleanness, GOD left him in disgrace, and makes no mention of his repentance, where he speaks of his death, that they which stand, may take heed lest they fall, and see how easy it is to slip, by the example of him which was wiser than they. Solomon being wicked and yet saved, was a figure of the Church whose sins are forgiven. Thus having found as it were the Mine: now let us dig for the treasure. Vanity of vanities, &c. This is Solomons conclusion, when he had gone through the whole world & tried all things like a spy sent into a strange country, as if he were now come home from ⟨p. 824⟩his pilgrimage, they gather about him to inquire what he hath heard and seen abroad, and what he thinks of the world, and these things which are so loved among men, like a man in admiration of that which he had seen and not able to express particularly one after another, he contracts his news into a word: you ask me what I have seen, and what I have heard: Vanity saith Solomon: & what else? Vanity of vanities: and what else? All is vanity. ⁵This is the history of my voyage, I have seen nothing but vanity over the world. Carrie this for the news from the Preacher: vanity of vanities, Al is vanity, as if he should say Vanity, and greater Vanity, and more than Vanity: so the further he did go, the more Vanity he did see, and the nearer he looked, the greater it seemed: till at the last he could see nothing but vanity.

of the Prouerbes, and the fourteenth verse that Salomon had left his concubines and vanities before he wrote this booke.