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…

For help hereof, in 1. Cor. 7. 39. we are taught to marry in the Lord, then we must choose in the Lord too: therefore we must begin our marriage where Solomon began his wisdom.¹ Give unto thy servant an understanding heart. So give unto thy servant an understanding wife.² If Abraham's servant prayed unto the Lord to prosper his business, when he went about to choose a wife for another, how shouldst thou pray when thou goest about a wife for thy self, that thou mayst say after, My lot is fallen in a pleasant ground? To direct thee to a right choice herein, the holy Ghost gives thee two rules in the choice of a wife,³ Godliness and fitness: Godliness, because our Spouse must be like Christs Spouse, that is, graced with gifts, and embroidered with virtues, as if we married holiness her self. For the marriage of man and woman is resembled of the Apostle to the marriage of Christ and the Church.⁴ Now the Church is called holy, because she is holy. In the sixth of the Canticles she is called undefiled,⁵ ⟨p. 19⟩because she is undefiled.⁶ In the 45. Psal. she is called fair within, because her beauty is inward;⁷ So our Spouse should be holy, undefiled, and fair within. As God respecteth the heart, so we must respect the heart, because that must love, and not the face. Covetousness hath ever been a suitor to the richest, and pride to the highest, and lightness to the fairest: and for revenge hereof, his joy hath ever ended with his wives youth, which took her beauty with it. The goods of the world are good, and the goods of the body are good, but the goods of the mind are better.