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…

The Tyrant shall not want a flatterer, the […] ⟨p. 1085⟩and Apostles, as they followed Christ, lest following that which they repented, we sustain or suffer that which they escaped. This is a lesson for all but Christ, Let him which thinketh he stand, take heed lest he fall. When Paul had distilled the capital sins of the Israelites, this is the quintessence, that is, all the profit which he could wring out of them, Let them that think they stand, take heed lest they fall. Who would have said that Jerusalem would have become an harlot? that the chosen people should become the cursedst upon the earth? yet so it is, saith Paul, thus & thus they have done, and thus hath God forsaken them, that all the world may take heed how they stir up the lion of Judah, which devoureth the wicked like bread. Who would have thought when Lot was grieved with the sins of Sodom that he would have committed a worse sin himself, first to drink till he was drunken, then to lie with his own daughters? yet he did so. Who would have thought that Noah when he builded the Ark, because he believed in God, and gave example to all the world how they should save themselves, when the flood was past, would have given the first example of sin to his own sons? When would have thought that when he was persecuted for his godliness in the desert, he would have slain the husband for the lust of the wife, ⟨p. 1086⟩when the blessings of God did call him to thankfulness? Who would have thought that Solomon when he prayed in the temple, and was termed by God the wisest man in the world, would have taken mo concubines unto him than any heathen in the world? How are the mighty overthrown saith David? 2. Sam. 1. Like Peter which said he would never forsake Christ: and forsook him first. The strong men are fallen. Even Solomon himself, and David, and Noah, and Lot, and Sampson, & Peter, the light of the world, fell like the stars of heaven: these tall soldiers, strong oaks, fair pillars lie in the dust, whose tops glittered in the air, that they which think they stand may take heed lest they fall. Can I look upon these ruins without compassion, or remember them without fear, unless I be a reprobate, & my heart of flint? Who am I that I should stand like a shrub, when these Cedars are blown down to the ground, & showed themselves but men?