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…

Next unto servants instruction and labours, must be considered their corrections. As Paul saith,¹ Fathers provoke not your children to ⟨p. 61⟩wrath: So may I say, Masters provoke not your servants to wrath: that is, use such reproofs, and such corrections, that you do not provoke them, but move them, that you do not exasperate them, but win them, for reviling words and unreasonable fierceness, doth more hurt then good. And therefore the law of God did charge the master, that he should not inflict above forty stripes upon his servant,² least he should seem despised in his eyes For while a child, or scholar, or servant doth think that he is reproved for love, or beaten with reason, it makes him think of his fault and is ashamed: but when he seeth that he is rebuked with curses, & beaten with staves, as though they were hated like a dog, his heart is hardened against the man which correcteth him, and the fault for the which he is corrected, and after he becometh desperate, like a horse which turneth upon the striker: and therefore think that God even then chides you whensoever you chide in such rage. For though there be a fault, yet some things must be winked at, and some things must be forgiven, and some punished with a look, for he which takes the forfeit of every offence, shall never be in any rest, but vex himself more then his servant.

Next vnto seruants instruction and labors, must bee considered their corrections. As Paul saith,¹ Fathers prouoke not your childrē to ⟨p. 61⟩wrath: So may I say, Maisters prouoke not your seruants to wrath: that is, vse such reproofes, and such corrections, that you do not prouoke them, but moue them, that you do not exasperate them, but winne them, for reuiling wordes and vnreasonable fiercenesse, doth more hurt then good. And therefore the law of God did charge the maister, that he should not inflict aboue fortie stripes vpon his seruant,²