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…

This is the virtue and operation of these words; If you hear them with the same spirit that Paul wrote them, they will so work upon your hearts, that you shall go away every man contented with that which he hath,¹ like Zacheus, which before he had seen Christ, knew nothing but to scrape; but as soon as he had heard Christ, all his mind was set upon giving. This was not the first day that Zacheus seemed rich to others, but this was the first day that Zacheus seemed rich unto himself, when riches seemed dung, and godliness seemed riches.² Christ doth not will other to give all their goods away to the poor as he bad the young man, to see what he would do, but he which forbade him to keep his riches, ⟨p. 207⟩forbids us to love riches, which makes our riches seem poverty. When ye contemn riches ye shall seem rich, because no man hath enough but he which is contented:³ but if ye covet, & grove, & thirst, as Jacob gave Reuben a blessing,⁴ but said, Thou shalt not be excellent, so God may give you riches, but he saith, You shall not be satisfied: for ye will be covetous until ye be religious. He that will have contentation, must leave his covetousness in pawn for it. This is the spirit which we would cast out, if ye will leave but this one sin behind, you shall depart out of the Church, like Naaman out of Jordan,⁵ as if you had been washed, and all your sins swept away like the scales from Pauls eyes.⁶ For what hath brought Usury, simony, bribery, cruelty, subtlety, envy, strife, and deceit, into this City: and made every house an inn, & every shop a market of lies and fraud, but the superfluous love of money? Name covetousness, and thou hast named the mother of all these mischiefs: other sins are but hirelings unto this sin. Usury, and bribery, and simony, and extortion, & deceit, and lies, and oaths, are factors to covetousness: and serve for Potters to fetch and bring her living in. As the Receiver maketh a thief, so Covetousness maketh an Usurer, and Extortioner, and Deceiver,