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…

Now by the way, the Apostle (we must note) doth approve sobriety & virtue, that as a man may drink and not be drunken, so he may eat that he loveth, and not glut himself; for he forbiddeth not to eat meat, but not to eat too much, lest thou surfeit, for the golden mean is good for all things. Solomon doth not forbid to eat honey, but eat not too much, lest thou surfeit. As the body may not offend the soul, so the soul may not injury the body, lest it be unfit to serve the soul.

Now by the way, the Apostle (we must note) doth approue sobrietie & vertue, that as a man may drinke and not be drunken, so he may eate that he loueth, and not glut himselfe; for he forbiddeth not to eate meate, but not to eate too much, lest thou surfet, for the golden meane is good for all things. Salomon doth not forbid to eate honie, but eate not too much, lest thou surfet. As the bodie may not offend the soule, so the soule may not iniurie the bodie, lest it bee vnfit to serue the soule.

Many there be that think they have not sinned in gluttony till they surfeit, but this is gluttony in excess, and punisheth it self with many diseases, as dullness of wit, want of memory, and shortness of life. Now that you may sin in gluttony, and not to surfeit, appeareth by the rich man in the sixteenth of Luke, who fared deliciously every day, and never surfeited, yet for all that he is called a glutton, to teach us that there be gluttons which do not surfeit. This kind of sin much ⟨p. 349⟩displeaseth God, when men eat and drink and rise up to play, and remember not the afflictions of Joseph and Lazarus lying at the door: many be such banquets, where none do come with a Wedding garment, & where Christ is never invited. Many things may persuade us to temperance, & we may learn it of the beasts, who desire no change, nor hoard not, and are content. God provided meat for all creatures, as herbs, roots, and grass, before he provided any for man, to teach us, what little care we should have of our belly, for we live not by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Christ hath taught us to fast, when he prepared himself thereunto in the wilderness, but he never by any example taught us to feast: some there be which think he did never eat flesh but in the paschal Lamb, which although it doth not teach, or debar us from eating flesh, which Peter was willed to eat in the vision, yet it teacheth us to tame the flesh, lest Hagar should get the upper hand of her mistress.