A12406:749
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 sermons of Master Henry Smith gathered into one volume. Printed according to his corrected copies in his life time.The sermons of Maister Henrie Smith gathered into one volume. Printed according to his corrected copies in his life time.
London: printed by Richard Field for Thomas Man, 1593
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Although this king be dead & buried, yet his pride is escaped & come to us. Nebuchadnezzar hath children yet alive, which build as high as he, look as high as he, go as brave as he, spend as vainly as he, and are as proud as he, although they be not Kings nor Dukes, nor Earls, nor Knights, nor yet good Squires: look upon their palaces, and think whether they be of Nebuchadnezzars brood; Is not this great Babel? and is not Nebuchadnezzar Lord of it? Oh if they might live to walk in these galleries still, they would desire no other heaven, but Nebuchadnezzar hath showed the way before them, and they must all dance after him, though they were as mighty, though they were mightier than he, death will not take his kingdom for a ransom. Now what is Babel, and what is Nebuchadnezzar the King thereof? Now Babel is destroyed, and the King that built it laid in the dust, had it not been better to have built an house in ⟨p. 375⟩heaven, which might have received him, when he dyed?
Although this king be dead & buried, yet his pride is escaped & come to vs. Nabuchadnezzar hath children yet aliue, which build as high as he, looke as high as he, goe as braue as he, spend as vainly as he, and are as proud as he, although they bee not Kings nor Dukes, nor Earles, nor Knights, nor yet good Squires: looke vpon their pallaces, and think whether they bee of Nabuchadnezzars brood; Is not this great Babel? and is not Nabuchadnezzar Lord of it? Oh if they might liue to walke in these galleries stil, they would desire no other heauen, but Nabuchadnezzar hath shewed the way before them, and they must all dance after him, though they were as mightie, though they were mightier thē he, death will not take his kingdome for a raunsome. Now what is Babel, and what is Nabuchadnezzar the King thereof? Now Babel is destroyed, and the King that built it laid in the dust, had it not been better to haue built an house in ⟨p. 375⟩heauen, which might haue receiued him, when he dyed?
The name of these palaces may well be called Babel, that is confusion, because they prophesy confusion to them that build them, because their foundation is Pride, their walls extortion, their roof ambition, and all within them usury, bribery, and cruelty. If this be the best that Nebuchadnezzar hath to vaunt of, what is the worst which he may be ashamed of?