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…

that is, they which will be strutters, shall not want flatterers, which will praise every thing that they do, and every thing that they speak, & every thing that they wear, and say it becomes them well to wear long hair, that it becomes them well to wear bellied doublets, that it becomes ⟨p. 434⟩them well to jet in their going, that it becomes them well to swear in their talking. Now, when they hear men sooth them in their follies, then think they, we have nothing else to commend us, if men will praise us for our vanities, we will have friends enough: so the humour swelleth and thinks with it self, if they will look upon me when, I do set but a stout face upon it, how would they behold me if I were in apparel? if they do so admire me in silks, how would they cap me and curtsy me, and worship me, if I were in velvets? if I be so brave in plain velvet, what if my velvet were pinct, or cut, or printed? So they study for fashions, as Lawyers do for delays, & count that part naked which is not as gaudy as the rest, till all their body be covered over with pride, as their mind is with folly. Therefore David saith,¹ that pride is as a chain unto them, that is, it goeth round about them like a chain, and makes them think that all men love them, and praise them, and admire them, and worship them for their bravery. Therefore as Saul said to Samuel, Honour me before this people: so the proud man saith to his, chain and his ruffs, and his pinks, and his cuts, honour me before this people: all that, he speaketh, or doth, or weareth, is like Nebuchadnezzars palace,² which he built for his honour. This is their work, so soon as they rise, ⟨p. 435⟩to put a Pedlars shop upon their backs, and colour their faces, and prick their ruffs, and frizzle their hair, and then their days work is done, as though their office were to paint a fair Image every morning, and at night to blot it out again: from that day that pride is borne in the heart of man, as the false Prophets were schooled to speak as the King would have them,³ so their eyes, and feet, and tongues are bound to speak, and look, and walk, as the proud heart doth prompt them. If GOD were in love with fashions, he were never better served than in this age, for our world is like a pageant, where every mans apparel is better then himself.