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…

If the wicked man speak any thing that is good, he speaks by rote, but he which speaks not out of the abundance of his hart,¹ is soon drawn dry. The preaching of the Word doth not become him: it is harsh and unkind in his mouth as though it came out of a wrong bow: or like unto a shuttle, which flittereth from the hand of a child, he is in the pulpit as the guest at the banquet,² which wan ted his wedding garment, he speaks not like one which hath authority,³ but as one that hath no authority, and always his conscience sounds unto him,⁴ What hast thou to do to take my word in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest to be ⟨p. 518⟩reformed? Therefore be renewed, that ye may know what the will of GOD is: this is the Abce, and Primmer, and Grammar, the first lesson and last lesson of a Christian, to know the good and perfect and acceptable will of God, which must make us good and perfect, and acceptable our selves: the will of God is always good and acceptable, & perfect, howsoever it seem to us: though it condemn us of evil, yet it is good: though we see not how it is perfect, yet it is perfect: nay, it is so perfect, that we cannot see the perfection of it, as the Sun is so bright that we cannot behold the brightness of it: first it seems good unto a man before it be acceptable, when it is acceptable, then it seems perfect and as Gods will doth seem to us, so we do seem to him: if his will cannot seem good and acceptable, and perfect to us, much less may our will seem good, or acceptable, or perfect unto him, for this is our goodness, to acknowledge his goodness. If it be such a contentment, to know the will of GOD, what shall keep us from the knowledge of it, shall sin, which is the worst thing in the world? Because we will not renew our minds, therefore we are ignorant of so many things which we would know, and until we be willing to follow the word, we shall never throughly understand it, but buzz and grope at it like ⟨p. 519⟩Owls which pry at the sun out of a barn. Oh!