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…

Where he thought to take his reward, & taste the fruit of his own hands, God set an everlasting blot upon him, which sticks fast till this day, like a bar in his ⟨p. 589⟩arms, so long as the name of Noah is spoken of, that we cannot read of his virtue, but we must read of his sin, whereby every man is warned, to receive the gifts of God reverently, to use them soberly, and to sanctify himself, before he reach forth his hand unto them that they may comfort and profit us, with that secret blessing, that God hath hid in them, or else every thing the best gifts of God may hurt us: as this pleasant wine stained and confounded the great Patriarch, when he delighted too much in it, which he might have drunk as Christ did at the last Supper, and this disgrace had never been written in his story; but God would have a fearful example, like the pillar of Salt, to stand before those beasts, whose only strife is to make trial who can quaff deepest, and show all their valiantness in wine. Because there is such warning before us, now we have the drunkard in schooling, I will spend the time that is left, to show you the deformity of this sin, if any hear me which have bin overtaken with it, let him not marvel why he cannot love his enemies, which loveth such an enemy as this, which leadeth till he reeleth, dulls him till he be a fool, and stealeth away his sense & wit, his memory, his health, his credit, his friends, and when she hath stripped him as bare as Noah, then she exposeth him like ⟨p. 590⟩Noah to Ham, & all that see him do mock him: it is wonder almost that any man should be drunk that hath seen a drunkard before, swelling, and puffing, and foaming, and spewing, and grovelling like a beast for who would be like a beast, for all the world? Look upon the drunkard when his eyes stare; his mouth drivels, his tongue falters, his face flames, his hands tremble, his feet reel? how ugly, how monstrous, how loathsome doth he seem to thee, so loathsome dost thou seem to others when thou art in like taking. And how loathsome then dost thou seem to God? Therefore the first law which Adam received of God, was abstinence, which if he had kept, he had kept all virtues beside, but intemperance lost all. In abstinence the law came to Moses, & he fasted when he received it, to show that they which receive the word of God, receive it soberly.

Where he thought to take his reward, & taste the fruite of his owne hands, God set an euerlasting blot vpon him, which sticks fast till this day, like a bar in his