Henry Smith, The Sermons of Henry Smith: The Silver-Tongued Preacher

Henry Smith, The Sermons of Henry Smith: The Silver-Tongued Preacher, Ed. John Brown, D. D.D., Cambridge University Press, 1908.

As he hath put on all our infirmities, so we must put on all his graces, not half so, but all on, and clasp him to us, and gird him about us, and wear him, even as we wear our skin, which is always about us. Then there shall be no need of wires, nor curls, nor periwigs; … (The Wedding Garment, 6)

…because our own righteousness is too short to cover our arms, and legs, and thighs of sin, but still some bare place will peer out, and shame us in the sight of God, therefore we must borrow Christ’s garments, … believe that his righteous shall supply our unrighteousness shall supply our unrighteousness, and his sufferings shall stand for our sufferings, … Now I have shewed you this goodly garment, you must go to another to help you to put it on; and none can put this garment upon you, but he which is the garment, the Lord Jesus Christ. (The Wedding Garment, 7)

But as it is not good to be alone, so Solomon sheweth that ‘it is better to be alone than to dwell with a forward wife,’ Prov. Xxi. 9, which is like a quotidian ague, ot keep his patience in ure. Such furies do haunt some men, like Saul’s spirit, I Sam. Xvi. 14, as though the devil had put a sword into their hands to kill themselves; therefore choose whom thou mayest enjoy, or live alone still, and thou shalt not repent thee of thy bargain. (A Preparative to Marriage, 15)

Discretion is a wary spy, but fancy is a rash spy, and liketh whom she will mislike again. (15)

The third thing is her speech, or rather her silence, for the ornament of a woman is silence; (18)

All these properties are not spied at three or four comings, for hypocrisy is spun with a fine thread, (19)

Miserable is that man which is fettered with a woman that liketh not his religion; she will be nibbling at his prayers, and at his study, and at his meditations, till she have tired his devotion, (20)

He may not say, as husbands are wont to say, that which is thine is mine, and that which is mine is mine own; but that which is mine is thine, and myself too. (24)

Frizzled locks, naked breasts, painting, perfume, and especially a rolling eye, are the forerunners of adultery; and he which hath such a wife, hath a fine plague. (29)

Before we teach parents to love their children, they had need be taught not to love them too much, for David’s darling was David’s traitor; and this is the manner of God, when a man begins to set anything in God’s room, and love it above him which gave it, either to take away it, or to take away him, before he provoke him too much. Therefore, if parents would have their children live, they must take heed not to love them too much; for the giver is offended when the gift is more esteemed than he. (A Preparative to Marriage, 32)