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 they might prove what the will of God is, as if he should say, This shall be the fruit of your regeneration, when your minds are renewed, you shall know many things, which are hid from you; you shall be able to judge doctrines, who preach truth, and who preach error; and you shall understand the will of God, what he would have you do, and what he would have you fly, as if you were in his bosom. As new wine will not abide but in new vessels; so this new knowledge will not abide but in new minds.¹ The mind renewed knoweth God; so that this Scripture may be called the path to knowledge, or the way to sound the mind of God, which is a secret ⟨p. 508⟩that every man longs to know, but the most turn a wrong leaf to find it, as Paul saith of Peter,² He looks a wrong way to the Gospel. When the serpent taught knowledge, he said If ye eat the forbidden fruit, your eyes shall be opened, and you shall know good and evil: but Paul saith,³ If ye will not eat the forbidden fruit, your eyes shall be opened and you shall know good and evil. This is one reason why Paul would have them renew their minds, That they might know the will of God Why? doth not the word of God teach us the will of God? Yes, but no man doth understand this word, but he which hath a new mind: because as the Sun is not discerned by any light, but by his own light: so no spirit can interpret the Scripture, but the same spirit which wrote it,⁴ which is called the holy spirit, because it is holy, and because it makes holy. Sin was the first veil which obscured mans understanding,⁵ and till the cause of this eclipse be taken away, the Apostle saith, that we shall see but in part:⁶ that is, as the Sun may be seen in his eclipse, but he seems liker to darkness then to light: so understanding may be seen in the wicked, but it is liker ignorance then knowledge: therefore Paul makes knowledge one of the fruits which bud out of righteousness.