THE EVILS OF IGNORANCE
(Sunday School or Bible Society Sermon.)
Isaiah 5:13-15. Therefore my people are gone away into captivity, because they have no knowledge, &c.
Isaiah speaks of the future as if it were already present. He traces the terrible disasters about to befall his countrymen to their true cause—their ignorance of God,—in their case a wilful ignorance (Hosea 4:6), which had betrayed them into courses of conduct ruinous in themselves, and certain to bring down the judgments of the Almighty. The history of mankind justifies us in laying down two propositions:
I. That ignorance is a terrible evil. To be in ignorance of the great facts of God’s universe, of the great laws by which He governs it, is to be in a condition of constant peril. We are as men who wander in darkness over the great mountains; every step may be taking us further from the right path, the next step may hurl us over some unsuspected precipice. Remember what calamities—political, commercial, social—have been due solely to ignorance. [Illustrate by examples] [640]
[640] As blindness is the deformity of the face, so is ignorance the deformity of the soul. As the want of fleshly eyes spoils the beauty of the face, so the want of spiritual eyes spoils the beauty of the soul. A man without knowledge is as a workman without his hands, as a painter without his eyes, as a traveller without his legs, or as a ship without sails, or a bird without wings, or like a body without a soul.—Brooks, 1680.
II. That the most terrible of all kinds of ignorance is ignorance of God Himself.
1. Much sin is due to ignorance [643] Not all sin, for there are many transgressions committed against full light—the worst form of iniquity. But concerning multitudes of sinners we may pray, as did our Lord for His executioners, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” The most appalling of all sins was committed in ignorance (1 Corinthians 2:8). Did men truly know God, they would fear, love, and gladly serve Him. For lack of a true knowledge of God, men who desired to serve Him have perpetrated the most frightful crimes (John 16:2; Acts 26:9).
2. Sins committed in ignorance entail terrible disasters. That unavoidable ignorance is a palliation of the guilt of transgressors is clearly the teaching of the New Testament (Luke 23:34; 1 Timothy 1:13), as it had been previously of the Old (Numbers 15:28; Deuteronomy 19:4, &c.); and it will affect their condition in the eternal world (Luke 12:47-48). But here and now it does nothing to exempt men from the natural consequences of their transgressions. The man who swallows a poison by mistake is killed by it as surely as the deliberate suicide, &c.
[643] Ignorance opens the door for Satan to enter in with his troops of lusts; where the watch is blind, the city is soon taken.—Gurnall, 1617–1679.
In view of these solemn truths, of which all human history is one prolonged corroboration,—
1. We should constantly endeavour to grow in knowledge. “More light!” should be our constant prayer. Every means of acquainting ourselves with God and His will we should diligently use. Let us beware of the temptation indolently to rest in a voluntary ignorance. Voluntary ignorance is no palliation, but a tremendous aggravation of iniquity [646]
2. Let us diligently impart to our fellow-men such knowledge as we have already acquired. Benevolence should move us to do this. We can confer upon our fellow-men no greater or more needed blessing. Self-interest should impel us to the same course. In teaching we learn. In labouring to cause others to see, we ourselves for the first time attain to clear vision. Knowledge is like the bread with which the five thousand were fed; it multiplies as it is dispensed, and when the feast is over, those who carried it to others themselves possess more than they did when the feast began.
3. Every organisation which exists for the diffusion of knowledge should have our sympathy and support both as patriots and Christians. This is true even of secular knowledge, but especially of that knowledge which is able to make men “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” [649]
[646] He that knew not his Lord’s will, because he wilfully rejected the means of coming to the knowledge of it, deserves to be beaten with as many stripes as if he had known it and would not. He that will not take notice of the king’s proclamation, or will stop his ears when it is read, and afterwards offends against it, does equally deserve punishment with those who have read it, and heard it, and disobey it; because he was as grossly faulty in not knowing it; and there is no reason that any man’s gross fault should be his excuse.—Tillotson, 1630–1694.
[649] Oh, for the coming of that glorious time
When, prizing knowledge as her noblest wealth
And best protection, this imperial realm,
While she exacts allegiance, shall admit
An obligation, on her part, to teach
Them who are born to serve her and obey;
Binding herself by stature to secure
For all the children whom her soil maintains
The rudiments of letters, and inform
The mind with moral and religious truth,
Both understood and practised,—so that none,
However destitute, be left to droop
By culture unsustained; or run
Into a wild disorder; or be forced
To drudge through a weary life without the help
Of intellectual implements and tools;
A savage horde among the civilised;
A servile band among the lordly free.
—Wordsworth.