(_Sunday School or Bible Society Sermon._)
v. 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 iv. 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.][1] +II. That the most terrible
of all kinds of ignorance is ignorance of God Himself.+ 1. _Much sin
is due to ignorance._[2] 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 Cor. ii. 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 xvi. 2; Acts xxvi. 9). 2. _Sins committed in ignorance entail
terrible disasters._ That unavoidable ignorance is a palliation of
the guilt of transgression is clearly the teaching of the New
Testament (Luke xxiii. 34; 1 Tim. i. 13), as it had been previously
of the Old (Num. xv. 28; Deut. xix. 4, &c.); and it will affect their
condition in the eternal world (Luke xii. 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.
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.[3] 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."[4]