SPECULATIVE KNOWLEDGE
Nor is it conclusive evidence of true religion that a man is well instructed
in the doctrines of the Gospel. No man is warranted to believe himself a
Christian who is profoundly ignorant of the truths revealed in the Sacred
Scriptures. There can be no spiritual knowledge where there is no
speculative knowledge. God cannot be loved where He is not known; sin cannot
be detested where its nature is not discerned; Christ cannot be confided in
where His character and sacrifice are not perceived; duty cannot be
performed where the mind does not apprehend its nature and obligations.
Truth is both the instrument of gracious affections when produced in the
soul, and the nourishment of them in all their subsequent growth and
enlargement. But while there is no spiritual knowledge where there is no
speculative knowledge, there may be much speculative knowledge where there
is no spiritual. Speculative knowledge has its seat in the head: spiritual
knowledge has its seat in the heart. It is obvious there is no moral
goodness in the simple assent of the understanding to truth. We receive,
compound, and compare ideas, whether we wish to or not. When we see the
evidence of a religious doctrine to be clear and convincing, we cannot
withhold our assent from it while at the same time, we may hate what we
believe and love what we reject. Besides, who does not see that there is
nothing in the nature of speculative knowledge to produce gracious
affectations? The twilight of reason and conscience and the clear sunshine
of the Gospel are of themselves alike unadapted to the causation of
holiness. Should all the light of the Last Day break in upon the
understanding of the natural man, it could not originate one holy emotion.
Follow the enemies of God through every possible degree of instruction, and
though their heads will be better their hearts will be worse. The author
uses this term as a synonym of intellectual perception, or what is commonly
referred to as “head knowledge” as opposed to “heart knowledge.” The more
they see, the more they will hate; the more they understand, the more will
they complain and object; the more they are convinced, will they the more
murmur and rebel. It is not impossible, therefore, for the understanding to
be illuminated where the heart is not sanctified. But, theory apart, what is
the language of experience and observation? Need we but open our eyes to
discern the fact that the minds of wicked men are often richly furnished
with doctrinal knowledge, and that they are not infrequently very orthodox
in their sentiments?
Jesus told the unbelieving Jews that they had both seen and hated both Him
and His Father (John 15:24). The Apostle tells us of some who, when “they
knew God, glorified him not as God” (Rom. 1:21). He also addresses this
pointed reproof to the Pharisee, “Behold, you are called a Jew and rest in
the law, and make your boast of God, and know his will, and approve the
things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; and are
confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of those who
are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which
have the form of knowledge and truth in the law” (Rom. 2:17- 20). And yet,
of these very men our Lord says, they are “serpents, a generation of
vipers,” and cannot escape the damnation of hell” (Mat. 23:33).
And what does the holy Apostle say of the vilest reprobates in perdition?
“You believe there is one God: you do well: the devils also believe and
tremble” (James 2:19). That foul spirit was himself once an angel of light.
There is no more studious observer of the character, designs, and truth of
God than that malicious fiend. There is no greater proficient in theological
truth than the father of lies. There is no lack of orthodoxy, even in hell.
And why should it not be so? Bad men, as well as good, are endued with
perception, reason, and conscience; and are as capable of applying these
faculties in reflecting upon moral objects as upon natural objects. There is
indeed something in the doctrines of the Gospel which the wicked do not
perceive; and this is their beauty and loveliness. But this is a perception
of the heart and not of the understanding; and of this the wicked are
destitute. “The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for
they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them because they are
spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2:14). But, because he does not love the
truth, it is no evidence that he does not understand it.
How many people have you seen who were thoroughly versed in the sacred
volume, who comprehended the symmetry and connection of the entire system of
revealed truth, and who themselves were distinguished champions of the
faith, but who, lamentable to confess, were strangers to the religion of the
heart? Something beside the illumination of the natural understanding,
therefore, is indispensable to the possession of Christian character. Alas!
how many have gone loaded with knowledge down to hell!