CONSCIENCE AND ITS PLACE
By Prof. J. A. L. Derby
In Three Parts: “Conscience;” “Cause of Unbelief;” “Thinketh No Evil.” II. THE CAUSE OF UNBELIEF.
THERE is in Matt. 13:19 an apparently extraordinary statement. We have been accustomed to think that one can incur moral blame only by refusing to live up to what he understands to be right; that guilt is proportional to light, to information. But in this verse, taken from the parable of the sower, we seem to have the loss of eternal life as due to a failure to understand, as tho salvation depended upon the intellect instead of upon the heart. Says the Master: “When one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in the heart.” This looks like hard doctrine, to condemn one for what he does not know. Let us examine the matter further. One text will make the difficulty clearer. It is Eph. 4:17, 18, “Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God thru the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness [margin, “hardness”] of their heart.” Now it is a matter of common observation that mere piety is a poor school in which to inform the intellect concerning anything in the whole range from A B C to metaphysics. Piety will not teach reading, grammar, mathematics, or philosophy. To be instant in prayer is not synonymous with being a giant of intellectual attainment. Nothing is more common than the utter severance of a pure heart from a profound intellect. No, all the collegiate training in the world will not make a person one whit the better morally. Neither can all the piety in the world solve conic sections, nor teach the correct use of English. A prophet may be a peasant. What, therefore, is the meaning of the word “understanding” in the verse just quoted? It is poor business to interpret the Bible by a twentieth-century dictionary. “Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding.” This is the Biblical rule, and from this it is plain that an understanding of the word of God must come from God; that is, the Scriptures must be permitted to explain themselves. What, then, is the Biblical definition of understanding? Job 28:28 gives the answer: “To depart from evil is understanding.” Again, Prov. 9:10: “The knowledge of the holy is understanding.” These passages reveal the fact that what God means by understanding is not the intellectual apprehension of mathematical, grammatical, or physical relations, but rather moral discernment, a recognition and acceptance of conscience and reason. The essence of all morality is the determination to follow the behest of conscience, in living according to the best light that reason affords. Of course there is no power in man apart from God to do this. The seventh chapter of Romans makes that clear. But this binds reason to the necessity of diligently and unceasingly seeking material by which to be guided. The first and chief source of this is the Word of God. Now since all men (except mental incapables) have conscience and reason, all men are responsible for not following them. Responsibility does not rest on educational facilities. Who, then, is ignorant of duty?—He with the hardened, obstinate, sin-loving heart; the man who prefers to indulge his propensities to evil rather than follow his aspirations toward what is right. The unbelieving wayside hearer of the parable, the one that does not understand, is the one that does not choose to understand. He is not looking for spiritual or moral truth, and therefore ignores it. He may have an intellectual perception of the meaning of an exhortation to surrender to God, to give up his sins, but he will not allow this perception to change the direction of his affections. There is such a thing as holding the truth in unrighteousness. Those that do “not like to retain [A.V., “to acknowledge,” margin, R.V., “to approve”] God in their knowledge, God gives them over to a mind void of judgment [A.V., margin].” Rom. 1:28. What are some of the things that darken the power to discern right?—Love of sin, prejudice, bigotry, self-conceit, pride, worldly ambition, self-importance, love of money, desire for popularity, appetite, and what not. A copper penny can obscure the light of the sun. “I can’t see the elephant! O, I can’t see the elephant!” exclaimed the little girl putting her hands over her eyes, when she was first taken to view that huge creature. No, she could not; the sight was too unpleasant. There are no honest skeptics; or perhaps we should say that honest skepticism can not possibly become chronic. God has too much concern for “him that willeth to know His will” to allow him to wander forever in uncertainty. Depend upon it, man “is without excuse.” A dishonest heart; not an informed head, is the cause of unbelief.